When I decluttered my kitchen the first thing I got rid of were the duplicates (why did I have three colanders, two tin openers and four different graters?), ALL the mugs, useless gadgets (they are the worst!) and my blunt knives. Having now lived with less than half the kitchen stuff I had before I realise just how important it is to have quality over quantity and this rule applies to kitchen knives more than anything. Therefore, I was thrilled to help Robert Welch celebrate the millionth sale of their iconic Signature knife range and try out their wondrous knife block at home.
I joined the Robert Welch team last week to do a bit of cooking led by chef Georgina Davies where we got to try out the knives for ourselves. Georgina showed us how to make a delicious summer salad of fennel, radish, fig and noodle with salsa verde dressing – yum.
We were then challenged to recreate the salad at our own cooking stations. No pressure then!
A good tip that Georgina shared with us is to use lemon juice to keep salad vegetables fresh and to stop them going brown. The last time I worked with Robert Welch I learnt the BEST way to cut up a lemon so that you’ll never need a lemon squeezer again – another thing you can chuck out of your kitchen cupboard.
1. Cut the right ‘cheek’ off the lemon. 2. Cut the left cheek off the lemon. 3. Place the lemon on its cut side and remove another cheek. 4. Take the last cheek from the there side of the lemon so that you are left with five perfectly squeezable pieces of lemon. Honestly, you need to try this technique, it works so well.
Once we had sliced all our vegetables with ridiculous ease (good knives make cooking so much more pleasurable and so much quicker) we made a delicious salsa verde dressing. I’m always a bit lazy with dressings and end up just sloshing on balsamic vinegar and olive oil so this was a great reminder to make a bit more effort as it makes such a difference.
The Signature Cook’s Knife is perfect for chopping herbs as it enables a brilliant rocking motion.
Combining different herbs works so well for a salsa verde dressing. Rolling the herbs up and then cutting them up roughly before using the rocking motion to chop them more finely.
Adding garlic to the salsa verde was a delicious addition. Another trick I learnt was to cut up a clove of garlic roughly and then sprinkle with flakes of salt and use the back of the knife to crush the garlic. The garlic crusher can go too!
The brilliant thing about the knife block is the inbuilt knife sharpener. We were advised by the Robert Welch team to sharpen the knives little and often so after every use sweeping it through the sharpener a couple of times. Because it is on my worktop and so easily accessible this is no longer a chore.
Signature knife block (see the end of this post for a chance to win your own)
Another quick trick that Georgina taught us on the day is to use the serrated Signature Utility Knife from the knife block for cutting tomatoes and onions, which makes it so much easier. I think this is one of my favourite knives from the set.
So, here is the finished salad…
Georgina then decided which one looked best (it wasn’t mine but it tasted delish!).
Six amazingly sharp knives that can change the whole cooking experience saving time and make chopping a pleasure rather than a chore: the perfect addition to my kitchen. If you would like to win your own, enter to WIN here. Good luck!
Katy x
*This post was written in collaboration with Robert Welch.
Gosh, they look good. I really need to invest in some decent kitchen knives… Loving your delicious photos! x
We don’t just need knives, we need forks and spoons too. But I have always wanted a kick-ass set of knives like this, they are such a top investment buy. PS – I liked the look of your salad!
I’m totally with you on the value of a decent set of knives, and funnily enough for me the same goes for chopping boards – it’s so much easier to chop on the right surface!
The salads look delicious X
I take your 4 graters and raise you 22 bottle openers… 🙂
Those knives look great – off to enter that competition now! Your salad looked very nice too x
Mmmm, that said certainly does look tasty, I;ll have to give that a try. Also, I just tried your cutting a lemon method and it is brilliant…why have I not know this until now?! x
That’s really clever, the way they are self-sharpening. Your cookery class looked fun too and the salad sounds delicious! Off to enter the comp now xx
if you invest in good quality kitchenware it will pay you back in the long run.
I love Robert Welch stuff – we have a gorgeous cutlery set plus loads of the serving ware too. It’s such a great brand. I’ve never tried the cooking knives though, will be investigating!