LITMIR.BIZ

      Using a Microplane is a really good way to crush garlic to a paste

       Essentials

      This is a selection of techniques and recipes that I find are essential in today’s kitchen. Though the béchamel sauce may sound rather old fashioned, it is still vital. Others, like the salsa verde, seem more contemporary. Roasting and grinding spices, though a new experience for some, has been an essential technique in the kitchen for millennia.

      Crushing garlic

      The reasons for crushing garlic are twofold. Garlic when raw and crushed to a paste is at its strongest and fieriest, and as a smooth paste it will generally disappear into the dish it is being added to. I take the old-fashioned approach of a knife and timber chopping board or a more contemporary approach, with a Microplane. What I don’t use is a garlic press. I find them awkward, inefficient and wasteful.

      Place the unpeeled cloves of garlic on a heavy chopping board. With a chopping knife, press heavily on each clove. I use the part of the knife closest to the tip of the blade. The knife will crush the garlic. Peel off the skin, and if there is a hard bit at the bottom remove that as well. Sprinkle a tiny pinch of salt on to the garlic – this helps the knife to grip. Again using the tip end of the knife, press heavily on the garlic in rhythmic movements to render it a smooth paste.

      If using a Microplane to crush the garlic, there is no need to peel the individual cloves. Grip the clove of garlic by the end closest to the root and rub it up and down the blade of the Microplane. The papery skin will remain on the sharp side of the implement where it helps to protect your fingers from the bladed surface, while the crushed garlic is pushed through to the blunt rear. Discard the skin and scrape the paste off the Microplane.

Peeling tomatoes

      Peeling tomatoes will either be easy and enjoyable, or a penance that you may swear never to repeat. The crucial requirements here are really ripe tomatoes and boiling water. Underripe tomatoes are not worth eating and are torturous to peel, hence not worth considering. Water that has once boiled is no good to you. It must be still boiling when poured over the tomatoes. When the tomatoes are ripe and the water is boiling, this task is actually quite pleasurable.

      Remove the stalks from the tomatoes and with a small knife make a shallow cross-shaped cut where the stalk was. This cut encourages the skin to lift off. Bring enough water to cover the tomatoes to the boil and pour the still boiling water over, to submerge the tomatoes completely. Count out ten seconds and immediately pour off all the water. Refresh the tomatoes in cold water for a few seconds. Pour off the cold water, then simply peel off the skins. I discard the skins, adding them to the hens’ bucket. You can save the strained water for the washing up.

Drying your own tomatoes

      At the end of the summer, when there is a glut of really ripe and inexpensive tomatoes, I cut them in half, put them on a wire rack, season them with a little salt and pepper, pop them into a very low oven and forget about them for about 12 hours. They dry out and become wizened and intense. Then, when cooled, I put them into jars with basil or marjoram leaves, cover them completely with olive oil, label and date them, and put them in a cold place, to be used right the way through the months when good tomatoes are scarce. The basil or marjoram, while flavouring the tomatoes, is beautifully preserved in the oil, and is also fished out for use when otherwise getting those herbs would involve an aeroplane.