The winner of the OXO hand-held mandoline is...Ellen!

Ellen, I will be contacting you via email to see where you would like your package sent. Congratulations and happy slicing!

If you look around my kitchen, you'll see that I own a lot of OXO kitchen tools. I find that they're comfortable to use and are of good quality. So when the nice folks at OXO offered to send me two hand-held Good Grips mandolines (one to try out and one to giveaway), I was excited at first. Then the anxiety set in...mandolines are one of those kitchen tools that make me a wee bit nervous...mainly because it's just so easy to knick (or slice) a finger. However, I love how evenly the mandoline slices everything so I was willing the give it a shot. I decided to try my new mandoline out on a pan of my special "twice as nice" potato gratin. (I call it "twice as nice" since it uses two different kinds of delicious potatoes.)

When I opened up my new mandoline, the first thing I noticed that was different about OXO's version was that it comes with a food holder that protects your hands and covers the blade when not in use. Also, you can control the thickness of your slices by adjusting the soft lever on the side (there are three thickness levels). You can then slice over a plate or hook the mandoline (it has little non-slip "feet" at the end) onto a bowl. My potato slicing went really fast and all my slices were perfectly even. I was pretty impressed with the ease of use. The best part though was that it was dishwasher safe, so clean up was simple (no scary scrubbing of sharp blades) and it doesn't take up much room in my kitchen drawer!

* To win your own OXO hand-held mandoline, all you have to do is leave me a comment on the blog under this post (not Facebook)- telling me about the dish you will make if you win the mandoline.

Please leave your email address or make sure your profile is public, so I have some way to reach you if you win. Open to US residents, who are 18 years of age or older.

This giveaway ends at 12:01am PST April 24, 2012. The winner will be chosen at random and contacted via the email address left with the winning comment. The winner will be asked for their name, age and mailing address. If the winner does not respond by 12:00 PM on Friday, April 27, 2012 with the requested information, a new winner will be chosen.

Good luck!
Disclosure: A Girl and Her Fork was provided a sample for reviewing purposes, however, I was under no obligation to write a review. No monetary compensation was offered or given. The opinions expressed are my true and honest opinion.






"Twice as Nice" Potato Gratin (recipe inspired by The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters)

Ingredients

2 Large Yukon Gold potatoes

2 large Japanese sweet potatoes

8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup whole milk

3 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and fresh ground pepper


Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grease 9 x 12 casserole pan with 1 tablespoon of butter.

3. Saute mushrooms in olive oil over medium heat. Set aside.

3. Slice potatoes as thin as you can and layer them one over another in the pan, in an overlapping fashion. Sprinkle potatoes with salt and fresh ground pepper (repeat with other layers).

4. A third of the way through, sprinkle with a layer of cheese (about 1 oz.).

5. Halfway through place a layer of mushrooms down.

6. Two-thirds of the way through, sprinkle another layer of cheese.

7. Finish up the potatoes. Pour in 1 cup of milk, it should reach the top of the potatoes (if it doesn't, add a touch more so that it does.)

8. Dot the top of the gratin with the three tablespoons of butter and bake it for about an hour. Halfway through the baking time, take the gratin dish out of the oven and gently press the potatoes flat with a spatula to keep the top moist. Sprinkle the remaining 1 oz. of cheese on top of the gratin for the last 15 minutes of baking. The gratin is done when the potatoes are soft and the top is golden brown.

Discovering canning this past year has been such a blast that I want to share the canning fever with you too, readers, and what better way to do that than to give away a copy of the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving!

This giveaway will run through August 19th and entering it is super simple. There's 3 ways to do it:

- "Like" A Girl and Her Fork on Facebook. (If you're already a fan, you're automatically entered.)
- Post a comment on A Girl and Her Fork's Facebook page stating what your favorite item to can is or what you'd like to learn to can.
- Post a comment on the blog itself in regards to a particular post.


* The details:
Open to US residents, 18 & older only. The giveaway will end at 11:59pm PST August 19, 2011. The winner will be randomly chosen and will be notified by the email that they provide on the comment. If the winner does not claim their prize within 72 hours, another winner will be chosen and the prize will be forfeited.


Cheers & good luck!

Sorry, there haven't been many posts this week (ok, any at all) but what can I say it's been summer and I've been busy. I promise after we get through our big BBQ this weekend I'll shower you with lots of recipe posts and restaurant reviews...and a giveaway. Yep, you heard right - first Girl and A Fork giveaway ever, so stay tuned!