The Spiralizer

Exciting day today - got to see a demonstration of the "Spiralizer."

This gadget (http://www.amazon.com/World-Cuisine-Tri-Blade-Plastic-Vegetable/dp/B0007Y9WHQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1279318397&sr=1-1) can make beautiful spirals out of your raw vegetables in just minutes. Chef Rich "spiraled" zucchini and summer squash then added a basil and walnut pesto which was out of this world.

She also made a beautiful vegan corn chowder thickened with potatoes instead of cream. The chowder, which included onions, garlic, tomatoes concasse, corn and carrots, was blended with an immersion blender at the end to make it creamy. This was served for lunch with grilled salmon steaks, arugula and beet salad with a walnut oil dressing and the squash. And no - we didn't stop there - topped off by a peach cobbler with shortbread topping. Yikes! I've had dessert every day this week and sometimes twice in one day.

Speaking of dessert the second half of our day was spent learning to make vegan vanilla cupcakes with chocolate almond butter frosting, vegan shortbread jam cookies and a fruit salad spiced with cardamom. What a wonderful flavor! Problem is we had to taste them all.  Too many calories!!!!!

Couple of tricks I learned today:

1. Concasse (kon-kah-SAY) means to peel, slice and seed a tomato. To peel make an X in the bottom of a tomato, dip into boiling water for 15 seconds then quickly plunge into ice water. The skin should slip off easily. Quarter the tomato then cut out the seed pod.

2. When making cupcakes or muffins put your muffin tin on a parchment lined baking sheet. It will be easier to move in and out of the oven.

3. Poor muffin or cupcake batter into a small pitcher and pour into lined muffin tins. Be careful not to drip!

Quote of the day:

“When you make a recipe the first time you follow the recipe. When you make a recipe the second time you start to get it. When you make a recipe the third time you understand it.” – Barbara Rich

That’s all for tonight folks. It’s Friday night and my lover (a.k.a. Tom) is here for a visit. We are off to dinner then to Prospect Park to listen to a free concert of the New York Philharmonic and fireworks (if we can stay awake that long). Have a great weekend everyone and happy Clam Festival to the folks in Yarmouth!