By Sidonie Maroon , The Food Co-op’s Culinary Educator , abluedotkitchen

Follow Sidonie on The Food Co-op’s Facebook group Cooking with the Co-op

I always return to basics, because the art of cooking is about staying in “beginner’s mind”. I’m not sure if I chose cooking or if cooking chose me, but we’re a good match, because I never run out of things to learn— there are always ingredients to explore, techniques to practice, cuisines to try. But, it’s knowing the fundamentals of cooking that bring ease and joy.

At the top of the list are knife skills. I always see a boost in confidence when my students put time into learning how to properly slice and dice. A kitchen knife is a tool, like a hammer or saw and there are ways to use and care for it.

No matter what your culinary experience — we can all improve our knife skills. What better opportunity to practice than over the upcoming winter, especially if we cook and learn with the ones we love.

Choosing A Knife

Knives should fit your hand and feel comfortable. They’re tools — not status symbols. They make great gifts but don’t need to be expensive. I use an 8-inch chef’s knife for most of my work.

Keeping It Sharp

Dull knives are dangerous and frustrating. This Fall, I purchased a set of whetstones and am learning to sharpen my own knives. I watched some YouTube videos and am practicing.

Holding The Knife

You’ll want to protect yourself from not only cuts but tendonitis. Find an online tutorial, such as “How to properly use a chef’s knife”. It’ll take you 5 minutes to learn the grip and change your kitchen game.

Watch professionals use their knives. Like dance steps, there’s a rhythm we can all practice. Speed is not as important as technique! Practice makes perfect.

Workflow

Having a system and sequence, in the kitchen, will save you time and energy. Wash and assemble all your vegetables. Have a big bowl for compost near the cutting board, with smaller bowls to hold prepped ingredients. Work smart by doing one kind of cut and then moving on to the next. Don’t painstakingly cut up one carrot and then another. It’s all about efficiency and flow.

Kinds of Cuts

The fun part — Shapes

Question: Why do knife cuts all have French names?

Answer: Because French is the language of cooking, and French chefs put a lot of time and energy into obsessing over its details.

Question: Why does shape matter?

Answer: The shape of food affects even cooking, mouthfeel, flavor, and looks.

Homework: Master the Basic Cuts — think of them as dimensional lumber, only smaller.

Each stick is used to make a cubed cut. It’s easy to understand and practicing at home will save you $20,000 in culinary school tuition. Get in the spirit. Look up some articles and videos to support your home learning.

Bâton (ba-tonh) means stick. A bâton is a ½ inch thick squared off plank, like a steak fry. When you bunch the planks together and cut them crosswise into cubes, it’s called a large dice.

Bâtonnets (ba-tohn-nay) are smaller squared off sticks cut from bâton. They’re ¼ inch square. When cut crosswise into cubes they’re called a medium dice.

Julienne (jhou-lyen) are sticks ⅛ inch thick, fine Julienne are sticks 1/16 inch thick. They’re cut from bâtonnets. Using a mandoline is a simple way to make planks for the Julienne cuts. When cut crosswise into cubes they’re called brunoise (brun-wahz).

Brunoise is used to make mirepoix (meer-pwah) a mixture of diced vegetables — usually carrot, onion and celery to create a flavor base for soups and sauces.

Diagonal cuts are made by cutting at a 60-degree angle. We create many other fun cuts from this one.

Beyond these basics, there are other shapes to explore. Have Fun, Keep Calm and Carrot On.

Spicy Chickpeas with Roasted Carrots

Serves 2 with leftover chickpeas in chili sauce

1 hour

This is what a good potluck dish, or easy supper, should taste like. No bland flavors here. It’s spicy, sweet, salty and sour with Persian spices. A low stress dish that uses the Instant Pot and oven to do the cooking while you make a simple dressing and chop parsley. The extra chickpeas in chili sauce are good in their own right and will make another tasty meal.

Ingredients

For Instant Pot chickpeas, (the recipe makes twice as many chickpeas with sauce as needed)

2 cups dried chickpeas

1 dried pasilla chili

6 cloves garlic, with inner growing stem removed and minced

2 tablespoons fresh turmeric, minced or 1 teaspoon dried

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

1 quart water

For Roasted Carrots

1 tablespoon olive oil

5 medium carrots, washed and thinly cut on the diagonal

1 medium onion, cut in half stem to root and thinly sliced

All of the spice mix

Spice Mix

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon black peppercorns

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

½ teaspoon desiccated cardamom or 3 green cardamom pods with hull removed

½ teaspoon, fine sea salt

Dressing

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh Myers lemon juice

1 tablespoon raw runny honey

½ cup chopped parsley

Directions

Using an Instant Pot, add 2 cups of dried chickpeas, chili, garlic, turmeric, salt and 1 quart of water. Check the Instant Pot seal and put the lid on. Set to high pressure for 45 minutes with a natural release.

Preheat the oven for 425 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Prepare the carrots and onions and lay them on the baking sheet. Measure and grind the spices together using a spice or coffee grinder. Rub the vegetables with the olive oil and spice mix. Roast them, on a middle rack, for 20 minutes, stir and roast for another 15 minutes or until sweet and flavorful.

While the vegetables roast make the dressing, measure out the olive oil, lemon juice and honey into a small bowl and whisk together. Chop the parsley and set aside.

After the chickpeas have naturally released, strain them into a colander over a wok bowl keeping the liquid.

Make the chili sauce by adding the liquid and chili, with its top removed, to a high-speed blender and pureeing until smooth. Add the chili sauce and chickpeas to the work bowl and stir.

When the carrots and onions have finished roasting, add half of the chickpeas with sauce to a serving bowl, add the roasted vegetables and dressing. Fold together with ½ of the parsley. Add the remaining parsley to the top and serve.

Save the extra chickpeas and sauce for another meal. Homeschool Your Knife Skills