TTC Video – The Everyday Gourmet: Cooking with Vegetables

Transform summer squash into a “pasta” studded with pecorino, almonds, tomatoes, and garlic.
Make guacamole tacos using thinly sliced jicama as your tortillas and tamales stuffed with maitake, trumpet royale, and button mushrooms.
Turn out salads bursting with flavor, from kale with tapenade and pecorino to an esquites salad inspired by Mexican street corn.
Create indulgent desserts, including carrot cake with parsnip frosting, corn ice cream with blackberry swirl, and maple custard baked in a pumpkin.

With an array of dishes from around the world-from Thai soup to chili rellenos to tabbouleh salad-your taste buds will never get bored.

Approach Cooking from a Plant-based Perspective

Filmed at the CIA’s Greystone campus in Napa Valley, California, each lesson brings you closer to achieving a new level of comfort with cleaning, cutting, seasoning, and cooking an enormous array of vegetables, from the common ones you may be in a rut with (think carrots, potatoes, and corn) to the more unusual and perplexing ones you might typically avoid (such as turnips, beets, and spaghetti squash).

Here’s just a taste of what you’ll become more confident working with.

Fruit we treat as vegetables: While not technically vegetables, tomatoes, avocados, eggplant, peppers, and cucumbers are a savory addition to any meal.
Inflorescents: Actually flowers, this category includes cauliflower, broccoli, broccolini, squash blossoms, Romanesco broccoli, and broccoli rabe.
Root vegetables: Representing celery root, parsnips, and carrots, these veggies will surprise you with their versatility in everything from snacks to desserts.
Mushrooms: Packed with vitamins, protein, and savory umami flavor, this “meaty” vegetable is uniquely satisfying.
Herbs: Delicate yet packed with flavor, herbs brighten everything from cocktails to pizza.

The What, the How, and the Why

From proper knife skills to how to store and cook leftovers safely, he delivers numerous tips, tricks and techniques you’ll use in the kitchen every day. Learn how to:

cut herbs like mint and basil without damaging the leaves;
chop vegetables to uniform sizes for even cooking;
create vinaigrettes that complement your salad greens;
slice a lime so it releases the most juice;
keep leafy greens from wilting in your refrigerator;
determine when pasta is done; and
give your everyday meals a chef’s visual panache.

Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of this course is the knowledge it arms you with when food shopping. No longer will you stand in the produce section with an item in hand, wondering what you’re supposed to be looking for and what you should avoid. Once you know what to buy and how to store it, you’ll extend the shelf life of your vegetables and waste less in the long run.

Enter the Kitchen of an Acclaimed Chef

Taught by a culinary educator who has spent three decades teaching audiences around the world, Chef Briwa empowers you experiment, offering ideas on how to translate methods and components across recipes and to create dishes around whatever vegetable you happen to find at the farmers market. Culinary novices will appreciate his detailed, methodical instruction while more experienced home cooks will find inspiration in the templates he provides.

Cooking with Vegetables broadens your concept of what vegetables are capable of and how they can fit into your life. Let it turn the vegetable skeptics in your home into vegetable believers once and for all.