RecipeMuncher

You probably know these kitchen tips already, but maybe I can relate a new one. I have found these by trial and error, mostly error!

*You can freeze butter, I buy in bulk when it is on sale and freeze it

*You can freeze milk as well, once thawed, shake it well

*To get such butter from frozen solid to ready to use, put it in the microwave and use the defrost feature, checking often

*If you need room temperature eggs right now, pop them into your bra and it will heat them to room temp nicely in just a few minutes

*If you buy an unripe Avocado, it will ripen slowly and keep just about forever in the fridge (like a month)

*If you want to microwave an egg and not have a hard, dried mess in the bowl later, swish some water in the bowl and pour out before you throw in your egg

*A Silpat is your best friend, from cookies to candy, or even roast beef, nothing sticks to it!

*When making stock of any kind, don’t ever let it come to a rolling boil, it will make your stock cloudy, keep at a nice slow simmer

*If you Bananas are looking over ripe, but you aren’t ready to make anything with them, put them in the freezer, peel and all and when you are ready to make bread or muffins, just thaw them! works like a charm every time!

*If you are going to use hot peppers, wear gloves! Trust me on this I learned the hard way. The oil will still be on your fingers now matter how many times you wash your hands, and the next time you touch your nose, eye or any other sensitive parts you will be in agony.

*The only rice you need to rinse before cooking, is the short grain kind, the long grain does not need to be rinsed

*Throw an apple in with your potatoes and they will last longer and not develop eyes (growths)

*Don’t EVER EVER EVER refrigerate Tomatoes

Last Friday I made the mistake of committing myself to a regular and timetabled posting about a kitchen essential. Like the Chinese Olympian, Liu Xiang, I fell at the first hurdle and utterly failed to make a posting last week. There was a reason for this, it wasn’t merely laziness or plain old forgetfulness. I can’t now remember what that reason is but anyway, here is a Friday Nibbles post on a Tuesday. As a small concession to the fact that it is not a Friday, I’ve decided to make it about a general item rather than a specific product. So, essential item two for every kitchen cupboard is…

Chickpeas were one of the first vegetables to be domesticated. Archaeological evidence has been found dating them to at least 3500BCE, but the likelihood is that they were first cultivated even earlier than that in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East (the strip of land that runs between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, now mostly in modern day Iraq – it is a painful irony that archa…