Potato Skins

Potatoes now seem to come lovingly washed and polished from the supermarket and selected for relatively blemish free skins. As a result, I tend to leave the skin on for things like roast potatoes (Maris Piper's of course) and even chips. However, you really do need to peel them when making mash as stray bits of skin really do make for a rather interesting texture.

It does seem a shame to waste a pile of otherwise clean potato skins since they are rather tasty. However, as they're really leftovers I don't want to spend a lot of effort. This is what I've come up with...

• A pile of potato peelings (from enough potatoes for four people)
  
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• Squirt of lemon juice
• Microwave bacon crisper

1. Let the peelings dry a little
2. Toss them with the other ingredients, making sure they are well mixed
3. Lay the peelings evenly on the crisper in a single layer so they rest on the ridges
4. Microwave for approx 6 minutes on maximum power (800W). Ovens vary widely so try for 5 minutes and then add 30 second increments until the skins are browned.
5. The skins will come out soft and turn crisp as they cool.
6. You can use an ordinary plate but you will probably need to more oil to prevent sticking and you will need to turn the skins half way through.

Fat

Fat and cholesterol are the big bogeymen of the dietary world but eliminating them from your diet entirely is not a good idea unless you wish to have a really miserable existence. As with many things, however, moderation is good.

• A number of essential vitamins are fat-soluble (A, D, E and K). Your body can only absorb them when there is some fat in the diet to act as transportation as food passes through the alimentary tract. The body also uses fatty material in the liver to store reserves of these vitamins. Taking these vitamins as supplements, however, can be dangerous as fat soluble vitamins are not washed out of the body in the urine as water-soluble vitamins are. As a result, levels can build up until toxicity effects occur.
• Cholesterol is part of the steroid chemistry of the body - note the "sterol" part of it's name. Other quite important steroids are testosterone, oestrogen and progesterone - you'll want the biochemistry involving these to work properly.
• Many flavourings are fat-soluble too - the essential oils of many herbs and spices are prime examples. One important part of the cooking process if drawing these oils and fat-soluble flavourings out of the seasonings and dispersing them into the other components of the dish. Neglecting this fact explains why some diet recipies taste a little flat - often a very small amount of oil can improve the flavour markedly. Oils also tend to cling to food rather than seeping away or evaporating as water does, binding the flavours to the solid components of the food. An oil spray is a very good way of dispersing a small amount of oil throughout a dish during preparation.
  
• Fats/oils also have one other important property in terms of cooking - they have a much higher boiling point than water. This allows food to reach much higher temperatures and a variety of chemical changes such as caramelisation or browning can occur, giving food that cooked flavour. Again, many overzealously fat-reduced recipies exhibit a "raw" or "boiled" flavour as a result of neglecting this point. Often this can be worked around by judicous application of "dry" heat - for example, roasting spices before incorporation or flashing food under the grill for a bit. Again a little oil spray can also work wonders.
  

Coriander

I am one of those people who hate the flavour of coriander leaves (or cilantro as it is known in the America's). It is, apparently, a genetic thing. However, the fact that this herb has become "trendy" and now seems to be sprinkled in or on everything without regard its culinary utility is rather annoying.

I don't have a problem with the seeds or root and enjoy curry as much as the next person (or possibly rather more). It's interesting to note that growing up in SE Asia in the seventies or living in the UK in the eighties, curries didn't seem to come smothered in the vile green stuff but come the mid-to-late nineties it's everywhere. I also have a number of Indian and SE Asian cookery books from earlier times and the ingredient is suspiciously absent from the majority of recipes. I think the very idea of a green garnish on curries is a Western affectation which should be eradicated as soon as possible - but maybe I am biased.

Here are some haiku...

Pineapple

I really don't like these idiot pineapple devices (I don't have anything against Lakeland - they do do a lot of really good stuff too!) but they don't really save that much time compared to just using a good knife and waste a lot of pineapple. For starters, on a good ripe pineapple - the core is actually really nice and sweet without a lot of the acidity that the rest of the flesh does. Maybe this device is for those people who buy cheap crud - in which case they might as well buy a tin and stop pretending. If it's unripe, sit it on a windowsill with some bananas for a couple of days.

The way to peel a pineapple is quite simple - starting with a good, long sharp knife - I like the large Kitchen Devil Roast Meat and Bread Knife.

1. Top and tail the pineapple. If you sit the top in some moist compost it will root quite readily but you'll be lucky to get fruit in the UK climate.
2. Stand the pineapple on one of its (now) flat ends and shave strips of skin off the sides. YOu want the outer skin off but don't worry about the regular rows of "spines". These are actually the floral remnants on the fruit and have little sesame sized seeds at the bottom.
3. Pick up the bald pineapple in one hand and remove the spines by cutting diagonal shallow V's abut 5mm deep around the fruit. Follow the natural lines of the spines and keep going in the same direction. Not only do you get an attractive finish to the fruit but the most flavoursome flesh is between the spines. Sometimes you see little dark seeds in the flesh which you can flick out with the end of the knife.
4. Finally, take 1/4-1/2 a teaspoon of salt and rub it into the pineapple - the enhances the flavour no end and takes a little of the acid edge off. Wait a few minutes before eating the let the salt dissolve and penetrate.