The Ultimate Chopper

My mom kicked butt with my birthday presents this year. I've noticed that as I get older (and don't worry, I know I'm still a baby - at least that's what my co-workers tell me on a daily basis) I become more practical. I guess I knew it would always happen but now that I'm 23, living on my own and living frugally thanks to student loans and credit card payments, I appreciate the little things in life that make my hobby easier. As you all know, I love to cook. The down side to living in New York is kitchens are small. For all my Richmond friends- most kitchens, although bigger in size, have about a quarter of the counter space that UFA apartments had while we were in school. This makes things hard because gadgets are what make cooking fun and less labor-intensive.

Since college, I have collected a few kitchen essentials: measuring cups, a nice wooden cutting board, a micro-plane, a steamer and good pots and pans. However, I have been lacking in the chopping, cutting, slicing department. As I said, my mom kicked butt and got me the ultimate combination of all things chopping, cutting and slicing: a 7-cup Cuisinart Food Processor and three knives! I now own a 5 inch pairing knife, a 7 inch utility knife and a 9 inch chef's knife. I cannot tell you what a difference they all make. My first recipe to try with my new arsenal of equipment? Potato Leek soup that required a lot of chopping, thin slicing, cutting and pureeing.

One of the best gifts I have ever received was "The Joy of Cooking" cookbook from Nick for our one-year anniversary. I had seen this recipe in there before and had always wanted to try it because of a wonderful Potato Leek memory I have from my childhood. Digress to Morgan as an 11 year old. We used to go to this restaurant in Amsterdam that focused on South African cuisine. I cannot remember the name but I distinctly remember walking down a dark, cobble stone street and seeing the South African flag waving above the door. The memory I have is of our whole family sitting around this table and, I am pretty sure, there was no one else in the restaurant. If there was, the food was so good I didn't notice. I remember not knowing what a leek was but knowing that I loved potatoes so I tried this mysterious soup. It was love at first bite. Before my birthday presents the thought of thinly slicing potatoes by hand and having to use a not-so-great and not-so-accessible blender to puree the soup was daunting. I was determined to try.

Here is the recipe:

Potato Leek Soup

Makes 8 cups

3 T. unsalted butter

8 large leeks, cleaned thoroughly and chopped (white part only)

3 medium or 2 large baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (1 1/2 pounds)

6 cups chicken stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a soup pot over low heat. Add the leeks and cook over low heat until tender, but not brown … about 20 minutes.

Add the potatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Simmer until the potatoes are soft … about 30 minutes.

Puree mixture until smooth. Season with the salt and pepper.

Thin if necessary with additional stock or water. Reheat gently to serve.

The scary parts of this recipe to me where the leeks being chopped and the potatoes being sliced thinly. I like being in the kitchen but knife skills are not my strong suit. I try so hard but nothing ever comes out the right size or thinness. I am getting better and every recipe helps improve my skills and my new knives make the job infinitely easier. The food processor took out all the stress. I just roughly cut my leeks into 2-inch long pieces and fed them through the feeder into the chopping blade. In 20 seconds, I had 8 perfectly chopped leeks. I had the butter melting while I did that so it was just a matter of detaching the top part of the processor and using a spatula to pour all the leeks into the melted butter.

While those sweated out a bit, I cleaned the chopping blade and replaced it with the slicing blade. After peeling the three potatoes, I used my chef's knife to cut them into roughly equal sized "cubes" of about 1 inch by 2 inches long. I turned on the slicing blade and fed the cut potatoes into the processor. In 30 seconds, I had three perfectly (and more importantly evenly) sliced potatoes to cook in the chicken stock.

Once everything was added together and cooked until tender, the last step was pureeing everything together. I had to divide the soup into three different batches to puree because, after all, it can only hold 7 cups and I had about 9 cups of un-pureed soup. When I was done, all I had to do was clean the food processor (which is dishwasher safe- I just don't have one), the chef's knife, the cutting board and the pot. Easy as pie. I cannot wait to try another recipe in the food processor again soon!

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Currently Eating/Cooking: I am not sure why but I have been craving chicken nuggets lately. It might be the colder weather and the need for comfort food but I just want them all the time. In an effort to be a little healthier I have been getting Morning Star Farms Meatless Chicken Nuggets. They are delicious and only 190 calories for 4 nuggets -the perfect amount the curb a craving. Truth: I had them for dinner last night and lunch today...

Currently Craving: Pizza! The comfort food is killing my attempt to be healthy right now. I made dinner plans with a friend for tonight and as soon as she mentioned a pizzeria in her neighborhood I got so excited. Can't wait for a New York slice (or two) tonight.

Currently Reading: The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil. I am really trying to expand my wine knowledge and palate so reading my way through this "bible" is helping me with that. Definitely worth checking out for any food and/or wine lovers.

Currently Obsessing Over: If this blog didn't make it obvious... my food processor. I truly do not know how I lived without for so long.