peeler – Food and Tools

A little bit of information

Many people think that the massive wheels of Grana Padano, the semi-aged hard Italian cheese, are maybe a cheaper knock-off of better known Parmigiana-Reggiano, says Lou DiPalo, part of the fourth generation to run DiPalo’s Fine Foods in Little Italy. In fact, he says, Grana is a great cheese in its own right and well-known in Italy. Grano Padano is a subtler and less nutty and salty than Parmigiano, says DiPalo, with a more delicate flavor that he prefers on risotto or when you don’t want to overpower a dish.

via Know your Italian cheeses: Grana Padano vs. Parmigiana-Reggiano – New York Daily News.

The above link does not exist anymore… will up-date soon.

Fresh is best

None of that dried Parmesan cheese that you get in packets will ever find its way into my cooking, you cannot compare the flavour against fresh Parmesan. Sometimes I like having more visible Parmesan cheese in my food, so shaving the Parmesan cheese with my swivel vegetable peeler makes it an easy job.

So easy

Run a swivel vegetable peeler along the narrow side of a chunk of Parmesan to obtain thin shavings of cheese.

Add a burst of flavour and make your food look good:

Top a caesar salad with some Parmesan shavings or toss them with a green leafy salad with fresh strawberries and balsamic dressing
Scatter some Parmesan shavings over a freshly baked pizza before serving
Before serving I like to garnish risotto and pasta dishes with a small bundle of Parmesan shavings, piled on top of the food.

The vegetable peeler is an essential kitchen tool that makes peeling of vegetables and fruits much easier. I like to have at least 3 peelers in my kitchen… somehow on the odd occasion they make their way (unnoticed) into the rubbish bin with the discard peels. The annoying thing is, I only seem to discover this the next time I want to peel something.

A vegetable peeler with a really sharp blade is an essential cooks tool, it should be comfortable to hold, remove the bare minimum of peel (thus hanging on to more precious vitamins), resulting in less wastage. How many of you keep a peeler with a blunt blade? You struggle when peeling your vegetables and fruit and swear that you will go out and buy a new one.

The swivel peeler is a favorite and great for peeling easy cucumber ribbons for salads and garnishes. Have you ever need soft butter fast? Take the rock hard butter from the fridge and using the vegetable peeler, shave the butter onto a plate, the butter will soften in minutes. Using your vegetable peeler to sharpen pencils… well I can’t say I recommend that.