Shock veg with a quick ice water bath. Lock in the flavor, vitamins, and color.
By DeliberateFare.com
Blanching vegetables is a long-standing kitchen technique for fruit and vegetable preparation and preservation. It helps to retain vital nutrients, remove bacteria, preserve texture, and my favorite -- make the color pop! Read more from the National Center for Home Food Preservation on blanching and a cooking time schedule.
INGREDIENTS
- Filtered water
- Kosher salt
- Fresh vegetables
METHOD
- Boil water in a large pot.
- While water is coming to a boil, prep the vegetables. If non-organic vegetable with a peel, remove peel. If organic, leave peel on for added nutrients. Cut vegetables into similar-sized pieces.
- To pot of boiling water, add a generous amount of salt.
- To pot of salted water, add fresh vegetable (one type at a time so that color is retained). Allow to boil for another several minutes or until vegetable is tender when pricked with a fork.
- Immediately remove vegetable from pot and place into a large bowl of ice water. I like to use a shallow pie dish.
- Once cooled, remove vegetable from ice water and set aside to dry.
- Repeat steps with remaining vegetables.
SUGGESTIONS
- Do not crowd vegetables in boiling water.
- Blanched vegetables are easy to freeze. Simply place blanched vegetable onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and place into freezer until frozen. Place frozen veggies into storage bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Use this technique in Harvest Chicken Pot Pie.
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