Food for Thought: The Benefits of an Immersion Blender

The key to success while cooking is to have the right utensils. While most people know the basics, like having a skillet or a proper set of knives or a cutting board or measuring cups and spoons, but one utensil that most don’t think of is an immersion blender.

Also known as hand blenders, immersion blenders are easy to use, to clean up and can be used for more than just make soup. An immersion blender can be a valuable addition to your kitchen tools because they are compact, cheap, versatile, fast, portable and cut down on clean up time.

– Wash as soon as possible: Because of the hard-to-reach spots on the blender blade, wash as soon as possible under very hot water and give it a gentle scrub with a soaped-sponge.

– Blend in bigger quantities: Avoid small quantities and shallow dishes. For best results, you want the head of the immersion blender to be fully submerged in what you are blending.

– Move it around: Move blender around for best results. Move up and down when using a plastic beaker or move blender in a slow stirring motion for a soup.

– Let hot dishes cool: Remove any soups or hot-blended dishes from heat and let cool for 10-20 minutes before blending anything. Hot splatter from a dish can cause burns.

EASY RECIPE

Fried Green Tomatoes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

3 to 4 green tomatoes, peeled

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup white cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt

Peanut or vegetable oil, for frying

Steps

Cut the tomatoes into about four nice slices each.

In a large bowl, combine cold tap water with 2 teaspoons salt and a couple of ice cubes. Add the tomato slices and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to overnight.

When ready to fry, drain the tomato slices and pat dry with paper towels.

Place the flour, cornmeal, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grindings of pepper in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Stir to combine.

Dredge the tomatoes in the flour mixture, coating well on all sides. Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet and refrigerate or freeze while you heat the oil.

Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Place a colander or wire wrack on a rimmed baking sheet.

In a large cast iron skillet, pour the oil to measure 1 inch up the sides of the pan. Place over medium-high heat and heat the oil to 350 degrees, or until a pinch of cornmeal sizzles when added to the oil.

Remove the tomato slices from the fridge, and carefully drop three or four slices at a time into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to the prepared colander to drain. Transfer the drained slices to a second baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with the remaining tomato slices.