26 February 2008

Cuisin-love

I tend to be a bit old fashioned, in case you hadn't noticed. I don't have a mixer...OK, so they sent a European-plug mixer, but still, I haven't replaced it. I mix everything by hand. I've even made meringue by hand. Now that's dedication. I don't have a blender. I mash potatoes with a fork. I knead my bread myself. Recently, I've julienned and shredded by hand. I figure if my ancestors didn't need all these new fandangled devices to survive in the kitchen then I don't either. Except for the waffle iron. So what?, you say. Exactly!

Whenever I go to a Korean restaurant I am served this delicious side dish that is Korean radish, julienned and it's sweet. As far as I can tell it has no name and there is no recipe. I really wanted to make this stuff and as it's not in my new Korean cookbook and I can't find a recipe online, I was just going to fake it. But the thought of julienning two whole Korean radishes really was very daunting. They sat there and sat there and sat there. They started to get soft. Eek, I better use them, eh?
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OK, so today I tried to make some baby food for Lily. Green beans. For our wedding, Del and I were given a Chopster, a teeny little food processor. I've only ever used it to make my famous black bean soup...OK, famous may be over stating it a bit. Infamous may be better since I did drop an entire pot full of the stuff on my parent back screened-in porch. But, I digress. So, I tried to puree the green beans in my chopster and all it did was chop it. I guess that's why it's called a chopster. This is when I realized that I NEED A FOOD PROCESSOR. I am beginning to be a pretty decent cook and it's sad that I don't have one. Forget the "my ancestors" bit, let's get real in the kitchen!

I go to my doctor appointment and when I get home THIS is waiting for me!!! I can hardly stop using it! I can't believe I've been away from my beloved Cuisinart long enough to type this out. All this to say that I used my brand spanking new food processor to shred the radishes in 1.2 seconds flat and developed this recipe for a yummy Korean radish...salad, of sorts.

Korean Sweet Pickled Radish

2 cups Korean radish, julienned or shredded
1/2 cup carrot, julienned or shredded
1 T vinegar
2 T sugar
1 t salt
2 t wine
1 T mirin
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Put it all in a bowl and mix it up. It's good almost right away, but obviously if you let it pickle a while the flavors are better. Enjoy!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh my gosh!!! I'm so happy for you! Aren't kitchen appliances so much fun? I can't wait to see what fun things you will do with it. Do you have some ideas of what you will experiment with? And what a great guy you Del is! I think it's the best compliment when your husband truly appreciates what you do. Especially coming from such an honest guy like Del :)

Johanna said...

Wow! You really got a catch in Del! I have my mom's old food processor,and old and yellowed as it is, I love it. I use it often - especially when I am making baby food! I did my grains in the blender and my fruits and veggies in the food processor. You'll find use after use for it! How fun!

Leah said...

i would love to have a good food processor. mmmmm... i am coveting yours haha.

how does it do with tomatoes? i really like to make fresh salsa and bruschetta, but chopping tomatoes is such a chore.

Unknown said...

I tried to make salsa in my tiny food processor (1 or 2 cups) and it didn't turn out very good. There were big chunks even though some of it seems too blended. Probably the bigger ones, with more power, do a better job. But would you have to make a gallon at a time?

Joanna said...

just you wait and see!!!

M said...

lol... you go girl, just make sure a leave the trail of recipes behind cause I got one of those things, in the smaller version, and I have never used it cause I don't know what to do with it. Make something really yuimmy and I might just have to find all the pieces!