Blanch Like a Golden Girl

Blanch Like a Golden Girl

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

  1. Boil water in a large pot.
  2. 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.
  3. To pot of boiling water, add a generous amount of salt.
  4. 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.
  5. Immediately remove vegetable from pot and place into a large bowl of ice water. I like to use a shallow pie dish.
  6. Once cooled, remove vegetable from ice water and set aside to dry.
  7. 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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    Deliberate Fare: Katherine Chalkley

    Katherine - Katherine@DeliberateFare.com

    Hi, I'm Katherine. The food creation bug bit me in childhood when I would make “concoctions” and force them upon my siblings. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, baby (thanks, Beyonce!), I have a soft-spot for comfort food with a cosmopolitan twist. Chronic autoimmune disease, migraines, and a myriad of other medical complications impact my ability to tolerate certain foods. Most meals and snacks at our City-Ranch are made from scratch, with little preservatives and plenty of love. There is a lot of trial and error, and thankfully, my siblings and their children live nearby; twenty-five years later, I can still rope them into taste-testing my concoctions! Ha!

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