A food processor's versatility depends on the blades and attachments you own.
For the time-pressed cook, a food processor cuts preparation time to a fraction of what it traditionally takes to slice, dice, chop, shred, grate, knead, whisk, puree and blend the ingredients by hand. Most food processor models come with slicing, grating and shredding blades standard, as well as dough blades and a stainless steel chopping blade. Depending on manufacturer and model, you may also be able to add functions to your food processor, such as whisking and blending, or use special attachments to extract juice or make your own pasta.
Shredding and Grating
Shredding and grating blades come in sizes from very fine to coarse. Grate cheese for tacos or shred carrots for your green salad in seconds. Potato lovers can grate potatoes and start the day with hash browns. You can also grate vegetables for stir-fry or citrus peels for flavor in some recipes.
Julienne
To julienne is to cut long, thin strips like matchsticks. Julienne blades range in size from a fine cut for celery or onions or a thick french fry cut for homemade fries. Julienne vegetables such as green onion tops, ginger root, broccoli stems and red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers make attractive garnishes as well as adding color to a vegetable saute or stir-fry.
Slicing
Slicing blades also come in a variety of thicknesses from paper thin to thick. The quick slicing makes it easy to prep veggies for salads and soups. Slice apples for pie, strawberries, grapes or peaches for a fruit salad, potatoes for homemade chips or potato casserole or make your own sliced almonds.
Chopping and Pureeing
The standard stainless steel blade is versatile, with the ability to mix up a batch of cookies or chop onions, tomatoes and herbs to whip up a batch of homemade salsa. Throw in an avocado for guacamole from scratch. It is also useful for pureeing fruits for jams and jellies, vegetables such as tomatoes for homemade tomato sauce or pumpkin for pumpkin pie or soup.
Kneading
Food processors simplify the kneading process with a dough blade, often plastic. It comes in handy for making yeast breads, pizza crusts, biscuits and muffins hot from the oven. Kneading in a cuts the time down from 10 to 20 minutes to just a few minutes to develop the gluten. But you must be careful not to overwork the dough when using a power appliance for kneading as this will kill the gluten.
Whisking
Some food processors offer an optional whisk attachment. With the whisk, you can whip cream or eggs to a stiff, airy consistency to make mayonnaise, salad dressings, custards or sauces. An electric whisk also makes short work of whipping up fluffy, smooth mashed potatoes or creaming eggs and butter when making a cake.
Pasta Attachment
With a pasta attachment, your can take a basic pasta dough and extrude it into a desired pasta shape. Pasta discs come in shapes for spaghetti, linguine, fettuccine, fusilli, orecchiette, macaroni, rigatoni, penne, lasagna and more.
Juice Extractor
If you prefer your juice fresh-squeezed, a juice extractor attachment for your food processor simplifies the process of filling your glass with fruity goodness. Whether you are making a smoothie, sorbet or adding fresh juice to another recipe, the powered juice extraction streamlines the process.
Blender
A blender attachment for your food processor offers an alternative to a separate blender appliance. The attachment can do anything your regular blender can do, such as making milkshakes, smoothies and purees, but the wider bowl makes it easier to scrape out the contents and clean.
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