thoughtful consumption

Knife skills

Last night, I sat down to read the first couple of chapters from How to Cook Everything about basic techniques – including knife skills. Bittman points out that his grandmother had poor knife technique and was an excellent cook. And that proper knife technique probably only saves you 10 seconds an onion. Nevertheless, I’ve always wanted to chop better – especially now that I do lot of choppin’.

After absorbing Bittman’s comments, I found this 50-second video.

My first problem was holding the knife wrong. The right way is to hold the blade between the  thumb and forefinger instead of shaking hands with the hilt. At first it felt spooky having my fingers on the blade. However, after a handful of grape tomatoes, a small onion, and two cloves a garlic, I was sold.

I thought a new grip would take time to get used to, but it’s so much easier to control the blade! I cut myself a couple of times last week – not badly, just little slices on my fingers. I don’t think it could have happened if I’d been using this grip. (That’s not to say that I won’t find new and exciting ways to cut myself.)

I’m going back to watch the longer video on dicing technique next.

Asian pear stir-fry

Last night we had beef and Asian pear stir-fry and the final round of cabbage. The stir-fry was good, but I added soy and oyster sauce that overwhelmed the Asian pear flavor.

The cabbage was my favorite so far. I sauteed some garlic, onion, and ginger in canola and sesame oil and then added the cabbage. After ten minutes or so, I added a bunch of rice vinegar, a little sugar, and salt and pepper.

Everyone else is tired of cabbage. Too bad! We have a little left to finish with egg drop soup later this afternoon.

Pizza-Like Objects

My first plan for lunch today was top-your-own pita crisps. But I couldn’t get the pita quarters to separate. So I put them on a baking sheet, topped them with the last of the ricotta, some Italian cooked tomato goodness (tomatoes, onion, garlic, wine, olive oil, salt and pepper), and parmesan cheese, and put them in the oven. They came out great!

We added pesto, parmesan, and red pepper flakes as needed.

Tomorrow is Wednesday!