Serve, Taste or Trash! Game
Grilled
Green Tomatoes Caprese
Yield:
Makes 8 to 10
Ingredients
1/4 cup
olive oil
1/8 cup
white balsamic vinegar
2 garlic
cloves, minced
1
tablespoon brown sugar
1/8
teaspoon salt
4
medium-size green tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 2 lb.)
1
(16-oz.) package sliced fresh mozzarella cheese
Kosher
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/3 cup
thinly sliced fresh basil
1.
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic freezer bag; add
tomatoes, seal, and shake gently to coat. Chill 1 hour.
2.
Preheat grill to 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat. Remove tomatoes from marinade,
reserving marinade. Grill tomatoes, 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until tender
and grill marks appear.
3.
Arrange alternating slices of warm grilled tomatoes and mozzarella cheese on a
large, shallow platter. Drizzle with reserved marinade; season with salt and
pepper to taste. Sprinkle with basil
2 pounds asparagus, ends trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat the oven to 425°F
On a baking sheet, limed with foil,toss the asparagus with the olive oil until evenly coated. Arrange in a single layer and season with salt and pepper.
Roast for 10-15 minutes, shake the pan, then roast until just tender when pierced with a knife,
Top with feta and fresh lemon juice.
Roasted
purple cauliflower
Ingredients
1 head
purple cauliflower
1 organic
red bell pepper
1 bunch
organic spring onions
5 cloves
fresh organic garlic
1 large
finger fresh ginger
1/4 tsp
dried red pepper
1/3 cup
olive oil
Cut the
cauliflower into small flowerets and slices. Remove the seeds and slice the red
bell pepper lengthwise; cut each slice in half. Slice the white part of the
onion diagonally and discard the green parts. Chop the garlic and mince the
ginger.
Put the
olive oil, toasted sesame oil and the salt in a zip lock plastic bag and mix.
Add all the vegetables, garlic and ginger; mix very well. Make sure that all
the vegetables are coated in oil; add some oil if necessary.
Line a
cookie sheet with tin foil. Very lightly sprinkle the dried red pepper on the
bottom of the pan. Spread the vegetables evenly in one layer.
Roast at
425 degrees for about 15 min.
Fruit Ripeness 101
How to
tell if a canteloupe is ripe?
Cantaloupe
should feel heavier than it looks and smell musky and sweet. Also you should be
able to press your thumb in slightly on the bottom and there shouldn't be a lip
around the stem.
If it
smells over-sweet it's most likely over ripe. You can let a cantaloupe ripen on
your counter top if you get one under-ripe
How to
tell if pineapple is ripe??
It should
be firm, not mushy, but not rock hard either.
The most
important thing, however, is smell. An unripe pineapple won't smell like
anything. An overripe pineapple will smell vinegary. A ripe pineapple will
smell sweet.
You can
test if a pineapple is ripe by trying to pluck out one of the leaves near the
centre. If it comes out fairly easily then the pineapple is good to go. If it's
hard to pluck, it's not yet ripe.
How to
tell if strawberries are ripe?
Smell.
Really, this is the most reliable way to tell if fruit is ri.pe
Also, if
you smell the slightest hint of mold, fermentation, or foulness, you know they
may not keep even one night.
Another
sign is that a ripe strawberry will be red through and through. A strawberry
picked underripe will be white or even slightly greenish at the top. It doesn't
taste good then. But this is a negative sign, because not all red strawberries
taste good.
Don't
ever go by shape. The tastiest sort of strawberries my grandparents grew
produced ugly, lumpy strawberries of a light, slightly orange color. They also
had a few rows of a sort which produced perfectly conical, deep red
strawberries, they looked like an advertisement - but they were hard and dry,
and didn't have much aroma. Probably, there are some strawberries which both
look and taste good - just don't think that looks or color predict a good
strawberry, because they are independent.
How to
tell if a Mango is ripe?
I look
for a few things...
Color:
There are many different varieties of mangos. Some go from green to red. Some
end up orange Some start off yellow and end up orange. So once you're familiar
with the type of mango you're buying, you can get an idea of what a ripe one
looks like.
Smell: A
ripe mango will smell sweet. Check near the stem end, the smell should be
stronger there. You should smell it and think "mango." Smell is a
large part of your taste, so it should be very familiar.
Firmness:
Mangos, like peaches will soften as they ripen. Just as it starts to go from
firm to soft, it is just about ripe.
Weight:
With most fruit you can tell their ripeness by their weight. A riper fruit will
be slightly heavier than an unripe
Finally,
DO NOT refrigerate if you want them to ripen.
How to
tell if a watermelon is ripe?
I don't
believe there is a fool-proof way to determine 'ripeness' without taking a
slice out of a watermelon. The best you can do is look for certain signs:
Ripe
melons have a hollow sound when you tap or slap the outside
Look for
the patch where the melon would have been on the ground (called the field spot).
If it's a yellow colour its probably ripe. If it's white, it's probably not.
It should
feel relatively heavy when lifted
Weird
areas on the skin aren't necessarily bad. Insects may have tried to start
eating the fruit because it is ripe, but have only marred the surface.
Unfortunately,
melons don't continue to ripen once picked, unlike fruits such as apples and
bananas, which contain ethylene. As a tip, don't store melons with these kinds
of fruit, they may well go 'soggy.'
