Cut Your Vegetables Beautifully – You Can Do It
I'm sure that you too work so hard to make your kids eat their vegetables, but sometimes you find yourself staring at the plate of vegetables that your kids simply push aside. It's time to change, it's time you do something different, it's time to make the best trick to get your children to eat them!
You may simply want to cut food into large pieces in no particular size for longer cooking dishes, or mince them for dishes that cook very quickly, the following techniques will help you prepare pleasing to the eye veggies that would be fun for you and your kids to eat.
Chiffonade
If you're fond of leafy greens and herbs, this is a great strategy. Cut veggies into long thin strips. Pile vegetable leaves with the largest at the bottom then roll the leaves to form a cigar. Cut across the rolls to produce ribbon-like strips, or beautiful chiffonades. For your salad, include bits of sweet something such as raisins, colorful cubes of gelatin and lots of cheese to play with your veggie dish.
Flower Petals
Kids enjoy shapes and colors. Cut vegetables like carrots, radish and potatoes into slices then press down with a cookie cutter. It's time you get a few shapes in your cutter, or use a carving knife by cutting narrow V shapes into every 90 degrees angle of a slice vegetable and take them out. For tomatoes and mushrooms like shitake, make 2 incisions on top of the vegetables and bevel these cuts by inserting the knife diagonally into them, creating a crown looking top.
Diagonal
Bias or diagonally cutting will expose a better surface area of the vegetable which makes it faster to cook. Place the vegetable on a cutting board and slice the food at an angle that can produce elongated pieces. The sharper the angle, the longer the cut surface you will have. A paring knife will cut easily and hold the pieces together. I think this cut is best if you're grilling your veggies.
Julienne
Another fun to create vegetable cut is the julienne. This technique will produce sticks and thin strips. Do this by stacking several slices then cut straight down all the way through the stack, producing "sticks" or julienne. For matchstick julienne, begin with thin slices then cut them into 1/8-inch sticks. A mandolin will help you accomplish the best julienne. For turnips and carrots, arrange your vegetable sticks on a beautiful platter and sprinkle with salt.
Mince
Mincing is cutting your vegetables into little pieces which are a lot smaller than a dice or shred, but not quite squashed. This technique is usually done for shallots, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, onions, peppers and herbs to make sure of powerful flavor spread evenly throughout a dish. This idea is also perfect for vegetables that you can secretly combine in your kids' favorite food.
Shredding
This technique is great for carrots, cabbages and lettuces. Simply cut the vegetable through the core into quarters. Slice into ¼ inch thick then make them into piles. Cut down through them by pushing the piles forward with the left hand as the knife comes down.
Varietal
This is your chance to cut your food into basic shapes, such as circles, squares, triangles, stars, half-moon and many others. This unusual and fun technique of cutting vegetables helps encourage kids to eat, and with a working sharp knife, you can cut any vegetable in the style you wish them to come out.
You may simply want to cut food into large pieces in no particular size for longer cooking dishes, or mince them for dishes that cook very quickly, the following techniques will help you prepare pleasing to the eye veggies that would be fun for you and your kids to eat.
Chiffonade
If you're fond of leafy greens and herbs, this is a great strategy. Cut veggies into long thin strips. Pile vegetable leaves with the largest at the bottom then roll the leaves to form a cigar. Cut across the rolls to produce ribbon-like strips, or beautiful chiffonades. For your salad, include bits of sweet something such as raisins, colorful cubes of gelatin and lots of cheese to play with your veggie dish.
Flower Petals
Kids enjoy shapes and colors. Cut vegetables like carrots, radish and potatoes into slices then press down with a cookie cutter. It's time you get a few shapes in your cutter, or use a carving knife by cutting narrow V shapes into every 90 degrees angle of a slice vegetable and take them out. For tomatoes and mushrooms like shitake, make 2 incisions on top of the vegetables and bevel these cuts by inserting the knife diagonally into them, creating a crown looking top.
Diagonal
Bias or diagonally cutting will expose a better surface area of the vegetable which makes it faster to cook. Place the vegetable on a cutting board and slice the food at an angle that can produce elongated pieces. The sharper the angle, the longer the cut surface you will have. A paring knife will cut easily and hold the pieces together. I think this cut is best if you're grilling your veggies.
Julienne
Another fun to create vegetable cut is the julienne. This technique will produce sticks and thin strips. Do this by stacking several slices then cut straight down all the way through the stack, producing "sticks" or julienne. For matchstick julienne, begin with thin slices then cut them into 1/8-inch sticks. A mandolin will help you accomplish the best julienne. For turnips and carrots, arrange your vegetable sticks on a beautiful platter and sprinkle with salt.
Mince
Mincing is cutting your vegetables into little pieces which are a lot smaller than a dice or shred, but not quite squashed. This technique is usually done for shallots, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, onions, peppers and herbs to make sure of powerful flavor spread evenly throughout a dish. This idea is also perfect for vegetables that you can secretly combine in your kids' favorite food.
Shredding
This technique is great for carrots, cabbages and lettuces. Simply cut the vegetable through the core into quarters. Slice into ¼ inch thick then make them into piles. Cut down through them by pushing the piles forward with the left hand as the knife comes down.
Varietal
This is your chance to cut your food into basic shapes, such as circles, squares, triangles, stars, half-moon and many others. This unusual and fun technique of cutting vegetables helps encourage kids to eat, and with a working sharp knife, you can cut any vegetable in the style you wish them to come out.