Heather Solos's Blog, page 79

Learn Your Refrigerator's Zones for Optimal Food Storage

Dear Home-Ec 101,

I need help!  I like my milk very, very cold, so the temperature in my fridge is very low (38 degrees), but my produce keeps freezing.  I do keep some produce in the produce drawers, and some I put on the top shelf to see if that worked better, and the jury is still out on that one.  Some things did better and some did not.  How can I have my milk cold and my produce crisp?

Signed,
Limpy Lettuce

Heather says:

38 is actually a great temperature for your refrigerator, but my theory is the cooling space of your appliance isn't all sitting at 38F.

Get to know your refrigerator's zones.

Your refrigerator may have very distinct zones and these zones may be much colder (or warmer) than the temperature indicated, depending on the location of the sensor. Get yourself a thermometer for your refrigerator, they are quite inexpensive -$5 on Amazon¹, significantly cheaper than a service call, no?

Over the course of a day or several days, set the thermometer in different locations in your fridge. Shut the door and allow the refrigerator to do its thing undisturbed for a couple of hours. Please don't just pop the thermometer on a shelf, and stand there waiting for the needle to stop moving. You won't get accurate results. The door needs to be shut long enough for the refrigerator to cycle and the temperature to return to normal. Write down the temperature of each zone and create yourself a map of your refrigerator.

How do I know where my refrigerator's zones are?

Well, it's going to depend a lot on the layout of your particular appliance, but generally the upper area is cooler than the bottom. In general drawers are more about either organization or humidity than temperature, unless there is a drawer at the bottom of the appliance for holding meat. This drawer may have a small vent from the freezer that keeps this portion of the refrigerator extra cold.

You may find that the temperature of your refrigerator is different from the one indicated. Adjust your refrigerator's thermostat accordingly or simply change your storage habits. If it's wildly different, it may be time for a service call.

Ivy, my former partner here, once wrote about How to Minimize Food Waste by Thinking Like a Kitchen Manager. It's a great post explaining the first in first out concept and other ways to reduce the amount of food waste in a home kitchen.

Additionally know that storing produce in a refrigerator isn't as simple as just opening the door and plunking it on a shelf. Produce is very persnickety about silly things like humidity. Aside from cooling food one of your refrigerator's most important jobs is removing excess humidity. The slider on your refrigerator's produce drawer is more than just a nifty little decoration, it opens and closes a vent to allow or prevent the circulation of moisture from the drawer.

The Unclutterer has an old, but highly useful guide to storing produce in a refrigerator.

Have fun getting to know your appliance.

Submit your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

¹Affiliate link

Learn Your Refrigerator's Zones for Optimal Food Storage is a post from: Home Ec 101 ©Home Ec 101.com 2007 - 2011

Stiff Jeans – Friday's Ask the Audience

Dear Home-Ec 101,

First off I just have to say I love ur site, as a 27 year-old, first time parent it has been a lifesaver. Really wish they would teach these things like they used to in schools. Once had a friend throw away a brand new pair of pants because they and their mom couldn't sew on a button, I mean really!

Anyway here's my question:

My aunt gave me some jeans, for my husband. They are so starched from the cleaners that they really stand on their own. Can't even get a leg through them. Tried washing them a bunch but still can't seem to get the starch out. Called my aunt to see if she had any ideas, turns out she has been trying for months that's why she gave them to me.  LOL Said she took them to the cleaners one day and that's how she got them back.  Any ideas would be nice, hate to get rid of 12 or so perfectly good jeans.

Signed,

Stiff-legged in Stillwater

Heather says:

Your question is very interesting. Laundry starch should be water soluble. This means that it should dissolve in water.

Corn starch is actually more soluble in cold water than hot, it has to do with the structure of the starch chains and how that changes with temperature.

I talked it over with my good friend Jenn Fowler of Frugal Upstate and here's what we brainstormed:

Wash the jeans in your washer on cold and add a cup of white vinegar to the rinse. Make sure you set the washer to agitate for as long as possible. Hopefully the combination of cold water and physical agitation will break up some of those long chains of starches, making the jeans more pliable.

Don't overload your washer, only do a few pairs at a time, especially if these are jeans for a bigger guy, you want a lot of room for the jeans to move around. Also, leave the load setting on Large to ensure there's a lot of water for the starch to dissolve into.

If you don't have dryer balls (what am I 12? That just makes me giggle) toss a couple of tennis balls into your dryer and tumble dry. I know it's not the greenest choice to use a dryer, but line drying does cause fabrics to feel more stiff.

I have seen suggestions to use cheap shampoo or conditioner on new jeans to help soften them, but I have not tried this although I can sort of see the theory behind the idea. I would only try this if the jeans were about to go in the donation or trash pile.

How about it, Home Ec Readers, what would you suggest?

Submit your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

 

Stiff Jeans – Friday's Ask the Audience is a post from: Home Ec 101 ©Home Ec 101.com 2007 - 2011

How to Solve the Soaking Problem with a Front Load Washer

Dear Home-Ec 101,
I have smelly towel syndrome and want to try your idea with the borax and vinegar, but I do not know how to add the vinegar to my rinse cycle. With a front load, its a little more difficult to add anything to it or even "soak" anything in the drum. I have bought a product called "Smelly Washer" but it requires you to soak the solution in the drum for hours. I have no clue how to do this since the drum drains anytime you stop the washer?
Please help on these two issues:

1. How to "soak" in a front load washer.
2. How to add to the extra rinse cycle (or rinse cycle, period)
Thanks so much!

Signed,
Front Loaded

Heather says:

Before we step into problem solving mode, let's figure out what the problem is.

Washing clothing in water uses three kinds of energy : chemical, heat, or physical or a combination thereof. Cleaning clothing pretty much coming down to finding a balance of these energies -wow it sounds so new age- that won't damage the fibers.

Soaking is a way to give the chemical portion of the equation time to work. While your clothes are just sitting in water, the molecules in that water are moving around like crazy on a level we can't see.

Think about adding drops of food coloring to a glass of water, the color spreads, the drops of food coloring don't just hangout as droplets in the water. Also, you may notice that the color spreads faster in warm or hot water than in very cold.

Soaking clothing  is basically the same. You have your detergent molecules bouncing around in water maybe bouncing into dirt, maybe bouncing off clothing fibers. There's a lot of random stuff happening in there and time gives those molecules more time to get a hold of the dirt and bring it into solution where it isn't still on your clothing.

Now for your smelly towels:

Soaking gives the detergent molecules that are clinging to the towels a chance to come off of the towels and into solution. This will happen much faster with hot water than with cold, simply because detergent is more soluble (more can be in the water) at higher temperatures. The vinegar and borax, not at the same time mind you, changes the pH of the water which also can improve the solubility of the detergent stuck to your towels.

So what about physical energy?

You get physical energy with agitation or tumbling. This forces water through the clothing (you do know that most fabric isn't water tight, right?) increasing the number of interactions between the solution and the and the molecules (stains and dirt) that we want to come off of the fabric).

The problem with front loaders: You need your laundry to have more time in the cleaning solution.
(detergent and water, vinegar and water, or borax and water).

Work arounds for the front loader soaking problem.

There are multiple ways to handle the soaking issue with a front load washer. The lowest tech and simplest method is to just use a bucket to soak items outside of the washer itself. If you have a lot of items, the bathtub is another option, but I'll warn you the trek from the tub to the washer with a basket of sodden towels isn't exactly fun. Just be glad it's not down to the creek and back, right?

Another solution is to use the pre-wash cycle as a soaking cycle, understanding that the tumbling of the washtub increases the amount of physical energy involved.

If I find I have accidentally created detergent build up on my towels, I simply run the longest cycle on the hottest settings, with borax in the detergent receptacle and vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser. This really is only effective with a small load, if you are overloading the washer, there will simply not be enough water to get rid of the detergent.

There isn't anything magical about a rinse cycle in a front load washer. It is simply a cycle where no detergent is in the water. If you need a rinse cycle and lack a rinse and spin option on your washer, just run a load without detergent.

Finally, with a product like Smelly Washer that requires soaking in the tub, unplug your washer before it has time to drain. Then allow the product to work overnight.

Also, check the lint trap in your drain line, that can be a serious source of funk in many front loading washers.

Submit your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

 

How to Solve the Soaking Problem with a Front Load Washer is a post from: Home Ec 101 ©Home Ec 101.com 2007 - 2011

How to Care for Acacia Wood

Dear Home-Ec 101,

I have a dispute to settle. My husband and I recently bought the most beautiful, rustic acacia wood dining table. However, a couple of days ago we noticed that it is starting to crack here and there. Yes, we are young and with a house full of Ikea furniture it did not even dawn on us that we would have to take special care with our new lovely table in this dry, desert climate (we live in Las Vegas.) We did some googling and found that it is recommended to use a wax on acacia wood. However, my husband's parents said NOT to use a wax but an oil instead. Help!

Sincerely,
Confused in Las Vegas

Heather says:

Photo Credit: Justin

Do you know what I love about Home-Ec 101? I've been running this site for just about 4.5 years and I learn things almost every week, researching answers to reader questions.

I had heard of acacia trees, but I only pictured them as the scrubby trees seen in movies like The Gods Must Be Crazy  I was trying to picture how these trees would be useful for furniture, so I began to research. It turns out there is an Australian species of acacia that is quite large and useful for timber and furniture. Neat.

The important thing to remember about all wood is that it was a living organism. Just like you, plants are made of cells that contain a lot of water and just like you would dry out in Las Vegas, so will your table. We coat wood with different protective coatings* to try to keep the moisture at the proper level. Too much moisture and the cells will swell, too little and they will shrink to the point cracks, that can lead to splitting occur.

The interesting thing about your argument is that you are both right, just not at the same time. It doesn't really matter whether you choose an oil or a wax, just that you don't switch between the two.

Furniture oils and waxes both create a protective barrier between the wood and the air and as with any debate on these Interwebz, people tend to defend their choice with vehemence.

So, how do you choose?

Furniture oils must be applied often, but the application is quite painless.

Furniture wax or paste wax creates a harder finish that can last up to a year on high use furniture (like tables) and much longer on items that serve a more decorative function. However paste wax is a pain in the rear to apply and you'll probably spend a good morning or afternoon on the application, but a quick buffing will keep the piece looking good between applications.

Finally keep in mind we are discussing furniture polish, not finish. The finish of a piece of wood is the stain or varnish and that also acts as a protective barrier for your table. The furniture wax or polish also helps preserve the finish.

Whatever you do, stay far, far away from any product with silicone. You'll thank me later when it comes time to strip and refinish your table.

Good luck!

*It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.

Submit your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

How to Care for Acacia Wood is a post from: Home Ec 101 ©Home Ec 101.com 2007 - 2011

Chocolate Fond-ugh

Dear Home-Ec 101,

Four months ago, we had a birthday party for a friend. One person made a really awesome chocolate fondue into which we dipped marshmallows and assorted fruit. It was heavenly. Rather than disposing of the leftover fondue at the end of the night, one of us just put it in the fridge to deal with later.It's later! Yes, seriously, four months later. The fondue is still in its cute vintage 1970s fondue pot, in the fridge at my friend's house. I want to take care of this for her, but I'm not sure how to start. Will I need to heat it up and then dispose of it? Before you ask, no, I haven't opened the lid and looked. (Hold me; I'm scared!)

Signed,

Fond-ewwww

Heather says:

While the chocolate fondue may not be pretty, I can guarantee you that it won't be the worst refrigerator science fair project ever created. The high sugar content of the chocolate fondue will actually have helped preserve the sauce, so it may not even look like a chia pet gone horribly awry.

If the fondue has completely dried out and solidified  in the past few months, reheating it gently may help soften it enough to scoop out with spatula.

Once you have the bulk of the fondue in the trash can, clean the pot with very hot water, dish soap, and elbow grease, just like any other pot.

And if you're curious, Peggy Post says that in the case of potlucks the owner of the [fondue pot], not the hostess, is responsible for retrieving the item.

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com

Chocolate Fond-ugh is a post from: Home Ec 101 ©Home Ec 101.com 2007 - 2011

The Pre-Occupied Man's Spaghetti

[image error]Brian says:
Let's face it, we can find ourselves relatively busy throughout the week (and some weekends, unfortunately) and cooking can become something of a chore more than an essential trait over time. Now, I can't really provide an all-inclusive way to end this vicious cycle, but there is a recipe I have up my sleeve to help ease the stress. This spaghetti pomodoro recipe–taught to me by an old Sicilian nanny–is simple, fast and unbelievably delicious. Give it a try the next time you're feeling swamped. Serves two.

 

You'll need:

 9 oz. of uncooked spaghetti 1 16-oz. can of peeled tomatoes. If you can your own that's even better! 3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed Extra virgin olive oil Salt and pepper Freshly grated cheese (I recommend Parmigiano-reggiano) Parsley, fresh and chopped (optional) Red pepper flakes (optional) Sugar (optional)

 

1. In a sizable saute pan, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. On medium heat, add the garlic and saute until it starts to brown. At this point, turn off the heat and add the red pepper and parsley (both optional) and let stand for about 10 minutes.

2. Turn the heat back on to medium-low and add the canned tomatoes, crushing them by hand as you add them. Once crushed into the pan, season with salt and pepper. You can add a pinch of sugar as well to eliminate the acidity. Let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes until all the excess water has been cooked away.

3. While this is going on, boil the spaghetti in generously salted water until it's al dente. Once finished, set one cup of the pasta water to the side and drain.

4. Add about a 1/4 cup of the pasta water to the sauce, let cook for a minute or so then add the pasta to the pan until it's coated and has started to absorb the sauce.

5. Pour pasta into a bowl, incorporating the grated cheese until the sauce gains a creamy consistency. Serve immediately.

Brian Wilder is a writer for Home Ec 101. You can also find him at Things My Grandfather Taught Me.
If you have a question you'd like Brian to answer send it to Brian@home-ec101.com.

 

The Pre-Occupied Man's Spaghetti is a post from: Home Ec 101 ©Home Ec 101.com 2007 - 2011

Quick and Easy Breakfast Ideas: Home-Ec 101 Ask the Audience

Dear Home-Ec 101:

I am in need of some breakfast food that can be eaten at my desk at work. I admit it, I've been spoiled. For the first 4 years after college I worked for a bookstore in a mall with a multitude of restaurants. The next 8 years I worked in an office building with an on-site cafeteria & coffee shop. My office has just relocated to a new building with no cafeteria. There are lots of restaurants nearby, but they cost more and take longer than running across the street to the cafeteria or down the hall to the bagel shop. I'm a person that can't eat until I've been awake for awhile and I'm already getting up at 4:30 AM to make it to work by 7 AM so getting up earlier and eating at home isn't really an option, and there are only so many days in a row I can eat cereal.

Do you have any suggestions for easy breakfasts that can either be made at home the night before and reheated in the office microwave, or made at work? I have access to a microwave and instant hot water, but no toaster. My normal breakfast is a caramel light frappucino – but not only is that not particularly budget friendly, I know it's not good for me so I am trying very hard to cut back. Also, sometimes it's not enough and then I'm starving at 10 AM and hitting the snack machine. I'm getting desperate, today I had a breakfast Lean Pocket. Help!

Signed,
Starving in Stanford

Heather says:

I can sympathize with not being able to eat until later in the morning, I've been that way my entire life. I have coffee to stave off the crazy, but actual food has to wait until I've been up for a while.

We eat a lot of eggs in our home. My mother raises chickens and we reap the reward. How lucky is that?

Breakfast burritos are extremely quick, can be made in large batches and are kept in the freezer for quick, microwaveable breakfasts. Just scramble some eggs and cook bacon or sausage and wrap in a tortilla. I usually chop up a little cilantro to add to mine. Wrap these individually in plastic wrap and freeze.

Frittatas are another very flexible egg dish. Here's a basic outline of how to make a frittata. I find the leftovers microwave just fine. To keep this idea from getting tiresome, change up your ingredients. Use different kinds of sausages and a variety of vegetables or take a tip from the Spanish and use potatoes to make tortilla -not the flour kind.

I have a granola recipe I triple and bake. I store the granola in an airtight container and it's perfect as a cereal, in yogurt, or heck eaten out of hand.

In the near future I'll try to pull together a tutorial for pasties (not the kind you find in adult establishments, rather the type you find in upper Michigan bakeries).

As I'm supposed to be on vacation right now -at least I'm writing outside, right?- I'm going to open this question up to the Home-Ec 101 audience.

So Home-Eccers, what suggestions do you have for quick, microwavable breakfasts?

Quick and Easy Breakfast Ideas: Home-Ec 101 Ask the Audience is a post from: Home Ec 101 ©Home Ec 101.com 2007 - 2011

Get Clothing Clutter Under Control

Dear Home-Ec 101,

I have a dilemma. I find my bedroom becoming cluttered very quickly with clothes that are "too clean to wash" yet "not clean enough to put away". I was a single mom for many years, going to school or working, sometimes more than one job, and as a result, I didn't want to spend more time on laundry than I had to. I'd wear clothes until they were visibly dirty, overly wrinkled, or they became… umm… odiferous.

When I was a single parent, that didn't take as long as it does now! Now, I'm married and have one teen at home (who is responsible for his own laundry). I work at home caring for my elderly parents, and the piles of "not clean, not dirty" clothes are overwhelming. In our bedroom and my parents'! Sometimes, items in the pile have to be washed simply because they have been there so long, they've become wrinkled.

What do other people do with their clothes? Do they wash every item, every time they wear it? Do they wear the same thing until it needs to be washed? Do they hang up or fold and put away slacks and jeans and tops that have been worn but aren't dirty?

Help me get out from under this heap! If you need something cleaned, I'm your girl. I'm not a very physically organized person, and "stuff" is my great foe.

Signed,
Clothes Horse

Heather says:

I'll let you in on a secret, I'm a bit disorganized, too. Ok I struggle a lot with organization, but I do try.  I tend to be a perfectionist control freak -no comments from the peanut gallery, thank you very much- about my own space, which in a weird cruel twist of fate means stuff often piles up as I wait for the "right" time to take of something. It takes a huge amount of -wait for it, I'm about to say a dirty word- self-discipline for me to do the daily upkeep that  organization requires.

When I read your dilemma my first thought is that perhaps you have too much clothing.

Generally speaking those of us who live in relatively affluent Western cultures have too much stuff and that stuff causes misery. If we aren't careful we tend to enter a cycle where we work to buy things and then work to take care of our things and then work to buy more things to replace the things that fell apart due to neglect. I'm tired just thinking about it.  (You all know that this is where some people are going to tell me that they live with exactly 3 pieces of clothing not including their underwear and that they have no idea what I'm talking about, right?)

So outside of those people who claim to have 3 items of clothing, what are you to do?

Don't pile your clothing. 

Piles are the enemy.

Hang everything you possibly can, ESPECIALLY the items that have been worn but aren't ready for washing. If you can't hang everything, then you must find storage for out of season clothing and I don't mean a pile in the corner of your room. Space saver bags, a box under the bed, a box in the attic, anywhere except a pile that's going to get knocked over and them trampled on.

Hanging allows clothing to dry thoroughly, preventing that musty now I have to wash it condition.

Go into your closet(s) right now and hang everything backwards on the bar.

As you wear items and wash them, hang them the normal way on the leftmost side of the bar. Just keep shoving the stuff hanging backwards toward the right. Over six months or a year (depending on your climate) you're going to get a better idea of the clothing you actually wear. Donate or consign the rest and do not feel guilty about it.

Just let it go. Someone else needs that item much more than you.

Don't hang onto items for "when I lose ten pounds" and certainly don't hang onto items "in case I gain ten pounds."

Just let it go.

While you're undergoing the great clothing weed out, do not buy more clothing. If there is an item you cannot pass up, something in your closet has to leave the house before that item can be introduced to your wardrobe.

This isn't an overnight fix, but  over time you will notice a significant reduction in the amount of laundry done in your home.

Good luck!

 Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

Get Clothing Clutter Under Control is a post from: Home Ec 101 ©Home Ec 101.com 2007 - 2011

Why Does My Cornbread Burn on the Bottom?

Dear Home-Ec 101,

How do you keep the bottom of the cornbread from burning? I use an electric oven and I've tried putting my muffin pan on the higher rack but that didn't help. The bottom burns but the top stays light.

Signed,

I Would Prefer Cajun Style Blackening

Heather says:

It's fairly common for household ovens to not heat to an accurate temperature. This is an incredibly frustrating experience, especially for new cooks who may think, "I followed the directions! I'm a complete failure at cooking."  How would a novice know that it was mechanical failure and not their fault? Heck, I get frustrated on their behalf and please don't even get me started on flimsy .

Cooking food is a balance of applying enough heat to cook the inside of food in a reasonable amount of time and not so much that the outside burns before the interior has cooked. This is true regardless of the cooking method. When baking or roasting, the temperature of the air in the oven is responsible for the majority of the heat transfer (indirect heating). However, the baking sheet (or muffin tin or pan) gets heated by the air, too. Metal is a great conductor of heat, in fact it is far better at heat transference than air. Once the pan reaches the temperature of the oven, it also cooks your food through direct heating. This is why the bottom of your cornbread gets done before the top (and quite possibly the middle)

The first thing I suggest is getting an oven thermometer, this will give you an accurate indication of whether or not your oven is heating to the proper temperature. To test your oven, place one of the racks in the middle position, hang the thermometer from the rack, set the oven to 350F and wait for 20 minutes. Now check the temperature on the thermometer, this should be a much more accurate indication of the actual cooking temperature your oven is maintaining.

If your oven's temperature is off, it may need calibrating, check your owner's manual of your oven. If you can't find it, use Google and perform a quick search of the make and model of your appliance. Many manufacturers have the pdf of  the owner's manuals available online.

If your oven's temperature is off by 20 degrees or more, the thermostat -the part that controls the temperature- may need to be replaced. If it's only off by five or ten degrees it won't matter for all but the most delicate of baked goods. Just make a note and set your oven's temperature accordingly.

As a stopgap measure to try to keep the bottom of your cornbread from burning, place the pan on a room temperature baking sheet or pizza stone in the oven. This may delay the direct heating long enough that the top of your cornbread has a chance to finish cooking.

 

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com

This question came from a comment on the post: Sweet Cornbread Recipe.

Why Does My Cornbread Burn on the Bottom? is a post from: Home Ec 101 ©Home Ec 101.com 2007 - 2011

Simple Tomato Salad Recipe and Basil Chiffonade Tutorial

 

 

Bobbie says:
What's the best way to eat a homegrown tomato?

1) Open your mouth.
2) Take a bite.
3) Swoon.

I'm totally serious, but you're probably looking for something just slightly more involved. Make a Simple Tomato Salad. The most basic version is merely to arrange sliced tomatoes on a plate or cut chunks of tomatoes into a bowl, sprinkle with salt & pepper, then finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or a plop of mayonnaise. Toss (or don't) and serve. I'd never thought of serving just tomatoes and mayonnaise until my husband asked for it. Simple, yet satisfying.

Honestly, some heirloom varieties have such a splendid tartness to them that the juice itself can sub for vinegar – it combines with the oil or mayo and makes a lavishly flavorful dressing, needing nothing more than salt and pepper for completion.

Still wanting a little something more – like an actual recipe? Can do, but if you have genuine homegrown tomatoes that are already amazing on their own, keep them center stage. Create a salad around the tomatoes to highlight, rather than overpower, their delightful piquancy. Use just a few other ingredients to enhance that all-too-rare tomato experience without diverting attention from the star player.

As an example, here's a tomato, onion and basil salad with the simplest kind of vinagrette possible – drizzle and you're done. The hardest part is the basil chiffonade, and even that's pretty easy. Never heard of chiffonade? Don't panic – it's a twenty-five dollar name for a simple, useful technique. Let's get started.

Simple Tomato Salad Recipe and Basil Chiffonade Tutorial4 large fresh basil leaves2 large, very ripe, homegrown tomatoes, about the size of your fist. Use an heirloom variety, if possible1 medium Vidalia or other sweet onionBlack pepper to taste, freshly ground if you have itSea salt to taste3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Chiffonade is French word, literally meaning "made of rags." It's a method for easily cutting herbs or leafy veggies (such as lettuce or spinach) into long, thin strips. It's handy here because, while fresh basil is a wondrous thing, discovering you've got an entire basil leaf in one's mouth is not appreciated by everyone. This technique yields lovely little strips that mix into the salad nicely.

Wash the basil leaves and pat dry. Trim off stems, if present, so you have only the leaves. Stack the leaves on your cutting board, and, starting from a pointy end rather than a side, carefully begin to roll up the stacked leaves. Neatness is not important here – just try to get them into a roll about the diameter of your pinky finger, more or less.

 

 

 

Firmly hold the rolled leaves on the cutting board with the fingers of your non-knife hand, then using a very sharp knife, slice the rolled basil leaves into thin strips, about 1/8 inch wide. Set aside.

 

 

 

Wash the tomatoes and trim off any spots you find unappealing. Some tomatoes have a stem (or core) that go deeper into the tomato than you may find in other varieties. These parts can have a woody texture, so be sure to find and remove all of the stem/core or you may have an unpleasant surprise in your salad. (It won't hurt you – it'll just be rather hard to chew and taste more like tree than tomato.) Cut the tomatoes into largish chunks, right into the serving dish.

 

 

 

Thinly slice the sweet onion and cut the slices into halves or thirds, separating the layers into strips. Add
these to the dish, then scatter the basil over the top. Give a light sprinkling of salt and pepper to the veggies. Drizzle with the olive oil, then the vinegar. Let stand at room temperature up to half an hour.

Toss gently just before serving. This is a salad that can be served as an appetizer. Oh, and the wondrous blending of olive oil, balsamic vinegar with the tomato juices & seasonings will beg to be sopped up with a good, crusty bread.

 

Balsamic vinegar (in my opinion) is perfect with tomatoes, but experiment with red or white wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, or lemon or lime juice. Use different onions, or use no onions. Or try shallots. Or….garlic! Vary the herbs. Use a combination. Or use none. Toss another veggie into the mix: a bit of colorful sweet pepper, either fresh or roasted & peeled. Cucumbers &  tomatoes, chunked, then tossed with  mayonnaise is a very quick and surprisingly good salad when you need something last minute.

What's the surest way to kill a good tomato? Refrigerate it. Oh, it still LOOKS like a tomato, but the texture is transformed from firm to mealy, and the sharp flavor will become dulled. Personally, once a tomato's been chilled, I'll only use it for cooking. For peak flavor and best texture, homegrown tomatoes should be stored at room temperature and used as they ripen. I'm not passionate about many things in life, but decent tomatoes are near and dear to my heart, and I will do without fresh tomatoes rather than eat the flavorless, mealy pretenders that are foist upon us out of season.

The rather bossy opinions expressed herein are those of the author, Bobbie Laughman, and not necessarily those of the management of Home Ec 101.

Simple Tomato Salad Recipe and Basil Chiffonade Tutorial is a post from: Home Ec 101 ©Home Ec 101.com 2007 - 2011