I know it’s been awhile since I posted a how-to… what can I say… I got kind of busy and then basically forgot. At least this time I’m only a day late… right? I hope you’ll forgive me, because this tip is worth it.
Alton Brown is one of my food heroes, and on his show, Good Eats, he’s always carrying on about kitchen multitaskers: there’s no reason, according to Alton, to buy a kitchen device that only accomplishes one task. Like an egg-slicer, for instance. Or a lemon-zester.
I know… so many recipes call for lemon zest… it seems like an impossible tool to forego. Not so, I learned this summer while staying in Mallorca and living in a kitchen with just a hot-plate and a few pans to create whatever was my whim for dinner. One Saturday morning, as I made a batch of delicious pancakes, I realized that I was missing something: a zester. Graters generally don’t do the job properly… even box graters. Because of the round shape of the lemon, you’re constantly accidentally grating bits of pith into the mix… and that’s no good, as all good foodies know.
So I tried something, on a whim. I pulled out a regular knife, not a steak knife but one of those table-knives that is serraded (although I suppose a better word would be scalloped… that knife wouldn’t slice through anything tougher than a boiled potato). I used the scalloped edge, and pressing it against the side of the lemon, I scraped. And it worked perfectly! I think I like it even better than the scary zester in my mother’s kitchen.
So there you go: a tip and a way to clear out space in your silverware drawer. No need for a zester as long as you’ve got a good old-fashioned knife blade.
In other news, my camera is still dead. I am on the market for a new one. Any suggestions, please feel free to let me know. Otherwise, stay tuned for the handful of recipes I’ve got hanging around my desktop…