Unique & Elegant Vegan Hors D’oeuvres at the NGI (Including a Recipe From the Chef!)

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Standard / by / June 1, 2011 / 25 Comments

It’s June!  This month I’m participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month).  Participants are committed to updating their blogs once a day. I’m participating as an exercise to hone in on my blog mission.  I want to really focus on the “how.”  How I can bring you helpful and fun insight into eating and living vegan.

The June NaBloPoMo theme, “Fan,” got my wheels turning and helped drive today’s post.

I am a fan of cooking classes!

In this instance “fan” really does mean slightly fanatical.

I took my first cooking class, Vibrant Vegan Vegetable Dishes, at The Natural Gourmet Institute in January. I returned to NGI a few months later for Easy Affordable Raw and a few days later I enjoyed a Raw Food Cuisine Advanced Class with Russell James at Organic Avenue.

Last week I returned to NGI for another hands-on class, Unique & Elegant Vegan Hors D’oeuvres, taught by Chef Louisa Shafia author of Lucid Food.   This is what you should know right away…Louisa is incredibly accessible. She is kind, she is funny, she is open.  It was the most positive chef to student experience I have had thus far in a cooking class.

I think there were about 20 people in the class and we were to prepare six dishes.  My pal Andrea (who stood in for my pal Jill, who last minute was unable to attend) and I teamed up with another couple of folks to make Avocado Cucumber Soup Shooters with Toasted Almonds and Mint and Sundried Tomato and Thyme Puree on Crostini.

Here’s a photo recap of the Puree on Crostini preparation

The Chef demonstrated how to thinly slice a baguette for a perfect crostini and that’s me, scraping out the delectable puree.

As with each class I’ve taken so far at NGI, once all the dishes are complete, the assistants (who are amazing! hi, Dianne!) clear our food prep stations and turn them into a banquet table.  Everyone in the class takes a seat and enjoys the meal –this time with wine!

Here’s my perfect plate of bites

Staring in the center with the soup, going clockwise:

Avocado Cucumber Soup Shooters with Toasted Almonds and Mint
Black Bean Chipotle Sliders
Indonesian Corn Fritters with Tamarind Ketchup
Sundried Tomato and Thyme Puree on Crostini
Baked Tofu Banh Mi Sandwiches with Pickled Kirby Cucumbers and Miso Herb Dressing

For dessert:

Green Tea Tofu Cheesecake Squares with Graham Cracker Crust

I loved every single dish.  My two favorites were the crostini and the corn fritters. Both had complex flavors that were incredible (and that tamarind ketchup? crazy delicious).  I really loved the cheesecake, too, because it wasn’t overly sweet.

As the class began I asked Chef Louisa if I could take photos for my blog. She said yes. I asked if I could share a recipe. She said of course.  See? Accessible and friendly. It was then I decided to be a geek and let her know that I subscribed to her blog, Lucid Food, and that I loved her post on Telba (a flax seed beverage). Okay, I’ll stop gushing.  Here’s a recipe. I hope you love it as much as I did!

Chef Louisa Shafia’s Sun-Dried Tomato and Thyme Puree on Crostini
Makes about 50 (1 oz) servings

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 cup dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes
  • 3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1 plain baguette
  • salt
  • 1/2 cup raw cashews
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 T fresh thyme leaves
  • 3 T olive oil, plus extra for drizzling baguette
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 bunch chives, thinly sliced

PROCEDURE

  1. Soak the tomatoes in the orange juice for 2 hours. Drain, reserving the juice, and set aside.  Meanwhile, soak the cashews in water to cover for 1 hour.  Drain.  Set aside.
  2. Preheat over to 350F
  3. Slice the baguette in half lengthwise, then slice it into pieces 1/4 inch thick.  Lay the slices on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and season lightly with salt.  Bake the slices in the hot over for 10 minutes, until crisp, and cool on a rack.
  4. Put the cashews, garlic, and thyme in a food processor and coarsely grind.  Add the tomatoes and puree.  Add the orange juice and process.  With the machine running, pour int the 3 tablespoons olive oil. Taste and season with salt.
  5. To serve, put 2 teaspoons of the puree on a piece of crostini and season with freshly ground black pepper.  Garnish with chives.

Note:  The crostini will last in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 weeks.

While it’s great that I get new recipes when I take cooking classes, it’s really the interaction with the chef and the kitchen tips and tricks that are the most valuable.  As we sat around the table enjoying our meal Chef Louisa answered questions and asked for honest feedback on the recipes.  She was open to suggestions and tweaks of ingredients, methods, etc.  I learn by doing.  And I learn in an environment in which my opinion is valued. All of that occurred in this class.

Guess what I’m doing this weekend?  I’m meeting up with my friend Lee, the writer of The Vegan Version, in Philly for a 3-day cooking intensive with Christina Pirello!

See. Slightly fanatical.

Are you a fan of cooking classes?

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25 thoughts on “Unique & Elegant Vegan Hors D’oeuvres at the NGI (Including a Recipe From the Chef!)”

  1. Sounds like an awesome evening. I would go to cooking classes everyday if I could. I have so much fun sharing the kitchen with other passionate people.

  2. Sounds like an awesome evening. I would go to cooking classes everyday if I could. I have so much fun sharing the kitchen with other passionate people.

  3. Because I’m pretty new at the whole occasionally eating vegan thing, I have been considering joining a cooking class to learn more about combinations that don’t leave me missing the cheese or eggs. I just haven’t found any relatively basic vegetarian or vegan cooking classes in my area yet.  And the raw one I found seemed to be more an introduction to raw rather than how to make raw food.

    1. Mir, that’s exactly why I started taking classes. I just didn’t know enough. The cooking intensive I’m taking this weekend will provide no recipes (yikes!) and instead will challenge us to think about the what and why of how we’re preparing food. So excited!

  4. This looks soooo good JL! I think cookingclasses seem great. I’ve been wanting to take some for a while now, but I can never find the time. Here in Belgium there aren’t that many veggie/vegan options. I know there are cookingclasses in my favourite restaurant and EVA (Ethical Vegetarian Alternative) gives classes, but it’s mostly in a city on the other side of the country (note: in Belgium that’s just 200km away, so not thát far, but for one evening too far in my opinion).

  5. Thanks for sharing your experience AND the recipe.  Soaking the sun-dried tomatoes in orange juice is such a unique idea.  I can not wait to try this dish!

  7. Wowzah!  I think I’d love every dish on the menu as well. I’m sitting here sipping on my morning cup of matcha and thinking, Green Tea Cheesecake–yesss! 😀 Sounds like a great series of classes. And I commend you for doing NaBloPoMo–I did Vegan MoFo last year and was pretty tuckered out by the end. 😉

    1. LOL, yeah Vegan MoFo wore me out, too! At the time I was taking a grad class, teaching a class, was on vacation for a week, oh, and had that full-time job. But somehow I did it! I’m hoping to be as dedicated this month.

      And, oh, that cheesecake was DIVINE! I have to make it soon.

  9. What an evening, wow! I’m drooling looking at all the pics, especially the tofu cheesecake squares. I enjoy cooking classes and demonstrations for inspiration.

  11. i’m going to take classes there this summer!!! let me know which ones you recommend! i want to take gluten free baking, and all of the raw foods courses…..

    1. How great! I can’t wait to hear how you like the classes. So far I’ve taken three classes: Vibrant, Vegan Vegetable Dishes; Raw & Affordable Raw; and this Hors D’oeuvres class. The first and last were “hands on”, my preference and the raw was a demonstration class (watch, learn, eat) From what I understand a lot of raw classes are demo (wonder if it has to do with the appliances needed (lots of Vita Mixes!) and/or the length of time some foods need to prepare (hours in the dehydrator, etc)

  13. Pingback: Lessons from Christina: Rethink Breakfast

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