Vegetarian Gastronomy

I am pleased to announce that after this past Thursday, I have finally completed both of my Teacher Dinners for my project! It was great fun and I really enjoyed putting it on, thank you to everyone who participated!

For this blog post, I'm going to tell you about the vegetarian night menu and how it used molecular gastronomy.

Edible Chemistry: Vegetarian Night

Caramelized Carrot Soup

with Garlic Knots

"Grilled" Romaine

with Emulsified Balsamic Dressing

Three Pepper Platter

with Refried Beans, Daikon Paad Thai

and Sous Vide Vegetables

Tropical Molecular Gastronomy

with Guava Geleé, Caramelized Banana

and Mango Smoothie

Caramelized Carrot Soup with Garlic Knots

This course was meant to show how a traditional ingredient such as carrot can be used in ways other than what is expected. The carrots were pressure cooked in butter and pureed, then added to some fresh carrot juice. All that was in the soup was carrots and butter. Simplicity can often produce amazing results. The Garlic Knots were served with olive oil powder, made from tapioca maltodextrin, because frankly its just cool.

"Grilled" Romaine with Emulsified Balsamic Dressing

Grilled Romaine is actually a thing! (Sorta). Instead of grilling it though, I used molecular gastronomy. Which means: TORCH. The smokey flavor coupled with the lettuce produces a unusual but delicious flavor and aroma. The very stereotypical sweet balsamic dressing on the lettuce sharply contrasts with the uniqueness of the torching of the lettuce.

Three Pepper Platter with Refried Beans, Daikon Paad Thai and Sous Vide Vegetables

I served all three of these small dishes in hollowed out bell peppers. Cause then you can eat the serving vessels as well! The refried beans were made in total of one hour in a pressure cooker (which is amazing considering most recipe involve soaking the beans for 24+ hours). The Paad Thai had a traditional sauce, but instead of rice noodles I used strips of daikon radish. And the sous vide vegetables were to exemplify the power of sous vide cooking using only fresh vegetables and olive oil.

Tropical Molecular Gastronomy with Guava Geleé, Caramelized Banana and Mango Smoothie

The dessert was meant to be almost like a lighter palette cleanser to end the meal. The guava geleé was simply guava nectar with agar to form a brittle gel, which has a very smooth mouthfeel. The banana was sugar on half a banana that was then torched to form an almost creme brulée style crust on top, and the mango smoothie for just a little extra sweetness at the end.

So there you have it. It was fantastic, and because it was first I was able to improve some of these dishes for the second dinner! Let me know if you have any questions below!