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How to Add
Major Pizzazz to
Vegetarian Food Prep
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| To meet our very first Win a Book Contest
winner, Teresa Guerrero, visit Contest
Winners & Other PV's. The question that Teresa thinks
most non-vegetarians who consider meatless eating wonder is, "Aren't
veggies boring? How many ways can you possibly prepare non-meat items to
keep them interesting and enjoyable?" |
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The General
PASSIONATE VEGETARIAN
Answer: |
All
foodstuffs, meat or vegetarian, are boring if A) you prepare them the same
old way, and B) you don't give them what Aretha Franklin described (in a
different context) as their
"propers." What are ingredients' propers? Their
particulars, respectfully explored. Getting to know the
particular flavors, colors, textures, and properties of any and all
foodstuffs (their propers) is at the heart of good cooking.
Any
ingredient will tell you its secrets if you only pay attention, and the
results can be astonishingly, eye-openingly good. Result:
boredom banished! This is perhaps
especially true of non-meat ingredients --- not just vegetables, of course,
but beans, grains, nuts, fruits, oils, herbs, and much more --- since they
are often overlooked because they're not the main event.
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" ... not
just vegetables but beans, grains, pastas, nuts, fruits, oils, herbs,
soyfoods, seasonings, and much more... a whole abundant cornucopia of
flavors and ingredients... Any ingredient will tell you its secrets if you
only pay attention. " |
What this means is, if all your
cooking attention goes to the entree and it's a piece of beef
or chicken, then the potatoes or pasta, green beans or broccoli or rapini,
are by definition "side dishes" and tend to get short shrift seasoning-and
attention-wise.
In Passionate Vegetarian I
devote some time to the idea of rethinking the categories of "entree" and
"side dish" (see page 3), a process that naturally happens as one explores a
non-meat-centered way of eating, and can bring a delicious reawakening.
This reawakening brings countless new joys to the table. "How many
ways?" The answer is infinite! But for now, here are a few ideas. |
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Specific Passionate Tips: |
| 1. Venture
beyond the tried and true. Everyone falls into ruts --- a few
favorite dishes, certain seasonings reach for time and again, certain pet
ingredients or techniques. Branch out! The first time I had simple butternut
squash, pureed, without a smidge of sugar, was at a very upscale French
restaurant --- and its simple full-flavored goodness astonished me. Try a
vegetable or fruit new to you, or an Asian ingredient (miso, toasted
sesame oil) you may not know, or a soyfood (smoked tempeh strips). Garlic,
on the other hand, has been a favorite ingredient of mine forever. I've used
it raw, baked, sautéed... but learning to caramelize it (a technique
described in Lynn Rosetto Kasper's The Splendid Table and used, with
attribution, in PASSIONATE VEGETARIAN)
I rediscovered it all over again. Ideas from PV:
learn about miso (page 173), umeboshi ( page 118 ), and tamarind (page 90).
Fix the Great, The One-and-Only Garlic Spaghetti (page 864). |
| 2. Think seasoning, and in season.
Part and parcel with trying something beyond the old favorites is
experimenting with both seasoning (for starters: always use fresh ground
black pepper, from a pepper mill, and freshly grated whole nutmeg) and
what's in season. Certain flavors just sing together. Most of us know, by
now, about the simple and perfect combination of fresh tomatoes and sweet
basil --- but have you tried fresh tomatoes Indian style, with minced
ginger, salt, and a bit of green chile? Now, what if you go to the local
farmer's market round about end of July, and buy those tomatoes when they
are at the height of fresh, red-ripe, fragrant, juice-dripping glory?
Ideas from PV: have you ever thought of bay
leaves as part of dessert? Try Oranges in Bay Leaf Syrup, page 983,
especially in winter, when the navel oranges add brilliant consolation to
even the grayest day. |
| 3. Use condiments galore and glorious.
I think every refrigerator door should be the site of a delicious turf war
--- several kinds of mustard, hot sauces, jams, jellies, relishes, Asian
condiments like salted black bean paste with garlic and hoisin sauce, good
commercial curry pastes all competing for space... suddenly your kitchen is
like an artist's palette layered with color and potential combinations
without limit. This potential itself can teach you about flavor, your own
tastes, and how to cook. In Thailand, most meals are served with a selection
on condiments: minced peanuts, chiles fresh, dried, in a garlicky catsup,
and pickled, soy sauce, fish sauce (we vegetarians can skip that), sugar,
basil leaves, cilantro leaves. Each eater modifies each dish to his or her
liking, each a cook. Ideas from PV: make
the Thai Crystal, on page 923, a condiment of garlic and dried chiles
poached in a sugar syrup, guaranteed to make an stir-fry sparkle. |
4.
Discover the sensuality of shopping. I have already mentioned
farmer's markets. Natural foods supermarkets and Asian groceries are other
fabulous sources for your
 explorations. But wherever you go, open your eyes,
use your hands and nose, and enjoy making new discoveries. Smell and feel
the vegetables and fruits (fruits, particularly, will guide you by scent as
a rule; the more essence-of-pineapple-y the pineapples smell, the more sweet
and flavorful they will be). Learn to love buying food; it is a privilege to
have access to so much, to be able to afford it, to partake of a transaction
with growers, sellers, the earth itself, and our very bodies. It is
sacramental and sensual, earthy and spiritual. Undertake it in the
adventuresome spirit of a student, asking questions of produce managers and
fellow shoppers, and your food (indeed, your whole life) will be the better
for it. |
| 5. Cook once for several meals.
Whenever you make a staple food --- a pot of beans or brown rice, say ---
cook enough to last for several meals. See how many different refrains you
can get from that original song. Hot plain rice (accompanying a stir-fry,
say, or with black beans, salsa, and grated cheese); fried rice (with
ginger, peas, scrambled egg, tempeh bacon, soy sauce); rice salad (vinaigretted,
herbed, studded with every fresh vegetable you can imagine); rice pudding
(perhaps with apricot sauce?). This cook-ahead technique allows you free
reign with seasonings and new ingredients along with the familiar and known,
while being expedient time-wise. Ideas from PV:
a good half the recipes offer "Cook Once for Two (or more) Meals"
suggestions. |
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