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Get It Done, Chop Chops Regular readers of Rouses Magazine know Linda Green, a New Orleans culinary legend known locally as the “Ya-Ka Mein Lady,” after the spicy noodle soup she is famous for. The Creole dish is touted as a hangover cure, and thousands of New Orlea- nians can attest to its restorative powers. She is also a caterer who has partnered with Rouses Markets over the years to sell her famous smothered duck and smothered pork chops, among other soul food staples, from the Tchoupitoulas store. As a child, Ms. Linda learned how to cook standing in the kitchen with her mother, also a celebrated New Orleans caterer. Here she was, Linda Green, this little girl with a big knife and a chopping board, chopping up the “holy trinity” of all Cajun cuisine: onions, celery and bell peppers. From the time she could hold a knife, she also had to handle garlic (aka “the pope”) as well as parsley. But those days in the kitchen were about more than learning to cook: They were about learning how to make her way in the world. “As I look back on my life,” she says, “I used to be in the kitchen as a child with my mom, and I appreciate all the stuff that she showed me, and our long talks in the kitchen, with her telling me things.” She shared with Rouses

ONIONS ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT Ms. Linda says to first peel the onion by taking a knife and slicing all around. After you remove the skin and the first layer or two of onion, she advises chopping the onion in half. Afterward, lay the two halves down and get to work. “That’s what I do: Cut straight down in rows, then come across and cut them again. That’s how they come out so pretty and even,” she says. She also recommends Vidalia onions for the sweetness they can bring to a dish. Nothing, she says, can top a sauteing yellow onion, though.

BELL PEPPER ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT It’s not so different to cut a bell pepper than to cut an onion. Cut away the stem and seeds, cut the bell pepper in half, and clean it out. Lay the bell peppers with the insides down, like cups turned upside down. Then, just like the onion, cut it in rows, and then again crosswise. As for what recipe is best to cook them in? “Bell peppers in red beans is nothing nice!” she says. “I learned that from my mother when I was a little girl. Bell pepper makes the best flavor for red beans.”

GARLIC ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT Take your cloves of garlic and lay the flat part of your knife across one. Smack down on it with the heel of your palm, and the peel will fall right off. After that, start chopping.

CELERY ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT There’s nothing hard about chopping celery. Cut it as close to the stem as possible, and discard that root end. After that, wash it, and slice down the middle of the stalks. Chop it into cubes — including the leaves. “We don’t throw those leaves away,” she says. “Cut them up real fine and cook with them.”

ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT Red onions are sharper and more pungent than white and yellow onions. If you like the deep purple outer color, but find the flavor too astringent for eating raw, soak red onions in ice water as you prep your other ingredients to eliminate some of the bite. This will also make them extra crisp.

Magazine a few simple vegetable chopping tricks that might make your time in the kitchen a little easier and a little more rewarding.

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