Kitchen Tips and Tricks

All about celery

...yes, celery...LOL. I thought about this when I went to the store this morning to get celery for my Swiss Steak. Celery Flake is a great seasoning...much better for you than celery salt, but is very expensive. When I buy fresh celery at the store, I remove the leaves and dry them in the oven on parchment paper at the lowest setting, until they crumble. Then grind them up in my spice grinder. If you are like me, you throw away a lot of celery. I take the rest of the bunch, dice it up and freeze it (be sure to date the bag/container you are freezing in). Finally, put the stump in water...it will regrow (at least the center leaves). I have also done this with scallions (green onion).



Mise en Place

The translation from French, is literally "putting in place." Not a difficult concept, right? But, actually getting your kitchen organized and everything in place, is not always as easy. What this really means, is to make sure you have all of your ingredients ready...do your prep (trim your meat, cut your veggies, have your spices at hand) before you put a pan on the stove. Some other thoughts for your Mise en Place....I put whole garlic cloves into a food processor and pour in olive oil. This gives you a garlic infused olive oil that is wonderful in soooo many recipes...and, if your recipe calls for both garlic and olive oil, you are all set. When you get low on one or the other, just add more. As long as it is in your fridge, it will keep well. Next time, we will talk about Mirepoix...I believe another component of Mise en Place.

Mirepoix

Mirepoix is a staple in my kitchen, both the traditional and the blonde (or white) are always in my refrigerator; however, I have twisted this a bit (of course, we all know that I cannot leave a good recipe alone)...so, I blend the ingredients in my food processor and add them to soups, sauces, and stocks to add depth of flavor.

The classic Mirepoix recipe is as follows:


1/2 part Onion
1/4 part Celery
1/4 part Carrot

The Blonde (or white) recipe is:

1/4 part Onion
1/4 part Celery
1/4 part Leeks
1/4 part Turnips (or Parsnips)