January 4, 2012
Posted by Michelle
Food Mill GIVEAWAY! Plus a delicious soup recipe
My friends over at the WEBstaurantStore, the #1 restaurant supply site on the web, have given ME a food mill to give to YOU! Now… you might be going “A food mill? BO.RING!” You’re wrong about that and I’m going to tell you why. In fact, you should be PSYCHED to enter to win this food mill! PSYCHED, I SAY!
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First… what’s a food mill? It is a tool that is used to puree food and/or as a sieve (I’ve heard it works great for spaetzle but I didn’t get a chance to try it yet). The other cool thing about it is that it can remove the undesirable parts of a fruit or vegetable allowing it to become a silky smooth puree. For example… if you put tomatoes in your food mill, it would separate the skins and seeds while it pressed the delicious flesh through the plates making a puree perfect for sauce. Same with apples and their skin. Same with the fibers in butternut squash (more on that below). Same with steamed peas — yep, this bad boy will press the flesh out of the little pea shells allowing for smooth pea-ness. Ok. Bad word choice. You know what I mean. Pea… stuff. Whatever.
Anyway…
When you turn the crank, the “blades” (which are more like a propeller as they aren’t sharp) press the food through the holes in the plate. That’s it. That’s all it does. This is one of those contraptions that you know was invented before electricity and no one has never felt the need to improve upon it. It just works. Easily. Perfectly. The food mill from the WEBstaurant Store has four plates with different size holes allowing you to control the texture of the food you’re pureeing. It is all stainless so it is very easy to clean.
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Before getting my hands on this food mill, I had never actually used one. I have a blender, food processor and immersion blender — I thought that was enough. But with those tools I may get a lump or two in soup that should be silky smooth; my tomato sauce is full of seeds, and I will almost certainly get gluey mashed potatoes. And now the tiny person who has moved into my house needs perfectly pureed food. Demanding! So I turned to the food mill.
Let’s talk about butternut squash. I got a BIG one in my last CSA box and roasted it whole (about an hour at 425 degrees until soft). I wanted to make baby food with it (more on my baby food making adventures here) — regardless of what you want to do with your puree (it would make an incredible soup or pie filling), you make it the same way. After roasting, I scooped out the inside and put it in the food mill. Then I started cranking, stopping every so often to push the good stuff back down under the blades. By the time I was done, I had a beautiful smooth puree in a bowl and all the fibers that I never really noticed before still in the food mill. Perfect.
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Next up… fun with the largest plate (I wanted some texture with this). I boiled some sweet potatoes, and cooked some apples and cranberries in a pot. When they were all done, I put them all through the food mill and made a delicious fall puree that I like to call swappleberry sauce (TM).
So… do you want a food mill of your own? I happen to have a food mill sitting right here with YOUR name on it! Well, only one of you. Leave a comment here or on my Facebook page telling me why you deserve this food mill! Bonus points for humor! (Ok, truth is… I’m going to choose at random. I just like to laugh.) I will be CLOSING THE GIVEAWAY ON JANUARY 10! You must comment by JANUARY 10!
Hands down the best thing I have made with my food mill has been this incredible soup.
Sweet Potato Soup With Maple Black Pepper Whipped Cream
Soup:
- 2-3 lbs sweet potatoes or other hard winter squash (butternut, hubbard, etc)
- 1 large sweet onion
- 3 cloves garlic (optional — but definitely opt in!)
- 4 cups vegetable stock (that’s one box if you’re buying pre-made)
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
Peel and chop the potatoes and put into a large pot. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling cook for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Drain the water.
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Chop the onion and saute in olive oil over medium heat. Chop the garlic and add to the onions. Saute until the onions are translucent. (Don’t let the garlic burn!)
Using the smallest plate in the food mill, puree the potatoes, onions and garlic. Press them all through the food mill! Everyone in the big metal pool together! Yes, the onions and garlic too. This worked great… the flavor of the onion and garlic was definitely in the potatoes. The food mill pressed all the delicious flavor through the plate without a single chunk.
Once the puree is done, add the vegetable stock — first add 2 cups and warm through. Then add more stock until you get to the consistency that you want. You could add just a little and stop making a smooth puree as a side dish. But for it to be a soup, keep adding. I ended up using all 4 cups.
This soup was delicious just like this — simple and healthy. (Great dish to add to your resolution menu!) The texture was incredible. Like velvet. No, seriously. Velvet. This is a great soup to make and freeze for cold winter days when you don’t feel like cooking.
If you want to go even farther, here’s the recipe for the topping:
- 1 cup whipping cream (you could totally use yogurt if you want to go healthy on this)
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp black pepper (or to taste)
Pour the whipping cream into a large bowl and beat until it forms stiff peaks. You want it to be the texture of, well, whipped cream. Duh. Next fold in the maple syrup and black pepper. I recommend adding the pepper a little at a time. I think I ended up using 2 teaspoons or so.
Put at dollop on a bowl of the hot soup and stir it in. It adds a great creaminess and complexity to the soup — sweet from the maple, zesty from the pepper, but all so smooth with the help of the food mill.
**Disclaimer: I got a free food mill from The WEBstaurant store to test for this post. I was not obligated to like it… I did that on my own.
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24 Comments
January 4, 2012
I should get the food mill because it’s free, and as our mandolin saga has proven, I can’t bring myself to spend money on kitchen stuff right now. :)
January 4, 2012
We have lots of food allergies so I have to make most everything from scratch. Would love to have another tool to help out in our kitchen!
January 4, 2012
I would love to own the foodmill!! it would be an wonderful addition to my kitchen, i am just a home cook but love to can in the fall and I do alot of farmers markets and this tool would be awesome to have(and a great addition too!)…great give away!!
January 4, 2012
I should win one because I have worked really hard this past year to change my eating habits. I have lost 50 lbs and I am eating much healthier foods. I am spending more time making my own foods and this food mill will be a great addition to my kitchen to help me prepare the meals I am now making! I will start with that sweet potato soup!
January 4, 2012
I’m a baking and pastry student, and I this sounds like an awesome tool to make pies, along with so many other recipes..Omg. .. baking boner, lol… so pretty please with a cherry on top, may I win!!! *makes cute sad puppy dog face* As student, we live for awesome free stuff!
January 4, 2012
The last time I followed a recipe to make apple sauce, I spent half an hour trying to mash cooked apples through a strainer. Yes, the answer there was to use a different recipe, but still! If I had a food mill, my diced tomatoes would be gorgeous and my apple sauce seedless and I would be the BESTEST PRESERVER IN ALL THE LAND!
Plus, it’s SHINY!
January 4, 2012
I would so love to have this addition to my home. I have 3 young grandchildren I am raising that are very fussy in what they will eat. While my daughter is undergoing Chemotherapy for cancer it is my job to help with the children. I have tried blending several vegetables together to get the kids to eat what they should be eating, and this sounds like it can really help. I am not a young chicken anymore, and trying to help my daughter, and her children during this very stressful time, would be greatly appreciated.We are looking at a year for treatments for my daughter so the children won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, and I need to keep them healthy.
January 4, 2012
I should get this food mill because I love to use them and I don’t have one for my self! Plus I’m a culinary school so I should have one at home so i can practice
January 4, 2012
It would make me wonderfully happy to win this food mill. I’m unable to eat commercial catsup due to my food allergies… I really miss catsup.
January 4, 2012
I would love to try this. My daughter wants to make her own baby food.
January 4, 2012
I need this to grind food for my grandbabies that come to our house. Commercial baby food is so yucky and with this they could eat what grandma cooks! Not to mention it would save lots of frustration trying to get seedless raspberry puree or smooth creamy tomato soup! I hear it calling my name!
January 4, 2012
I would give this to a very close friend who has made some wonderful soups for me with her crock pot. We both try to avoid as much salt as possible so we make most of our own meals. This would come in very handy for her.
January 4, 2012
I have ALWAYS wanted one of these! Your sweet potato soup looks divine. I could make such wonderful tomato sauce with this!!
January 4, 2012
I would love to win this Food Mill from you Michelle, because then I could “brag” that I got this from eatniks.com and WEBstaurantStore! And I have a BIG mouth!! (free advertising, lol!)
January 4, 2012
Hi.
I Would love win the food mill because I have two babies I feed. One is a 9 month old boy Bennett and the other is my 42 year old husband Jeff, who is the pickiest eater I know. I went to culinary school and he is too picky to capitalize on my skills! Now will the food mill make him less picky? Probably not, but it would make me happy! :)
January 5, 2012
Down here in the deep south (GA) I’m on a one woman mission to prove that home made baby food and cloth diapering IS the way to go. Do I get scoffed at? Sure! Do I get comments like “good luck with that”? Sure! But I am convinced I can do this. My little girl is due to be born next month & how would it look to these doubters & nay-Sayers if we have a close call choking incident bc I couldn’t afford a food mill? I need this, for the future of healthy babies, for the sake of all things holy, I need this!
January 5, 2012
You should join us for #souperbowl on twitter–check the hash tag.
Every kicthen tool is udeful to me–each has its place. Currently the place for my food mill is empty. :)
January 5, 2012
I would love the food mill because I have two of the world’s most texture picky people in my house to cook for. They will eat onion powder but not onion, and just forget mushrooms or okra. They will do potatoes that have been riced but not mashed potatoes. They make me crazy.. This food mill would make me saner.
January 5, 2012
LoL! i posted on eatniks fB page instead of here…twice! Well, Here is why i need a foodmill. a recap of my other posts…first i’m always losing my fingernails when i use the mandolin slicer to cut my fruit for pies or sauces, there’s nothing like getting all done and then thinking oooh great where in this pile is the other half of my finger nail! Second, my kids HATE my soups! no matter how i try i cannot get the lumps out with the masher!then to try to make it better i tried to put hot soup in the blender…it didn’t work out to well! So the last time the kids decided to pick out the strings and lumps of bright yellow squash and fling them at eachother, all over the cabinets, and it was even in the fish tank!i need all the help i can get in the kitchen! The less complicated a machine is the better it is for me!
January 5, 2012
Wow~ i have to say, i think some of these people might know how to use this thing better than i would! But, while making babyfood for my first offspring, i killed my blender! Yes, my blender~ cooked things enough to just throw in the blender and blend it all up! Needless to say, he ate the food, and didn’t complain! I did try a mini baby food mill, but it was pretty crappy~ Now, with our 2nd offspring on the way, i need to replace the broken blender which still sits in a cabinet collecting dust from the last time i used it…..
January 6, 2012
I need this foodmill because one day all my teeth will fall out and I still need to eat!
January 7, 2012
I should get the food mill because I have a 5 month old that eats like a horse. I am also a full time student and work full time and take care of 2 kids, a husband, and a house. Any money we can save is a blessing…and this would save a ton with baby food, as well as “normal” meals for us bigger people. I hate using a blender, because well…I have enver gotten the hang of it…the lid either pops off…or the blades just spin and the food just sits there…looking at me…and probably laughing in it’s own little food mind…please please please share the love and send this food mill my way!! Thanks!
January 9, 2012
You look JUST like Halle Berry. Now can I have it?
January 11, 2012
CONGRATS TO JEM! I chose randomly… thanks to all who entered! Keep reading!
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