I’m contemplating trying this recipe for ratatouille for my inaugural use of our new mandoline.
Now that we have a mandoline, the only kitchen gadget I can think of that we’re lacking is a hand mixer, which would be useful for my specialty – soups.* The question is – do any of my dozen or so regular readers recommend a particular brand or model? Or is it a case of six of one, half dozen of another?
*Allright, maybe it’s an exaggeration to say I have a ‘specialty’ – safer to say that when I fire up the stove, more often than not I’m making soup.
Sauteed asparagus is definitely a specialty though.

Do you mean an immersion blender?
Hell, I don’t know, do I? I mean something that allows me to do soup without the blender.
I would say, yes, you mean an immersion blender.
The KitchenAid hand-held is pretty sweet, although I’ve also heard good things about the more cost-effective Sunbeam. Carmen and I were just talking about getting one as well.
Amazon has a Braun immersion blender on sale for cheaper ($35) than the KitchenAid model ($49).
I love potatoes and leeks, especially when all blended up and soupy.
I’ll be making that soup again. Maybe Sunday?
Get a Braun – but NOT one encased in plastic – too hard to clean, won’t get in corners, icky, pedestrian, do not like.
Get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Braun-MR4050-Multiquick-Advantage-Handblender/dp/B000F8GWAO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1204838218&sr=1-1
or (i have the following. i loves it.)
http://www.amazon.com/Braun-MR5550MBC-Impressions-Multiquick-Handblender/dp/B000FUJ0EW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1204838218&sr=1-4
Not one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Braun-MR430HC-Multiquick-Blender-Chopper/dp/B00004S9GX/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1204838218&sr=1-2
It’s the last one (MR430HC) that I saw on sale.
[...] Right then. As I talked about earlier, the inaugural use of the mandoline was in making ratatouille, using a recipe I found at SmittenKitchen. It was quite tasty, though as the following pictures show, I won’t be winning any awards for presentation in the near future: [...]