Sunday, March 24, 2013

Knife Skills

Last week hubby and I took a class at our local community college on knife skills.  When we first decided to take a venture into cooking classes, hubby looked at the available classes and pointed out three or four he'd be willing to take.  I firmly decided we'd start with only one.  The other classes were for making specific meals or working with a specific type of food.  While I was interested in probably all of the choices, I had been wanting to first take a class on the basics in the kitchen.

Knife skills doesn't get any more basic.  We all of course can use a knife, some better than others, yet we all make it happen.  Yet, there is obviously a better way to do all things.  This class helped me learn that better way.


This would be where I would spend three hours of my Saturday morning.  It went by (surprisingly) very quickly.


We were first taught the basics about knives and then received a knife that came with the purchases of the class.

Not a bad deal if you ask me.


The handle of this knife is my favorite part.  It puts me in a very western mood.  I'm convinced that knife handles during the days of gunslingers had to of looked like this.

If they didn't, that's just a rootin' tootin' shame.


We started by learning how to properly cut up fruit.  The chef showed us all kinds of fancy things to do with fruit.  Like that awesome bird I made in the center of the tray.


Okay, fine, I didn't make it.  I did try, but failed miserably.  I'm blaming stage fright.


I did slice these sweet little strawberries.  They were so much more complicated than the apple bird.

After making fruit salad for an army, we got to sit back, relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Get it?  Fruits of our labor?

Because we cut up fruit.

Okay, sorry.

Then it was onto vegetables which I knew would have to be a million zillion times harder simply because vegetables are a million zillion times harder in general.

Try to make sense out of that statement.

I triple dog dare you.


Some of my pictures are blurry because I was using my phone to take them.  I had thought before hand to bring my camera, but then thought I'd look silly with it and changed my mind.

Then I ended up looking silly anyway by snapping pictures with my phone.

Lesson learned?  Always go with your gut.

All in all, I think hubby and my tray of veggies came out looking very nice.  And, we were one of the few groups of students to remember to slice our onions and place them in a separate dish.  Because who wants to eat onion flavored carrots?  Am I right?


Alright, in all honesty, I think hubby did the best at knife skills.  He diced pretty good.  I continued to second guess myself and lived in fear of the knife.


Here is where I bested him though.  We both made an attempt at a tourne cut with carrots.  Above is hubby's.

Wow.  Just wow.

In case you are unfamiliar with the term, a tourne cut is a method of cutting vegetables like carrots and potatoes, usually with a paring knife.  You are supposed to be able to make only seven cuts and form an oblong, football type shape.  The problem, and reason why you don't see this so often, is that you waste a lot of the vegetable in creating this shape.


Despite nearly slicing my hand (and in front of the chef to boot!) I think my tourne cut came out much closer to the real thing.

I just won't tell you how many cuts I put into it.

It definitely wasn't seven.


Our teacher really made the class a success.  He explained everything clearly and did his best to check in on each student (which was pretty difficult for him considering we had 14 students in the class).

I went home and instantly ordered the knife skills book he recommended and then set off to continue practicing the art of dicing an onion.  Other than the apple bird, this was the hardest skill taught.

Now that I have the concept down, my goal is to increase the speed and ease at which I do it.


We start with an onion.

Shocking, I know.


Leaving the root on, chop off the tip of the onion.


Cut the onion in half from root to tip.


Clear your work space!  Aside from the awesome cutting skills I learned, I took two other things from this class.

1. Don't give the finger.

In other words, in your hand that holds the knife, do not allow your pointer finger to point into the air or separate on the knife from the rest of your hand as you cut.  Make sure that all your fingers are grasping together onto the handle of the knife.

2. When you are cutting something up, remove everything from your work space (cutting board) that you are not currently working on.

Stopping giving the finger wasn't so hard to do (although the chef did call me out on it one time), but clearing my work space was something I had to constantly remind myself to do.  And it will be something I'll have to constantly remind myself to do at home as well.


Lay half of the onion flat side down.


Based on how small you want to dice your onion make a few slices into it horizontally.

The most important thing to do here is to keep the root in tact.  After trying this out about four or five times I have come to the conclusion that if you want to do it right you just have to practice it over and over.

And over and over.

A crazy concept, I know.


After the horizontal slices have been made, cut the onion vertically now.  Again, make sure to keep the root in tact by only cutting up to it, not through it.

Last, and of course, not pictured (because that would make life too simple), cut the onion across the vertical slices.

Discard the root end and then give your onions one final rough chop.


This is the easiest, most effective way I have ever chopped an onion.

That alone made the class well worth it's cost.


Friday, March 8, 2013

Four Cheese Crock Pot Lasagna

Recipe: Four Cheese Crock Pot Lasagna
Source: The Orange Strainer
Time: 20-30 minutes prep, 2 hours cooking time
Ease: 2
Taste: 6
Leftover Value: 6
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!



The first time I made lasagna was preceded by a phone call with my mother.  We were shooting the breeze (which means I was probably seeking an answer to some cooking question I was uncertain about), then I told her as we were hanging up that I was making lasagna for dinner.  I had been married for only a short time then and could hear over the phone her eyebrows raise as she said, "Are you sure you want to make that tonight?  Lasagna can be difficult.."

Little did she know I had this bad boy cheater lasagna recipe tucked up my sleeve.

I call it a cheater lasagna because here is the beauty of it: you do not need to cook the noodles.

I repeat: you do not need to cook the noodles.

Isn't it a glorious thing?


Here's what you'll need:

  • 1 jar (28 oz or more) spaghetti sauce
  • 1 box lasagna noodles, uncooked*
  • 2 cups mozzarella cheese
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
  • 15 oz ricotta cheese

*Any type of noodles will work.  The ones that are specifically "no boil" noodles do produce the best taste, but I usually just go with whatever is on sale.  Because I'm cheap.

There, I said it.

Let's move on.


Of course, you'll also need a housewife's best friend: a crock pot.

Yes, my handle is cracked.  That is another story though, and a very unfortunate one.


Whenever I make this recipe I have to do something a little strange.  I have to split my cheeses in half.  You'll notice that right now both of these bowls look pretty much identical.  Both have a cup of mozzarella cheese, a half cup of cheddar, and 1/8 cup of Parmesan cheese.


Here is where the bowls change dramatically.  My hubby does not like ricotta cheese.  He does not like ricotta cheese in his lasagna.  Tell me, how un-Italian, how disgraceful, how mortifying is that?

I know, I am a saint for dealing with such nonsense.  You may mourn for me.

Because of my hubby's dislike for the miracle of ricotta cheese, I have to make one cheese mixture with it...


and one without it.

You'll have to come up with the answer to the question: Did I purposefully allow a shadow to be cast in this picture of cheese without ricotta?

The world may never know...


Look at how much more accepting the ricotta cheese mixture is.  It says, "I'm more than just a bunch of shredded cheeses.  I have some flair to me".

If my poor hubby only knew...


After the cheeses have been all mixed together, the seemingly unnatural part begins.  Traditional lasagna is made in a square or rectangular dish.  Therefore, the noodles are cooked, then laid out without the stiffness of an uncooked noodle.  In a crock pot, you don't have the issue of having to cook the noodles and worry that they stay beautifully in place as piles of cheese and sauce are dispersed.  There are, however, different layering issues to deal with.

First, start by coating the bottom of your crock pot with some spaghetti sauce.


Top the sauce with a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles.  I usually lay them long ways, but this time I decided to be a little wild and have them go across the short way of the crock pot.

I'm pretty sure it tastes the same either way.  Yet I may have to make it again to confirm.  Darn...

Note: The noodles do not need to look beautiful.  They will never be able to be laid out perfect.


If you live with normal people you won't have to worry about evening out the space between the cheese side including ricotta and the side that is sans ricotta.

Spoon half of the cheese mixture over top of the lasagna noodles.  Don't worry about it being perfectly covered as the cheese will melt and spread out during the cooking time.

This is, of course, the one negative of trying to make one lasagna for two different appetites.  The ricotta tends to travel a little into the other half, especially once the first serving has been spooned out.

That is clearly a hubby problem though.  Not mine.


Pour some sauce on top of the cheese.


Then top with noodles again.  Try to remember the way you placed the first set of noodles and place these in a different direction.

No, wait.  That's what I always do by accident.

I meant, try to remember the way you placed the first set of noodles and make sure to place these noodles in the same direction.


Cover with the remaining cheese.


Pour sauce over top of the cheese.


Top with more noodles.  Again, in the same direction the noodles have been going through the other steps.  Don't judge my noodles in this picture.  I was having some difficulty breaking them in a perfect and beautiful fashion.

Oh wait, I already warned you that that probably won't happen.  Whew...


Pour the remaining sauce on top.  It is really important to cover the noodles completely with sauce.  If you don't, the noodles that are uncovered by sauce will be extremely hard when the rest of the lasagna is cooked and ready to eat.

Naturally, I took this picture first and then went into my freezer to thaw a small amount of sauce to finish the job off.

At least you see the way not to leave the noodles.

Put the crock pot on high for two hours or low for four hours.


About fifteen minutes before you are going to serve the lasagna, sprinkle some mozzarella cheese on top.


As you eat, constantly ask yourself, wait, did I actually just make my lasagna in the crock pot?

Smile when you realize that yes, you did.