Paula wolfert's cooking tips

Ingredients

Directions

~ For "instant" peeled, seeded and pur‚ed fresh tomatoes, cut tomatoes in half and grate on the large holes of a box grater.

~ To rid okra of sliminess, wash it in vinegar and salt before cooking.

~ To take the sharp edge off raw sliced onions, rub salt into them and wait 4 minutes, then rinse and pat dry.

~ If olives are bitter, put them in a saucepan, cover with water and boil, then drain. Cover with fresh water and repeat until the bitterness is gone.

~ Blanch cabbage leaves with an onion the water to reduce the possibility of gastric irritation.

~ Soak eggplant slices in salted water for 30 minutes before grilling or frying (2 tbs salt to 2 qt water). Rinse and dry the eggplant before using.

~ Soak chickpeas for 24 hours for really fine texture and flavor.

Drain, add fresh water and cook, then let them cool in their lightly salted cooking liquid.

~ Don't store olives in the refrigerator. They're not as good to eat when cold. Keep them at room temperature in their brine, covered with oil. Keep wrinkled, black olives in a tightly closed jar in a cool cupboard.

~ Grind coarse sea salt in a mill. The flavor is more intense, so you'll need less.

~ Clean out herbs and spices twice a year; they lose their potency over time.

~ Sear food in a cast-iron skillet for clean, concentrated flavor.

~ Cook stews at low temperature; the surface of the liquid should barely move. When you simmer very gently, the fat melts out of rich meats and mingles with the liquid. The dish can then be chilled, and the fat easily removed.

~ To remove fresh fava beans from the pods, hold the pod in both hands and twist in opposite direction at one-inch intervals. Peel fava beans only if they are very large and their skins excessively tough.

~ To pit cracked olives, spread them on a folded kitchen towel. Hit each olive with a mallet and remove the pits.

Food and Wine

November 1995

Submitted By DIANE LAZARUS On 11-07-95