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Every wonder how to dice a carrot into perfect little cubes.  It’s not too hard to do, if you follow these simple steps.

Step 1 - Cut the carrot and half across the middle.

 Step 2 - Cut the halves in half again (lengthwise).  This will make it so the carrot is more stable in the next step.

Step 3 - Flip the cut carrot halves over, the cut side should be facing the board.  Cut the four pieces into three or four pieces each.  You should have 12 to 16 sticks of carrot after this step.

 This is what your carrot sticks should look like.

Step 4 - Line the sticks up together and cut across them to create a nice dice.  Your carrot dices should be all relatively the same size.

There you have it, nice little cubes of carrot.  You can make the cubes larger or smaller depending on what you are using them for.

 Have you ever brought your mushrooms home in one of those little blue containers with the plastic wrap and found in two to three days that your mushrooms are slimy? There is a way to avoid this.  The reason your mushrooms are getting slimy is they aren’t stored properly.  Wait a second the grocery store isn’t storing my mushrooms properly? The best way to store mushrooms is in paper bags.  I have actually tested this one out and the difference is amazing.  The paper bag allows air to circulate around the mushrooms and keeps the light out.  If you don’t believe me then just ask the Mushroom Council.(There really is such a thing.)

Okay, so now you have great looking mushrooms.  So what do you do with them?  I suggest making a mushroom risotto.  If you have never had a risotto, you should really try making one.  Risottos are delicious and creamy and work great with all varieties of mushrooms.  Need some ideas on which ones to try.  Here are some suggestions:

Giada’s Mushroom Risotto with Peas - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_25489,00.html?rsrc=search

Emeril’s Oven Roasted Tomatoes with Mushroom Risotto and Fresh Mozzarella - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_11110,00.html?rsrc=search

Or how about a pasta dish?

Wolfgang’s Pasta with Wild Mushroom Sauce - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_27217,00.html?rsrc=search

****Editor’s note - When I first ran this piece I had a part about not washing mushrooms, you will find that it has been removed.  A reader sent in a comment on Alton Brown testing this theory out and finding the mushrooms were fine when washed.  I would like to mention the mushrooms were only soaked for five minutes in the water and they did retain some water, a mere 3% of their body weight.  The jury is still out on this one.  I have read other sources that state you should not wash your mushrooms and other studies have indicated if mushrooms stay in the water for a longer period of time they will retain more water.  So, in the interest of fairness, I have removed the said piece of the article and will leave it up to the reader to discern which method is best for them.****  

Okay, so you watch Food TV and you see these chefs chopping onions like it’s the easiest thing in the world to do.  Well, it is quite easy once you learn the steps.  Here is a quick photo how-to on chopping onions. 

 Start by chopping onion vertically in half, be sure to leave the bulb end attached on both halves.  The next photo shows more clearly how the bulb end should look.

As you can see in this photo the bulb end is still on both halves of the onion.  Leaving the bulb in tact helps when you are slicing the onion.

 Peel the papery outside skin off the onion. 

Now here comes the tricky part.  Slice through the onion horizontally towards the bulb end. Make sure you don’t slice all the way through the bulb end, your onion won’t stay in tact and will become very difficult to work with.  Make three or four horizontal slices.  Turn the sliced onion to face you.

Now make vertical incisions with the onion facing you.  The more slices you make in either direction the smaller the dice of onion you will get.

 Turn the onion 90°.  You are now ready to chop through the onion.  Making sure your fingers are curled under, make slices across the onion.  Finish cutting through the onion toward the bulb end.  Repeat the same procedure with the other half of the onion.

The week before last I posted a recipe for pizza dough without photos.  I thought you might like to see it as a step by step process, so here it is as a photo tour.

This is what the yeast (2 1/4 tsp.) looks like when it is first poured into the bowl with 1/4 cup warm water (90° to 100° - you don’t want to go much over 100 or under 90 or the yeast won’t activate) and a tsp. of honey. 

After 10 minutes of proofing the yeast should bubble up, like this photo shows.  When the yeast is activated - pour it into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment.  Add the rest of the water 3/4 cup (warm water), 3 Tbls. of olive oil, and 2 1/2 cups of flour.  Turn mixer on and slowly add 1/2 tsp. salt.  You don’t want to add the salt to the yeast mixture without the flour because salt retards the growth of yeast.  Turn mixer on low speed until dough starts to come together.

The dough should start to look like this.  Once you have a nice dough ball formed turn mixer to 4 setting.  You will see the dough may stick to the sides of the mixer, add only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking (usually about 3/4 cup).  Keep mixer on for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes your dough should look like this.  You should be able to press the dough gently and it should rebound.  Take the dough of the dough hook and place on lightly floured counter or board.

 Knead the dough a couple of times until it feels elastic and smooth.  Place the kneaded dough face down into a bowl lightly greased with olive oil.  Flip the dough over and cover bowl with plastic wrap.  Allow the dough to rise for 1 1/2 hours, it will double in size. 

It will go from this to….

This!  Punch down the dough and divide in two.  You can either use the dough immediately, or refrigerator for a couple of hours, or freeze for a couple of weeks.  Happy Pizza Baking! 

To get a really nice crust on your pizza, I suggest turning the oven way up to 400° or 450°.  If you have a pizza stone, it can make a really nice crusty pizza for you.  Here’s a link to the original post, if you want the recipe in original form http://deglazing.com/2007/01/10/pizza-dough/http://deglazing.com/2007/01/10/pizza-dough/

Ever wondered how to do a chiffonade?  It’s a pretty simple technique that makes for a very beautiful confetti.  Here’s a step by step guide to doing a basil chiffonade.

Take loose basil leaves and stack into a pile.

 Stack the leaves one on top of the other and roll like a cigar.

Slice the roll into very thin slices.

The final product should be thin little strips of basil, like these. 

And that’s a pretty little basil chiffonade photo tour.

Adding citrus juice, flesh, and zest to a recipe can really punch up the flavor.  I use citrus all the time, especially in baking.  Have you ever wondered how to segment and orange, zest a lemon with a microplane, or juice citrus with a reamer?  Here’s a step-by-step photo guide to all things citrus.

Let’s start with segmenting an orange.

 Step 1 - Cut off both ends of the orange.  This makes the orange more stable and easier to peel.

Step 2 - Run a very sharp knife along the edge of the orange - separating the rind and pith from the flesh.  As you can see in this photo removing the ends of the orange helps to make this task much easier.

Step 3 - Cut between the membranes of the orange to remove the segments.  Be careful in this step, remember your knife is very sharp. 

Okay, now let’s look at zesting and reaming a lemon.

 Zesting a citrus fruit with a microplane is quite easy, but how do you know when you have reached the pith.  I learned this trick by watching Tyler Florence.  Hold the citrus fruit upright in your palm.  Turn the zester over so the backside faces you.  Now you can zest and see when you are about to reach the pitch. 

So you want to take the zest of the lemon, but you want it to be in full peels.  Take a kitchen peeler and remove the zest of the citrus fruit very carefully, again watch your fingers peeler can be extremely sharp.

The citrus reamer is probably the most simple kitchen tool to use.  Cut the citrus fruit in half, insert the reamer into the cut half and twist applying pressure to the fruit as you twist.  This inexpensive little tool can help you get the most juice out of your fruits.

I hope these tips help you the next time you are getting ready to use citrus in one of your recipes.

If you need breadcrumbs for a recipe why not try making your own?  Like I said yesterday, it couldn’t be easier with a food processor.  Don’t have a food processor, don’t fret you can do the same with a blender.  Here’s how you do it in a few easy steps.

 Cut your bread into pieces, place into processor.  Or…

Cut your bread into pieces, place into blender.

Pulse bread until it resembles breadcrumbs. (In either the food processor or blender)

Breadcrumbs should resemble this picture.

If you want to toast your breadcrumbs place on cookie sheet in oven at 325° for 15 minutes or until light golden brown.  Stir them once or twice during cooking.  Allow to cool.

One of the first things you should learn when you start baking for yourself at home, is the proper technique for measuring flour.  Some people say that you can increase your amount of flour by 25% by not measuring flour in the proper manner.  Want to learn the technique, here are some photos of how to do it step by step.

Step 1 - Sprinkle the flour into a measure with a spoon.  This lightens the flour.  Flour has a tendency to settle in your jars.

Step 2 - Slightly round the measuring cup with flour.

 Step 3 - Use a butter knife or cake spatula to remove excess flour.  Make sure you keep the knife steady, so you don’t upset the flour in the measuring cup.  You just want to remove the excess flour.

I hope these photos help you the next time you are getting ready to bake a cake.  This technique should help you make your baked goods as close to the recipe as possible.

Ever wanted to make your own chocolate sauce, but worried that you may scorch the chocolate?  Here’s a trick to ensure nicely melted, not scorched chocolate each time.  Take a glass bowl or another heat safe bowl and place it over a simmering saucepan.  Still can’t visualize it, here are some photos to show you what I mean.

Place glass bowl over saucepan with simmering water.  Be sure the water does not touch the bowl or your chocolate will scorch.  You can see I have already placed 1/2 cup heavy cream and 4 ounces of chocolate into the bowl to melt. 

Keep stirring the chocolate until it melts.  The finished consistency should be thin enough to drizzle.  If the consistency is not quite right, don’t panic!  It’s an easy fix.  Is the mixture too thin, add a few more chocolate chips.  Too thick?  Add a little more cream.  Be sure to add just a few chips or a little cream, the mixture will change texture quickly.  This chocolate can be used to drizzle over cupcakes or ice cream, or anything else you can think of.  Once it the mixture has a chance to rest it will thicken. 

Every once in a while I get really hungry for a good old fashioned eggplant parmigiana.  I tried a bunch of different methods to get the eggplant breaded, but found sometimes the old stand-by works best.  So here’s a quick look at breading technique.  You need three “stations” to make the breading work the best.  The first station is a flour station - simply flour and maybe salt and pepper.  The second station is the egg wash station.  To make an egg wash take an egg or eggs and beat with a little bit of water (1 Tbls. for each egg should do, you can also use milk or cream).  The final station is the breadcrumb station.  I like to add some finally grated cheese to the breadcrumbs, but not too much, the cheese can burn when you pan fry.

 Step 1 - Coat in flour

  Step 2 - Dip in egg wash

Step 3 - Coat in breadcrumbs

I find you can either deep fry or pan fry when you are finished with breading.  I prefer pan frying - it’s quicker and less greasy, but it’s all a matter of preference.  I hope you have fun breading all sorts of things like eggplant, zucchini, mozzarella, or chicken.