Sunday, February 13, 2011

Two important lessons that I have learned today

Two things struck me this afternoon. One, that I should follow my first instinct, and two, that I shouldn't be fooled by appearances.

I was about to clean the hob when I thought, 'There's no point cleaning it now as I'll be using it later.' I argued with myself saying if I followed that to its logical conclusion I'd never clean the hob again. So I scrubbed it till it shone.

Then, when browning a joint of beef, I tipped both meat and oil all over the hob.

The recipe this afternoon - pot roast the Italian way from Sainsburys magazine - called for finely chopped parsley and sage. Now I'm always impressed with the way chefs, with just an ordinary knife, go choppity, choppity, chippity, chop with herbs, and, if you recall, we were given a very fancy case of knives for Christmas. In best Jamie Oliver fashion I tossed the herbs on the chopping board, selected a knife from our newly acquired magnetic knife rack, and set about chip-chopping.

I might as well have been using a banana.

I went back to my bought-for-£1-to-slice-cheese-when-we-were-in-Kefalonia knife and finished the job.

I haven't cleaned the hob again yet though.

8 comments:

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

I hope the person who gave you the knive set does not read this LOL

mrsnesbitt said...

Reminds me of the time we bought a mandoline type slicer from a country show - chef made it look effortless - me? Nearly lost my fingers and tomato was just pulp - Dad's response "Well it doesn't impress me!" were his words!

Katney said...

I have come to be able to do a pretty good choppity chop with a "French" knife--the one shaped like a big long triangle. You hold the point in contact with the cutting board with one hand (on top) and maneuver the handle end with the other in a choppity chop swivelling back and forth motion. You should see me--it looks pretty good, though not ready for prime time.

Suburbia said...

Did you say a bad word?!!

jams o donnell said...

Ah Liz the hob doesn't get much dirtier after a while!

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

You and I share hob logic!

Liz Hinds said...

They don't, anne!

Indeed, mrs n. simple tools are usually the most effective.

I suppose it depends on the sharpness of the knife though, katney.

One or two, sub!

That's my thinking about the inside of the oven, jams.

We've got better things to do, welshcakes!

NitWit1 said...

I have a nice assortment of knives, and a friend who is a pretty good chef. Neither of us can chop like those we see on TV. In fact I've had to carry her to the doctor once for stitches.

And a bunch of those gimmicks you see on TV don't work like they are adverstized either.