TPC Season 2: Old Ingredients, New Tricks

After much ado, I have finally put together my notes for the second installment of The Professional Chef (better late than never?). 

The Spring Edition of TPC includes vegetables, potatoes, grains, legumes, pasta, and dumplings. It’s a lot of ground to cover, but this is familiar territory. I’ve been cooking vegetarian/vegan since December 2015 (I got one last Thanksgiving in before giving up meat cold turkey), so unlike the last section on sauces, I felt much less anxiety going in. 

Curried Tofu Scramble with Roasted Cauliflower

Ten different cooking methods were highlighted in this section, and something I really enjoyed while going through each of them was that every technique and recipe was chosen to preserve the unique flavors and textures of each ingredient, as opposed to using them to serve some other purpose. 

I cook with vegetables, grains, beans, etc etc nearly every day, but especially recently, I think I’ve been a lot more experimental with them all (like using them to make more meat-like dishes, for example). That’s not been a bad thing (even vegans want to eat something sausage-adjacent every now and then), but it was nice to go back to basics and remember how versatile and delicious these staples are in their own right.

Chana Masala

Some expert tips: 

• Cover red, orange, yellow, and white vegetables while boiling to maintain their color; boil green veggies uncovered for the same result
• Do not let vegetables hang out in water for extended amounts of time (they get soggy and always end up peeing in the pool)
• Only marinate soft and par-cooked vegetables for 15-30 minutes so they don’t get soggy
• Potatoes fall into one of three categories according to their ratio of moisture to starch, and are therefore better suited to certain types of preparations
• • low moisture/high starch (e.g. russets; those dry, grainy babies) – good for baking, mashing, frying
  • moderate moisture and starch (e.g. Yukon gold; the all-purpose potato) – good for boiling, roasting, braising, in casseroles
  • high moisture/low starch (e.g. “new” and fingerling; hold their shape well, very flavorful) – good for steaming, roasting
• Never blanch a potato (Rule #1 of Blight Club)
• Soak dried beans with 1/2tsp baking soda to encourage the breakdown of pectin and soften the beans more quickly (and to make them less farty)
• Gently simmer (vs boil) beans and grains, lest the water punch them into bits
• Why would you ever make fresh pasta when dry is just as good and SO MUCH LESS WORK

Mezze Platter with Hummus, Dry-Fried Tofu Shawarma, Slaw, and Socca

In spite of busy schedules (how any of you (or me, in a past life) work full time and have space and energy left over for anything else is truly a mystery), I did manage to put together a small dinner party (for my Midterm Exam) at the end of June. The weather was lovely, so we moved my very non-picnic-friendly preparations to the picnic blanket, and did our best to keep curious doggos at bay. 

As tempted as I was to prepare just carrots ten different ways, I ended up cooking for some friends whom I had just met, and decided to serve the full range of food things (this time). The menu included such delights as Pinto Bean and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, Summer Squash Salsa (pictured below), Guacamole, and Spicy Black Bean Chocolate Pudding (no other photos, naturally). 

The fare was chosen with a mind toward low glycemic index/load foods, to accommodate one of said newly-made friends and her newly-diagnosed diabetes. It was a beautiful evening, and my one regret is that I didn’t get a picture of Pam’s face as she took her first bite of pudding. I’m not saying it was the most delicious pudding in the world, but Pam had not been able to eat any dessert since her diagnosis and I was really happy to provide her with something akin.

Lentil, Tofu, & Sweet Potato Bowl

Common as these ingredients are, I gained a lot of insight into how to prepare them better. With my rekindled appreciation and newfound knowledge, I feel more equipped than ever to continue improving the dishes that come out of my kitchen, and I hope never to serve another limp piece of broccoli for the remainder of my days. 

P.S. Next post soon to follow, wherein I abandon nearly all aforementioned ingredients and focus sole attention on the elusive potato.