I'd wanted a french fry cutter for a long, long time but when I checked the price of one at my favorite restaurant supply store in Tulsa well, let's just say that pretty much blew it out of the water. NO WAY was I going to fork over that much money. (no pun intended) I could cut a whole lot of potatoes up by hand for what that one would have cost me.
Then we took a trip to Branson. I always check out the kitchen stores in the outlet malls when we go. And guess what! One of the stores had, what I believe to be, the very same cutter. The box was exactly the same. But the price was less than half of what the one at the restaurant supply store was. Needless to say I bought that baby on the spot.
So I get it home. And up until yesterday the cutter remained in my pantry unused. Not one single french fry has been cut with it. But then, we haven't been eating a lot of potatoes recently.
Then the other day while we were at the grocery store I picked up a bag of potatoes. Hey - it's summer and we haven't had any good potato salad. And I'd included it on the menu for this week.
Yesterday I was really busy all day. I had put some potatoes and some eggs on to boil while I doing other things.
When they were both done and cooled it was time to make that potato salad. And I was tired. Really tired. Was not looking forward to peeling and cutting up all of those potatoes one bit. The eggs wouldn't be so hard but the potatoes - that's a different story.
See, I like chunky potato salad. Not the mashed up kind. I want to be able to bite into chunks of potato.
But I don't want huge chunks, just the right size bite chunks. Kind of like that Goldilocks girl and her porridge. Just the right size chunks. And it takes awhile for me to cut those potatoes up to just the right size.
Then it dawned on me - my french fry cutter! I would / should be able to put those peeled potatoes right through it, then with a paring knife, quickly cut those sliced potatoes up going the other way for the perfect sized chunks.
And. It. Worked! Absolutely, beautifully! (insert a picture of me patting myself on the back for such a brilliant idea. I don't often have those.)
Well, if it worked for potatoes - shouldn't it work for boiled eggs as well?
So I put an egg in and presto - it came out every bit as well as the potatoes did. Made 3 or 4 quick cuts going the other way and the eggs were done too.
Stirred in the rest of our favorite ingredients and AAHHHHHH! - perfect potato salad to go with the perfect grilled hamburgers AD had made.
What a wonderful summer supper!
