Strip cabbage of its outer leaves; rinse the head well and pat dry.
Now slice the cabbage in half through its tough, fibrous core with a long, sturdy knife.
Cut each half in half again through the core. This will expose the core to make it easy to remove.
Holding each cabbage quarter upright, remove the tough core.
Now you can slice the cabbage into long, thin strips for slaws, salads, soups or stews or thicker strips for braises and sautés.
Florence fennel, the bulbous variety found in most American stores has a subtle anise (mild licorice) flavor and delicate celery texture. The bulbs are often sold with the feathery fronds lopped off. Get the ones with some fronds attached if you can -- they’re the perfect raw finish to a fennel dish, sprinkled on as a bright green top layer to echo the anise flavor.
You can thinly slice fennel crosswise for sautés, pastas, and salads, or cut it into wedges lengthwise to roast, braise, or gratinee.
First, rinse the bulb and fronds well and pat them dry. Cut off the the stalks close to the bulb.
If you want to remove some of the slightly stringy outer layer, peel bulb with a vegetable peeler.
To slice for salads or quick cooking, just cut across the bulb as thick or thin as you like.
For longer cooking methods like braising and roasting, cut the bulb lengthwise into wedges of any size. Slice through the core, leaving some of it attached to each wedge to help keep the wedges together. The core will become tender with cooking.
If you want to cook wedges briefly, like on a grill, it's best to remove the core. Cut the bulb into wedges lengthwise, then sliced down along the core at an angle. Then just slice the quarters crosswise to any thickness.
Now that you know how to prep fennel, try cooking it - there are lots of fennel recipes at Cookthink.com.
You can leave basil leaves whole and add them to salads and hot dishes toward the end of cooking, tear them into pieces for more capricious basil flavor, or thinly slice them. To avoid bruising the basil, slide a sharp knife down and across the basil with a deliberate, smooth stroke. A clean cut will darken the leaves less than a pounding cut.
To slice basil, first stack the leaves together.
You can either roll them up like a cigar and slice through them to make a chiffonade, or just slice away at them as they are.
Fennel is a multi-faceted plant that brings a subtle anise flavor to the table in a number of ways.
Technically an herb, it also provides spice in the form of fennel seed. The pollen of fennel flowers is intense and sweet. The tasty bulb can be eaten raw or cooked. And the fronds make an aromatic garnish.
The same compound that flavors aniseed and star anise also flavors fennel, although not as strongly. The slight licorice flavor is frequently found as an ingredient in Italian sausages.
Elixirs and distillations of fennel have been used for centuries as nerve tonics and digestive aids. Its use as a component of gripe water has helped to ease the colic in babies as a homeopathic remedy.
To emulsify means to bind two things together that don't naturally bind, like oil and vinegar.
In order to make the combination work, you need an emulsifier, a bridge substance. Common emulsifiers include eggs (to bind oil and lemon juice for mayonnaise) and mustard (for vinaigrette).
To emulsify, you'll need a whisk, blender or food processor. When a recipe doesn't call for an emulsifier to bind, say, a vinaigrette, whisk the oil and vinegar into a temporary emulsion just before serving.
Reference: What makes a mustard "Dijon"?
Reference: Homemade mayo: worth it?
Recipe: Shallot-mustard vinaigrette
Recipe: Kalamata Olive Vinaigrette (Kalyn's Kitchen)
