Experimenting with produce: onions, manual food processor

[livingdeb]

It all started when I saw the Zyliss manual food processor in a Bed Bath and Beyond catalog. I like the idea of using my own power to chop things up but also having it go a lot faster. And this device looked easier to clean than regular food processors. And easier to store because it's small. Here's a YouTube video if you want to see it in action.

So I got one.

The first (and only) thing I've tried so far has been onions. I pull the cord seven times for minced onions. My eyes still water when I take the onions out, but it's probably better than chopping by hand. But most importantly--woosh, woosh, woosh! It's fun. And with a cute tiny rubber spatula, it's not that hard to get most of the onions back out. And then if you get to it right away, it's easy to wash. It's a little scary and dangerous to let the blades dry out in the open (in the dish rack), but so far we have been good.

Besides using a whole onion in beef dishes, I also tried using just a tablespoon or two in omelettes. This is purely because my favorite omelette ever is actually the Denver omelettes we had at Disney World--even though they had green peppers in it, which I don't like.

First put oil and onions in the pan while it's warming up. Then pour in the egg. Flip when it's mostly cooked. Add fillings (okay, just cheese), fold, and serve. Yum. I like this better than plain cheese omelets. The omelette is more likely to tear up than when it's just egg, but I'm not creating a masterpiece of art. It still tastes good.

So then I tried storing the rest of the onion in the freezer. I put it in a sandwich bag that I closed with a twist-tie. The resulting giant blob of onion required an ice pick (okay, I used a fork) to loosen pieces for future use.

So then I tried putting it in a sandwich bag and then flattening it before folding the ends closed. This worked much better. I can easily break off a piece or two and drop it into the pan. Then as it warms up, I can easily break it up with my spatula.

So now whenever I make an omelette, it has a little bit of onion in it. This does not count as a very big portion of a serving of produce, but it's still a good idea. I recommend it!

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

OK... so here's what I don't get about these sorts of chopping devices. From my perspective, the most difficult and time consuming part of chopping an onion is peeling it and discarding the ends. Once you've got that part done (which, incidentally, requires the use of a cutting board and knife) it only takes a few seconds to do the actual chopping. So how does the device actually save any time or effort? I mean you have to get the knife and cutting board out anyhow... I just don't get it. What am I missing?
:-)
Cat

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

To me, chopping off the ends and peeling it is the easy part! Maybe I like my onions in much smaller pieces than you do?

In your defense, it also takes more time to get the onion out of the food processor than off the cutting board. So, you are probably missing nothing!

After I cut up the first half of the onion, I am crying my way through the second half of the onion and sometimes have to take a break in the middle. (I don't have good goggles or I would try them. And my safety glasses have vent holes!)

I also like pulling the string. It feels like magic! So I think this seems like something fun instead of something icky I have to do.

[(Anonymous)]

Ha! That's hilarious that we dislike different parts of the onion chopping task. I just HATE the papery skins they stick to everything and make me sorta crazy.

And I can appreciate the fun factor thing, though for me, the chopping part IS the fun part. Perhaps I'm a bit OCD or something, but I get a strange enjoyment out of making the pieces all uniform and even, and choosing what shape I want them for the particular dish... do I want long skinny pieces, or small uniform square ones, or big chunks that are easy to grap with chop sticks, or artsy diagonal cuts - food processors bother me because the pieces come out all wonky with different sizes and shapes. Plus, I like the hands-on feeling of chopping by hand - the sensation of the knife moving through the vegetable. I think perhaps I'm just weird.

Anyhow, people are always giving me these sorts of devices because as a person who likes to cook, they can't believe that I don't use one. But they always end up in the basement storage room. I feel guilty for not using them, but honestly, having to haul a device out of the cupboard, and then having to clean the sucker and put it away again, feels like WAY more work than simply chopping in on the cutting board. Can you tell that I HATE dishes?

Perhaps what is and isn't "convenient" is all just a matter of perspective!
:-)
Cat

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I don't find that the papery skins stick to everything! Maybe because your hands are already wet when you get started? They definitely stick to wet things. (So does hair. Ugh.)

I do like chopping some things. It's definitely fun to chop green onions on a cutting board, for example. I can go pretty fast and still get good results.

Your OCD is funny! The pieces must match! I think my psychological weirdness is that I don't really like vegetables, so I never want a big piece of them in my mouth. (Same with most meats.) I do like cooked onions, but they cook faster when they're in small pieces and they mix into things better so you get some in every bite.

Too bad about getting so many specialty devices! You should definitely donate them or something. To assuage the guilt you could try using each thing once first. Or watch a YouTube video of someone else trying it. :-) Then say your farewells.

I love that we live in a land where we can really fine-tune our environment to our own strangely personal notions of convenience, fun, etc.!

A side step comment

[jay williams (from livejournal.com)]

I'm rather neutral about using extra devices such as this, but I did want to point out that it's the green pepper that makes the Denver omelette so great ;-)

Re: A side step comment

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Ha!