Skin deep

Everyone knows that the tougher outer layer of our skin is there to protect the blood vessels, nerves, tendons, etc which lie below.

But, have you ever given any thought to the outer skin of your fruit and vegetables?

For far too many years I religiously peeled everything edible that entered my kitchen.  Potatoes were peeled prior to being boiled or roasted.  Carrots were peeled.  Even pumpkins and butternut were peeled.

"Why?" I ask myself now.  Why did I waste all that energy and time - and goodness.

Most of the goodness lies just below the skin, and through peeling the fruit or veggie, what you are doing is allowing the perfectly encapsulated nutrition to be wasted through dissipation in the boiling water, or in the steam being produced by the boiling water.

Clockwise from left:
Whole potatoes boiled in their skin;
using a knife to carefully peel the (hot) boiled potatoes;
use the potatoes for potato dauphinois, or mash, etc.

Did you know that there is absolutely no necessity in peeling potatoes which are destined to be mashed?  All you need to do is wash the skin - using a brush to remove any caked on dirt - leave them whole (preferably) or cut them in half, and toss them into a pot with water.  Once they are cooked all you need to do - carefully - is either peel off the now loose skins, and slice.  Or haul out your potato masher and mash away.  Most of the skins will be trapped by the masher, and can then be removed and added to your compost heap. Whatever is left in your mashed potatoes adds a touch of body :)  Similarly, when roasting whole, halved or sliced roast potatoes let them also retain their skin.

One of the things I love about my Rosie is that I can cook my homegrown butternut and pumpkins whole.  I always harvest the pumpkins when they are about the combined size of 3 large grapefruit.  That is more than enough for RMan and I and normally stretches to two or three meals - pumpkin as a side veg, pumpkin and potato soup, pumpkin fritters, etc.

Clockwise from top left:
cut out the remaining stem and clean out the pips;
place the stem section back to seal the pumpkin;
baked pumpkin with all the retained goodness;
baked whole pumpkin so tender it falls apart

I prepare the pumpkin by carefully cutting a small opening by the stub of the stem, removing the seeds and, after popping the lid back on, all I do is pop it on a roasting tray and into the oven and let it cook until it is ready.

Then it is simply a matter of slicing off a chunk of the pumpkin for the side veggie option.  When the balance of the pumpkin is cool, I scrape the flesh away from the cooked skin, and keep it in the fridge until it is needed for the next meal.

This saves preparation time, and cooking time, because for the next meal reheating / redeploying the pumpkin is quick and easy.

Even carrots.  I know that unpeeled boiled carrots don't look that appetising, but when you glaze them briefly in honey before serving, there is seriously no need to peel them. If you're using them in coleslaw all they need is a good wash / scrub and then a grate - the mayonnaise hides the sometimes unsightly skin.

Other veggie we eat unpeeled are cucumbers, tomatoes, peas - in fact only things with really hard skin - like avocado's, oranges, lemons, banana's - are peeled.  Everything else is left as it came in from the garden :)

RMan now wants me to peel carrots by the way.  That is because the alpaca's love grated carrots, carrot skins and carrot greens.  It is their very best treat :)