In order to make the risotto we did in class or any great vegetable soup or stew, you need to begin with a good vegetable stock. I think homemade stock is far superior to any stock you buy in the store. Making stock is a great way to use up vegetables in your refrigerator that may go bad. What’s even better is that you can customize it to your recipe. So if you are making a Mushroom risotto, add more mushrooms to the stock, or if you are making a soup that would go nicely with fennel, add fennel to the stock. The options are endless. This is only an example of a stock. Of course some of the ingredients are optional, but you will need to add at least carrots, onion, celery, parsley, bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme and salt if nothing else. If you want a slightly thicker stock, then add potatoes. Don’t use too many cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli or kale because their flavor is too strong.
Remember, when making a stock, begin with cold water then add all the vegetables and bring it to a boil. By starting with cold water, you will extract all the flavor from the vegetables into the stock. This is different from just boiling up some carrots to eat where you want the flavor to remain in the carrot.
Vegetable Stock
1 03 2010Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: carrots, celery, garlic, onions, Potatoes, tomatoes
Categories : Soup
Tomato, Basil and Goat Cheese Bruschetta
28 02 2010
This appetizer dish was a spontaneous addition to our dinner party menu at the first cooking class. We wanted to make sure our guests had something to nibble on when they arrived so we through these together in about 10 minutes. We did use a very secret ingredient. I had some Spanish Roasted Black Olive Sea Salt, which I purchased at the Savory Spice Shop (see my links). If you don’t have it, just use some very good coarse sea salt to add to the tomatoes. Everybody loved them and the students were pleased to see how easy it is to put together a quick yet impressive first course. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: basil, cheese, tomatoes
Categories : Appetizer, Italian
Baked Cheesy Polenta with Greens and Spicy Tomato Sauce
24 02 2010
I made this for a dinner party and it was a huge success. The sauce is particularly yummy and very easy to make. I use it on lots of dishes besides polenta, like pasta and pizza. The other great bonus to this recipe is you can make it 24 hours in advance. I love that particularly when I am too busy the day of a party to get all the cooking done. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: cheese, cornmeal, spinach, tomatoes
Categories : Italian, Main Dish
Greek Style Green Beans
13 01 2010Serves 4
This is a slow cooking method for green beans. They come out brown and caramelized and slightly shriveled. They may not look pretty but they taste great, saturated with flavor. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: green beans, tomatoes
Categories : Vegetable side dish
Katherine
vegoutgourmet.com 