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P

PANBROIL: Cook meat or other food quickly in an ungreased or lightly greased skillet.

PANFRY: Fry meat or other food in a skillet, using varying amounts of fat and usually pouring off the fat from the meat during cooking. See also Deep-Fry, Fry, Panbroil, Sauté.

PEEL: Cut off the outer covering with a knife or vegetable peeler (apples, potatoes). Also, strip off the outer covering with your fingers (bananas, oranges).

PESTO: A pasta sauce traditionally made from fresh basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, garlic and olive oil, which is ground or blended until smooth. Make it fresh, or look for it in the refrigerator case or in tubes and jars in the tomato product section of your supermarket.

PHYLLO (FILO): Paper-thin pastry sheets whose name comes from the Greek work for leaf. It's the pastry favored for namy Greek and Middle Eastern main dishes and sweets. Available frozen and refrigerated. Sheets dry out quickly; so when working with phyllo, cover the unused sheets with waxed paper and a damp kitchen towel.

PINE NUTS: Small white nuts from several varieties of pine trees. Also known as pinon and pignoli. Often used in Mediterranean and Mexican dishes. With their high fat content, these nuts turn rancid quickly, so store them in the refrigerator to preserve their flavor.

POACH: Cook in simmering liquid just below the boiling point (eggs, fish).

POUND: Flatten boneless cuts of chicken and meat, using a meat mallet or the flat side of a meat pounder, until they're a uniform thickness.

PUFF PASTRY: This dough got its name because it puffs when it is baked. Dozens of layers of chilled butter rolled between sheets of pastry dough result in an extremely flaky dough. This dough is the basis of croissants, puff pastry shells and desserts such as Napoleons.

PUREE: Blend food until it's smooth, using a blender or food processor.