Saturday, January 8, 2011

"Helps your cooking fast, joyfully with wonderfully edged strings!"

When I ordered my ice cream maker I also threw a Japanese Benriner Cook Help into my shopping cart.  It arrived today!

I had read that this tool makes fantastic raw veggie noodles and had been scoping it out for a while.  I was tired of using a veggie peeler, or slicing my fingers on my cheap mandolin.  

I am soooo glad the instructions came illustrated because they were full of useful tips like:
  • "Also, cut it in tiney (sic) pieces with kitchin (sic) knife and use for Hamburg steak, frizzled rice, etc."
  • "Sliced onion can be obtained with ease. Very much popular as stamina food."
  • "Just a little bit different Tastes of a regular cook."
Okay, I'm rude, but I had a nice laugh at Benriner's expense, but then did feel truly joyful (as the instructions stated I would) when I figured the thing out.  It is super cool!  


After playing around with lots of veggies (should have taken pics!), I made green pepper and carrot "noodles" and topped them with Cauliflower Curry from Delightfully Raw.  Heavenly.  

One of our Full Circle Farm boxes this week was packed with kale.  I did the ordering for this box when I was in Mexico, under extreme leafy green deprivation.  I wonder if FCF thinks I learned how to make meth with kale.  



Only one thing to do with bucco kale:  KALE CHIPS!!





I decided to do something productive with that mysterious freezer chocolate ganache, so I don't continue to spoon it mindlessly into my mouth while reading blogs.  

I set it on the wood stove to soften it up, then spooned a little layer into a candy mold.  I froze it for a bit, then spooned in a layer of Caramel Sauce #2 from Sweetly Raw's Just Desserts recipe book.  (BTW:  that caramel sauce is outstanding.  Tastes better than the real deal.)  I froze it again, and topped the candies with another layer of ganache.  


Wow.  This is better.  I can eat one or two of these and feel totally satisfied.  

Question:  What's your favorite kitchen tool?  





10 comments:

  1. Ahhh! Those instructions are awesome! KT, seriously, seeing the food you are eating is really tempting me to go raw. Everything you eat is gorgeous! I wonder if it would break my guy's heart. When did you start eating raw? Was it a difficult transition for you?

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  2. haha - I didn't answer your question. This should be a reflection of my kitchin skills: the toaster. haha!

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  3. ...it's embarassing that MY "kitchin" was a result of my lack of sleep today and not a hilarious translation issue.

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  4. Hi Ester Jean! I must admit that I truly love eating raw and get so excited about how creative and tasty dishes can be. That said, it can be time consuming and a little pricey. My interest in raw food stems from way back, but I always thought it was kind of wacky. I started reading about raw foods more thoroughly about a year ago, and went mostly raw in March. I had no problems transitioning, except for occasional unpreparedness. Now I think I over prepare: I always have pizza crusts, crackers and desserts in the freezer and lots of sauces, dressings and produce in the fridge. As you can tell by my blog, I'm a little obsessed! :)

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  5. fave kitchen tool has to be my handheld food processor. When I don't want to make a lot of food, or a big mess, it's easy to clean up, and use :)

    I love in the description about yourself you've written, in addition to living with your hubby, you live with your vita-mix hahaha it made me lol!

    love your blog!

    -Amy :)

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  6. Thanks for sharing the Benriner lols--frizzled rice is a new one on me! I love those kinds of translation bloopers. I love their little mandolin that I have (although I do shred my fingers occasionally), but this tool looks like a pretty cool noodler. I've worked with spiroolis and saladaccos before and prefer the spirooli--saladacco seems flimsy and unable to cope with harder vegies. But the top-down direction makes more sense--the spirooli is always trying to walk away. I don't own either, so may have to follow your lead.

    My favorite kitchen tool is my vitamix, of course--don't know how I managed without for so long. But I love my little immersion blender, my chef knife and little mandolin too.

    So cool that you have a wood stove! Instant melting of cacao butter or coconut oil! And so cool that you support Full Circle Farm. I love their boxes, and keep thinking that I might sign us up.

    I think I need to know how to make that caramel--those little medallions look divine. Way to use something that you didn't even know you had!

    Ela

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  7. LOL to those kitchen instructions. Way funny!

    And what about those chocolate ganache thingys. Man I am sitting here drooling over them. How about faxing over a couple to Saudi Arabia for me please???

    My favourite kitchen tool has definitely got to be my 'vivian' although I definitely need to find my own name for it right?

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  8. @amy

    Hi Amy! Thanks for your comment. I'm very interested in this handheld food processor you speak of...I need to go look one up!

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  9. @Girl on Raw

    Okay, Girl on Raw, I'll send you some of those chocolate caramel thingies and you can send me some fresh dates! :) Oh, and some sun!

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  10. @Ela

    My Cook Help seems a little flimsy as well (unfortunately made of plastic), but it didn't have any problems spitting out noodles from a squash made of granite. I've never worked with a spirooli before, so not sure how to compare the two.

    I can't imagine living without Viv either! I've only had her a year, but after multiple uses per day, I know I've gotten my money's worth.

    I adore FCF! They have a wonderful mission statement, impeccable customer service, and lovely produce. Fridays are extra exciting for me as that's when our boxes arrive. :)

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