Feeding My Passion

In the ongoing series of cooking classes we’re doing for Highlife Adventures, Cameron and I went into Chicago and taught a vegetarian cooking class. Actually, I did most of the teaching, mainly because when it comes to being a vegetarian, Cameron doesn’t remotely resemble that remark. But he and David, the grill guy at Marilyn’s where Cameron is the chef, were very helpful plating food for the class. We had at least 12, which is equal to our biggest classes, and they really seemed to love everything.

I turned the red pineapple curry with water chestnuts into a green curry since I couldn’t find enough vegetarian red curry paste for a batch. I found a little packet of it at Saigon Market in South Bend, maybe 2 tablespoons worth. I’d never seen ANY veggie curry paste before since shrimp paste is traditional, so I was delighted to find this. Then when I was talking with a fellow foodie, Kris, she turned me onto the Thai Kitchen brand of curry pastes that are usually sold in supermarkets, in this case, Meijer’s in Michigan City. Success! No shrimp paste and not too bad! The only real drawback is that the jar is tiny, barely enough for one batch. But considering the alternative is making my own, which I’ve done, so I know how much work it is, I was quite happy. I should have checked Whole Foods since I’m sure they have a veggie version as well.

The other dishes were chayote and corn enchiladas, and we made red and green versions with some store-bought sauce (Yes, I’ve made both of the red and green enchiladas sauces from scratch as well, but this wasn’t a “How to make life in the kitchen your life” class. I’d actually like people to make what I’m teaching, which often won’t happen even if they aren’t intimidated by the ingredients, technique, or time involved.), tempeh teriyahi shish kabob, and wild mushroom tart in puff pastry.

The tempeh teriyaki shish kabab turned out very well, with chunks of tempeh, red bell pepper, yellow summer squash, and red onion, then brushed with a soy and molasses teriyaki sauce. This was interesting to me for a couple of reasons. First, I like tempeh more than tofu. Despite being a completely unrefined whole bean product, it tastes much less bean-y than tofu. It’s like a sponge, so absorbs marinades better, better even than fried tofu, which I like a lot for that reason, among others. Second, the teriyaki sauce has molasses in it, which is an interesting component. It replaces the large amount of sugar that would normally go in, and it gives it a distinctive flavor as well, but not overpowering. The recipe is from Quick Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin, which is one of my favorites for great ideas. It feels like a much older recipe for something exotic, the molasses standing in for an ingredient that wasn’t widely available at the time, but the book was written in ’92, so that’s not too long ago. But ground ginger is easier to deal with than fresh, and it turned out very nicely. I’d rather people cook something good than worry about getting or prepping ingredients and not make something. The demo kitchen has a flattop grill, and I should have oiled it up more as there’s almost no fat in tempeh, so it sticks a bunch. I should have lowered the temperature as well since there’s so much sugar in the teriyaki sauce that it burns easily. I’ll make some changes to the recipe to reflect those observations.

The wild mushroom tart was fantastic, just as good as I remember it being when I tested it last month for Cameron and Sandy. Actually, I only got to taste the filling this time since the class devoured it before I got to try the finished dish. Gluttons! Yes, it was that good.

The dessert was Mexican chocolate tofu pudding, and it was awesome, no bean-y flavor at all, lots of cinnamon, some vanilla, some chipotle powder, and lots of Ghiradelli’s 60% cacao chocolate. I like their particular 60% because it has some acidity, some bite, and a great flavor. Ok, so I’m sentimental about it being a San Francisco-based company. But if the flavor wasn’t great, no go.

All in all a resounding success, and everyone in the class asked for the recipes!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Chicago, Cooking Class. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.