Shopping For Kitchen Herbs After A Downpour. Everything Smells So Wonderfully Earthy.
Certain Produce Shouldn’t Be Stored In The Refrigerator
With some fruits and vegetables cold temperatures can lead to unsavory textures and flavors. Let tomatoes sit on the counter at room temperature, and store onions, garlic, and potatoes separately in a cool, dark place in perforated baskets or bins to allow for good airflow. Make sure to keep all fresh produce away from direct sunlight.
Onions & Garlic can lose crispness and become moldy when exposed to the refrigerator’s moisture. They can also impart their flavors on foods stored nearby.
Tomatoes flavor often diminishes when they’re chilled, and the texture can turn mealy as the cold temperature breaks down the membranes inside the fruit.
Potatoes starch content converts to sugar when cold, which leads to an unpleasantly sweet taste and discoloration when they’re cooked.
“Work With What You Got!”
© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen All Rights Reserve
Tiny New York Kitchen Wishes You A Very Happy Sunday!
Cooking Fish
Here is the simple secret to cooking fish successfully: Just don’t overcook it. Cook it until the flesh is just opaque throughout, as it will continue to cook after it has been removed from the heat.
Before cooking fillets, especially thick ones, run your fingers over the flesh to feel for any stray bones. Remove them with tweezers set aside for that purpose.
To check fish fillets or steaks for doneness, use the tip of a small knife to separate the flesh in the thickest part. It should be uniformly opaque. To check whole fish, make an incision at the backbone to see if the flesh is opaque or insert and instant-read thermometer in the thickest part near the backbone. The thermometer should read 135 to 140 degrees.
Before cooking clams, mussels, or oysters, scrub the shells well under cold running water to remove any surface sand and grit.
“Work With What You Got!”
© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen All Rights Reserve
This is my idea of heaven. An abundance of fiddleheads and the last of spring ramps. Oh the possibilities!
A Fish Bone In Your Throat?
If you miss a bone and don’t discover it until it’s halfway down your throat, don’t panic. Bite off a piece of bread, chew and swallow it. It will take the bone with it, out of harm’s way.
“Work With What You Got!”
© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen All Rights Reserve
Basic Seafood Cooking Rules
Keep your fish or shellfish in the refrigerator until right before you cook it to keep it as fresh as possible. Don’t leave it siting on the counter while you prepare the rest of the meal.
Don’t work in the same area with raw seafood and cooked seafood. There is too much danger of cross contamination.
Cook seafood with the skin on whenever possible and appropriate. It helps fillets and steaks hold their shape and keeps moisture in whole fish. Make two or three shallow slashes across the skin of the fillet or whole fish to prevent the fish from curling while cooking.
If you are baking fish that is of different thicknesses, as in fillets that taper to very thin ends, fold the thin ends under so they won’t overcook.
Try to turn fish just once, if at all, during the cooking process so there is less risk of it falling apart.
If cooking fish in a coating or batter, use small or thin pieces so both batter and fish cook at the same rate.
“Work With What You Got!”
© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen All Rights Reserved
It goes without saying that I’m a big fan of made-from-scratch, homemade goodness, but many times, I’m pinched for time. I’m always on the lookout for shortcuts that don’t sacrifice the pure-pepper flavor that I crave. When I stumbled upon The Chili Lab Chili Salts and Chile Butter, I knew that I had found a very good thing indeed.
Based in Brooklyn, New York, The Chili Lab sources all-natural ingredients from all over the globe to bring you standards like the habanero to lesser-known chiles like the Aleppo. Chili Salts, an anything-but-simple blend of sea salt and dried chiles, allow you to easily shake spice into virtually anything. For moderate heat, go for the Chipotle or Pri Pri, but turn to the Pequin for a serious dose of fire.
And perfect on bread, in sauces, as a dip and more, Chili Butters, a combo of roasted bell peppers, butter, chiles and spices, couldn’t be more handy. On the mild side, The Garden Blend is balanced with brown rice syrup and lemon and features the aleppo and pepperoncini, the medium, citrusy The Grove Blend has ahi amaryllis, and super-spicy, smoky The Forager’s Blend mixes green and wire wire.
Salts start at $12 and Butters at $12.75. Go to www.thechililab.com for more information.
Have you wondered about what’s all the buzz about the negroni? If you have, then here is a book all about the negroni that fuels the hot tend. Gary Regan, the author and a respected expert on drinks, explores the cocktail and its evolution with recipes, both classic and new.The negroni, which was created at a bar in Milan, has gone through multiple incarnations as of late. Check out Gary Regan’s book, The Negroni Drinking To La Dolce Vita, With Recipes And Lore,” for negroni inspiration. Can be found at amazon.com and is published by Ten Speed Press. $18.99
I took this photo in Norwalk, Connecticut. As I walked past this sculpture I stopped and was taken by its beauty.
