NO MORE TEARS

Keep onions in the refrigerator before chopping to prevent the tears that often accompany this task.

how to: chop a pepper

1. Pinch the base of the knife blade between your thumb and forefinger.

2. Extend your remaining fingers around the handle.

3. Grip the handle with your middle, ring, and little finger. Leave your thumb and forefinger pinching the knife blade.

4. Practice: Using a wood or composite surface cutting board, place the tip of the knife on the board and then rock the blade back and down, cutting your imaginary item. You can also place the back of the knife on the board and rock the blade forward and through the imaginary item.

5. Place the top of your pepper on your cutting board. Next, place the fingers of your free hand on the pepper, making sure to curl your fingers slightly in to keep them safe. Finally, place the blade of your knife across the center of the bottom of the pepper and slice using the rocking motion previously practiced.

6 & 7. Remove the white center and stem.

8. Chop the remaining pepper into sections along the ribs (white part).

9. Place the side of your knife into the pepper section, press down, and slide the blade sideways to begin removing the ribs.

10. To finish removing the ribs, pinch the opposite side of the pepper and continue to move the knife away from your hand.

11. Clean the remaining white ribs and seeds away from the pepper.

12-14. Slice the sections into 1/4 inch sticks.

15-17. Slice across the sticks evenly to create 1/4 inch cubes.

18. Drop all chopped pieces into your bowl.

HEY, HOT STUFF!

When working with hot peppers, remember that the heat is in the ribs (the white center part) and the seeds. Clear all of those away to reduce the overall heat of the pepper, then remember to wash your hands before touching your face!

how to: chop anything

Follow instructions on the previous pages regarding how to hold the knife and your guide-hand.

All food can be chopped using the same principles:

You always create one of three “shapes” when chopping:

Slices

Sticks

Cubes

Slices: the first, basic cut made before it can be cut into sticks. The garlic to the left is being sliced very thinly!

Sticks: a slice, cut into even portions that are often longer than they are wide. The sweet potato on the top-left is being cut into sticks.

Diced (sometimes called “Chopped”): sticks that are cut into evenly-sized pieces, typically anywhere from 1-3 inches in size. The sweet potato on the top right is diced.

Julienne: a slice that is cut into matchstick-sized pieces—approximately 1/8 inch wide and anywhere from 1-3 inches long. The red bell pepper on the bottom-left is being julienned. You will julienne an item before you finely dice it.

Finely Diced: cut evenly into approximately 1/4 inch pieces. The red bell pepper on the bottom right and the bowl of ingredients on the top left of this page are examples of finely diced items.

Minced: cut into pieces smaller than 1/4 inch that may not be entirely even in size. Recipes often call for garlic to be minced.

Shredded: use a box grater or shredding disc on a food processor with items like carrots or zucchini to create short, thin pieces.

Grated: to make an ingredient’s structure nearly indistinguishable in a recipe, use a fine box grater or zester to create a very finely minced (grated) result. Items like raw garlic can easily be grated into recipes.

HELPFUL TIP

It’s useful to peel roots and tubers before chopping. Do this with a vegetable peeler.

This also applies to mangoes as I find they’re easier to chop all at once if they’re peeled first. However, they can be a bit slippery to hold for this part of the process.

herb & lemon salt blends

Creating a blend of your favorite herbs with sea salt is an easy way to keep big flavor on-hand to add to any dish in a pinch (literally). Use a coarse, unrefined, mineral-rich salt (either white or grey). You can often find these salts in bulk at a grocery co-op, online, or even at your local grocery store.

PREP TIME

20 minutes

COOKING TIME

4 hours

YIELD

1/2 cup

1 cup fresh herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme, lemon peel, etc.)

1/2 cup coarse sea salt

SIDE NOTE

You can dehydrate your herbs overnight in a heated oven that’s been turned off or even let them dry out for several hours on the lowest setting—just keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. To fill your house with herbal aromas, allow the process to take longer at a lower temperature.

NUTS

EGGS

NIGHTSHADES

FODMAPS

Preheat oven to 250 ^°F or the lowest setting (a “warm” setting will work, too).

Spread individual herbs on their own baking sheets, and dry in the oven until they break apart when handled between your fingers. This takes roughly 4 hours.

Using a food processor or a mortar and pestle, grind dried herbs and salt to your desired consistency. Re-dry the herb salt in the oven if there is any remaining moisture.

Store the herb salt in glass jars in cool, dry place.

Note: If a recipe calls for one of these salt blends and you do not have them prepared, simply use a 1:1 ratio of a dried herb or lemon peel to coarse sea salt.

I highly recommend that you make both a rosemary and a sage salt blend o keep on-hand for use on their own as well as in recipes later in this book!

spice blends

NIGHTSHADE FREE?

Do not make recipes containing paprika, chili powder, chipotle powder, or red pepper flakes.

FODMAP FREE?

Eliminate the onion and garlic powders.

Unless otherwise noted, the preparation is the same for all spice blends: Combine all spices in a bowl, and store them in a small container. Use these blends as they appear in recipes throughout the book—or use them anytime!

YIELD

5 tablespoons

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14