My Snootiest/Most Useful Kitchen Tool: A Microplane

A Microplane is a very sharp grater intended to “create zest”. Jillian had been telling me for months about her love for the tool and all of it’s handy uses, yet when my boyfriend’s grandmother gave me one it sat in my top drawer untouched. I always thought, why would you ever need to “create zest”, sounds like something a fancy restaurant would use to describe a menu item so they can charge you more for the entrée. Boy was I wrong. I eventually found a fabulous granola recipe that called for orange zest so decided to pull it out of the packaging and give it a whirl. In less than a minute, the entire orange had been zested into the bowl, creating beautiful, symmetrical slivers of orange. And it leaves behind the pith (the white part of the skin) of the citrus being grated, an added bonus as it’s bitterness is not a pleasant addition in any dish. Plus, if you are looking to step it up a notch as a chef, a Microplane grater will give you an instant boost with minimal skill needed. Zest citrus into about anything and it adds a little special something to the dish. Now that I’ve fallen in love with it, I use it for just about everything. I grate Parmesan cheese (or any other hard cheese) on top of pasta and salad, shave a little chocolate over my ice cream and grate ginger into my stir-fry sauces. Just beware of getting your knuckles or fingers too close to the sharp edge, serious nicking can occur!

Tagged as: cheese, chocolate, citrus, ginger, microplane, Tips, tool, zest