- Hey.
It's Lazarus.
And today, we're
going to demystify
five intimidating vegetables.
Let's get started.
This is our artichoke.
You've seen it before.
The goal is to remove
the inedible choke
from the edible heart.
How do we do that?
I'm using a serrated knife.
I'm just going to
cut off like a third
of the top to expose the choke.
Now the artichoke has these
leaves on the side, which
can be a little bit tough.
So we're just going to pluck
them off to expose the more
tender part of the artichoke.
I'm going to use a
paring knife to help
me trim the tough, fibery
part of our artichoke stem.
Now what I'm going to do
is just open up the center
of the artichoke,
and with a spoon,
just dig in to try
to remove the choke.
It's a little bit hairy.
You can see in there.
And then you sit it
inside of some lemon water
to keep it from
browning or oxidizing
like a bad apple or a potato.
There are two parts
to the kohlrabi.
There are the leaves, and
then there's the bulb.
Now you want to make sure
that the bulb is nice and firm
and that the leaves
are unblemished.
So what I do is just
remove the leaves.
I'm using a damp paper
towel to store them.
I can put them in a Ziploc bag.
It'll keep for a couple of
days, the same with the bulb.
They'll keep for weeks unpeeled.
Now I'm using a
paring knife just
to sort of remove the
fibrous skin of the kohlrabi.
Once you remove that,
switch to another knife
and then you can just slice
them as thick or as thin
as you want.
So there you have it, your
kohlrabi, perfect for slaws.
You can glaze them, put them
in the oven, roast them.
They're versatile.
Check out this
cool-looking vegetable.
It's called romanesco.
It looks like
broccoli, cauliflower.
It's really easy to break down.
I'm going to do is just
remove these outer leaves.
Something important is when
I'm choosing my romanesco,
I want to make sure that it's
unbruised, brightly greened.
Cut right down the middle,
right through the stalk.
Cut it into quarters.
We're going to stand it
up and remove the stalk.
Now all your florets just
come apart easily like that.
Done.
This is in the nopalas.
It is a leaf on the cactus.
There's a lot of
thorny bristles on top,
so I'm just going
use a paring knife.
You just want to remove
all of those spines.
Turn it over, do the same thing.
So now it's time to trim the
edge and the end just like so.
So now I'm just going
to slice this up.
This can be grilled, sauteed.
It's also a nice
meat substitute.
So there you go--
nopalas.
This is our ginger root-- very
popular in South Asian cuisine.
You want to make
sure that your ginger
is nice and brown
and firm, nothing
bruised or soggy or wet.
You want to peel the ginger
with a spoon versus a vegetable
peeler so that you can
get into all the nooks
and crannies in the ginger.
This is a clean ginger
root, all the skins removed.
Now you can shop ginger.
You can also use
a grader and just
get it really nice and fine.
It is very spicy.
It's very pungent.
If you have a cold, this is
what you'll eat to knock it out.
There you have it everyone.
Those are easy ways to open
up these exotic vegetables.
See you next time.
[music playing]
