As you know by now, I have a penchant for peeling.

tomatoes, tuna tartare, Italian potato salad

Since I made my post on peeling back in January, I’ve learned a thing or two. The breakthrough came in a recipe that included pearl onions in Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Cookbook. Keller said to put the onions in a small container, pour boiling water over them and pour it off after ten seconds or so. Hallelujah Lord, I see the light! I had been used to boiling a big pot of water—which takes forever—and then dumping the pearl onions in, only to take them out after ten seconds or so. This way, I can put the onions in a bowl of a size to fit, boil an appropriate amount of water—a cup or so, which takes no time—pour it over the pearl onions, wait ten seconds, dump the onions into a strainer and go about the peeling.

This works for garlic, as well.

For a weekend lunch, I had some leftover Tuna Tartare and I thought it would be swell to put it on fresh tomato slices.

Well, I wanted to peel three, small Early Girl tomatoes, and not go through the process of boiling a whole pot of water. I put about an inch of water in a saucepan, brought it to a boil in about a minute, put in the three tomatoes and swirled them around for about ten seconds, and lifted them out onto the cutting board with a slotted spoon. I had them cored and peeled in no time! Viola! Later, I did a large Cherokee Purple heirloom tomato the same way. Viola again!

Thank you Thomas Keller, again. I know that Kelly has the Bouchon Cookbook. For you others, buy it. It’s one of the best cookbooks ever.