How to Cook Garlic

How to Chop a Carrot is back from unplanned hiatus with one of my favourite ingredients – garlic!

Garlic is part of the same family as onions (link), spring onions (link), and leeks (link). It’s a great way to add flavour to a dish, and can even help boost your immune system!

Fresh garlic grows in bulbs with thin, papery skin. You can peel the skin off by hand, and break the bulb into individual cloves.

The cloves themselves also have a layer of skin. To remove it, slice off the thickened, fibrous part of the clove that connected it to the rest of the bulb. You should then be able to peel off the rest of the skin by hand.

Whole cloves of garlic are delicious roasted – they caramelise and go all gooey and delicious! Simply pop the peeled whole cloves in with the rest of your roast.

To cook garlic more quickly, you can slice it thinly. Place the peeled clove of garlic on the flattest side, and cut slices as thin as you can.

However, since garlic has such a strong flavour, you may prefer to crush the cloves. You can use a garlic press (simply place the peeled cloves in the press and squeeze) or a pestle and mortar.

Preparing garlic can be quite fiddly (and make your hands smell of garlic) so whilst it’s a great skill to learn, you may prefer to use a pre-prepared ingredient for everyday cooking. I happen to like powdered garlic, but you can also get garlic preserved in oil. (Because water takes up most of the volume of fresh garlic, you need less than a third the volume of powdered garlic.)

There are two important things to remember when cooking with garlic. One is that it has a very strong flavour. (I’m often unsure whether it counts as a spice or a vegetable myself.) Remember that you can always add more garlic, but you can’t add less.

The other thing to remember about garlic is that it can be very bitter if it burns. So you may want to add garlic along with other ingredients, and don’t forget to pay attention to your cooking.

 

Garlic goes with such a huge range of other ingredients that it’s well worth learning to cook with. It’s great with pasta and potatoes, all kinds of meats, and mushrooms too. It’s a great complement to many herbs, especially rosemary, and many spices (like ginger!). Why not give it a go in your next dish?

How to Chop a Leek

If you haven’t already, please make sure you’re familiar with basic knife safety before starting this tutorial. (link)

Like onions, leeks are a type of allium. In fact, they taste rather like a soft, mild, onion. And they look like a giant, tough, spring onion! So if you’re already familiar with chopping spring onions (tutorial here), chopping leeks is quite easy.

Now it’s a step I’ve been known to skip with a lot of veggies, but it is important to wash your leeks. The reason is that the structure of leeks is exceptionally good at trapping small amounts of dirt. Because of this, you may find it easier to rinse leeks after chopping them.

To start chopping your leek, first remove about 1cm off the root end. Also remove the dried out ends of the leaves, and any dried out whole leaves. (Some people recommend removing all the dark green parts – while these are slightly tougher they soften when cooked, especially when slow-cooked.)

For slow-cooking, I recommend chunks of leek. Starting from the green end of the leek, simply cut off chunks about 2cm (a little under an inch) long. These chunks are perfect for roasts and casseroles, and they take about an hour to cook at Gas Mark 4 (180°, or 160° fan).

For faster cooking, slice your leek instead. Just like with chunks of leek, start from the green end of the leek. (This helps the leek stay together while you cut.) For most uses, I recommend slices about ½ cm thick, which you can pan-fry in 10-15 minutes. Thinner slices will cook faster.

When cooked, leeks become soft and translucent, just like onions do.

Leeks are great for giving a milder, sweeter, onion-y taste to dishes. They’re especially good with potatoes – why not try frying some sliced leeks in butter, and mixing them in with mashed potatoes? They’re also great in casseroles!

How to Make Pot Roast Vegetables

Whether you’re making Sunday lunch, Christmas dinner, or just a warm winter treat, pot roast vegetables are melt-in-the-mouth delicious!

You will need:

• a sharp knife
• a chopping board
• an oven-proof dish
• an oven
• oven gloves

and the ingredients (for four people):

• 4 medium carrots (about the length of your hand)
• 2 medium onions
• 4 potatoes (about the size of your fist)
• ½ large or 1 small swede
• 1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes
• 1-2 parsnips
• dried mixed herbs
• salt
• oil

 

Start by turning on your oven to Gas Mark 4, 180° (160° fan).

Chop your carrots, onions, potatoes, and swede into chunks. (You can find more detailed instructions here: carrots, onions, potatoes, swede)

Put your chopped vegetables into your oven-proof dish.

Add salt, oil, and herbs to the dish. You just need to cover the vegetables in the dish, like in the picture below.

Stir or shake your seasonings and vegetables together.

Place the lid on your dish and put it into the oven. It will take about two hours to cook from here.

Chop your sweet potato and parsnip into chunks. (More detailed instructions here: sweet potato, parsnip)

After your dish has been cooking for about an hour, add your sweet potato and parsnip chunks. Give your veggies another good stir or shake together, but be careful – it’s hot!

After another hour in the oven, your dish will be ready to serve! Serve it alongside whatever source of protein you fancy – it goes fantastically with a huge range of meat and veggie options!

You can roast a huge variety of vegetables, this recipe is just the start! Feel free to play with the seasonings too – try adding pepper, or using sage, rosemary and thyme instead of a pre-made mix of dried herbs.

If you make pot roast vegetables with this recipe, I’d love to see a picture of your finished dish!

How to Chop a Swede – into chunks

If you haven’t already, please make sure you’re familiar with basic knife safety before starting this tutorial. (link)

 

 

 

 

Swedes, also called rutabaga and occasionally turnips, are a tough root vegetable with surprisingly bright yellow flesh. They’re a great winter vegetable!

 

 

 

Starting from one end of the swede, chop off a thin layer of the thick skin or dried up flesh. Then cut off a slice about 2cm (a little under an inch) thick.

The skin of swedes is very tough, so it’s best to peel it off. I find it easiest to do this one slice at a time – lay the slice of swede on your chopping board and cut downwards around the edges. For some of the slices, you may need to angle your knife a little. Just remember to keep your fingers out of the way.

Keep cutting off and peeling slices until you’ve got as much swede as you want to cook. (You can get swedes in quite a lot of different sizes; the big ones will often last for two meals.) Chop each peeled slice into chunks about 2cm (a little under 1 inch) on each side. Remember we want the chunks to all be about the same size, so that they cook at about the same time, and absorb any flavours from herbs, spices, or sauces evenly too.

Swedes are very hard, so they can be difficult to chop. Make sure you’ve got a good, sharp knife, and you may want to practice your chopping skills on carrots and potatoes before you tackle a swede.

These swede chunks are perfect for roasts, casseroles, and stews. They take about 2 hours to cook in an oven at Gas Mark 4 (180°C, 160°C in a fan oven). You can also boil swede, although I’d recommend cutting it into smaller pieces. Once they’re cooked, swede chunks should be soft enough to easily poke a fork into.

How to Chop a Parsnip – into chunks

If you haven’t already, please make sure you’re familiar with basic knife safety before starting this tutorial. (link)

Parsnips are a funny-looking vegetable – they’re a bit like carrots but much paler and their shape is kind of exaggerated. Parsnips are quite soft for a root vegetable, and they have a unique flavour. In this tutorial, we’ll be making parsnip chunks.

Just like with carrots, it’s best if you can avoid peeling your parsnips to preserve the mineral content. Rinse them off under clean running water, and give them a scrub with a clean washing-up brush if they need it.

Chop the very top and bottom off the parsnip. When you chop the top off, check for for brown discolouration inside. If there is any, just chop a little bit more off the top.

(If there are any other blemishes, you can cut a small ‘V’ shape either side of the blemish to get rid of it, just like with carrots.)

The shape of a parsnip makes it a little harder to cut chunks all the same size. Remember, we’re aiming for chunks about 2cm (a little under an inch) on each side. So I would start from the skinny end of the parsnip, like in the picture below.

When you reach the top of the parsnip, place it on its flat surface to cut it into thirds or quarters, depending how wide it is.

Chunks of parsnip are great in roasts, but they’re good in casseroles and stews too. Because they’re soft, parsnips only take an hour to cook in an oven at Gas Mark 4 (180°C, 160°C in a fan oven). Once they’re cooked, parsnips should be soft enough to easily poke a fork into.

How to Chop a Sweet Potato – into chunks

If you haven’t already, please make sure you’re familiar with basic knife safety before starting this tutorial. (link)

Sweet potatoes are a fun alternative to ordinary potatoes, or just a great vegetable in their own right! They’re softer than carrots and potatoes, so they cook more quickly too.

Although you can eat the skin of a sweet potato, it is very tough and tasteless. So this is one of the very few vegetables I would peel. This means we don’t need to check the sweet potato over for blemishes – they’ll all come off with the skin. Some people like to use a peeler, but I prefer to use a simple kinfe method which I’ve explained below.

Start by chopping the very ends off the sweet potato. Sometimes these will be little pointy root ends, and sometimes they’ll be flat (see picture below).

Next, cut the sweet potato in half widthways. This gives you a flat surface to rest the sweet potato on while you peel it. Cut thin strips of skin off from the top to the bottom, making sure to keep your fingers out of the way.

 

Once your sweet potato is peeled, there are a couple of ways to chop it into chunks. The first is, like with potatoes, to just keep halving until you reach chunks about 2cm (a little under 1 inch) on each side. You could also start by cutting slices about 2cm thick, and then chopping each slice into chunks.

 

Whichever method you choose, try and make sure your chunks are all about the same size. This lets them cook at about the same time, and absorb any flavours from herbs, spices, or sauces evenly too.

These sweet potato chunks are perfect for roasts and casseroles, and take about 1 hour to cook in an oven at Gas Mark 4 (180°C, 160°C in a fan oven). Once they’re cooked, they should be soft and sweet. Beware of overcooking them though – they’ll still taste good but they tend to fall to pieces!

How to Chop an Onion – into chunks

If you haven’t already, please make sure you’re familiar with basic knife safety before starting this tutorial. (link)

Onions are full of flavour, which gets sweeter the longer you cook them. The chunks we’ll be chopping today are perfect for long, slow, cooking that brings out all the best in onions.

Onions can be a little tricky to chop, because of their round shape and smooth skin. I would recommend using a serrated knife to chop onions; if you prefer to use a smooth knife I would start each cut by piercing the onion with the tip of your blade.

 

 

Unlike carrots and potatoes, we don’t want to eat the skin of the onion. These dry, papery layers are best peeled off and discarded, and you can pull off any little rootlets from the bottom of the onion too. You might find that this is easier to do after you’ve started cutting the onion; as long as you take off the skin before cooking it doesn’t really matter!

The first two cuts are the trickiest – we want to chop the top and bottom off the onion. Make sure to hold the onion firmly on its side, but keep your fingers out the way!

 

 

 

You should now have a flat surface at the bottom of the ‘ball’, which you can rest the onion on to make the rest of the cutting safer. For these chunks, simply chop the onion in half straight down the middle. Cut each half in half again, then into quarters, and you’re done!

 

 

 

When you’re chopping or cooking onions, you might find that your eyes start to sting, burn, or well up. This is because sulphur-containing compounds that give onions a lot of their flavour can react with the water in your eyes to make sulphuric acid. If it becomes hard to see, it’s important that you don’t try and keep cooking – you’re likely to hurt yourself. You might find that washing your hands, knife or onion under clean water can help your eyes sting less; just make sure to pat everything dry before you go back to chopping.

 

These onion chunks are perfect for roasts, casseroles, and stews. They take about 2 hours to cook in an oven at Gas Mark 4 (180°C, 160°C in a fan oven). Once they’re cooked, onions become soft and the layers fall apart easily.

Roast onions are great with sausages!

How to Chop a Potato – into chunks

If you haven’t already, please make sure you’re familiar with basic knife safety before starting this tutorial. (link)

Potatoes are a great source of carbohydrates, and there are a lot of different ways to cook them. The chunks we’re making in this tutorial are really versatile, so they’re a great place to start.

Like with carrots, a lot of the minerals in a potato are right underneath the skin, so it’s best to avoid peeling it all off if you can. Do wash your potatoes though; use clean water and a clean washing-up brush for scrubbing.

 

Next, check your potato over for any discolouration or blemishes. Pay special attention to green discolouration of the potato – the green colour itself won’t hurt you, but it can indicate there’s something else there you don’t want to eat (more information here and here). Also cut out any ‘eyes’ – these are black spots surrounded by an indentation, that can grow into sprouts. Potato sprouts themselves aren’t good to eat either – cut them out and check that the potato around them hasn’t gone squishy.

There are a couple of good ways to cut out blemishes from a potato. The first is, just like we did with carrots, to cut a small ‘V’ shape around the spot. Since a potato is round, it’s a little harder to deal with than a carrot, so you might need to make three or more cuts. Alternatively, you might find it easier to cut out things like eyes after you’ve cut the potato a bit smaller.

Potatoes come in a lot of different sizes. The size of chunks we’re aiming for is about 2cm (a little under 1 inch) on each side, so if you have baby or new potatoes, they may not need to be chopped any smaller. For larger potatoes, start by chopping them in half. This gives you a flat surface to rest the potato on while you chop it, which makes it safer. You can then simply keep on halving your potato until the chunks are roughly the right size (see picture).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice, even-sized chunks will cook at about the same time, and absorb any flavours from herbs, spices, or sauces evenly too.

These potato chunks are perfect for roasts and casseroles, which take about 2 hours to cook in an oven at Gas Mark 4 (180°C, 160°C in a fan oven). They’re also great boiled, which takes about 20-30 minutes. Like carrots, once they’re cooked, they should be soft enough to easily poke a fork into.

How to Chop a Carrot – into chunks

Welcome to the first ever How to Chop a Carrot tutorial! If you haven’t already, please make sure you’re familiar with basic knife safety before starting this tutorial. (link)

Carrots are a great staple vegetable. They’re inexpensive and you can eat them raw or cooked, which makes them perfect for beginners! In this tutorial, we’ll be making carrot chunks, which are great slow-cooked.

First, take a carrot. You don’t need to peel it (a lot of the minerals are right underneath the skin), but you might want to wash it. Use clean water to wash off things like soil, and if you want to be a bit more thorough you can scrub you carrots with a clean washing-up brush.

Next, check your carrots over for any discolouration or blemishes. These aren’t dangerous, they just don’t taste or look very good. If they are on the end of the carrot, you can just cut the end off. If they’re in the middle of the carrot, first place the carrot flat on a chopping board or plate with the blemish facing upwards. Then make a small cut either side of the blemish, making a small ‘V’ (see picture).

We also don’t want to eat the very top or bottom of the carrot. (These are often known as the top and tail – to top and tail your carrots means to chop the top and bottom off.) To avoid wasting too much carrot, only chop a centimetre or less from the end of the carrot (see the picture below).

Next cut along the carrot every 2cm or so, or a little under an inch, leaving the thinner chunks slightly longer and the fatter chunks slightly shorter.

The aim here is to get carrot chunks that are roughly the same size. This lets them cook at about the same time, and absorb any flavours from herbs, spices, or sauces evenly too.

These carrot chunks are perfect for roasts, casseroles, and stews. They take about 2 hours to cook in an oven at Gas Mark 4 (180°C, 160°C in a fan oven). You can also boil carrot chunks, which takes about half an hour. Once they’re cooked, carrots should be soft enough to easily poke a fork into.