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  • Vegetarian

All About Winter Squash

Generally, squash is divided into two categories: winter squash and summer squash. In this course, we will focus on winter squash, named for their ability to last through the winter months. These squash can be intimidating at first glance, since they are often large and usually have thicker skin. However, with just a little work, you can get to the sweet flesh inside of them and incorporate the sweetness and color of winter squash into many dishes. As a bonus, all of the dishes in this course are vegetarian!

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  • Vegetarian

Asparagus 101

Course Overview As vegetables go, asparagus really has it all—a complex, earthy flavor, a vibrant green freshness, and a relatively short cooking time. It comes in a variety of sizes and, depending on which cooking method you choose, you can give it all manner of textures. The key is its versatility: asparagus is equally suited to roasting, braising, broiling, blanching, steaming, and eating raw. You can even sous vide asparagus for the perfect holiday or dinner party side dish. This course will take you through each technique to make a wide range of delicious dishes with a variety of easy toppings and sauces. We’ll also cover shopping and storage, prepping, and some science on what makes asparagus work.

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  • Vegetarian

Vegan Dinners

Eating vegan is no longer the polarizing concept it once was, and more and more people are interested in incorporating more vegan meals into their repertoire. But there are still a lot of misconceptions surrounding the vegan diet—that it’s limiting; that it’s expensive and requires its adherents to purchase a slew of specialty (and often processed) ingredients, like vegan cheese; that it’s all raw vegetables and bland tofu; the list goes on. Don’t let those myths deter you! In this course, you will learn how to work with common vegan ingredients, such as tofu, but also how to utilize ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. We rely on flavor boosters such as soy sauce and dried mushrooms to add umami flavor to many of our vegan dishes. You will also learn how to make a hearty vegetable broth base to keep on hand for any vegan and vegetarian dishes. We've also found that store-bought vegan cheeses taste overly processed and grainy, so we'll show how to make your own vegan parmesan and cashew ricotta. Cooking vegan challenged us to rethink the way we look at mealtime, reinventing rather than replicating dishes. However, we were able to create some of our most interesting and unique recipes to date—like Baja-Style Cauliflower Tacos, which feature crispy coconut-coated cauliflower paired with spicy mango slaw and cilantro cream. In our Vegan Mushroom Bolognese, porcini mushrooms mimic the savory flavor and hearty texture of ground beef. For our Black Bean Burgers, the liquid in a can of black beans binds the burgers together, which means they have more bean flavor and you won't have to use an egg substitute.

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  • Vegetarian

Mushroom Bolognese

A good Bolognese sauce is savory, lush, and decadent. Traditional Bolognese gets its rich flavor from a combination of several types of meat. To mimic the meat sauce's long-cooked richness and create a satisfying vegan meal, we turned to the mighty mushroom. Two types of mushrooms helped us replicate that complexity. Dried porcini delivered depth of flavor while 2 pounds of fresh cremini gave the sauce a satisfying, substantial texture. To further round out the sauce's savory flavor, we added two umami-rich ingredients: soy sauce and tomato paste. Red wine lent richness and depth and a little sugar balanced the dish. Bolognese often includes a pour of cream; we found that some soy creamer—just 3 tablespoons—stirred in at the end rounded out the sauce and made it silky. We strongly prefer our favorite vegetable broths, Orrington Farms Vegan Chicken Broth or our homemade Vegetable Broth Base. Serve with our Vegan Parmesan Substitute.

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  • Vegetarian

Falafel Dinner

Course Overview You don't have to go to a restaurant to get great falafel with all the fixings. In this course, you'll learn how to make our easy, foolproof recipe with a smooth, creamy tahini sauce so you can enjoy hot, crisp falafel fresh from the fryer any night of the week and in the comfort of your own home. And if you're going to take on making your own falafel, why not try your hand at homemade pita too? Better than store bought, homemade pita is fun and easy to make. Our recipe creates tender, chewy pitas with perfect pockets, every time. Falafel can be served as a sandwich or as an appetizer with pita on the side. We'll show you how to make different accompaniments for your pita and falafel including ultracreamy hummus, quick pickled vegetables, baba ghanoush, and a tomato-chile sauce. Mix and match or make them all for the falafel dinner of your dreams.

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  • Vegetarian

Mushrooms 101

In this course, we’ll identify different mushrooms and their best uses, as well as providing tips for cleaning and storage. You'll learn how to prepare recipes for Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Spinach and Goat Cheese, Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup, Mushroom Bourguignon, and Sauteed Mushrooms with Red Wine and Rosemary.

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  • Vegetarian

Corn 101

In this class, you'll learn that corn is one of the more versatile vegetables out there, which is surprising, considering most of us enjoy it solely in the summertime slathered in butter, salt, and pepper. We'll show you various techniques for getting the most out of this nutty, sweet vegetable, as well as tried and true recipes for transforming corn into memorable dishes. First, you'll follow along as we make Corn and Poblano Chowder and see how a few simple tricks helped us coax satisfying flavor from sweet fresh corn and spicy poblano chiles. If you haven't tried it before, it's time to make spoonbread, a Southern specialty made from a combination of fresh corn and cornmeal, with a texture somewhere on the line between a rich cornbread and a true souffle. Finally, you'll learn a surprising technique for boiling corn, a method so easy you can literally walk away from it while cooking. The trick is...not boiling it at all.

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  • Vegetarian

Vegan Black Bean Burgers

Satisfying black beans seem like a natural base for a hearty vegan burger, but most black bean burgers are mushy or fall apart when flipped. We managed to harness the sticking power of the beans' natural starches and, with just a few additions, create a great burger. For a dry binder, we used tortilla chips that we ground in the food processor; their corn flavor added a pleasing Southwestern flair to our burgers, which we enhanced with scallions, fresh cilantro, garlic, ground cumin and coriander, and hot sauce. We pulsed the beans with the chips near the end of processing the chips so the beans maintained some texture. When looking for something other than an egg to pull everything together, we didn't have to go far. Instead of opening a can of chickpeas for the aquafaba, we found that the liquid from the can of black beans we were using provided the necessary cohesion, and the beans were sticky enough to hold together without an additional ingredient. The black bean liquid also boosted the overall flavor of the burgers. We dried the rinsed beans well to ensure we had control over the moisture content of our burgers. When forming the patties, it's important to pack them together firmly.

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  • Vegetarian

Farmers Market Finds

Arguably one of the best parts of visiting farmers' markets or receiving a box from your CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is that you’re apt to discover vegetables or varieties of vegetables that you don’t often find in grocery stores, or with which you're unfamiliar. Instead of shying away from unfamiliar items, try something new! In this course, you'll learn different ways of preparing vegetables you might not regularly use in your cooking. We'll provide shopping and storage tips, as well as step-by-step photos for how to prepare these vegetables for a variety of recipes. Each vegetable section includes two recipes to highlight the vegetable using different cooking techniques.

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  • Vegetarian

Tomatoes 101

In this course, you will learn the basics of how to shop for tomatoes and how to prepare tomatoes for cooking, canning and preserving, and all sorts of recipes. We'll show you how to make the most of this summer vegetable in our Best Summer Tomato Gratin, Tomato and Burrata Salad with Pangrattato and Basil, and Spicy Tomato Jam.

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  • Vegetarian

Silky Butternut Squash Soup

With a vivid orange-yellow hue; subtle sweetness but underlying savoriness; spicy, earthy fragrance; and silken texture, this pureed butternut squash soup is a feast for the senses. To cook the squash, this recipe employs steaming. Steaming produces a soup with a pure squash flavor and bright color. The twist here, though, is that the steaming liquid—which is usually discarded once cooking is complete—is flavored with shallots and the squash seeds and strings and becomes the stock for the soup. For this reason, it's necessary to use a measured amount of water—6 cups—in the bottom of the pot for steaming; don't worry if the bottom of the squash pieces come into contact with the water. Other than that, the same precepts apply here as they do to steaming in general: be sure to cut the squash into relatively uniform shapes and sizes so that the pieces cook at about the same rate, and keep the pot tightly covered during steaming to prevent excess moisture loss. This soup can be dressed up with croutons, toasted pumpkin seeds, or a dollop of yogurt or sour cream.

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  • Vegetarian

Vegetarian Dinners

Building a satisfying dinner that doesn’t contain meat can be a challenge for many cooks. Recipes can rely on unfamiliar ingredients—things like brown rice and tofu or mirin and coconut milk. In addition, many vegetarian dishes require new modes of building flavor. In this lesson, you will learn how to build a successful vegetarian dinner. We focus on key vegetarian ingredients; pantry staples, as well as easy techniques for building flavor in meatless dishes. You will learn to prepare a hearty vegetarian chili, a classic Indian curry made with vegetables, and a Japanese-style brown rice bowl with crispy tofu and crunchy vegetables. This lesson is suitable for all kinds of cooks, including those who want to eat healthy vegetarian meals on occasion.

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