How to Zest Citrus Without a Microplane

It's nice to cook in a kitchen stocked with every culinary trinket imaginable, but even if you don't have specialized cooking tools on hand, all is not lost! Take citrus zest, for example. Without a microplane or grater, it can be pretty hard to zest a lemon or lime, right? Wrong! Here's how you do it:

Using a vegetable peeler, peel off the skin of the citrus. Try to get as little of the white pith as possible.

Finely mince the citrus peel with a chef's knife. (It won't be as finely textured as grated zest, but in many applications, it'll do the trick.) Use the minced citrus peel according to your recipe.