Getting more out of asparagus

Getting more out of asparagus

While it’s super-quick to just snap off the woody bottoms of fresh asparagus spears, you’ll get more out of asparagus if you gently peel the bottoms instead. This is easiest to do with a Y-shaped vegetable peeler (though any peeler works for this). Run the peeler up and down along the bottom 2 inches of each stalk, then steam, saute, roast or grill as desired.

The sweet side of sour cherries

Bright-red, thin-skinned sour cherries are coming into the market right now. While they’re too sour to eat on their own, they make spectacular pies and are also fabulous in jams or compotes with other fruits. Sour cherries are delicate, without much of a shelf life to speak of — they’ll keep for about three days at the most in a perforated bag in the fridge. Sweet cherries, which come into season slightly later, are hardier than sour, and keep for about a day or two longer. They can be eaten on their own or used for baking.

Pick large, plump, firm, evenly colored cherries, ideally with stems still attached (the stems help the cherries stay fresh). Wash them just before you plan to eat them. They can be frozen either in syrup or by themselves, in which case they’ll keep for up to a year.

Blind baking

Blind baking: Pre-bake your pie and tart dough to keep it crisp and flaky before filling it with something wet.

Once you’ve placed your dough in the pan, poke it all over with a fork to create holes to allow steam to escape. This’ll stop the dough from puffing up and becoming distended. Then, place a sheet of foil or parchment onto the dough and weight it with beans, rice, pie weights or even coins. Bake that at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or so, then remove the weights and bake for another 5, so the bottom can crisp up as well.