Food news antipasto

Love avocados but struggle to get them out of their skins? You may want to try the viral method that relies on a whisk. It is just as easy as it sounds – cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, and “insert your whisk right into the green part of the avocado, twist, and scoop”. Just be sure to get the whisk all through the flesh.

In much of the Northern Hemisphere we are headed into peak squash season. I have three nearly-ripe chunky butternut squash in my garden and I am already anticipating what I will make with them. Since there are several other varieties available in addition to butternut, Epicurious has developed a guide to 15 different types of squash, including the best uses for each.

Did you know you can make pita in an air fryer? Serious Eats’ Nermine Mansour has developed a foolproof recipe to produce “bakery oven worthy pita” using just a handful of ingredients. Why use an air fryer? Mansour says it “takes just minutes to preheat, and its ability to circulate air and hold its temperature—both of which are essential to making great pita—is generally much more consistent than many larger ovens.”

If the only thing you do with stale bread is make French toast, head over to Food & Wine where Jacques Pépin shows us his favorite use for bread that has lost its luster. Pépin makes a savory items he calls “bread flapjacks” that uses onion, egg, and milk to transform stale bread into a delicious breakfast food or appetizer.

Mark Bittman’s latest venture is a sliding-scale restaurant in NYC. Located on the Lower East Side of the city, the restaurant is a test to see if the sliding scale payment model will work to make “high-quality, locally sourced food accessible to everyone”. The restaurant’s advisory board includes culinary luminaries Alice Waters, José Andrés, and Marion Nestle.

Kitchen counter space is always a concern no matter how large your kitchen is. Finding the right balance between having all of the appliances you regularly use easily accessible without crowding out working space can be a challenge. Food writer Jess Reyes has even less space than most, so she has compiled her favorite tiny appliances that save on the precious resources.