Blanch Those Veggies

This post is for everybody sharing a CSA box of veggies, visiting the local farmer’s market, or starting to harvest their truck garden.

Blanching is a great way to quickly cook up fresh vegetables.  It keeps them firm, crunchy and full of flavor.

Photo by Eric Hunt

Technique:

—Fill the bottom of a skillet with enough water to cover your vegetables (add salt as desired).

—Bring water to a boil.

—Clean and cut vegetables while water is heating.

—Add vegetables to boiling water (not so many that the water losses its boil).

—Only just barely cook the vegetables (e.g. asparagus no more than 3m).

—Traditional: Remove vegetables and immediately submerge in an ice water bath.  Remove from bath when vegetables are cool.  Vegetables can be reheated (not cooked) later using your preferred method (since its summer, reheating on the grill comes to mind).  They can also be frozen for longer storage and reheated when needed.

Note: With this method, you can reuse the water to cook rice or pasta, which will incorporate the vitamins and other good stuff from the vegetable water.

—Shortcut: Take the pan to the sink and rinse with cold water, then serve.  (This is how I do it!)

Blanching is my favorite way to cook asparagus, it is a great way to cook green beans, and cauliflower comes out tasty as well.

Q: What do you do with your extra veggies, when your box or garden runneth over?

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