JAPANESE MANDOLINE

I spent quite some time to determine the most appropriate kitchen gadget that would take the first appearance in this first issue of the newsletter.

There were several nominees that were fairly suitable for this assignment. However I was looking for more; more than ‘just enough’: The very first toy in the kitchen had to be pretty, but yet sedulous and keen. It had to be small enough, that was for sure, to fit into our every day lives. However, I did not want it to disappear among the rest, so it should have been big enough to fulfill a lot of expectations despite to its subtle appearance.

That is how my Japanese Mandolin made its way here, into these pages.

The first time that I really used mandolines was when I was in Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts in Vancouver. Until that time, I always assumed that mandolines were specialty gadgets and just belonged to the most comprehensive kitchens. What a misperception! These toys can really convert ordinary preperations into fun and can perform very precise results; unfortunately with the high risk of being hurt.

There are several types of mandolin for kitchen use, designed for commercial kitchens and households. The commercial ones are really durable, quite big and expensive while some of the models developed for household use appear to be less reliable. Japanese mandolins are designed for both commercial and household use, hence easy to use and clean, but yet durable.

The mandolin has one permanent blade and 3 blade attachments. With the permanent blade you can slice patatoes, beets, cucumbers, carrots, and any other root vegetable as well as bulbs like fennels and onions. It is easy to adjust the thickness from 0.3 mm to 2 mm and you can slice your vegetables thin enough to make beet flowers or patato chips.

The interchangeable blades are of varying thickness and can be attached to the body easily. These blades can be used to shred vegetables to garnish salads and main dishes, to make stirfrys and vegetable tempuras, to decorare  plates and tables.

The gadget requires a great care though: The blades should be washed right away after each use, as vegetable pieces can easily stick and dry on the blades. You should also pat-dry the blades throughly  after the cleaning to prevent rusting and keep the blades in a safe place, preferrable secured with a paper towel, a cloth or a freezer bag, in order to prevent accidental cuts.

What can you make with your Mandolin?

The dishes that you can prepare with your japanese mandolin is countless and the limit is your  imagination. The followings are just the examples of its several use

1.    Healthy and Presertives free Vegetable Chips

2.    Shaved Fennel and Orange Salad
3.    Vegetable Tempura
4.    Needle Potatoes
5.    Anna Potato Ring
6.    Beet Carpacio
7.    Gratin Dauphinois
8.    Dried Pear and Apple chips

Please email us if you require recipes.

BE CAREFULL! The blades are extremely sharp. Either use finger guard or cut resistant gloves to prevent injuries.

BEETS

It always fascinates me to see rough and ugly looking roots, bulbs or tubers transforming themselves into beautiful, buttery and delicate masterpieces with a gently touch and a little bit appreciation.

Beet is a good example of the foodie version of this famous “Ugly Duckling” story.

Most of the time, they are boiled or roasted and then consumed as a cooked vegetable or eaten cold as part of a salad. However, beets are a good example of the vegetables that we can definitely consume raw.

While you are shopping for beets, choose small or medium-sized ones with smooth skin and deep in color.  Avoid beets that have bruises, soft and wet areas. If you bought the beets with greens, cut the leaves and the stems from the beet to prevent them pulling the moisture away from the root. Do not wash beets before storing. Place in a plastic bag and wrap the bag tightly around the beets. Place them in refrigerator where they will keep for up to 3 weeks.

While cooking, try to choose batches with the same sizes as this will help you to obtain a uniform cooking time and texture.

Boiled, roasted or raw it is an excellent source of folate, which is a water-soluble vitamin B that occurs naturally in food. It contains phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, calcium, iron, and potassium, as well as fiber, vitamins A and C, niacin, and biotin.

ROASTING the BEETS

·         Preheat the oven to 375°F.

·         Wrap each beet in aluminum foil, place them on a baking dish and roast them for about 1.5 hours.
·         The exact roasting time depends on the size of the beet. You can start checking doneness after 1 hour for small size beets.
·         To check, simply unwrap a piece of foil from a beet and pick with a bamboo skewer or a tooth pick. You should have no resistance from the beet while you pick

BOILING THE BEETS

For detailed instructions please check out the Pink Valentine’s Day  Pancake recipe at page 5.

A REFRESHING TOUCH of the RAW BEET: GRATED BEET AND CELERY SALAD

The crunchiness of the raw beets and the apple cider vinaigrette just convert this salad into a refreshing treat!

Ingredients

For the Salad

1 lb. beets, washed and peeled
4 celery sticks, finely chopped
3 Tbsp  apple juice

For the Vinaigrette
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 green onions, finely chopped
¼ cup parsley, mint or basil (finely chopped)
To taste, salt and pepper

As the Garnish

Finely chopped fresh herbs: Parsley, mint or basil

Method

1.         First prepare the vinaigrette: Mix all the ingredients of the vinaigrette in a bowl and whisk them all until well blended.

2.         Grate the raw beets, and then mix it with finely chopped celery and apple juice. Stir half of the vinaigrette into the salad mixture.
3.         Place your salad into your serving plate and drizzle the remaining vinaigrette on top of your salad.
4.         Let your salad marinate at least 2 hours in the fridge before you serve.
5.         Serve it cold and garnish with fresh herbs.

Bon Appetite!!!

HINT! You can use golden or purple beets for this salad.  The color will definitely brighten up your table.

Make two batches, one with each. Plate them into a decorative partitioned plate and garnish with opposite colored beet chips.

A PINCH OF DELIGHT

“A Pinch of Delight” is the story of a journey rather than the destination!

When I started cooking many years ago, I was not thinking at all about the end of the journey that I was in. The destination was predetermined already and had nothing to do with cooking. No matter what I did in order to earn my living, at the end of the day kitchen was my sanctuary and fire, even though it was just flames coming out of a gas lit stove top, was the altar of a prehistoric god that I was hypnotically attached. 

Eventually cooking evolved into further cooking, a lot of reading, continuous searching, and experimental writing! At this very stage, it is really hard to determine which leads to what! Do I cook to write on food or search new horizons to cook more?!

This is how “A Pinch of Delight’” is born! It is the result of the urge of living one step further in food: Not only cooking, sharing, reading, talking but also writing about food…

This journey is still on.