The vegetarian and the restaurant

One thing I've learned at culinary school is that vegetarians are in trouble when it comes to eating out.

Big trouble. As in, way more than I ever thought.

Which means there is only one solution if you want a vegetarian meal.

Is your vegetarian meal really vegetarian?
I've eaten at plenty of restaurants, from fast food to fine dining, and when I look for the vegetarian entree, I assume I am getting a vegetarian meal.

After all, how difficult is it to keep meat and other animal products out of a meal?

Very difficult, it turns out.

Those hidden animal ingredients
From gelatin to rennet, animal byproducts sneak into all sorts of products and dishes, from the cheese plate to the dessert tray.

And, while you and I know about these meat-based ingredients, an awful lot of people do not.

Which means your vegetarian meal, alas, may very well not be.

But it gets worse.

Those pesky tongs
Restaurant kitchens run so fast and so hard that it isn't difficult for a cook to grab a vegetarian entree with the same tongs, for example, that were used to, say, cook a meat-based entree.

It's not like they have a separate station that does nothing but vegetarian foods. They don't have the space. And they certainly don't have the time, personnel, and equipment to have a dedicated vegetarian station.

So what is a vegetarian to do?
My best advices is to eat at a vegetarian restaurant. That way, there is no room for mistakes.

And, hey, it certainly can't hurt to be supporting the vegetarian community. After all, if enough money goes to vegetarian restaurants, then, certainly, more are bound to open. And that's good for all of us!

Where to find vegetarian restaurants?
So how do your find a vegetarian restaurant? Your best bet is the The Vegetarian Journal's Guide to Natural Foods Restaurants in the U.S. and Canada.

Bon Apetit!

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The richest, most delicious vegetarian recipe ever

This has got to be the most tempting vegetarian recipe I have tripped across in quite some time. And that is saying a lot when you take into account I browse at least one cookbook and all the food magazines I can get my hands on (including old ones) every week.

And what's even better is this is an easy recipe that looks like it took a lot of work. Which, of course, makes you a star!

Vegetarian recipe for Roasted Peppers and Tomatoes Baked with Herbs and Capers
This is from a Deborah Madison book well worth reading: Local Flavors.

4 big bell peppers, red, orange, and yellow
1 large beefsteak-type tomato or 1 1/4 pounds other ripe tomatoes
2 smaller yellow tomatoes
6 flat-leaf parsley sprigs
1 tablespoon marjoram or 12 large basil leaves
1 plump garlic clove
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
12 Nicoise olives, pitted
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for the dish
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Roast the peppers until charred (using your burner is the easiest way to go). Drop them into a bowl, cover, and set them aside while you prepare everything else. Then wipe off the blackened skin, pull out the seeds, and core and cut into wide strips. Trim off any ragged ends and set them another use.

Score the ends of the tomatoes, then drop them into boiling water for 10 seconds. Remove the skins, halve them crosswise and gently squeeze out the seeds. Cut the walls into wide pieces. Reserve the cores for a soup or sauce.

Pluck the leaves off the parsley stems. You should have about 1/2 cup. Chop them finely with the marjoram and garlic, then put in a bowl with the capers, olives, and the olive oil. Season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and some pepper.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Lightly oil a small gratin dish. Add the tomatoes, peppers, and sauce and gently toss with your hands. Season with pepper.

Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool before serving.

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Recipe for the one thing every salad needs

Croutons! So easy to make; so easy to burn.

And the fastest way to elevate a salad from lunchtime blah to company's coming amazing.

So get the nicest salad-makings you can find. Then come on back and read the restaurant quality crouton recipe, below.

I got this one from my chef (if you are new here, then welcome, and be aware that I am also a culinary school student). It's fast, it's easy, and it makes no-fail croutons.

Vegetarian recipe for incredibly easy, restaurant quality croutons
As with most recipes, your first step is to preheat your oven. 450 F will do nicely.

Next, grab some leftover sliced bread (the older, the better) and dice it.

The easiest way to do this is to slice your loaf, first, then cut the slices (stack three or so at a time) into strips, then cut those strips into evenly sized cubes, say 1/2″ square. Use your serrated knife.

Toss your cubes with clarified butter (clarified so they won’t burn), if you have some, or flavored extra virgin olive oil. (You can add salt and pepper and any seasonings you like at this point, but I like to add finely minced garlic at the end. Hang on; you'll see.)

Spread your bread cubes on a rack (so the extra fat can drip away) on a pan (think cookie sheet). Pop them into a fairly hot oven and keep an eye on them because they can burn quickly.

If you want to toss them with minced garlic, this would be the time to cut up two or three cloves. Be sure to cut it finely.

Take out your croutons when they are as crisp as you want them. Put them in a bowl and toss them with your minced garlic and sea salt.

Taste a few to make sure they are okay. Okay, have a few more. Now, hang on, if you keep eating them you'll have to make a second batch.

Okay. Make a second batch and serve, quickly!

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The best and newest vegetarian, vegan, and vegetable cookbooks and recipes

Welcome to the last of my three-part segment on great summer cookbook reads.

In the first part (two posts back), I covered some really interesting books and I included two great, brand new, vegetarian recipes, so if you are looking for new inspiration, go take a look (of course, there are more vegetarian recipes, below, too).

In the last post I included cookbooks that focus on foreign foods. Lots of great inspiration there, but of all those wonderful books, I was particularly fond of the Japanese noodle book; noodles are such an art form overseas, aren't they?

Today, I'm going to look at the books that are sure to speak loudest to all of us: Books that are vegetarian or vegan or just have some really great vegetable and fruit recipes.

So pull up a lawn chair and some great limeade and join me for some really great reads.

Vegan soul kitchen
Soul food, okay. But vegan soul food? Hmmm. Seems like an oxymoron to me, like jumbo fish. But then I flipped through the recipes.

Caramelized Grapefruit, Avocado, and Watercress Salad with Grapefruit Vinaigrette. Double Mustard Greens and Roasted Yam Soup. Green Beans with Roasted Shallots and Walnuts. Black-Eyed Pea Fritters with Hot Pepper Sauce. Sweet Cornmeal-Coconut Butter Drop Biscuits.

Are you not already licking your lips?

I'm not even going to waste my time talking about how inspiring this book is. Instead, I'm going to include some of the amazing vegan recipes from the book, below, so you can see for yourself.

Babycakes
Now that you have your dinner, you are going to need something for dessert. And have I got a book for you.

Babycakes is a vegan, gluten-free bakery in Manhattan that, good for us that are not in Manhattan, came out with their own cookbook.

You'll find recipes for everything from gingerbread and apple pie to chocolate chip cookies, biscuits, scones, and cupcakes. But what totally owns me is those red velvet cupcakes. Go grab a copy and take a look. You can thank me later!

Cooking Green
Here's a clever cookbook that shines, not because of the recipes, but because of the information.

What do I mean?

See, the recipes don't excite me because they are, ho hum, the same old flavor combinations we've seen time and time again (and, of course, a lot of them include meat). But what is exciting is that the recipes translate the theme of the book (reducing our carbon footprint) into reality through a variety of methods, such as, say, the cooking method used.

And that sort of thinking can be applied to any recipe.

But, even better, the book also has all sorts of tips, from cooking resources to fuel efficiency to help you address global warming issues right in your own kitchen.

Again, the ideas are not all that new, but it is convenient to have them all in one place.

So now you see why I think this is a clever, clever book.

L.A.'s original Farmers Market Cookbook
From the same publisher that brought us the wonderful The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market Cookbook, comes the L.A. version, just as fun and fascinating and sumptuous as the SF version.

So wonderful, in fact, that, while all the books I've reviewed in these three posts have their charms, this one may very well be my favorite. Why? It is brimming with inspiration. Inspiration that we can capture and use in our own home.

Here are some of the recipes to tempt you: Mediterranean pizza, apple dumplings, mee goreng (fried noodles), fried zucchini, and miso soup.

But, wonderful as the recipes are, what I really love about the book is the stories about the eclectic collection of people behind the dishes. Combined, the two give you a wonderful sense of, and hunger for, the place.

Vegan recipe: Black-Eyed Pea Fritters with Hot Pepper Sauce
4 to 6 servings
1 cup dried black-eyed peas sorted, soaked overnight, drained, and rinsed
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup raw peanuts
1 teaspoon minced thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 tablespoon cornmeal
5 cups coconut oil

Remove the skins from the beans by adding them to a large bowl, filling the bowl with water, agitating the beans, and fishing out the skins that float to the top with a fine mesh strainer. Rinse beans well.

In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine the beans, onion, peanuts, thyme, cayenne, vinegar, water, and salt and pulse until completely smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200°F.

Remove the batter from the refrigerator, add the bell pepper and cornmeal to the batter, and beat with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, warm the oil until hot but not smoking, about 5 minutes.

Lower the oil to medium high, and in batches of 5, spoon the batter into the oil, 1 tablespoon at a time. Fry, stirring around, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. If necessary, adjust the temperature to ensure that the fritters do not cook to quickly.

Transfer the fritters to a paper towel-lined plate and allow them to drain. Transfer the drained fritters to a baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm.

Serve hot with Hot Pepper Sauce.

Vegan recipe: Hot Pepper Sauce
1 cup

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small red onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Coarse sea salt
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 habanero chile, minced
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

In a saucepan over low heat, warm the oil. Add the onion, cumin, cayenne, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and sauté until the onions start to caramelize, about 8 minutes.

Stir in the garlic and chiles and sauté for 2 minutes more. Add the tomato paste, tomato sauce, vinegar, and water. Mix well, and simmer until it starts to thicken, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Transfer all the ingredients to an upright blender, and purée until smooth. Store in a tightly sealed jar in the refrigerator.

Vegan recipe: Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Ginger-Peanut Dipping Sauce
Serves 4

Fries
4 uniformly shaped medium sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds), peeled
1 tsp. course sea salt
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Dipping Sauce
1 heaping tablespoon minced ginger
½ cup toasted peanuts
½ cup apple juice
1 tsp. agave nectar
⅛ tsp. cayenne
¼ tsp. coarse sea salt

For the fries
Cut the potatoes into slices about ½-inch thick and then cut them ½-inch lengthwise into the shape of fries.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Combine the sweet potatoes, 3 quarts cold water, and 1 teaspoon salt in a large pot over high heat. Parboil, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Drain in a colander and pat well with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels until completely dry. In a large bowl, toss the sweet potatoes with the olive oil.

Arrange fries on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 50 minutes, gently stirring every 15 minutes with a wooden spoon to ensure even browning, until tender and caramelized.

For the dipping sauce In an upright blender, combine the ginger, peanuts, apple juice, agave nectar, cayenne, and salt and blend until creamy. Transfer to a small bowl.

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Delicious cookbook reading and a gorgeous French vegetarian recipe to to prove it!

In my last post, I looked at all sorts of wonderful new cookbooks worthy of reading this spring, from a cookbook by a Hawaiian chef to a book by an amazing pastry chef to a book from the oldest restaurant in the country (so old, they served George Washington!) to a book with recipes from countries as diverse as Finland and Italy.

And, of course, I included two recipes, one for these gorgeous lentils and another for cinnamon and cardamon buns (can't you just smell how wonderful that would be fresh out of the oven).

In my next post, I'm looking at vegetarian and vegan cookbooks along with a book that just has great vegetable recipes (just in time to take advantage of the farmer's market).

But today, ah today, we are going to look at cookbooks that focus on cooking not from these shores. As in, think Japanese noodles and French breakfasts and, well, don't let me spoil the surprise.

Europe's master chefs
The weight alone tells you there is tons of material in there. And, with all that content, you would be safe to guess there is bound to be something, something for us almost vegetarians.

And you'd be right.

With contributions from more than 100 European master chefs and pastry chefs from countries including Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Greece, Spain, and Great Britain, there is an amazing selection of recipes. Such as the very pretty salad of fresh herbs. The vegetables with porcini mushrooms. And the elegant macadamia torte.

Now, these are not the recipes you make everyday but, rather, recipes for a special occasion. So they tend to be fairly involved. But, for a special occasion this could be an especially good book to have on hand because, not only does it provide clear step-by-step instructions but it also has pictures so you can really see what you are supposed to be creating.

And that's half the battle when cooking, isn't it?

A table in the tarn: Living, eating, and cooking in rural France
by Orlando Murrin

Part biography and part cookbook, this is pure fascination about how a British journalist and cook moved, with his partner to southwest France to open a gourmet bed and breakfast with his partner in southwestern France.

So this is a triple whammy: Great story, beautiful pictures (how can they be otherwise when they are of the French countryside?), and gorgeous recipes. Such as tarte tatin of Belgin endive, fresh spatzle, and limoncello.

You know, I spent a chunk of one summer between semesters at university overseas, and somehow missed France. I think that is an oversight that needs to be addressed. Now! Don't you agree?

However, if you can't quite manage to tear yourself away from the daily grind, I do have a vegetarian recipe, below, so you can at least get a taste.

Takashi's noodles
by Takashi Yagahashi

Of course, right after France, I will have to go to Japan, if only to eat the noodles. And what heavenly noodles I understand they are.

But, in the meantime, I'll make my own. And I have just the book to help me learn how to do everything from ramen and soba to udon, somen, and a whole range of other types of Asian noodles. But, fascinating as learning how to make noodles is, what really grabbed my attention was the backstory for each noodle type, from when and where to use it and the regional background of all.

While there are all sorts of recipes to tell you what to do with your wonderful noodles, including medley of Japanese mushrooms with orecchiette, because most of them contain meat, you will either have to adapt them (and I often do) or simply buy this book just for the amazing insight into the world of noodles.

Vegetarian recipe: Twice-Baked Garlic Soufflés
For the soufflés
5 tbsp butter
1 head of fresh garlic, trimmed and chopped roughly, or 5 cloves dried garlic, papery skins removed, chopped
1/2 tsp vinegar
1 cup milk
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
leaves from a couple of sprigs of thyme
1 cup grated Cantal, Comté or Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
4 large eggs, separated

For Serving
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
seasoning, nutmeg, extra Parmesan, a few bread crumbs

Melt 1 tbsp of the butter and add the garlic, 1/4 tsp salt, pepper to taste, 3/4 cup water and the vinegar. Simmer covered for 10 minutes, then uncover and boil till the water has evaporated.

Heat the remaining butter and stir in the flour and thyme. Cook for a minute, then make a white sauce by gradually stirring in the garlic milk till thick. Transfer to a big bowl, add the grated cheese, three-quarters of the Parmesan, then the egg yolks. Set aside.

Heat the oven to 350°F. Butter the individual soufflé dishes and dust the sides with the remaining Parmesan; if you have any left over, stir into the sauce. Set in a roasting pan and put a kettle on to boil.

Beat egg whites till firm but not dry. Fold half into the soufflé base, then add the rest. Spoon into the dishes (fill them almost to the top), pour boiling water into the pan to one-third of the depth of the dishes and bake for 20-25 minutes, till puffed and cooked through. Remove from oven and leave to cool—they will sink.

When cool, run a knife round the edge to loosen each soufflé, gently upend on to your hand, then put the right way up on one big dish or 6 gratin dishes. (You can make the soufflés a day ahead, or even freeze them. Make sure they are at room temperature before the second baking.)

To serve, set your oven to 400°F (375°F convection). Mix the cream with salt and pepper, grated nutmeg and Parmesan or other cheese. Pour over the soufflés to cover completely, then if you wish sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake for 10-15 minutes, till golden and the sauce bubbling. They will gently re-puff.

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The best cookbooks for the summer and two new vegetarian recipes

Summer is coming which means summer reading which, of course, means cookbooks and food books enough to tempt any appetite.

So, this week, I am going to look at three types of books:

• Darn interesting cookbooks
• Cooking not from these shores
• Vegetarian or vegan or just great vegetables cookbooks
  

So go find your Amazon password or credit card or whatever (or search for a Borders coupon; they tend to have good, albeit short-lived, ones) and let's find some great books!

Today, I'm going to start with the darn interesting cookbooks. Later this week, I'll cover cookbooks covering food not from these shores (including Japanese noodles - divine!) and cookbooks that are vegetarian or vegan or have great vegetable recipes.

So we've pretty much got all the bases covered.

Darn interesting cookbooks
If you've been reading this blog for a while, then you know I get the vast majority of my recipes and inspiration from non-vegetarian / non-vegan / non-vegetable-oriented cookbooks. Why? Well, no slur intended, but for the most part I find they are better: More interesting, more flavorful, more inspiring.

Yes, I know there are exceptions, but for every Chez Panisse Vegetables, there are a ton of other books that calls for ingredients ranging from soy cheese (which runs the gamut from tasteless to gummy) to all sorts of manufactured products that, were they not sold as "healthy" would never be purchased by anyone possessing a single taste bud (there are exceptions, of course, such as tofu which I adore).

So let's flip some pages and find something nice to eat.

Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes
by Tessa Kiros

The cover alone is so pretty I am already salivating. But it's the contents that count, so let's crack open the book and look inside.

Think fragrant foods from Finland, Greece, Cyprus, South Africa, and Italy: Lemon and cinnamon, garlic and olive oil, yogurt and rosemary. And think pictures: Of toys and nature and those glorious, glorious dishes.

And think of all this punctuated with fascinating stories and histories.

But, most of all, think recipes. Such as: Lentils, rice and red onion salad. And cinnamon and cardamom buns.

See, I told you I would find you a nice vegetarian recipe in a non-vegetarian cookbook. But if you don't believe me, keep reading. Because both of these vegetarian recipes are at the end of this post. Enjoy!

Family Style Meals at the Hali-Imaile General Store
by Beverly Gannon and Joan Namkoong

Half of the fun of this book is imagining yourself eating something lovely (papayas come immediately to mind!) at the base of Maui's famous dormant volcano, Haleakala which is on the same island as this restaurant.

Now, the pictures are great fun (think informal and lots of color, not surprisingly for an Hawaiian cookbook) but what will really grab you are the recipes. Such as Shiitake mushroom bread pudding. And Dry-fried long beans with cumin and chili. And Butternut squash soup with coconut and ginger (can't you just smell how fragrant that would be?).

So skip past the meat recipes (and there are a lot of them) and head straight for the vegetarian recipes ones; they are worth hunting down.

Gale Gand's Brunch
By Gale Gand.

Well, I don't have to tell you how wonderful brunch is, so I won't belabor that point. Instead, I'll list some of the recipes so you can see for yourself: Almond Ciabatta French Toast and Iced Coffee with Cinnamon-Coffee Ice Cubes; Quick Pear Streusel Coffee Cake and Ginger Scones with Peaches and Cream; and onion tarts and crêpes and quiches and doughnuts and pancakes and, well, all sorts of delights.

Yes, there are plenty of temptations to be found here, but it is in the pastries that this book really shines. Meaning there are all sorts of recipes that can also be used for breakfast, lunch, and even dessert.

It's like four cookbooks in one!

City Tavern Cookbook: Two Hundred Years Of Classic Recipes From America's First Gourmet Restaurant
by Walter Staib

The book itself it so sumptuous you'll want to eat it. But, don't. Instead, browse the recipes.

Now, this inn is so old that it once held a banquet for George Washington as he passed through Philadelphia en route to New York for his presidential inauguration. So you know the recipes are rich with history. But, more importantly for those of us that plan to cook them, they are rich in flavor, as well.

So what can we find? Well, how about Martha Washington’s Chocolate Mousse Cake? And Thomas Jefferson’s Sweet Potato Biscuits? And poached pears (poached in Madeira so they end up this incredibly deep rose color), apple and golden raisin turnovers, cabbage salad, spicy corn relish, creamed spinach, and (predictably and delightfully) cherry pie.

And, you know, for such sophisticated recipes, a lot of them are pretty simple. So even if you are not an expert chef, you could still try you hand at many of these recipes. Matter of fact, I recommend you do!

And speaking of recipes, here are the two vegetarian recipes I promised. If you give either of them a try, let me know how to works out ...

Vegetarian recipe: Lentils, rice, and red onion salad
2 red onions, chopped
2 teaspoons salt
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 large garlic cloves (1 chopped, the other whole)
1 large ripe tomato, peeled and chopped
2 2/3 cups brown lentils
3 3/4 cups long-grain rice
juice of 1 1/2 lemons
1 small red chili, seeded and finely chopped
5 1/2 oz plain Greek yogurt

Rinse the onions and drain in a fine sieve. Keep about a quarter on one side and put the rest in a bowl. Cover with cold water, sprinkle with the salt and leave for 30 minutes or so.

Heat 3 tablespoon of the oil in a saucepan. Add the handful of onion and the chopped garlic and saute until golden. Add the tomato and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook for 5-10 minutes until the tomato has melted and the water evaporated and you can see the oil actually frying. Remove from the heat and keep aside.

Rinse the lentils and pick out any hard odd bits. Put the lentils in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat. Drain, then return to the saucepan. Add about 1.5 litres (6 cups) hot water and season with salt. Bring back to the boil, then lower the heat slightly and cook, uncovered, for about 20 minutes. Add the tomato mixture and cook for another 10 minutes or so, until the lentils are soft but not mushy and there is not much liquid left. Stir occasionally to make sure they don't stick to the pan. If it seems like the lentils are drying out, add a little more water.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a saucepan and add the whole clove of garlic. Add the rice, season with salt, mix through and cook for a minute. Add enough water to come about 3 cm (about an inch) above the top of the rice and bring to the boil, stirring once. Cook uncovered for 3-4 minutes, until a lot of the water seems to have evaporated and there are some holes on the surface. Drizzle with a tablespoon of oil, cover the pan and lower the heat to a minimum. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the rice is dry and steaming, then fluff it up with a fork to make sure it hasn't stuck to the pan. Remove from the heat and leave the lid on if you are not eating immediately.

Drain and rinse the soaked onion in a fine sieve. Mix with the lemon juice and chili and a splash of olive oil and season with salt and a little pepper. Arrange a pile of lentils, a pile of rice, a small pile of onion salad and a dollop of yogurt on each plate- some people will eat them separately while other like to stir it all together on the plate.

Vegetarian recipe: Cinnamon and Cardamom Buns
Bun dough
1 cup tepid milk
3 1/2 oz superfine sugar
2 packets active dry yeast
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 1/2 oz butter, softened
2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp salt
5 1/4 cups flour

Cinnamon butter
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 3/4 oz superfine sugar plus 1 tbsp. for sprinkling
2 3/4 oz butter, softened
1 egg, lightly beaten

Put the milk and sugar in a bowl and crumble in the yeast. Leave for 10 minutes, or until the yeast begins to activate. Add the egg, butter, cardamom and salt and mix in. Add the flour, bit by bit, mixing it in with a wooden spoon until you need to use your hands, and then turn it out onto the work surface to knead. It may seem a little too sticky initially, but will become compact and beautifully soft after about 5 minutes. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover with a clean cloth and then a heavy towel or blanket, and leave in a warm place for about 2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

To make the cinnamon butter, mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Divide the butter into four portions and keep on one side.

Put the dough on a floured work surface and divide it into four portions. Begin with one portion, covering the others with a cloth so they don't dry out. Using a rolling pin, roll out a rectangle, roughly about 12 x 10 inches and 1/8 inch thick. Spread one portion of butter over the surface of the dough with a palette knife or blunt knife. Sprinkle with about 3 teaspoons of the cinnamon mix, covering the whole surface with quick shaking movements of your wrists. Roll up to make a long dough sausage. Set aside while you finish rolling out and buttering the rest of the dough, so that you can cut them all together.

Line two large baking trays with baking paper, or bake in two lots if you only have one tray. Line up the dough sausages in front of you and cut them slightly on the diagonal, alternating up and down, so that the slices are fat 'v' shapes, with the point of the 'v' about 3/4 inch and the base about 2 inches. Turn them so they are all the right way up, sitting on their fatter bases. Press down on the top of each one with two fingers until you think you will almost go through to your work surface. Along the sides you will see the cinnamon stripes oozing outwards. Put the buns on the baking trays, leaving space for them to puff and rise while they bake. Brush lightly with beaten egg and sprinkle a little sugar over the top.

Leave the buns to rise for half an hour and preheat your oven to 350. Bake them for about 20 minutes, or until they are golden. Check that they are lightly golden underneath as well before you take them out of the oven. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature and, when they are cool, keep them in an airtight container so they don't harden.

Makes about 35 buns.

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Recipe for ginger-infused acorn squash and how to peel ginger root with a teaspoon

I learned this vegetarian recipe from a chef from Nepal. I learned it well over two months ago at culinary school (I'm a student) and wrote about it in my cooking school blog, but never got around to mentioning it here.

Until today.

And you've got to have this recipe. It takes the usual acorn squash and just elevates it to a whole new level of deliciousness.

Before we get to the recipe, I have a neat party trick for you involving a ginger root and a teaspoon.

How to peel ginger root with a teaspoon
Hold the fresh garlic root in one hand and the teaspoon in the other. With the inside of the bowl of the spoon facing the ginger, use the edge of the spoon to peel the ginger root.

Much easier to get around all those knobby protrusions than with a peeler, isn't it? Which makes this a very handy kitchen tip, indeed!

Vegetarian recipe for ginger-infused acorn squash
1 acorn squash
2" long piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut in half
1/4 teaspoon dried cardamon
1/2 teaspoon dried cinnamon
1 ounce butter or more
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 450 F. Cut your squash in half. Be careful; don't lose control of your knife.

Smash your ginger halves with the flat side of a chef’s knife (put the flat side of your knife on the ginger and smack down with the side of your hand, carefully), much like you do with garlic. Place each piece on a cookie sheet. Place each half of your squash on top of the ginger. Pop into the oven for 20 minutes.

Take your squash out and turn over. Discard the ginger. Dust each half of squash with the cardamon and cinnamon (if you want it sweeter, sprinkle about a teaspoon or more of brown sugar on each half; sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, depending on my mood). Drop 1/2 ounce or more butter into each squash cavity. Pop back into the oven and cook for another twenty minutes.

Take your squash halves out of the oven, poke them with a fork to make sure they are tender (if not, pop back in for a bit longer) and spoon the melted butter over the exposed flesh.

You can serve your squash as is. Or, you can cut the halves into quarters. Or, if you prefer (and this is great comfort food), you can scoop the flesh out of your squash and mash it.

Season with salt and pepper and serve.

(By the way, I can eat an entire squash half all by itself for lunch and be happy as anything. But if I want to make it for dinner, I never know what to serve with it, so if you have any suggestions, do tell. Cheers!)

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Vegetarian Alice Waters Chez Panisse recipe

This is one of those classic salad recipes that's a nice mix of unique and timeless.

And it is also a perfect vegetarian recipe to keep in your repertoire for unexpected guests that just happen to drop by at dinnertime (don't they all)!

Vegetarian recipe: Ruby Grapefruit, Avocado, and Spring Onion Salad
From Chez Panisse Fruit by Alice Waters

2 large or 3 medium ruby grapefruit
2 tsp. Champagne vinegar
Salt and pepper
5 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 handfuls arugula
1 medium spring onion
2 ripe avocados

With a sharp knife, cut the top and bottom off each grapefruit. Cutting strips from top to bottom, cut away the rind and membrane, cutting all the way down to the flesh. Once the grapefruit are peeled, cut the sections free, carefully slicing along the partitioning membranes.

Put the grapefruit sections in a bowl and squeeze in the juice from the remaining membrane and pith. Measure out 2 tablespoons grapefruit juice from the bowl and mix with the vinegar. Season with salt and a generous grind of pepper and whisk in the olive oil. Taste and adjust the salt and acid as needed.

Wash the arugula and dry well. Cut off the root end from the onion and trim away the tough dark green part of the stalk. Cut the onion in half lengthwise and remove any dirty outer layers. Cut the onion into thin half-moons, and marinate them in a small bowl, tossed with 1 tablespoon of the dressing.

Cut the avocados in half, remove the pits, and gently scoop out the flesh with a large spoon. Place the halves, cut side down, on a cutting board and cut lengthwise into ¼-inch-thick slices. Toss the arugula with 1 tablespoon of the dressing.

Make a nest of arugula on a serving platter, arrange the avocado slices and grapefruit segments on it, and spoon over the remaining dressing. Garnish with the marinated onion and serve.

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Twitter contest to win FREE cookbook!

I'm hosting a contest at my other blog (I also blog about the trials and tribulations of going to cooking school at CookingSchoolConfidential.com) to thank people for being so incredibly supportive and, of course, I include my Almost Vegetarian friends.

So ...

If you want a chance to win a FREE cookbook, here's what you do ...

Twitter contest to win free cookbook!
Simply retweet the entire message, below, three times this week (Sunday May 17 to Saturday May 23 - no more than once a day):

@cookingstudent Contest from culinary school student (http://bit.ly/1DLvsq). To enter draw for FREE cookbook RT this message 3x this week

Then, everyone who re-tweets the message, above, three times this week will be entered into a random draw to win a FREE brand-spanking new hardcover cookbook.

Pretty good, eh?

And, yes, I’ll even pay the postage! (Please note, because I’m paying the postage out of my impoverished student pocket, this contest is only open to US or Canada.)

I’ll contact the lucky winner next week.

So good luck (I wish you all could win!)

And cheers!

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Recipe for delicious glazed carrots

This is a story about how I started with a kitchen disaster and ended with delicious glazed carrots.

How do I know they were delicious?

Everyone said so. Even my chef.

The carrots, the culinary school, and the cooking student
Let me set the picture for you: It is a Tuesday, just like every other Tuesday at cooking school. Except for one small thing. I had a cold. Not just any cold, mind you, but a chills-to-the-bone / can't-taste / can't-smell cold.

Which is a problem when you are a culinary school student.

This day, I was supposed to make glazed carrots. Which I did. But first I made terrible carrots.

And, yes, I have the recipe for you at the end.

Glazed carrots everyone loved
I have never glazed anything. Or, as far as I know, eaten anything glazed, outside of a doughnut. Which, in my humble opinion, is the only thing that ever should be glazed.

The recipe was simple: Cut up the carrots, dump them in a pot with enough water to cover them, add an enormous knob of butter, and throw in a goodly sprinkle of sugar. Simmer until the liquid was gone.

I took one look at that pot and knew those carrots were going to turn to mush. Still, the school selected this book, the chef picked this recipe, I was there to learn, so I followed the directions.

Chef took one look at that greasy water and told me to take the carrots out and reduce it. So I did.

And in, oh, ten or twenty minutes I had some seriously burnt butter. Down the drain it went. Scrub, scrub, the pot. And now, screw the recipe, screw anyone else giving me directions, I was going to do it the way I wanted to.

So I took a clean pan. I put in a smallish knob of butter and slowly heated it up. I sprinkled in some sugar. And when it was nice and warm, put in my parboiled carrots, and tossed.

Let them get warm. Added salt and pepper. Tasted. Could barely taste them. Damn.

So I asked Chef to taste them. She liked ‘em. I had my classmates taste ‘em. They like ‘em.

Was I ever relived that worked out.

Vegetarian recipe: Glazed carrots
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut (I cut my carrots on the diagonal, making elongated disks)
2 ounces butter
2 tablespoon sugar
salt and pepper, to taste

Place the carrots in a pot with just enough water to cover. Simmer until they are just starting to soften, but still have some crunch in the center.

Drain.

Heat your sauté pan. Once it is hot, add the butter. When it is melted, add the carrots and sprinkle with the sugar.

When the first side is gently caramelized (turning brown), flip and allow the second side to caramelize. When the carrots are as tender as you like, add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve. Accept praise. Make the kids to the dishes.

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