Tricks of the Trade

While prepping tonight's dinner it occurred to me that I've picked up a few things working in restaurants that have helped make my prep work go more smoothly. I'm no virtuoso, but I thought I'd share the ones I used tonight. Some of these are especially for Full Circle people.

Basil is a very fragile herb. It's tricky to stop it from going black. It doesn't want to be held at room temperature, but it's too fragile for the cold fridge. The key to making it last is to insulate it, which is probably one reason why it's often sold in those plastic boxes. Alas, Full Circle is way too PC to send us their home grown greenhouse basil in a plastic box. What does a girl do? You've got to baby your basil, big time. I like to use at least three bags to keep it warm, first a plastic layer, then a paper layer, and then another plastic bag layer. This picture shows Thai Basil that has been in my fridge for over a week without blackening, along with all the crazy baggage I used to keep it warm:
 

The easiest way to cut up a mango is to slice it in thirds, then cross hatch it, then slice it out of its skin. Which sounds like nonsense, but this is what it looks like midway through the process:
 
As for the middle section, you can usually slice off a few slivers, but I love mango so much I generally just eat this part like corn on the cob. LOL.

The easiest and most effective way to de-seed an avocado is to cut it in half, hack your knife into the seed and twist it out. This picture shows your knife hacked into the seed:
 

And this one shows what it looks like after you twist and pop the seed out:
 
Also, for Full Circle people, I've noted that Avocados, Tomatoes, Mangoes, and Pears all arrive a bit under-ripe and need a week on the counter before eating. I actually really love this about FCF because I can eat the stuff with a short shelf life first and enjoy those items in the second week (I get an every other week delivery).