Kitchen gadgets and herbs

A little over three years ago, I downsized from a 2000-quare-foot house to a 600-square-foot cottage. My health (mental and physical) was not good at the time, and my four children and their families did most of the downsizing. I had little say in what stayed, what went, but for the most part they were careful—and they knew, from furniture to clothes, what I treasured. But then there was the kitchen!

I have said the things I miss most were some of my cooking utensils—the meat tenderizer, the basting tube, a slotted spoon. Jordan and her family occupy my kitchen now, and I can tell them exactly where such-and-such a thing should be—but, of course, it’s not there because they’ve replaced with their own kitchen equipment. When I one day mourned the large orange Dutch oven I’d had for years, Jordan suggested I look at the soffit shelf in Colin‘s kitchen next time I visit Tomball. Sure enough, there it was, right next to the smaller yellow one once mine. I don’t have room for many pots and pans, so that’s fine. It’s the smaller utensils I miss.

Last weekend I had a lesson in chopping utensils. I wanted to make a salsa verde or green sauce that called for one full cup of minced mixed “fragrant” herbs. I’ll have you know it took me forever to mince enough Italian parsley, watercress, basil, and cilantro. I did it, but I was not a happy camper. Several years ago a friend gave me a chopping tool that has been really useful, once I retrieved it from the house where Christian had been happily using it.

Chopping herbs though presents special challenges. Little green bits get everywhere, and they stick wherever they land—counters, floor, dishes, your hands. And they’re hard to clean up—they cling to everything. Plus it’s tedious work. So after I got my cup of herbs, I vowed to order herb scissors from Amazon. I still had lots of herbs left, and I thought it would be best to go ahead and mince them and make more of this vinaigrette-type sauce because it will keep and you can use it on anything—fish, steak, poultry, cardboard.

My scissors came yesterday—I hope you can tell from the picture that each blade is really five blades. The scissors came with that neat little cleaning tool you see in the picture. What I didn’t realize is that you practically have to clean the blades after every two or three cuts. The scissors have an advantage—you can cut over a bowl, minimizing but not eliminating the scatter problem. This morning I found bits of green on the scissors handle, my phone, and odd places on the counters. It’s still tedious, boring work—and I have more to cut today.

Is it worth all this? The sauce was delicious on salmon, both the night we had it and the next day. And as I said, it can go on lots of meats. And it’s a great way to use herbs before they go bad. I have thrown out more than I like to admit in my lifetime.

The recipe says this keeps a week in the fridge, but I bet you can stretch that. The recipe also says it goes together in minutes. Hah! Only after you spend an hour mincing herbs.

Salsa verde

1 c. fragrant herbs, minced

½ c. red wine vinegar

¾ c. olive oil

1 tsp. kosher salt

3 garlic cloves, finely grated (use your microplane—another gadget I’ve gotten since I moved to the cottage)

1 shallot, finely chopped – my chopping blade does that

            Mix it all together and store in covered dish in the refrigerator. (See? I avoided saying “icebox dish” and “icebox,” both terms my grandson tells me are hopelessly old-fashioned).

            This is a repeat of a picture I posted earlier in the week, but here’s what the sauce looked like on our salmon.