YES, YOU NEED A SPIRALIZER
The right tools make it fun to eat well
1 Spiralizer The latest kitchen verb, spiralizing, describes a fun way to incorporate more vegetables into meals, and an easy way to cut down on starchy pasta. The manually operated spiralizer might be the hottest-selling kitchen gadget on the market right now.
It’s a vegetable slicer modelled after an old-fashioned Japanese implement, a kind of fancy vegetable peeler, that creates endless mounds of zany spirals and ribbons from firm fresh fruits and vegetables. The result: curlicues of zucchini, cucumber, carrots, beets, parsnip, winter squash, apples.
There are a few versions around, but the principle is the same: Simply spike raw vegetables onto the prongs of the spiralizer, turn the wheel and push the food toward the blade. Add the resulting spirals and ribbons raw to salads, along with a light and zippy dressing. (How about a bright citrus vinaigrette of two parts olive oil to one part lemon or lime juice plus a splash of orange juice, with salt and freshly ground pepper?) Or sautée the spirals briefly in olive oil, or blanch them, and toss with peanut sauce or sesame oil and soya sauce for carb-free alternative Asian noodles.
For Italian faux pasta, toss zucchini spirals with basil or parsley pesto, then scatter with toasted pine nuts or pumpkin seeds.
Paderno makes a popular 4-blade countertop model (that sells for $69 at Williams-Sonoma) featuring four different spiral sizes and shapes. As an added bonus, it folds flat for easy storage.
But there are also other versions on the market, including the American-made hand-held Microplane spiralizers ($15) and the Westpark, a German-made countertop model with changeable blades ($94.40), both of which are available at Arthur Quentin, the housewares shop on St. Denis St.
2 Julienne peeler If you aren’t ready to invest in a spiralizer, then at least splurge on a simple under-$10 tool: a julienne peeler. It looks like a potato peeler, but with teeth. It makes easy work turning a carrot into long strips, perfect for quick pickling. It also cuts lemon and orange zest into fine, thin strings, leaving behind the bitter white pith. These add a nice zing to salads and rice dishes.
Here’s a simple recipe for crunchy, tangy, sweet Vietnamese quick pickles adapted from
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Slow cooker The old-school crockpot isn’t just for stew. A slow cooker put to work overnight increases the chances that you’ll eat a healthy breakfast. Try overnight oats, for example, which cook while you sleep and provide a nutritious breakfast full of fibre and cholesterol-lowering antioxidants.
Here’s a recipe adapted from How To Feed a Family (Random House) by Laura Keogh and Ceri Marsh that is jazzed up with almond and coconut milks.
SLOW COOKER OATMEAL WITH COCONUT, BANANA AND ALMONDS
Serves: 4 2 bananas 1-¼ cups steel-cut oats 1 can light coconut milk 1-½ cups almond milk ¾ cup water 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds or flaxseed (optional) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon ground ginger Pinch of salt Almonds, dried cranberries and/ or raisins, for garnish Shredded unsweetened coconut for garnish (optional) Steamy Kitchen’s Healthy Asian Favourites (Ten Speed Press) by Jaden Hair, creator of the awardwinning blog Steamy Kitchen. VIETNAMESE CARROT PICKLE 2 cups julienne carrot Generous pinch of salt 1 tablespoon sugar ⅓ cup rice vinegar (or cider or white vinegar) 1. In a bowl, toss together all of the ingredients. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or refrigerate and store for up to 1 week in a covered container.
1. Grease the bottom and sides of the slow cooker with a thin layer of vegetable oil to prevent sticking.
2. Slice one of the bananas. Combine the banana slices, oats, coconut and almond milks, water, sugar, chia or flax seeds, vanilla, spices and salt in the slow cooker. Give it a stir. Cook on low for 8 hours.
3. Serve topped with remaining banana, almonds and shredded coconut.
*Another good use for the slow cooker: cooking high-fibre, highprotein and low-fat beans for chilis and soups. The low, steady heat guarantees the beans won’t be mushy. And slow-cooking eliminates the pre-soaking step (except for kidney beans, which require pre-soaking to remove toxins). It’s simple: add dried beans (pinto, Romano, black beans, to name a few) to the slow cooker and add enough cold water to cover them by two or three inches. Add chopped onion, a teaspoon of salt and other aromatics like bay leaves and a clove or two of garlic. Then cover, turn the heat to low and cook for 6 to 8 hours. (Start checking toward the end of cooking to avoid scorching). You’ll fit about a pound of beans in a small (3-quart) crockpot and 2 pounds in a larger (5-quart) one.
Every two cups of dried beans will yield about 6 cups of cooked beans. Freeze what you don’t use right away.
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Microplane grater This might be my favourite tool in the kitchen. I use it to finely grate everything from Parmesan and Romano cheeses, ginger, lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit zest, even garlic and nutmeg. It’s a tool that immigrated to the cook’s kitchen from the woodworker’s workshop, where it’s known as a rasp. Its fine, razor-sharp teeth yield light, feathery shavings with intense flavour but none of the gritty bits produced by even the finest side of other graters. Because it shaves rather than rips, there’s little waste. One large lemon, for example, will produce up to a tablespoon of fine zest (with the bitter pith left behind). I keep ginger root in the freezer and grate it still-frozen.
The microplane zester stays sharp for years and years, and it requires little care, other than immediate cleaning after use so the residue doesn’t dry up and clog the blades.
The microplane zester is an essential tool for making comforting, cold-weather ginger tea. To make a cup, put a kettle of water on to boil. Finely grate a knob of unpeeled ginger onto a saucer. Press the gratings through a fine strainer to extract as much juice as possible into a cup. Add the boiling water and honey to taste, plus a squirt of freshly squeezed lemon juice, if you’d like, and a slice of lemon for garnish. Use as much or as little ginger as your tastebuds dictate.
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Bamboo steamer It’s not just for dumplings anymore. An inexpensive Chinatown find, the bamboo steamer is the perfect way to stop eating fried foods. Steaming vegetables, fish and seafood makes them soft and moist and ready to soak up all kinds of sauces and flavourings.
Buy a steamer with at least two or three baskets that stack on top of each other. That way you can steam several elements for a single meal in one pot. The individual trays all have slatted bamboo bottoms that allow steam to rise and circulate freely around the food.
To use a bamboo steamer, fill a wok or pot with about two or three inches of water and bring to a boil. (The pot shouldn’t be too much bigger in diameter than the steamer.) Line each of the steamer baskets with a layer of lettuce or cabbage leaves, or perforated parchment paper, to prevent food from sticking. Add food to each basket in a single layer. Make sure to leave enough room between the pieces to allow steam to circulate. Cover the top basket with the lid. Place the stack of steamer baskets on top of the simmering water, making sure the bottom layer is not touching the water.
Eggplant is one of my favourite
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Coffee grinder Not just for java. I use my old Braun coffee mill to make an endless variety of spice blends. I guess I could use a mortar and pestle, but the small blade in the electric coffee grinder makes easy work of all kinds of seeds and pods — from delicate spices like fennel and cumin seeds to woodier ones like star anise, cloves and juniper berries.
What I get is a uniform, fine powder.
For best results, and the most intense flavours, toast the spices and seeds first in a dry frying pan over medium-high heat on the stovetop for a just a minute or so, until they begin to release their aromas. Be careful they don’t burn! Remove from the heat and then allow to cool before grinding.
To clean the grinder after use, unplug it and wipe down the bowl and blades with a damp cloth or a pastry brush.
If you are worried about lingering odours from strongers melling spices, try whirring a tablespoon or so of white sugar in the grinder.
Discard the sugar before putting the grinder away. foods for steaming. Fried or roasted, eggplant often soaks up too much oil, or becomes mushy. But cubed and steamed, eggplant takes on a appealingly firm and spongy texture.
Here’s a recipe adapted from the Chinese cooking guru Ken Hom’s Quick Wok (Headline). You can steam the eggplant in advance, cover and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours and dress it with the sauce just before serving.
COLD AUBERGINE SALAD
Serves: 4 as a side dish 1 lb. eggplant (about 1 large or 2 small), cubed ( but unpeeled) and steamed for 10 to 15 minutes Sauce:
Try this Italian herb salt, made with fresh herbs and coarse salt, to season fish and poultry, or to sprinkle on roasted or grilled vegetables.
It’s a good way to use up bits and pieces of herbs and citrus languishing in the vegetable bin. 1-½ tablespoons sesame oil 1-2 teaspoons chili oil 1-2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic 1-½ tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger 3 tablespoons finely chopped green onions 2 tablespoons light soy sauce 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon rice vinegar Fresh coriander sprigs or chopped mint leaves for garnish (optional) Chopped peanuts, for garnish (optional) 1. Combine sauce ingredients (except herbs and peanuts) in a serving bowl. Add steamed eggplant cubes and toss. Serve cold or at room temperature, garnished with herbs and/or peanuts, if desired.