The Vegetarian Corner

Most of you know that Chefs aren't -as general rule- vegetarians, and I'm not the exception. I love cooking and eating meat; I enjoy a filet mignon, rib eye, burgers, even the delicious foie gras. 

However I know some friends who would like to eat something..let's say... animal friendly.

So, since most vegetarian food tastes like newspaper or grass, I decided to show you some few tricks to have a really decent vegetarian dish. Lets go trough my classic examples.

Spaghetti with à la minute tomato sauce:

As it's name implies, the tomato sauce is prepared à la minute, it wont take more than 10 minutes to make. 

Ingredients for 4-5 pax

-500 grs spaghetti  (or you can replace it for your favorite pasta)

-1 kg ripe tomatoes

-1 broccoli

-1/2 cup red wine

-1 garlic clove

-1/2 onion

-oregano

-salt

-pepper

-sugar

-optional cornstarch

Procedure:

-Put 2 pots with cold water and sea salt to boil. (One large for the pasta, add a dash of oil, and one small for the broccoli)
- Wash, clean and cut the broccoli in small pieces.

-In a pan with olive oil, saute the chopped onions, garlic and tomatoes in halves. (No need to chop finely since it will be blended)
-Blanch the broccoli, leaving it lightly undercooked, chill in ice cold water.

-Once the onions are becoming clear, deglaze with the red wine. Let it reduce. 

-Blend everything together and pass trough a fine colander. Put back into the pan and let it boil. Add water if needed, or vegetable stock.

-Season to taste, add the oregano too. 

-Serve with the broccoli florets (to enhance the flavor, re-heat the broccoli in a pan with butter)

Astuces (tricks): if it´s too acid, add a spoon of sugar. if its too thin and you want a thicker consistence, disolve 3 spoons of cornstarch with the minimal amount of cold water, then add to the sauce and let it boil for at least 5 minutes. 

Enjoy! It was good even for me, and I´m not a vegetarian.

Pasta for lacto-vegetarians:

Whenever I cook meat, I usually serve it with vegetables or fruits and have a nice glass of red wine, comme il faut. Last time, I had this extra peppers already sliced and ready to eat and a bechamel sauce from the last meal.  So what can you do with leftovers? 

I made this pasta in no time as well, so if you are in a hurry, and you have some leftovers in your fridge, check out how easy it is to convert  them into a nice decent meal!

Ingredients for 4-5 pax:

-500 gr. pasta

-1/2 onion, sliced

-1/2 red pepper

-1/2 green pepper

-1/2 yellow pepper (If you dont have leftovers, just use 2 peppers of your choice; or 3, what the hell)

-1/4 onion (dont slice)
-1 garlic clove

-1 cup unsweetened whipping cream (240 ml)

-3 tbs all-purpose flour

-3 tbs butter

-1 cup hot milk. 

-1 clove
-nutmeg

-salt

-peper

-parmesan cheese

-Optional: If you have mushrooms, broccoli leftovers, etc you can add them too.

Procedure: 

Prepare your mise en place: wash, and slice all the vegetables; have all your ingredients ready.
-Boil water + sea salt + oil for the pasta.
For the bechamel sauce you need to make a roux, a 50-50 mixture of flour and butter.
-Dissolve the butter in a pan. Add the flour and mix without letting it burn, it ´ll be a roux blond.
-In a pot, simmer the milk with 1/4 onion with one clove.
-Cook it for 5-8 min, until  its a thick paste and doesn´t stick to the pan; remember it has to be cooked or it will taste like raw flour.
-While removing the milk with a whisk, add small pieces of the roux. Dissolve perfectly and strain before bringing it back to boil.
-Let it cook until it starts thickening. Add the nutmeg, salt and white pepper; make sure it doesn´t taste  raw.
-Turn off the heat and add the whipping cream, whisk until is well mixed and recheck seasoning. (Make sure it doesn´t boil again). Cover with cling film touching the surface.
- Cook your pasta al dente.
-In a hot pan with oil, saute the onion, garlic, (mushrooms) and peppers. In that order.
-Once they are cooked yet crunchy, take them out, and mix with your pasta and the bechamel sauce. Don´t forget the parmesan!

Not lacto-vegetarian? No problem,  skip the bechamel and cook the pasta, strain and add to a pan with minced garlic
and olive oil, add the vegetables and toss gently, 

I´m clearly not a fan of salads; I´d rather eat a nice pasta, than a bunch of grass; but hey, sometimes you just need to cook for people who enjoys a good salad; impress the girlfriend (or the mother in law)  so why not going the extra mile to have a dish that even us the non-vegetarians can enjoy? As I have always said "Eyes eat first" so let´s do a trick to make this salad appealing.


To decorate hot dishes, we have a huge variety of sauces, tourneed vegetables, fancy garnishes, microgreens; but what about salads? Vinaigrettes are too thin and they end up like a puddle under the food. What can we use, then?

Extra virgin olive oil: It`s dark green, and thicker than cheaper olive oils.
Cassis: Reduce it. It has a beautiful color.
Balsamic vinegar: Just reduce it until syrup consistence.

You will need: plastic squeeze bottles, toothpicks and a small brush. Use your imagination and make symmetrical designs for your dishes: here I used balsamic reduction with a brush.

If the balsamic is too thick, warm it in the microwave for 15 seconds.

Remember to include different flavors, colors, textures and temperatures in your salad.

Guillermo R. S.