When I woke up today and saw that it was gloomy out I decided that it was just the kind of day to make soup. Since I had plenty of vegetables in the fridge I though I would try out a recipe for Vegetable Chowder that I have been planning on making for a while. The recipe was fairly easy to make, however I would prepare all the vegetables before you start. This chowder has the three key ingredients needed in a chowder recipe: bacon, milk and potatoes. It turned out creamy but still tasted fresh because of the addition of the vegetables and herbs.
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When I was living in New York I was rarely able to make myself anything very interesting for lunch. On my weekends I liked to take advantage of my time off and get creative with some of the ingredients in my fridge.
Two of the first things I learned how to make in culinary school were a Nicoise salad and mayonnaise. A Nicoise salad always calls for hard boiled eggs, so I decided that whatever I was going to make had to include those. While in school I also learned how to cook vegetables in the a l’étuvée style. I love this method of cooking vegetables! All you have to do is put your vegetables in a single layer in a saucepan and add enough water to come halfway up the vegetables. You then add a pinch of salt and about 1 Tbsp of butter. Cover the saucepan with a parchment paper lid cut to the size of the pan with a small hole in the center. Cook the vegetables over medium heat until they come up to a boil, and then reduce the heat to medium low. Cook until all of the liquid evaporates and the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. If you are not a vegetable fan seriously try this cooking method out; I am sure you will be shocked at how much better they taste!
Before I started school I had never made homemade mayonnaise before. The difference in taste compared to the stuff from the supermarket is huge. I also love that once you have mastered making mayonnaise you can add herbs and other flavourings and make many difference sauces for vegetables, sandwiches, and fish.
This salad came together quite quickly and all of the colours really made this salad pop. It is always great to just experiment in the kitchen and try out some of the cooking methods that I learned in school.
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