Welcome to this special edition cooking class. Here you’ll learn tips and techniques to prepare easy meals for the whole week using a common sense cooking approach. Email Lynsie anytime with questions at lynsie@getvie.com.
Today’s Menu:
Black Bean & Corn Salad
Soupe au Pistou
Homemade Crackers
Giardinieri
***If we have time…
Baked BBQ Tofu
Personal Size Ricotta Cheesecakes
Skill Goals for this class include:
Make ahead meals
Cooking dried beans the easy way
Knife skills and tricks
Easy veggie prep
Quick pickles
Cracker making
Soup flavoring and layering
Healthy sauces
Leftover Suggestions:
Black Bean & Corn Salad = salsa for tortilla chips, soup, puree for taco spread
Soupe au Pistou = veggie-forward pasta sauce
Crackers = crumble for coating on fish, pork, chicken
Giardinieri = quick snack, salad topper, pureed relish for burgers
Recipes
BYOB Beans
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 8-10 cups
BYOB (Baking Your Own Beans) is a method we learned a long time ago from a dear friend. It is safe to say that this method ensures the best-cooked bean: tender, slightly al dente - yet soft. It's perfect for using in soups or in salads and grain bowls!
You'll need a Dutch oven or an ovenproof cooking vessel fitting with a lid.
Ingredients
1 bag beans
1 thumb-sized piece dried kombu (seaweed-look for it at Whole Foods in the Asian ingredients section-see photo below)
enough water to cover beans by 4 inches
NO SALT*
Instructions
- Pour out dried beans in a colander and rinse, making sure to remove any debris like pebbles (this can happen).
- Pour beans into a large Dutch oven and add enough water to cover beans by 4 inches.
- Add your kombu (this nifty little piece of seaweed helps to reduce the phytic acid in the beans. Phytic acid is the stuff that creates gas in your body as you digest. It does not change the flavor of the beans and can be easily removed once cooking is done).
- Place beans, covered partially with the lid, over high heat and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, set a timer for 15 minutes, covering your Dutch oven completely.
- While beans are in their initial phase of cooking, preheat your oven to 250 F.
- Once timer has gone off, remove Dutch oven from heat and place in the oven (be careful: it's heavy and hot) and make sure lid is covering the pot securely so that no water evaporates.
- Set a timer for 1 hour. After the first hour, remove beans carefully and check for doneness. You want them to be soft but still intact, not mushy or falling apart. The best way to test this is to give one a taste.
- If they're done, remove them, cool and place in plastic bags to store in the fridge or freezer. If they need a little longer, set a timer for 15 minute increments and check each time the timer goes off until the beans are cooked to your liking.**
Notes
*Adding salt can inhibit or arrest the cooking of the beans, meaning that if salt is added before they have cooked, they might never get soft enough to be edible. Simply add salt once they've cooked.
**Every bean is different due to its size, therefore they all cook at slightly different rates. The only beans that you don't want to use this method for are lentils and split peas, which can be done quickly on the stovetop.
Courses side
SOUP Soupe au Pistou
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 8-10 servings
One of my favorite soups to make, you can play around and use any vegetables that you have on hand. I love throwing in butter (lima) beans because they offer a slightly different texture to the soup and also taste pretty meaty. The pistou that gets added on top after the soup is served is by far the reason why this soup is always such a huge hit! Bon appetit!!
Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 stalks celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 zucchini, diced & divided
1 yellow squash, diced & divided
1 quart vegetable stock (or chicken broth)
1 bunch asparagus, diced
2 cups green beans (about 1 lb) or sugar snap peas (1 lb), diced
1 bag frozen lima beans (or any bean you prefer)
For the Pistou
1 bunch basil (2 unpacked cups)
½ bunch cilantro, rinsed and roughly chopped
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp salt (to taste)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
Instructions
For the Soup
- Add yellow onion, celery, carrots, and garlic to a soup pot with olive oil and saute over medium heat.
- Once softened, add half of the zucchini and yellow squash. Cook for five more minutes.
- Add broth, stir and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
- Cook for 20 minutes.
- Add the rest of the squash, asparagus, green beans and lima beans and cook for 15-20 minutes more.
- Serve hot topped with pistou and parmesan if desired.
For the Pistou
- In a blender or food processor, combine all of the ingredients except for the tomato paste. (Reserve a few Tablespoons to add to room temperature butter for a delicious compound butter.)
- Add tomato paste and puree until smooth, Use as a topping for the soup.
Notes
Adding half the squash and the quick-cooking vegetables at the end helps layer the texture and creates a soup that is both cooking down and has a slight crunch. Plus it keeps the colors vibrant, which is fun and enticing for young eaters!
Courses Soup
Cuisine French
Homemade Crackers
Teaching students how to make crackers helps them to feel that even in a pinch they’ll be able to pull off a healthy snack or appetizer for surprise guests this holiday season!
Crackers are not only easy to make, but they can be made from a host of different ingredients that live in the pantry. Using a base recipe that I once received from my very gifted culinary friend, Sarah, I make crackers often when I have very little time to get a healthy snack together for a gathering, party, or as a nice addition to cheese or soup.
Ingredients
Gluten Free version with Nuts
1 pkg almond flour
1 pkg gluten free flour mix (or teff, chickpea flour, gf oat flour, etc.)
Need approximately 3 cups flour + grains total
2 tsp salt
⅓ cup vegetable oil or coconut oil
2 tsp honey, agave or maple syrup
½ cup milk or nutmilk, plain (or yogurt/dairy-free yogurt, plain)
Whole Grain Onion Crackers
2 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup oats
½ cup dehydrated onions
2 Tbsp dried chives
2 tsp salt
⅓ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp honey, agave or maple syrup
½ cup milk or nutmilk, plain (or yogurt/dairy-free yogurt, plain)
Instructions
- Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Mix each separately, then combine together.
- Divide dough into three parts, and working in batches, roll out dough onto a Silpat or piece of parchment paper that is heavily floured.
- Making sure your rolling pin is floured constantly, roll dough to a thickness of 1/32 of an inch. In other words: very thin.
- Using a pizza cutter, gently (so as not to slice the Silpat) cut crackers into even strips and then squares. There will be no need to separate them as they will shrink and separate a bit while baking.
- Bake in an oven set to a temperature just shy of 300 degrees and remove crackers when golden brown and crispy. because of their water content, the crackers in the very middle of the pan will feel a touch soft when they are hot, but should cool to a nice crispness (about 30 minutes).
- If they are still too soft, return them to the oven. Keep in mind that the crackers on the border of your sheet tray will be crispier than the crackers toward the center, so remove finished crackers as need from your baking sheet until all crackers are baked to your liking.
Fermented Giardinieri
Prep
Total
Yield 1 quart
Having a jar of delicious fermented veggies on the counter helps dissuade unhealthy eating. Not only are these tasty, but they are beautiful as a display for a table centerpiece. They also help loads with digestion because they are loaded with pro-biotics so keep these on hand to help balance out heavy and hard-to-digest foods.
Ingredients
For the Brine
2 Tbsp pink salt (Himalayan salt)
1 quart water
For the Giardinieri
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cups cauliflower florets
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
3 carrots, trimmed
3 stalks celery, trimmed and sliced into 1 inch pieces on the bias
4 cloves garlic
1 pinch red pepper flakes
Instructions
For the Brine
Prepare brine by dissolving salt in 2 cups water over low heat.
Once dissolved, add the rest of the water to cool down.
For the Giardinieri
Prep all of your vegetables and pack tightly into a clean quart-sized mason jar.
Pour brine over top to cover completely, cover loosely and place over a towel in a cool, dark place in your kitchen. Don't forget to "burp" once a day!
Ferment for one week then cover tightly and keep around for snacking.
Notes
When stored properly, fermented vegetables will last for a year! Just remember to remove what you want to eat with a clean fork, not your fingers.
Courses side, snack
Full Shopping List:
Black Bean & Corn Salad
Ingredients
1 bag beans
1 thumb-sized piece dried kombu (seaweed-look for it at Whole Foods in the Asian ingredients section-see photo below)
enough water to cover beans by 4 inches
NO SALT*
Soupe au Pistou
Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 stalks celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 zucchini, diced & divided
1 yellow squash, diced & divided
1 quart vegetable stock (or chicken broth)
1 bunch asparagus, diced
2 cups green beans (about 1 lb) or sugar snap peas (1 lb), diced
1 bag frozen lima beans (or any bean you prefer)
For the Pistou
1 bunch basil (2 unpacked cups)
½ bunch cilantro, rinsed and roughly chopped
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp salt (to taste)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
Homemade Crackers
Gluten Free version with Nuts
1 pkg almond flour
1 pkg gluten free flour mix (or teff, chickpea flour, gf oat flour, etc.)
Need approximately 3 cups flour + grains total
2 tsp salt
⅓ cup vegetable oil or coconut oil
2 tsp honey, agave or maple syrup
½ cup milk or nutmilk, plain (or yogurt/dairy-free yogurt, plain)
Whole Grain Onion Crackers
2 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup oats
½ cup dehydrated onions
2 Tbsp dried chives
2 tsp salt
⅓ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp honey, agave or maple syrup
½ cup milk or nutmilk, plain (or yogurt/dairy-free yogurt, plain)
Giardinieri
Ingredients
For the Brine
2 Tbsp pink salt (Himalayan salt)
1 quart water
For the Giardinieri
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cups cauliflower florets
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
3 carrots, trimmed
3 stalks celery, trimmed and sliced into 1 inch pieces on the bias
4 cloves garlic
1 pinch red pepper flakes
Bonus Recipes:
MAIN BBQ Tofu over Steamed Cabbage
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 4-6 servings
BBQ tofu is a favorite around here, especially in the way we prepare it! Leaving the block of tofu whole while roasting really helps to seal in the flavor! We hope you enjoy this light take on a Vegan BBQ Plate.
Ingredients
1 block extra firm tofu, left whole
1 tsp oil
1 bottle favorite BBQ sauce
1 head red cabbage, cored and sliced thinly into shreds
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
2-4 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Oil a small square baking dish and place tofu block on top of oil.
- Pour half-2/3rds BBQ sauce over tofu and place in the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes.
- While tofu is baking, bring an inch of water to a boil in a large pot and add shredded cabbage, salt, and pepper. Cook covered until cabbage is softened, then remove lid and add vinegar to taste.
- Serve sliced tofu block on a bed of steamed cabbage and enjoy!
Courses main
Homemade Ricotta
Prep
Total
Yield 1 pound
Your mind is about to be blown! Make this at home whenever you have milk and vinegar on hand and never buy Ricotta from the store again.
Ingredients
1 gallon whole milk (preferably raw*)
1/2-1 cup white vinegar
1 tsp salt
dried oregano, basil, red pepper flakes or fresh basil to garnish if desired
Instructions
In a large pot, heat milk to 190 degrees F.
Once it starts to simmer and foam, add 1/2 cup vinegar and stir with a slotted spoon to combine.
Curds and whey will begin to separate, but if the milk still seems cloudy, add the rest of the vinegar.
Once the curds are completely separated from the whey (and the whey has taken on a light yellow/green hue) remove from heat.
Add salt, stir and place a lid on the pot to sit at room temperature for up to 2 hours. This will allow the curds to settle and develop flavor.
Strain off curds and flavor with more herbs to garnish if desired.
Reserve whey and feed to your dog(s)! The whey helps coats become quite shiny and your pets will thank you...they love this stuff.
Ricotta can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks, but we promise it won't last that long.
Notes
*Raw milk is the best choice here because it is in its purest form and will curdle much more easily. If you must use store-bought whole milk, make sure it is not Ultra-Pasteurized if possible. This will ensure that your Ricotta comes out perfect every time.
Ricotta can be served on top of your favorite pasta with garlic and olive oil, red sauce or can even be sprinkled on roasted veggies (think beets) and on eggs! Mix Ricotta with Green Goddess Dressing for an amazing dip, too.
Bon Appetit!
Courses Cheese