00:00The lesson plan for today, the simple yet tasty raise, I like to prepare my favorite vegetables.
00:05You can pretty much add what you like to vegetable stock, and I am going to brown half of a
00:12white
00:13onion. Use mild-tasting vegetables if you want a nice mild-tasting rich broth. Onions, celery,
00:21mushrooms, leeks. Avoid strong-tasting vegetables like artichokes, spinach, cruciferous vegetables
00:27like cabbage or broccoli or cauliflower. Those strong flavors will really overpower a stock,
00:33and it'll actually make what I call a stinky stock, which you don't want. And just cut these
00:40up into small pieces. When I add the carrots and the celery, we have our mirepoix. So now we can
00:48add water to cover. I would say somewhere between eight to ten cups. Eight sprigs of flat-leaf parsley,
00:56eight sprigs of basil, and some fresh thyme. This is one stock that you will season with salt,
01:03three-quarters of a teaspoon to start. So bring that to a boil, reduce heat to a gentle simmer,
01:08and cook uncovered for one hour. The brief cooking time of vegetable stock ensures that flavors are
01:15extracted but not lost. You can strain this lovely vegetable stock. I'm not even using cheesecloth
01:22because I don't think we have to. You have a very flavorful, beautiful vegetable stock.
01:28How to julienne a carrot. Peel your carrot and trim the ends. Cut crosswise into even lengths.
01:35Thinly slice from one side to create a flat surface to prevent the carrot from rolling.
01:40Turn it so it's flat side down and thinly slice lengthwise. Stack the slices and cut lengthwise
01:47again into thin strips. This is called julienning. When you're choosing asparagus in the store,
01:55always look for a very green stalk, a closed tip. You know asparagus are part of the lily family,
02:02and when you look at that, you can really sort of see a lily bud right at the tip. But
02:07always make
02:08sure that the tip is unblemished and very tight, and that these little points are tightly attached
02:16to the stem. If they have deep ridges in the stalk, you know that they've been out of water and
02:22cut a
02:22long time ago. Also, look at the bottom of the asparagus. See if it's green or dried out. This is
02:29a
02:29nice, smooth bottom. And cut off a little bit of the bottom, and you can see it's all juicy and
02:36nice
02:36and smooth. This is a medium-type asparagus, and this is a gigantic thick asparagus. I like this kind
02:45of asparagus. I like to make a meal of it. But a lot of people also like the very thin
02:50pencil asparagus,
02:52which are very popular. But you should choose them the same way that you choose the larger varieties.
02:57Always make sure that tip is dry and closed. If it starts to open, you know you have an old
03:04asparagus.
03:05So many recipes that we use on an everyday basis call for onions. And so many of us start to
03:11cry the
03:12minute we start to slice, dice, or chop. Well, here's an easy solution to prevent crying. Slice onions as
03:19close to an open flame as you possibly can arrange. You can use the flame of a candle, or you
03:26can work close
03:27to the stove. I'm on a small breadboard right next to a high flame on my gas stove. And then
03:33you can
03:33chop up to 20 or 30 pounds of onions, as I used to do when I was catering, without shedding
03:38even a tear.
03:40How to blanch vegetables. Add a generous amount of salt to a pot of boiling water. Cook one variety
03:46of vegetable at a time, and you'll want to give them a stir. You'll know they're done when the
03:51color is set and they're just tender. Fill a large bowl with iced water. Add a sieve or colander to
03:57the
03:57bowl. Remove the vegetables from the pot using a spider or a slotted spoon, and plunge directly into
04:03the iced water. This will prevent them from cooking any further. Pat them dry. This is a process that
04:08can be used for many vegetables. Now for this Tian, I've looked for firm small to medium vegetables.
04:16Skin on squash should be unblemished. And cut off the stem end, and cut in uniform slices. Now if you're
04:24going to use eggplant, and I think eggplant is very delicious in a Tian, look for the Japanese if you
04:30can.
04:30So this is a very pretty eggplant. It's a nice color skin and a very white, mild flesh. And tomatoes.
04:38I'm using plum tomatoes because I find them less juicy but still very flavorful, and they have a lot of
04:45meat. Oh, and here's a red onion. A sharp knife is essential when cutting vegetables like this.
04:52And now olive oil. It's time to assemble. I'm going to start with the onion and tomato. And salt and
04:58pepper
04:59as you go along. And now on the sides, I'll do yellow squash, eggplant, green squash. You can put a
05:07few branches of thyme on the top. A little bit more olive oil. Now before I put this into a
05:13400 degree
05:13preheated oven, I'm just going to put a few garlic cloves on top. These will roast in the skins. So
05:21there,
05:22400 degrees for 25 minutes. You can baste with the pan juices and a brush and then bake for another
05:2925
05:29minutes. Oh boy, look at how beautiful these are. Now this is a little bit difficult to do. You must
05:37have
05:37a very, very sharp knife to cut this in half. There we go. Now we are going to take out
05:45all these seeds.
05:48So cut this into wedges about an inch thick at the widest. Two tablespoons of olive oil all over the
05:57squash. Coriander, a quarter of a teaspoon. Quarter of a teaspoon of cumin. And about an eighth of a
06:05teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Toss this and try to coat each wedge with the oil and the spice. Oh, don't
06:14forget salt and pepper. Have your oven preheated to 425 degrees.
06:21And spread this in one layer and we're roasting directly on the metal instead of on parchment or
06:28something because we really want the squash to brown. Now this will be roasted for about 30 minutes
06:35flipping once. So the squash is roasted for 30 minutes. Now if you can pierce it easily with the
06:42point of a knife and this pierces extremely easily, just like butter, you can be assured that it will
06:50be done enough to eat. And just arrange it on a serving platter and it's ready to serve.
06:59How to slice cabbage. Cut the head in half through the core. You'll want to remove the triangular shaped
07:04core. To do this, cut into the core at an angle where the core meets the cabbage leaves and remove.
07:12Then place cabbage cut side down on your cutting board and thinly slice the cabbage from top to
07:17bottom. If you were cutting the cabbage into wedges for braising or roasting, you'd want to leave the
07:23core in to hold the leaves together. But you do want to trim the stem and cut a little bit
07:28of the core,
07:29which can be tough. Then cut through the core into wedges and the wedges are ready to be cooked.
07:35And now our other vegetables. I like parsnips a lot. They have a very nice nutty flavor. Cut this in
07:43half
07:44and then lengthwise. Carrots. Simply prepare. Just lightly peel them. All of these carrots can go end
07:55like that. The rest of the parsnips. Shallots peeled and cut in half. Some rosemary. Just the leaves. And
08:04oh, a couple tablespoons of olive oil. And it really adds more flavor and promotes browning. And don't
08:13forget, some black pepper, freshly ground, and some coarse salt. And all you use to roast is a cookie sheet.
08:22You can do it on parchment if you're lazy and don't want to scrub a cookie sheet. But I find
08:27that
08:28actually vegetables brown a little bit better on the metal. And don't overcrowd the pan.
08:33And into a 450 degree oven for approximately 30 to 45 minutes.
