Saturday, Executive Chef, Hari Pulapaka/co-owner of the Cress Restaurant www.cressrestaurant.com in Deland FL had a 4 hour global veggie cooking class in the Cress kitchen. We made many dishes and we started by doing our prep work of cutting many veggies. Lots of them got roasted in the oven which really bought out the flavors! We prepped the herbs and made some french bread dough. We made homemade ricotta cheese for the homemade basil gnocchi. We made a big pot of spicy lentil soup and some Vegetarian Bisteya filling for the puff pastry, some spicy butternut squash ravioli, heirloom grain salad, eggplant Bharta, etc., etc. There were lots of sauces to make and side dishes with really spicy garnishes to put on them. Hari had all eight of us..hands on in the kitchen and we made so many things that he had a big wipe off board with all the tasks and dishes to accomplish and we all had our print out sheets and our own knives. It was also interesting to see how the commercial kitchen was set up and organized for all this massive amount of cooking! Well after 4 hours of cooking it was time to set all the things we made on the counter in the kitchen and serve up our plates and bowls and go into the dinning room for an awesome meal!!!!!!! Here's some of my favorites:TUNISIAN LENTIL SOUP
Saute some onion and garlic in olive oil
Chop and add some carrots, celery, and potatoes.
Add cumin, tumeric, a little cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to these veggies and stir and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
Add lentils and veggie broth and bring to boil and simmer till lentils are tender. garnish with some chopped cilantro, and a few drops of lemon juice. Nice!
Grill some sliced local PATTY PAN SQUASH AND make some ROMESCO SAUCE(really yum!!!)
In a fry pan with olive oil add a large piece of cubed bread and saute with some almonds and garlic. Do not over brown. Add some canned plum tomatoes, roasted red bell peppers, smoked paprika, red hot pepper flakes, a little red wine vinegar and simmer. Take out of the pan to blend till smooth........really yum!!!!! serve with the squash.
EGGPLANT BHARTA is a great side dish......
Roast some white Eggplants by cutting and sprinkling them with olive oil and also turn the whole tomatoes up side down and cut an X on the top. Bake these veggies at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.
In a sauce pan saute till tender, some chopped onions in olive oil and add lots of minced garlic and some fresh ginger. Then add the roasted veggies along with some cumin, turmeric, cayenne, and salt and pepper. Simmer while breaking the veggies up with the utensil. Serve as a side dish or condiment.
Well these recipes are from my notes and I hope I did a good job paying attention in class!!!
We had so much fun cooking and learning....Thanks Executive Chef Hari!!!
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