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The kitchen is the room that nurtures our souls and our bodies. It's the hearth of the 21st-century house, and everybody naturally congregates there. |
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—Regina Leeds, author of
The Zen of Organizing |
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Culinary Essentials Series, Summer 2002
previous class in series Vegetable Cookery next class in series
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Vegetable Cookery. For some reason, people don't get too excited about this—maybe it's the
name. But honesty, consider all the army-green, cooked-to-death green beans you've ever been
served and ask yourself whether well-cooked vegetables can actually make or break a meal. Yes,
yes, yes, they can!
Vegetables are taking a larger and larger role in our meals as we learn to eat more healthy foods
and also to eat more seasonally. When you consider how far that December asparagus has come, and
under what conditions, to your table, you think twice about eating it, don't you? The idea of
your foods being gassed to turn the right color doesn't turn you on? Well, we didn't think so.
That's why we're covering this topic in such great depth. You will not only understand how and
why to cook vegetables, retaining nutrients and color, but you'll also learn more about
how they've come to your table and who's grown them.
Students chop vegetables to prepare for the many different ways we'll be cooking
this evening. On the right are artichokes soaking in lemon-water, into which they
must be plunged immediately upon trimming in order to avoid turning black.
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separate vegetables into categories according to color, because this is what
determines how acids and bases work upon them and how to make sure they'll retain
colors and not turn dull or gray.
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Students sauté
fresh corn fritters as well as artichokes and summer squash, all for different dishes.
The bowl in the foreground contains the corn fritter batter. The corn from Pike's
Place Market was so sweet
we could hardly believe it hadn't been sugared! |
Preparing the
evening's meal together is a joy every evening.
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previous class in series Vegetable Cookery next class in series
more photos
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