My Market Year(s)

While I wait for the markets to move outside, I thought I would fill in some of the basics that are important to me in my market dinners.

The ice bath is a simple but versatile tool in the kitchen.   If you haven’t discovered the ice bath, then let me introduce you to two reasons why it is great to have a sink full of ice water during the peak of the market.

The first reason is to blanch foods that you are preparing.  To make tomatoes easier to peel, make a small “x” in the bottom with a knife.  It doesn’t need to be big or deep.   You just need to make a cut, through the skin, 1/4 long in each direction.  Drop the tomatoes into deep pot of boiling water a few at a time.  When you see the skins start to split up the sides from the “x”, fish the tomatoes out and drop them in an ice bath to stop them cooking.   Let them chill for a few minutes.  The skins will slide right off.  This same trick works with peaches.

You can also blanch a variety of vegetables prior to cooking them a second time.  Take green beans and drop them into a pot of boiling water and cook for two to three minutes.  Then fish them out and drop them into ice water to chill.  You can now use them in a salad or toss them with toasted sesame oil, oil, lemon and put them on a grill.

Boil small potatoes until they are just fork tender then drop them into the ice bath.  Toss them with herbs and oil and put them on the grill or in the oven.  This boil/ice/roast trick gives you soft and fluffy interiors with crispy crunchy skins.

So, the first reason to have an ice bath at hand: blanching foods to simplify peeling or as a step for prepping them further.

The second reason has to do with the future.  When you are steaming a bunch of new Spring asparagus, put twice what you will eat into the steamer.  Pull 1/2 when they are about half-way done and chill them in an ice bath.  Put them in the fridge to use later in a frittata or pasta dish or in a salad or to finish cooking on the grill.  The ice bath lets you hold onto your produce for future use while keeping the cooking to a minimum.  You bring one pot of water to boil and you get two dinners out of the effort.  A great trick when we get to the hot days of August.

As I post recipes, I will tell you to cook twice as much and to blanch 1/2 to save for later in the week.  I’ll post a follow-up recipe that uses those pre-prepped vegetables.  So follow along and get your ice maker running and you’ll get two great dishes from one pot of water.

Jim