Vegetables, Grains, and Legumes

As excited as I was to stop medium dicing potatoes for homework every night, being asked to tourné potatoes for homework was an even more daunting task. The tourné is a decorative cut used almost exclusively in really expensive French restaurants. It involves trying to carve a 7 sided football-ish shape with blunt ends from a root vegetable.

Glazed Root Vegetable Tournés

After a week of practicing, my tournés are about the right size and kind of close to the correct shape. Unfortunately, if I were to take a close-up picture you would see that my cuts are jagged and rough and I am not even close to having only seven sides. My friend was kind enough to remind me that learning to tourné isn't a complete waste for me because at least I am developing motor skills for dental school! Nevertheless, I don't plan on tournéing any more vegetables when culinary school is over.

In other news, now that we are done with both dry and moist heat cooking methods, we have three days to focus on vegetables, grains, and legumes. Although I think these ingredients deserve more than three days of attention, I'll take what I can get.

Vegetable Preparations:

"Fish and meat are kind of unidimensional in their texture and flavor, whereas I've always felt vegetables were the most interesting part of what's on a plate."

-Charlie Trotter as quoted in The United States of Arugula

The vegetable dishes that we learned in class were basic recipes that taught me to understand the purpose of each ingredient and each step in the process of preparing vegetables as side dishes. I generally prefer to think of vegetables as an integral part of the meal rather than a side dish, but nevertheless, I learned a lot.

Potato Gratin

Probably the most important thing I learned on vegetable day was the rule that root vegetables should always be cooked in cold liquid that is brought up to a boil. When we made potato gratin, the potato slices were started in cold milk that was slowly brought up to a boil and simmered until tender. The basic recipe for any gratin is to evenly slice the vegetables and then cook the slices until tender. Layer the vegetable slices in an oven proof dish and moisten them with a little bit of the cooking liquid. Cover the top of the gratin with grated cheese and/or breadcrumbs and bake it until the cheese melts and starts to brown.

Carrot Timbale

A timbale is a custardy mixture of vegetable purée, eggs, and milk/cream that is baked in a water bath. The finished product is smooth and creamy with a texture that is similar to that of a flan. I didn't particularly like the recipe we used in class, but I loved the method and have added it to my list of food related things to experiment with.

Broccoli Soufflé

Vegetable soufflés are also a mixture of vegetable purée, seasonings, and eggs. The difference between an soufflé and a timbale is the eggs are separated in a soufflé; the yolks are blended into the purée and the whites are whipped and folded into the purée right before it is placed into the oven. A soufflé rises because egg white have a lot of water in them. When they are whipped air pockets also get incorporated into their structure as well. When the soufflé is heated the water becomes a gas and causes the air pockets to expand which makes the soufflé rise.

Grains:

Wheatberry Salad

I had never cooked with wheatberries before our lesson on grains but I will definitely be using them more often because they are absolutely delicious. A wheatberry is exactly what it sounds like; the entire kernel of wheat with only the hull removed. Cooking them is really simple too. Just rinse them off and boil them in water until they become really tender and taste cooked.

A cooked wheatberry has an interesting contrast of textures because it's both soft and crunchy. Tossed with some vegetables and a light dressing the wheatberries make a great salad but I'm sure they would be a good addition to soups as well.

Quinoa Salad

Quinoa is another interesting grain (except that it isn't a true cereal). It has a high protein content and a balanced set of essential amino acids which makes it one of the few plant based foods that is considered a complete protein. Quinoa comes in three colors, white, red, and black, but in general, I think they all taste the same. The key to cooking quinoa is to rinse it really, really, well because the outside of the grain is coated with a bitter compounds called saponins. After rinsing the quinoa you can cook it just like rice. You could even use a rice cooker if you wanted. Just be sure to fluff the quinoa with a fork before adding other ingredients. In addition to eating quinoa in a salad, I think it would be a good addition to the breakfast table if you mix in some chopped nuts and berries.

Legumes:

Lima Bean Stew

When I was little my mom used to make an Indian dish with lima beans and I always hated them. I tried them in again after a really long time in class and it turns out I still don't like lima beans. So lets just move on to something else...

What I do like is falafel. Especially freshly fried falafel that are extra crispy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside. I don't even need the sandwich. Just give me some tahini sauce for dipping and I'll be extremely happy.

Falafel Sandwiches with Tahini Sauce