It's always fun to discover a solution for a dreary kitchen task that's also a new use for a beloved, but uni-tasker, kitchen implement. Question: What do you think I'm doing in the photo above that uses my old potato ricer in a new and helpful way?
Answer: Squeezing the water out of cooked spinach! How many times have you stood over the sink, squeezing and squeezing cooked or frozen spinach in your cramped little hands? Or have ruined a nice kitchen towel as a last resort fill-twist-and-squeeze effort? The potato ricer, which is shaped like a giant garlic press, does a fantastic job of getting all the excess moisture out and cleans up quickly and easily.
This handy tip came from the comments section of the website food52, where contributor KelseyThe NaptimeChef writes 'for the frozen spinach - a great way to get the water out is with a potato ricer.' Brilliant! I imagine this would work just as well for other greens such as chard and kale.
What solutions have saved your favorite uni-tasker from languishing in the dusty depths of your bottom most kitchen drawer?
Related: What's the Best Tool for Making Mashed Potatoes?
(Image: Dana Velden)
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That's fab. Even though recipes would always say to use a towel, I found that doing it with bare hands worked much better. But I'm trying this next time.
I don't own a potato ricer, but after hearing about how it dries out potatoes for hashbrowns I'm considering getting one...
But one question - how do you squeeze moisture out with it it actually going through the holes? Is it as simple as just not squeezing it so hard? If so, then that doesn't get all the moisture out, does it?
garyLikesToCook: In my experience, the spinach leaves are too big to squeeze out of the holes and no, you're not squeezing so hard that you're actually pureeing the spinach. Try it--it works!
Brilliant ... seriously. I am cooking spinach tonight and I hate the thought of staining yet another kitchen towel!
genius! my mom makes spinach frequently, and she's getting older :( i don't like to see my mom squeezing spinach with her achy hands. when i'm there and she's making something spinachy, i try to be the squeezer.... but i'm no good apparently, she always ends up re-squeezing anyways.
if you have a potato ricer with bigger holes, use it for making Spätzle
and one September, I used the potato ricer to puree the cooked quinces when I made quince paste.
Excellent--my cramped little hands thank you.
@Mel P.: Spätzle is an awesome use for a ricer. Nice idea!
People do think I'm strange when I sing the praises of the potato ricer, but I do find it a great multi-tasker. In addition to squeezing greens and raw potatoes for hash browns, I also like to use it when I make raspberry jam. I like loads of seeds in my jam and I find that it does a great job of pureeing the jam while keeping all the seeds.