‘A fool with a tool is still a fool’ or, in my case, a fool without a tool is still a fool. For years  I fought the urge to invest in a food processor.  I found every excuse in the book – no room on the counter, with a good knife I can do the same job, they are overpriced, and of course the classic ‘why do I need a food processor when I have a blender?’.

One day I decided it was time to make my own breadcrumbs.  I wanted fresh breadcrumbs for a change and something punched with flavour.  After all, it’s the breadcrumb topping on many dishes that makes the difference between it being good or ‘crazy’ good.  I tried the blender and that was a disaster – just a mushy mess and chopping by hand just wasn’t an option. So I finally faced my stubbornness and invested in a food processor. The first thing I made was the homemade fresh herbed breadcrumbs.  Ten seconds later and ‘voila’ – wonderfully consistent herbed breadcrumbs. Impressive.

Later that week I needed to make some pastry for a crustada.  I had heard that this could be done in the food processor and gave it a try.  Holy cow – that pastry came together in record time!  Soon Friday rolled around and in our house that is pizza night.  We make our own pizza and bake it in the barbecue. I was about to manually shred the cheese when I saw the flash of the grating blade for the food processor. In 15 seconds the entire block of cheese was shredded. I had enough shredded cheese for a few pizza nights and as a quick topping for salads.

The food processor now has a permanent spot on the counter.  It’s not used everyday so it sits behind the coffee maker (which is still ranked the most important small appliance in our household). I was a fool for thinking that I could live without a food processor.  Not only has it opened up my kitchen’s repertoire of recipes, it has dramatically reduced the time for many of the simple recipes that we regularly enjoy. recommend it as a must have for anyone who enjoys good food  – don’t be the a fool without this tool!