Have New Knives, Will Chop Stuff

From the moment I clicked on “complete order,” I couldn’t wait for my new Wusthof Gourmet knives to arrive. As luck would have it, they were waiting on my doorstep when I arrived home from work late on Friday evening.

Even though I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go straight to bed, I busted right into that box. I was excited, and wanted to get my hands on each knife as fast as possible, but I made sure to very slowly and carefully unpack each one and find it a home in the knife block. The emphasis was on “carefully” – I do have a history of badly cutting various fingers and I am trying very hard to prove to my friends and family that I can do this wannabe foodie thing.

With that being said, all I could do on Friday night was admire the beauty of my new purchase. I was way too tired to actually use them. I can’t even imagine the horror of the ensuing bloodshed if I dared.

A new day arrives on Saturday, and I’m rested and excited to get chopping. Because I wanted the knives to have my full attention, and didn’t want to be distracted by actual cooking, I decided my first effort would be to make homemade tomato salsa. Normally, I would make this in the food processor in the interest of time. But this was all about the knives, so hand chopping was a must. After all, have new knives, will chop stuff.

My salsa recipe is very simple, but good and fresh tasting. I finely and happily chopped three large tomatoes, one half of a medium sized yellow onion, one green pepper (I prefer Italian peppers to bell peppers for this recipe), about 2-3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro and the juice of one lime. Add kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and Tabasco (or your favorite red pepper) sauce to taste – you can make this as salty and spicy as you like. For the knives, I used a tomato knife (a knife I had never heard of until I ordered this set) and the 8” cook’s knife. The knives felt great in my hand, and were really easy to use. I was particularly impressed with how the cook’s knife handled the cilantro. In my prior experience, fresh herbs would wilt and get soggy when chopped, but the cilantro remained dry and leafy.

As much as I love the 8” cook’s knife, I do have to say that I don’t know how I ever lived without a tomato knife. I am not sure what I expected from a knife made specifically for slicing tomatoes, but I have learned over the years not to expect much when it comes to knives and tomatoes. I feel like no matter how sharp my knife was, I couldn’t get more than a couple decent slices before the knife would need to be sharpened again. Not even my mandolin could manage this job easily. I have to employ the sliding back and forth tactic, and quite frankly that’s a recipe for disaster with my track record. Whatever it is that makes tomato skin so resistant to sharp knives, I wish my skin had it.

But this new tomato knife managed to slice three large, very ripe and soft tomatoes without needing to be re-honed once. The knife easily slid through the skin without wrinkling or tearing it, resulting in perfect tomato slices. These perfect slices were eventually chopped up into smaller pieces so presentation didn’t really matter after all, but still…

I haven’t tasted the salsa yet. It remains in my fridge for now – I’m saving it to enjoy while watching the Boston Red Sox hopefully beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California, USA, the World (but I digress – foodie is also a sports fan) to stay alive to play another game. But, this post isn’t about how the food tastes, it’s about how great the knives are. And they are great.

Now that the knives are here, and my foodie wish list is empty, it’s time to think about what I want next. So far, I’m leaning towards crème brulee equipment. I promised my sister I wouldn’t buy a pressure cooker (in addition to cutting my fingers a lot, I did one time make a Pyrex baking dish explode to pieces), but she didn’t say anything about flame throwers!

Miscellaneous Notes
Thanks to all my new Facebook fans! Welcome to Confessions of a Wannabe Foodie, and please spread the word. :)

Daisy the Wonder Cat is recovering from her surgery very nicely. She’s allowed to jump again, and she begins her new fancy diet of duck and green pea based food today. Yes, that’s right, the wannabe foodie now has a foodie cat. How appropriate.

I’m loving Top Chef Las Vegas so far. My prediction for the final four is Jennifer, Kevin and the brothers Voltaggio. Not a bold prediction, I know – they have cooked themselves to the top of many a viewer’s top four list. I can’t wait for Mike Isabella to pack his knives and go, but I worry that he's going to be one of those guys who gets to the end by riding the coat tails of better chefs, or just by not being the worst chef each week (much like Lisa did in season 4, Chicago). 

Check Back Often for These Future Posts
The Tailgate Meets Clambake. I’m crashing my brother-in-law’s annual tailgate clambake at next Sunday’s New England Patriot’s game, and my contribution will be homemade clam chowder (New England style, of course).

The No Grocery Shopping for One Week Challenge. I’m going to force myself to live off my pantry and freezer for one week. The only items I will be allowed to buy are dairy and produce for salad (I can’t use frozen lettuce, and canned tomatoes in a garden salad are just plain wrong). Let’s see how well I can survive on frozen veggies, things in cans, pasta and mystery meat.
 
Happy Anniversary, Good Eats. This year marks the tenth anniversary of one of my favorite food shows, Alton Brown’s Good Eats. Congratulations, Alton – you’re a true inspiration. I’ll be writing about the top ten things I learned by watching Good Eats.

In Closing...

I’ve received special requests to try some gluten free and vegetarian recipes. If there are any topics you’d like me to explore, please let me know. You can leave a comment on this site, become a fan and write on my wall at Facebook, or drop me an e-mail at confessionsofawannabefoodie@gmail.com.

Happy eating!