Concasser is French for “to crush or grind,” and the tomato concassé is a technique that produces a diced or rough chopped tomato

Score the tomato, blanch it in simmering water, peel, seed, and then roughly chop it

Tomato concassé can be used as the base for tomato sauce, served atop crusty bread for bruschetta, or added to sauces

Filleting peppers will remove the fleshy part while leaving the seeds and the membrane behind. This technique is handy for hot peppers where the heat is concentrated in the seeds and membrane. Once filleted, they can be sliced or diced as desired.

Roasting peppers over an open flame removes the tough skin and brings out their sweet flavors. You can do this over an open burner, on a grill, under a salamander or broiler, and even with a blow torch. Blacken the skin and then scrap the skin clean. You can also rinse the blackened skin off, but this will result in a loss of charred flavor.