Knife Skills Class – Or How I Paid to Chop Veggies
I missed the first class of my culinary course. Again. Apparently, George Brown doesn’t believe in email reminders—or maybe once they have your money, they just ghost you like a bad Tinder date. Either way, I showed up a week late to learn that the first class was all about the knives. Specifically: get a good chef’s knife and learn how to slice, dice, and julienne your way through a pile of vegetables.
So, what better way to show off some mediocre knife skills than a classic veggie platter with dip?
Now I know—can you even call this a “dish” if all I did was cut vegetables? But I’m leaning in. I made two dips to be fancy. One is a blue cheese dip, which I know can be divisive (either you love it or you gag). So I made a second version with fresh dill instead of blue cheese, for the people who think moldy cheese is a hate crime.
Cooking Process…
I started by brunoising some red onion (that’s fancy talk for tiny dice), softening it with lemon juice and a bit of sugar to mellow out the bite. Then I dumped in the rest—blue cheese, sour cream, mayo, chives, salt, pepper—and boom: dip. For version two, I swapped the cheese for dill. Revolutionary.
Then came the real task: chopping vegetables into julienne and batonnet shapes. Basically, very neat sticks. Baby carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower—you name it, I cut it. I did blanch the broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus… but honestly, not necessary. Raw would’ve been fine.
Verdict
The dips turned out great—tangy, creamy, and flavorful. The blue cheese one packed a punch, while the dill version was light and herbaceous. The veggies? They were… veggies. Cut very nicely, if I do say so myself.
BLUE CHEESE DIP WITH CRUDITES
INGREDIENTS
Dip
Vegetables
GUIDE / INSTRUCTIONS
- 1In a small bowl, combine red onion, sugar, and lemon juice. Let sit 5–10 minutes to soften.
- 2Add chives, crumbled blue cheese, sour cream, and mayonnaise. Mix well.
- 3Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- 4For the second version, replace blue cheese with 2 tbsp fresh dill.
- 5Chop vegetables into uniform strips or batonnet shapes. Blanch broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus if desired.
- 6Plate the veggies with dip and serve cold.
- 7Store leftover dip in the fridge for up to 5 days.
