Lemon Juice and Zest

The invention of the microplane, has improved anyone's ability to flavor food.  Previously, only the most skilled of cooks could remove the zest from citrus and chop it finely enough to be used in the way we now take for granted.

In my opinion, the zest grated with a microplane is just as useful as the juice of a citrus fruit.  In fact, if I am out of lemon juice, I throw in a few pinches of frozen zest, and the substitution works well, sometimes even better than using juice.

Microplanes come in various sizes for various purposes.  With the right choice, ginger, garlic, hard cheeses, coconut, and onion can be finely grated with this amazing tool.

This is the protective cover of my Microplane.  Sturdily build, I have used it for about eight years.

For grating zest, you will need the finest, or smallest microplane grater.

I find it easier to run the zester upside down on top of the fruit.  Usually I am holding the fruit in my hand, but the photo was awkward to take, so just imagine I am holding the lemon and grating.  Just remember to hold the fruit in your hand, and use the zester upside down.

When you purchase a large bag of lemons or limes from a warehouse, resolve to prepare the whole bag within a day or two.  Zesting the warehouse-sized bag of lemons will yield two cups.  Place them in half pint jars, and freeze.  Frozen zest is fluffy, easy to remove from the jar a pinch or more at a time.  Now,  tackle the task of juicing the lemons  If you've run out of time after preparing the zest, refrigerate the skinned lemons overnight and juice them the next day.

Use any type of juicer, hand or electric.  This little Sunbeam juicer cost me just under $10, twenty years ago.  Definitely worth the money.  I think there is less waste if a juicer is used rather than squeezing by hand like the TV cooks like to do.  It looks showy to do it that way, but it is wasteful.

Stack the empty rinds for a quick trip to throw them out.

A warehouse-sized bag of lemons will yield approximately 3 and a half cups of juice. 

I used the blender jar, just to measure.  I often use my blender jar for quick measurements because it is nearby.  I'll talk about the amazing Blendtec in future posts.

Freeze the juice in ice cube trays, then transfer to ziploc bags for storage. 

Be sure and measure your ice cube tray so that you know how much juice is in each cube.  To test capacity, fill one compartment with water a tablespoon at a time until it is full.  My ice cube trays hold 2 tablespoons.  Remembering that 4 tablespoons is a quarter of a cup, it is quick to calculate how many lemon juice cubes you will need in a recipe.

By zesting and juicing an entire bag of lemons, you save both time and money.  With the zest and juice safely stored in the freezer, you have not let any lemons go bad.  As you are cooking you will love having those frozen cubes of flavorful juice, ready for use.

Easy Meals that serve 50

Baked Rice Pilaf (50 servings)
1/2 pound angel hair pasta, crushed, then toasted in 1/4 cup peanut oil
1/2 of a 16-ounce container of soup base, chicken or beef (we use McCormick's)
9 cups rice (either white or brown or combination)
24 cups hot water

Crush pasta using a kitchen towel and the edge of the counter to break into lengths from 1 to 2 inches.  Unroll towel into pan with oil heating.  Toast until quite brown.  Combine water and soup base in a commercial baking pan.  Add toasted pasta and rice, and stir.  Cover pan with aluminum foil.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Turn oven to 250 degrees and bake for one more hour.  If the pilaf is ready to serve, turn oven to low until serving time.

Main courses that go well with rice pilaf:

Teriaki Chicken
Roasted pork or beef
Rotisserie Chicken
Mexican food accompaniment along with refried beans

Serve with a tossed salad and any type of bread if you are feeding a hungry crowd.

Hawaiian Haystacks (50 servings)

Rice
12 cups uncooked white rice + 24 cups water
6 cups brown rice + 9 cups water

 Use two large electric rice cookers to cook white rice.  Put 6 cups of rice in each cooker.  Add 12 cups of water to each cooker.  Turn cooker as early as you want, because the cooker will hold the rice at the correct temperature for hours.

If you have a pressure cooker, make brown rice by this formula:  for every 1 cup rice, add 1 1/2 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Set the timer on the pressure cooker to 20 minutes.  Use quick release at the end.  The pressure cooker also has a hold feature, so both types of rice can be cooked before the preparation for the rest of dinner is even started.

Chicken Gravy
6 cups of white sauce mix
1 gallon water
cooked chicken


Mix the white sauce mix with water and stir on stove until sauce is thickened.  This will only take a few minutes.

Suggested Toppings for Haystack  (As many as you prefer)
2 pounds grated cheese
16 ounce bag of coconut, toasted in oven
1 bunch sliced celery (slice in a food proccessor)
12 ounces Chinese noodles (the crispy kind that comes in a can or bag, already to use)
8 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms
3 whole fresh pineapple, cubed small
1 bunch green onions, sliced
3 small cans of sliced olives
soy sauce

Set out the buffet line in this order:  rice, chicken gravy, toppings.  Each person assembles their own haystack with the ingredients they prefer.

Green Beans for Five or Fifty

This method is the easiest way to prepare green beans.

Oven Roasted Green Beans for Five

 Begin with a bag of frozen petite whole green beans, or purchase fresh ones.  The prices vary according to season.  I cannot tell the difference after roasting, so choose whichever is the lowest in price.  The advantage of frozen is that you can have them on hand.

Place the string beans in an oven-proof dish.  Allow about 2/3 cup of beans per person.

Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil over the beans.

Salt and give a quick stir.

Cover with a tight lid.  Foil is fine.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

Stir and serve the beans.

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Oven Roasted Green Beans for Fifty

If preparing food for fifty, you will want to have this recipe.  With very little fuss, a veggie side dish can be roasted while you are preparing the rest of the dinner.  For Easter, I invited fifty close family members to dinner, and the roasted green beans were a hit.  With sliced ham and potato casserole most of dinner was baked in ovens.  Roaster ovens could be used if oven space is limited.  By assigning out a fresh fruit salad, homemade rolls and sheet cake for dessert, the food was simpler than the logistics of seating 50 people indoors!

A five pound bag of frozen green beans will serve 25.  Buy two bags for 50.  A 5 pound bag will fit into a standard commercial steam pan.  So you will need two steam pans.  You could use foil steam pans, but it will take 4 disposable steam pans to handle the two bags of string beans.
 

A standard 11 by 14 inch pyrex pan holds up to 15 servings of beans, depending on how full the pan is.  Again, calculate about 2/3 cup per serving.

Drizzle olive oil over the beans.  With that many beans, there is no need to measure, just a light drizzle will be fine.
 

Lightly salt the beans, and then slightly stir.

Cover with a lid if you have one, but foil works just fine.

Bake at 350 degrees for at least an hour and a half.  Turn the oven down to 275 degrees at that point, to keep the green beans warm until serving time. 

Stir the beans just before serving.

Celery as a Fast Food

As soon as you get home from the grocery store, prepare your celery.  Hesitation may turn into procrastination, and you want fresh celery.

Find a vessel that will hold an entire bunch of celery.  I found a glass vase that fits perfectly on my refrigerator door.  It is not necessary to have a lid for this container.  Plastic will work, but I like the look of glass.

Using a sharp knife, slice the end of the bunch.  This is quicker to do than to explain.

You now have a pretty veggie rose, but discard it, unless, it is needed as stamping tool to make poster paint rose patterns.

Also toss the leaves, unless you are making a pot of soup, in that case, rinse and chop and add wonderful flavor to your soup pot.  Sometimes I only cut the bottom and let the foliage hang out the the refrigerator.  It kind of looks pretty, but you have to deal with leaves every time you use a rib.

Rinse the prepared celery ribs well, but keep them kind of in the order they grew, so that they will fit into your vase.

Plunge your handful of clean, prepared celery ribs into your water-filled vase.

Store your instant fresh veggie vase on the refrigerator door.   It is quick to grab and go.  Snack accompaniments include:  any variation of cheese, peanut butter, hummus, or dip.  You probably will prefer just the plain celery.  It is crunchy and cold and delicious by itself.  This is also perfect to add to dinner entrees.  Stir fry, chicken pot pie, soups,salads and sandwiches, all benefit by having prepared celery ready to chop or slice and use.  My celery lasts in the fridge for about two weeks, but we usually eat it all in less than a week.