Lemon Zest

Another tip that my mother, the Original Diva, taught me was to always pity the lemon about to be squeezed for Tabbouleh, Lemon Bars, or Lemon-Lentil Soup and then unceremoniously discarded. She suggests I take a few moments to quickly rasp the lemon(s) I will be using on a MicroPlane and stash the bounty in a Ziploc in the freezer. And so that's what I do.

The four lemons above were about to be squeezed for Tabbouleh. How could I let them go to waste??Of course if you do it every time, you risk a glut of lemons. So only replenish your supply as your stash gets low. There is nothing better than reading a recipe that requires lemon zest and knowing all you have to do is reach into your freezer and snap a bit off the frozen pile.

Basil, Basil Everywhere...Except When You Need It.

Few of us always have fresh basil on hand unless we cook every single day and go through our little supermarket basil plant or clamshell before the dreaded gray starts spreading on the leaves.

But even those of us who cook often run into the basil supply flow chart: need basil --> run out and acquire basil --> use a bit of the basil --> throw out what used to be lovely basil because it wasn't used up in time --> need basil again.