New Gadgets

So, another good use for the ol' PVR is recording cooking shows. As a person who isn't really into following recipes, it's really nice to just watch someone throw something together and then attempt to do a few of the interesting parts. For example, I was watching Jamie Oliver the other day and most of what he was making I was not interested in at all, but one of his sides were these baked chips (that's fries on this side of the pond, I suppose) that apparently tasted like they were fried. Included with them was this seasoning he made that he kept raving about. I was interested in trying these chips because I'm not the biggest potato person but Jules loves them so I keep them in rotation a couple times per week. I normally prepare them baked, either whole or cubed with seasoning, so I figured making chips would be a nice treat for both of us. Before I attempted this though, I had to overcome a minor issue - I had no way of grinding up dried rosemary or coriander seed. Jamie Oliver uses a mortar and pestle to grind his spices and herbs up. The other method I could try is an electric grinder. After debating yesterday whether I really needed to grind spices and/or herbs at all (I mean, pretty much all of them can come ground in a package these days), I decided to indulge. Then I read reviews online for decent and low price grinders and purchased one today. I went with an electric grinder over a mortar and pestle because electric grinders actually cost less and can also do coffee, not to mention the result is uniform.

So, was it worth it? Oh hell yes. I ground up rosemary first and the smell was amazing. Next I added the coriander and I was sold. I used that mixture to season the chips as well as on the salmon I foil wrapped and baked to have with the chips and it was fantastic. It wasn't even exactly as Jamie had prepared it (he also ground up lemon zest and sea salt, where I ground the sea salt separate and sprinkled lemon juice instead of the zest) but it was definitely a hit. I think the $25 for the grinder was definitely worth it!

The other addition to my kitchen that was purchased today (Jules' V-day gift to moi) is a food processor. However, unlike the spice grinder, the food processor has not been taken out of the box yet. I have tomorrow off so I'm going to play around with it then. I have to go grocery shopping anyway so I'm sure it'll get some chopping use at some point tomorrow. I (or rather Jules) does a lot of veggie chopping every week because keeping chopped veggies at hand is a huge time saver and a guarantee that plenty of them get thrown into whatever I'm making. Also, to save time, I tend to buy pre-shredded cheese which is damned expensive. I absolutely hate using a shredder though - I get grossed out by holding the block of cheese to grate it - even though my hands are washed and dairy has plenty of bacteria in it anyway, I feel like I'm getting it dirty. There's also the danger of accidentally getting nicked or cut which is more exaggerated in my mind than anything. So... I actually clued in to the brilliance of a food processor when I watched someone shred an entire block of cheese in about two seconds on one of the cooking shows. I kind of sat there and went, 'Duh. Why didn't I think of that?' My parents have had one for years, although theirs is about 15 years old and only has about a two cup capacity and one fixed chopping blade so it wasn't brought out all too often. Actually, I think the only thing they ever used it for was to dice onions. I had not realized that food processors had come a LONG way since then which is probably why it never occurred to me that I would now find one useful.