Weekends can involve late nights with big greasy pizzas. After indulging in a few drinks even a substandard dish can seem to satisfy. There are other dishes that can be healthier and better tasting. There is a Baby Kale and Steak Salad that is fit for a chef. It has a dressing that includes fish sauce, lime juice and vinegar. This dish has multiple vegetables along with the steak.

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Baby Kale and Steak Salad

All knives work fine in salads. However, for freshly and flawlessly chopped vegetables and the finest salad presentation, choosing the type of blade and its initial sharpness are the most important factors.

Experts believe that it’s better to invest in a few good quality knives that can endure over time than buying a full set of cheaper knives which corrodes in less time. Most sources agree that an 8-inch chef’s knife is the most important knife in your collection of cutlery. Many experts say a knife like this can handle most kitchen tasks. But regardless of what you read about a brand of knife, the most important thing to regard is how the knife feels in your hand. Balance should not be ignored.

Since green or chopped salads contain fresh produce like tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, olives, carrots, celery, cold meats like grilled chicken, pickled peppers, cooked legumes, pickled beets, greens such as romaine or spinach, and cheeses; getting a knife that feels good in your hands, something that shouldn’t be too light nor too heavy, but ideally sharp, is crucial.

You’ll like this video tips on how to dice tomato.

For hulling strawberries or sectioning oranges, a pairing knife is ideal. Why? Because you hold the fruit as you cut it, this job is much safer when performed with a paring knife than with a chef’s knife. It may take time and practice, but the moment you master the right hand positioning, you can begin cutting like a pro which in turn cuts your preparation time in half.

Do you know how to segment citrus fruits?

Some people prefer slicing their green leaves than tearing, and sharp blades in a knife offer a quality that allows the leaves to stay green longer rather than torn leaves. Any sharp knife cuts each vegetable to the same size, which improves the visual appeal of the salad. A cook with excellent knife skills won’t need a chopper, though, and may even find it quicker to simply use a sharp chef’s knife to chop vegetables.

Another one is a serrated utility knife which is used for slicing bread, meats, or other foods with a hard crust or outer skin. I too find this knife ideal for cutting juicy or soft vegetables, such as tomatoes. The full-tang assembly extends from the tip of the knife to the end of the handle, which adds a really good balance and heft. Basically a lettuce knife will boast to cut both vegetable and lettuce but instead opting for a stainless steel knife would prove to be a better choice.

It’s not extravagance to stuff your kitchen with a variety of kitchen and salad knives. It makes things easier as you only have to choose a right one for a particular requirement and thus will help you to rightly maneuver through the cutting, slicing and chopping.

Quality knives may sound “very” expensive, but if you investigate prices on standard pieces from European, Western and Asian makers, high-quality knives use harder steel. Since different knives come from different approach in style, function and performance, it is only constant that price also comes with the over-all nature of the knives.

I honestly always go for Fissler.

The favorite choice for the term “Garden Salad” for a cup of lettuce with assorted vegetables is about 11 calories. Many times a healthy salad turns into a not-so-healthy one because of the salad dressing. People often tend to use too much, so stick with the recommended service size of two tablespoons.

A “green” salad of leafy vegetables, like lettuce, spinach or cabbage, is a healthy choice for your diet as long as you don’t cover the salad with dressings and other fatty foods. Once you put on all the fatty dressing, croutons and various other toppings you can actually make a salad worse for you than a hamburger. Calorie and nutritional information for a variety of types and serving sizes of Garden Salad might be of interest.

The difference between the two methods can be important to some recipes, especially during grilling. For example, when an onion is cut lengthwise, its root section will remain intact, preventing smaller segments from falling through the grill. When an onion is cut crosswise, it will not stay together as well.

Why does all this matter? Let’s say you’re trying to make onion rings. You want to cut crosswise. But let’s say you want to grill an onion and you want all the layers to stay intact as a little onion wedge. In that case you want a lengthwise cut, so the root holds all the layers together. This is a good read.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. Surprise your mom or wife with fresh veggies and pasta “al dente” turned into a colorful and delicious dinner. Here’s a recipe that uses sweet cherry tomatoes, carrot, green onions and bell pepper. Of course, you can use whatever vegetables you like. Kalamata olives, if you like, is another addition, then top the salad just before serving with some freshly grated Parmesan, or any cheese you’d like.

For special occasions like this, its fun to turn eating time into something really special. Check for the full recipe.

It’s obvious that for perfectly cut cheese with nothing that sticks, you have to use a cheese knife. This is the one designed with a scalloped edge and large perforations to prevent cheese from sticking to the blade then speared with the two-pointed tip. In general, cheese knives are made with short or narrow blades. They usually come with a fork-type tip that can be used to move the cut pieces.

Other knives and slicers that come in several shapes and styles can also cut cheese when done the right way. When slicing, try to cut in one fluid motion and avoid sawing away. Rock the knife back and forth if the cheese will not leave the blade. The sawing motion will create a mess. Cheese can be cut into perfect slices using a small very sharp knife with the right skill. To put it simply, there is no clear-cut way to cut cheese.

For a crumblier cheese like Roquefort and other blue cheeses, use a wide rectangular knife for perfect slices. An Asian-style knife with a wide, rectangular profile that’s ideal for cutting and chopping herbs and vegetables can also cut cheeses excellently.

Open-surfaced blades are also good as its holes prevent the cheese from sticking to the blade. Pointed knives are also used to cut other hard, firm or crumbly cheeses like cheddars, Parmesans, and pecorinos. Nonstick and hollow-bladed knives are used for soft ripened cheese like Brie, as these utensils keep the slices from sticking to the blade. A wide-bladed knife works the same for soft, crumbly cheeses.

I use wire cheese slicer for my cheeses, but to be entirely honest, I have been using a regular cheese knife, as well. Like a cheese cleaver, I have many times used a regular sharp knife to cut and cube cheeses for a cheese platter or salad.

It says that in the kingdom of herbs, basil rules all. Matched only by parsley in its culinary versatility, basil can transform a pizza slice, brighten a tomato sauce, and punch up a summer cocktail… and, during this time of year, it can serve as the anchor to awesome pesto. So then why do so many people screw it up?

If you were to first blend everything together you would lose the color and end up with a muddled final product; or because the olive oil used has overpowered the rest of the flavors. According to Miss Robins, executive chef of A Voce, a modern Italian restaurant in New York City, “Pesto is one of those recipes that people often over-think. So that you can make the best pesto, the following five simple secrets are everything you need to know.”

Baked fruits make a wonderful summer dessert because it’s quite easy to prepare, it allows the fruit to shine and it’s nutritious. Making your own filling using fresh fruits also adds to the flavor combination and will turn your creation into a dramatic summer delight.

I typically leave the skins of colorful fruits on when I bake with them. Plums for example, this fruit has a lovely deep purple color and the natural tint that comes from their skin is so lovely they have that bold color in my dessert. The skin of plums are very tender skin, so it rarely seems intrusive in the finished dessert. But if you prefer, you can certainly peel the plums before using them. Pears are also wonderful when they are cooked, as their delicate flavor only gets more intense when the fruit spends some time in the oven. Plus, pears that are still on the firm side will be a little bit easier to peel.

Baking fruit really intensifies the flavors, turning ho-hum fruit into a wonderfully flavored dessert; banged-up and bruised fruit will never show once it’s been baked. We’ve got some great recipe ideas for baking up fruits like pineapple, peaches, rhubarb, plums and more. Check them out.

This prawn recipe requires a little work. To shell, twist the head off and rinse under cool running water, then peel away the shell from the thick end, working down to the tail. The very end of the tail can be left on for appearance.

[Editor’s Note: For those that feel like getting a little mucky preparing prawns, using a knife with sharp slim pointed blade can make it very simple peeling and de-veining them.]

You remove the vein down the back of the prawn. Using a sharp knife, make a slit down the middle of the outside curve and pull out the dark coloured vein. Rinse under cold water to clean. The next step is stir-frying. Enjoy your Marinated Roasted Prawns.

From the selection and chopping of ingredients to blending of tastes and mixing process, a gourmet salad determines to satisfy salad cravings. The trick? Choose high quality ingredients and spare special time for preparation. Gourmet salad entails to see what is available then let the ingredients inspire the recipe. The exact ingredients you choose and how it will satisfy the palate, should be your guide.

Make It Quality Rich and Complex

Quality here means fresh. Fresh salad ingredients speak to all the wonderful salads out there. Complex doesn’t necessarily mean difficult. It simply means how complexity of flavors mingles together to make an exceptional salad. In short, it’s all in how dressing is mixed well throughout, and how to perfectly blend sweet, salty, savory, sour, and bitter tastes.

Begin with what you need. It can be easier putting whatever toppings or dressing on your salad you want, when you know what you are having. Though it varies on location and season, the effort is not only healthy, appetizing and delicious as possible, but real friendly to the pocket and super time saver, as well.

Cut Everything Perfectly

A Chef’s Knife, all the time adapts to the flexibility of fruits and vegetables. Potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, pumpkin, carrot, parsnip onions, asparagus & whole mushrooms, are to be peeled and cut into chunky pieces. Make sure to remove all moisture from vegetables, especially lettuces, before chopping. Fresh vegetables release moisture as you chop, so everything can get soggy. Most home cooks would overchop a lettuce like mesclun, and it would wilt. Chop all ingredients the same size as much as possible. If you’re chopping in advance, store them separately until you are ready to serve the salad.

In making gourmet salad, bear in mind that the salad should make everyone salivate; when they do, your gourmet salad is hearty, complex and just delicious.