Class #4 - Veg Fest

Tonight's class demo was all about the knife or I should say knife skills. Mostly how to cut, dice, slice and prep the veggies for our dishes. I did learn a different way to dice an onion so already worth the price of admission!

We were going to be making meals fit for a vegetarian with as was stated by our instructor "no fake stuff", as in no faux meat etc. Aaron and I were on our own this time around as our kitchen teammate was absent. First here are the dishes with photos of what the other kitchens made:

Vegan Eggplant Parm

Three Bean Chili

Spicylindo-Chinese Noodles

Risotto with Braised Vegetables

And finally what we made, Aaron's choice was to make Champignons Au Vin...I had to look it up when I saw it on the list of what we'd be making. Basically Loosely translated mushrooms in wine. I never really used to like mushrooms and Aaron didn't like them til I made them sauteed like my cousin Rowland taught me at his B&B but now we both enjoy them, at least cooked. Still not keen on raw ones.

Here is our dish in the prep stage being stirred by the happy chef...and the recipe goes as follows:

Champignons Au Vin
Ingredients

• 8 mushrooms, sliced (we used a variety of them baby bellas, 2 portabellos and a container of white button.
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 T. butter, divided
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1/2 C. red wine
• 1 C. veggie broth
• 3 T. flour
• 3 T. water
• 1 T. fresh parsley, chopped
• salt, pepper (and we used some thyme-because we like it w/our 'shrooms)

Procedure

Heat oil and 1 T. butter in large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and saute until it starts to pop. Add onion and cook til tender. Add mushrooms and cook for about 5 mins. Add broth and simmer until it reduces a little then add wine. Cook for another 5 mins til it reduces a little.
Combine water and flour in small bowl (make a thick slurry) stir it into the mushroom mixture. Season with S & P and stir in parsley.

Serve with rice pilaf on the side. (we used a box mix in class to save time)

Yum, it was really good if we must say so ourselves

Here you go, vegetarian dinner is served, enjoy!