Mandoline

So my latest kitchen toy was a Mandoline style slicer. The “was” is not poor grammar, but my reference to the fact that it is going to be returned. I was excited about the purchase because I wanted to start doing vegetable fries and other treats for my toddler. Unfortunately the device turned out to be not very sharp and not terribly efficient in terms of slicing the entire vegetable in question. With both the squash and the zucchini there was a big chunk that I had to cut by hand.

The dish in question was an even greater debacle as I did not read my recipe correctly or have the cooking experience to know something didn’t seem right. The zucchini fries in question were supposed to be sliced and coated with a cornmeal, parmesan cheese mixture. Unfortunately instead of dipping the slices in buttermilk and THEN the mixture, I had created a milk, cornmeal, and parmesan cheese mixture. Obviously the coating didn’t stick and I ended up with a milk crusted cookie sheet and mushy zucchini. In the future I will have to remember to take pictures (good, bad and ugly) for these posts.

I will chalk this up as another failure on my road to success. I figure I will be fairly competent in about 30 years at the rate I am going.

On a positive note, I had the opportunity to try pluots. Samples were being given out at Costco and we decided to bring a case (roughly a dozen) of these home. They are softer than apricots and firmer than plums with a good balance of tartness as well. I recommend giving them a chance. They are easy to peel for kids and the skin is reasonably agreeable for adults.