Kitchen Notes
How to pick it, how to keep it, and what to do with it. Written by the people who buy this produce at the market every morning.
How to store leafy herbs so they last the week
A herb bunch will give you ten days or two, and the difference is almost entirely what you do in the first ten minutes after it arrives. Here is what actually works, and why the bag it came in is the enemy.
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Picking a ripe Alfonso mango
The Alfonso season is a few weeks long and there is no second chance at it. Colour tells you almost nothing; the smell at the stem tells you everything. How to choose one, how to finish it at home, and the one thing that ruins it permanently.
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A seasonal produce guide for Dubai
Seasonality means something different in a country that imports most of its food. Two seasons matter here, not four, and knowing which one you are in changes what is cheap, what is local, and what is worth waiting for.
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A simple garden salad, five ways
One base — cucumber, tomato, onion — and five directions to take it, from a kachumber to a watermelon salad for a 45-degree afternoon. Plus the two techniques that stop a salad going watery.
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Box or kilo: what is actually worth buying in bulk
The box is always cheaper per kilo, which is not the same as being cheaper. Produce you throw away costs full price. Here is which items reward bulk buying, which punish it, and how to split an order so you stop binning half of it.
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Three dinners from one delivery
One order, three dinners, no shopping in between. A potato and cabbage sabzi, a tray of roasted vegetables, and a tomato-onion base that becomes whatever you need it to be — built so that nothing is left over uselessly.
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