Here’s a fun little video from days gone
by. And this guy does all sorts of delightful little food treatments with a
bunch of nifty tools. I find it amusing that the manual can opener, and melon
baller were a few of those “not before heard of” nifty little tools.
After watching
this video, I wanted to try the waffle cut sweet potatoes fried in pancake
batter. So I went to the “kitchen store” outlet, accompanied by the very friend
who sent me the video. I was in search of a crinkle cutting blade. Well to our surprise, one of the things we found was a set of nifty little tools, the very
ones in the video. Not all tools were in the set, but a few of the ones I
really wished I could try out.
Earlier I was
talking about the visual components of cooking. Making a nice appetizing
appearance. Well these come right in line with that. Here is one gadget I
tried, the second from the top in the photo, and it worked beautifully. For an
appetizer when my kiddos were coming over for dinner I made these, for lack of
a better word, curly cue potatoes.
I normally would
never blanch potatoes, as potatoes should always be started in cold water when
boiling, but this time I did just dip the potatoes in boiling water for just a bit, about a minute to a min 30 seconds, to soften them, and make them easier for the
tool to go through. Being the first time, I got just one curled piece from each
potato half, next time I think I can cut them into maybe quarters and get more
from them. But I didn’t throw away the rest of the potatoes, I froze them (which i could cause they had been blanched) and used them in other dishes.
Well I cut the
curly cues as shown, and then did some sweet potatoes as well. Then I unscrewed
them and combined the two different potatoes back into two tones pieces. As
well I wrapped some breakfast sausage in some.
I dredged them in
flour lightly then set them aside in the fridge. Because they had been blanched
the potatoes did not darken. Later when my children arrived I just had to pop
them in the fryer. They were eating them honestly almost as fast as I could fry
them. The ones with sausage were really good, but the two toned ones, my
preference, were very delicious. The two kinds of potato flavors went well
together. I made a seasoning salt of
chili powder salt pepper garlic powder and a tad of brown sugar to bring out
the sweet potato. This I sprinkled on them after I fried each batch. Well
actually my son did the seasoning we worked like an assembly line. I had wanted
to sort of arrange them to make a presentation, but my son did that as well, and
set a bowl of raspberry chipotle dipping sauce in the middle, while I was
frying. But as I said they jumped right into them, so I really didn’t get a pic
of the platter laid out, which was a bit disappointing as I was referring to
the visual appeal. But I did rescue a few scraps for photo before they were
gone. Then I ate them…mmm. Next time I will have my daughter be in charge of
the photos.
I’d like to get a few more of the tools so
I will definitely be on the lookout. The little rolling chopper looked easy and useful for
fine mincing, especially of herbs.
Blessings mes amis.
5 comments:
They look scrumptious M.P.! I would be interested in your philosophy on what constitutes the basic essential tools in a kitchen. Spanish kitchens are small, with little storage space. This is because they shop often for fresh food, rather than do a whole weeks shop in one go. Also, they do not entertain at home, social gatherings are outside for a BBQ or in a restaurant. Homes built for us foreigners also have small kitchens, because we eat out all the time (I wish!). This means, that although they're nice to have, all the little gadgets take up valuable space and rarely see the light of day. The hand-mincer is forgotten because it's hidden away somewhere, that rotating device that strains vegetables remains unused. What do you consider the essential utensils for a small kitchen?
lets see, i prefer my cast iron skillets and i prefer wooden spoons, but those really aren't tools as such. other than those things i think one needs a good set of knives, at least a paring knife, bread knife aka serrated slicer, and a French chopper, and good kitchen shears. a pastry blender for chopping nuts,mashing potatoes breaking up ground meat, blending dough.. and many more uses. a whisk for blending sauces and whipping. a colander or strainer. and i use all the time my mortar and pestle.
LoL 'a French Chopper" mais certainment! Seriously, though, I concur with wooden spoons, etc, and a good set of knives.
Hmm, this sounds like a great topic to work into a post on Phood Filosophie! But the Kitchenaid mixer would surely have to be on the list too, n'est-ce-pas?
indeed i wouldn't want to ever be without my KitchenAide stand mixer. its the greatest thing to have and it does so many more things than just mix, makes my bread and rolls come out fine, not to mention puff pastry, and making sausage, and as i just wrote about the fluffiest mashed potatoes. it is certainly worth the investment. i was thinking tho' that Tim wanted the briefest list of essential little hand held gadgets i could come up with.
that does give me some ideas tho' Russ, about cooking, and storing, in tight areas and small kitchens. MISE EN PLACE is essential...
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