A purée is a thick, soft dish that's made by pressing cooked foods through a sieve, or mixing them in a blender or food processor.
Vegetable purées are either used as a base for soup -- thinned with water or stock -- or eaten as a side dish. Tomato purée, used for sauces and soups, is made by removing seeds from lightly cooked tomatoes and straining the pulp. Fruit purées are used to make sauces, mousses, soufflés and other preparations. Purées can also be made from anchovies, chicken livers, shrimp or salmon, and used as a filling for canapés.
Recipe: Butternut Squash And Banana Puree With Whiskey And Pecans (Cookthink)
Recipe: Parsnip And Orange Puree (Cookthink)
Reference: Tomato paste vs. tomato puree vs. tomato sauce (Cookthink)
When you want a dish to have quintessential garlic flavor that permeates each bite, mince it. You can mince with a knife, or a garlic press.
Either way, you need to free the individual cloves. To do that, press down on the head with the heel of your palm. Apply firm, even pressure so the cloves don't fly all over the place.
To peel an individual clove, cut of the hard stem end where the clove attached to the bulb. Either stop the cut just short of the skin on the other side and peel the skin around to remove it, or make the cut all the way through and squeeze out the clove. The older the clove, the easier the skin releases.
You can also peel it by setting the side of your knife blade on the clove and pressing down until you feel the skin release, though not hard enough to pulverize it, or the skin will get mixed in with the garlic.
To mince with a knife, smash the peeled clove with the side of the knife. Then just run your knife back and forth across the smashed clove, chopping as you go until it's as fine as you like.
If you don't want individual little pieces of garlic and have a press, just put the whole peeled clove (or cloves, if you can fit them) in the press and squeeze. Use your knife to trim away any clinging garlic.
Salsa means sauce in Spanish, Italian and Arabic. But when people say salsa in America, they are generally referring to a fresh or cooked sauce used as an accompaniment to Mexican cuisine that ranges from mild to red-hot.
Salsa can be red or green and may contain tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, chiles, cilantro, lime juice and other ingredients. It can be used as a dip for tortilla chips or as a garnish for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tostadas and other Mexican dishes. It is often paired with guacamole and sour cream.
Cumin is the dried seed of an aromatic plant that has a dusty, vaguely bitter taste and a distinctive smell. Cumin seeds can be used whole, fried in oil to release their aroma; or ground into a powder.
Most cumin seeds are light brown in color, but they are also available in white (similar to the brown in flavor) and black (which has a more peppery taste). Cumin seeds look a lot like caraway seeds.
You can find references to cumin in the Bible, where it was cited as a flavor-enhancer for soup and bread. The Romans used it to preserve meat and broil fish and it was popular in the Middle Ages. Today, cumin seeds are used to spice up Munster cheese, to make Indian and Pakistani curries and to add flavor to Tex-Mex chili. Cumin is also popular in many cuisines of the world, including Middle Eastern, Mexican, Eastern European and Mediterranean.
During the Middle Ages, cumin was believed to keep loved ones (and chickens) from straying; likewise, brides and grooms carried cumin seeds during the wedding ceremony as a happy marriage charm.
what you should know
The most widely grown crop in North America, corn is used in the manufacturing of everything from aspirin to batteries to latex paint.
Nevermind all that. When corn is straight off the stalk and at the peak of its perfect sweetness, some consider it to be even better than sex.
best by Corn doesn't stay fresh long and should be eaten within 2-3 days after being picked. Look for green husks and juicy kernels. Unlike tomatoes, corn's sugar-to-starch conversion is slowed by refrigeration, so you can keep it in the fridge.
call us corny When did corny become an insult? If you ask us for corny recipes, you aren't likely to get something "trite, dated, unimaginative."
siblings In pre-Columbian North America, corn was grown alongside squash and beans. The trio was known as the Three Sisters.
toppings Corn is one of the most popular pizza toppings in Japan. Spot the cob and other unique toppings dancing in this ad.
what you need
For a detailed history of corn on our continent, read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.
These corn holders will save you from scorched fingertips. These corn holders will spare your fingertips and make you laugh.
Want to save time in the kitchen? Get a corn stripper.
This informative book gives kids a peek at how corn is grown. (Despite its name, Children of the Corn is not kid-appropriate.)
what you do
Corn salsa is incredibly versatile. You can pile it on top of meat, mix it into green salad -- or just eat it by itself.
For a seafoody twist on the classic corn chowder, add crab.
Combine three seasonal vegetables to make this fresh summer salad.
Grilled steak with pepper and corn relish over crostini is a killer combination of crunchy, crisp, and tender.
Creamed corn is kid-friendly (even for kids who have braces).
Cilantro's soapy flavor makes the corn in this ragout taste even sweeter.
Why bother boiling? Grill your corn with thyme butter.
Featured: You can't go wrong with these colorful corn and broccoli calzones. Congratulations to reader Elizabeth Skipper who submitted the featured recipe for this week's Root Source Challenge!
It's an aromatic spice powder made from ground dried sweet bell pepper pods.
Paprika fittingly gets its name from the Latin word for "pepper." Asking for "paprika" in Holland and some other European countries may lead you to the produce aisle, where the word is used as a synonym for red, green, or yellow bell peppers.
Ranging in color from bright red to brown, paprika is used to add color and flavor to rice dishes, soups, sausages such as Spanish chorizo, and stews, including Hungarian goulash or chicken paprikash. Paprika comes in both sweet and hot varieties. But unlike cayenne, whose bright red color signals its pungency, brown paprika is the hottest.
Today, paprika is used widely in dishes throughout Europe and is produced primarily in Spain, South America, California and Hungary. But Hungarians are considered the masters of the spice, producing six varieties. Spanish smoked paprika is particularly in fashion at the moment, but you can also toast paprika for a few minutes in a dry pan to bring out the flavor (be careful as paprika's high sugar content means it burns easily) or combine paprika with cumin for a similar result. Paprika can also be mixed with oil and brushed onto chicken or pork before roasting or grilling to add color. Be sure to store paprika in a dark, dry place and don't let it linger on the shelf too long, as its delicate scent and flavor will fade.
Recipe: Braised Red Cabbage With Smoked Paprika And Sweet Onions (Cookthink)
Recipe: Chicken Paprikash (Cookthink)
Chopping is probably the most common way to prep an onion. Chopped onions show up in anything that needs the basic, earthy pungent flavor that onions give. Chop them larger for longer-cooking dishes like stews and rustic soups, and smaller (call it a dice if you like) for anything from salsas to sauces to ragouts.
To start, cut the onion in half through the root. The root itself will help keep the onion together for chopping
Rotate the onion 90 degrees and cut off the papery end (not the root end). This will make the skin easy to peel away and discard.
Peel back the onion's papery skin. It's often easiest to peel away the first layer of the onion along with the skin.
Make a series of diagonal cuts (roughly 45 degrees) into the side of the onion. Keep more space between the slices for a large chop. Make the cuts closer together for a small chop or a dice.
Now make a series of horizontal cuts to finish shaping the chop or dice.
Finally, rotate the onion again and slice crosswise against the checkerboard pattern you made in the onion. The chopped pieces will fall away from the onion.
Whether it's visible or not, vegetables usually have dirt, dust and other residue on them. Here's an easy and thorough way to wash all kinds of leafy greens:
Grab a bowl large enough to easily hold the greens and fill it with lukewarm water. Submerge the greens in the water and shake them back and forth to dislodge or dissolve the dirt. Then just lift the greens out of the water so the dirt stays behind. Pour out the water and repeat with clean water until the water stays clear when you pull out the greens.
