Choosing the words to fill my first post I imagine is not unlike deciding on a first course. Both should be a preview of things to come - well crafted, well conceived, and hopefully well remembered. At the same time you don't want to fill up on the first bite; after all, I want you to be satisfied but I also want you left hungry for more. So, here then is the first course...
For Christmas this year I asked for several cooking related items. Among them were a set of Global Knives I had been eyeballing for some time. Santa Claus was nice enough to bring them to me by way of my wife. The set I received includes the Global 7" hollow ground santoku knife, 5.25" utility knife and 3.5" paring knife. A unique feature of Global knives are their edges which are ground to a straight point rather than the western style of beveling the edge. From the moment I first picked up these knives I knew they were special and after spending the weekend finding reasons to chop something up I couldn't be happier. You can read all about the exact set I received at Amazon and here's an interesting article from Wikipedia related to santoku knives.
Along with my new knives another recent obsession has been making risotto. Until Thanksgiving I had never made a risotto and my first was taken from the pages of New American Bistro Cooking by Laurent Tourondel and Michele Scicolone. Tourondel is the Executive Chef and Partner in BLT Restaurant Group. Besides having fabulous restaurants, Chef Tourondel's cookbook is stuffed with many great recipes and I highly recommend it for anyone. The only item worth mentioning is that while each recipe is well worth the time and investment some have ingredients either difficult to come by or a little obscure. Finally, I want to leave you with a new recipe each week. Here's one from the BLT cookbook that's easy to make and goes with anything - Giant Cheese Popovers.
See you next time...
