Dish of the Month (DoTM) – APRIL 2016 – VEGETABLE(S)

Spring is in the air, and it’ll apparently soon be plastered all over your computer screen.

Raw, blanched, stewed, and roasted… BEGIN!

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Carrot.

Ok, sorry.

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Get my hopes all up, just to dash them down… ::sigh::

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:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes::persevere:

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Blue footed mushroom from Mitsuwa

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The collard green salad at Charcoal is as good as it gets!

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Happy Family Chinese Vegetarian on Valley Bl in Rosemead is not only my favorite veggie restaurant, but one of my favorite restaurants period. Love the faux Fried Oysters and the Ham Sandwich on a steamed bun.

Fried Oysters (oyster shrooms)

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The tacos from Revolutionario were absolutely glorious - with each one being better than the last. The mushroom, kale, and feta taco was similar to what I eat on a daily basis - very simple and comforting. The chickpea tagine taco was wonderfully earthy and got even better when I reached the sweet potatoes at the center. The black eyed pea falafel were my favorite. They were crisp, yet flakey and nicely offset by the pickled turnips and carrots that I added to the taco.

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Not to rain on anyone’s parade (esp since the photo is so gorgeous!) but… are mushrooms technically a vegetable (I would assume they’re classified as fungi)?

Just my opinion but although mushrooms are technically not vegetables/fauna, maybe if it is found in the produce section/FM and not fauna, why not…

Kinda wondering what parameters we have since none were really mentioned. Some places have wonderful vegan dishes. Others have wonderful dishes that have veggies as the majority of ingredients but contain animal based products as well. Would Lodge pizza count as a vegetable dish? They tend to top their pizzas with premium FM produce.

Seems vegetable dishes can create a huge gray area, which is fine with me, as long as the vegetable portion is a major contributor in some way.

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Sounds fine w/ me…

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Good point. I guess a mushroom is not technically a vegetable. But should we also exclude tomatoes or anything with seeds? Or should we just go with how it’s treated in the culinary world? This could get complicated.

Played more with the sous vide machine this weekend. Made this vegetable medley to go along with perfect salmon…and this many vegetables only took about an hour to do. Amazing.


From right to left: asparagus, glazed carrots with double cream butter and thyme, baby fingerling potatoes with duck fat, zucchini, kohlrabi with double cream butter and thyme, beets with balsamic
The carrots, potatoes, and kohlrabi required a little pan searing for color. All veggies were a bit al dente and tender at the same time. They tasted even more concentrated versions of themselves because of the cooking process. Fantastic!

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Two of the best veggie dishes I’ve had lately are Gjelina’s Brussel Sprouts and Trois Familia’s Beet Tostada

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Gjusta takeout last night for dinner. The veggie part of the meal was very enjoyable. Please pardon the pics - really bad all around but it was takeout, pressed for time and didn’t feel like recomposing everything with a big-ass pour of wine waiting for me.

The falafel sandwich is currently my favorite sandwich at Gjusta. It’s no secret that Travis Lett is a wizard with vegetables. He was featured in a WSJ article on sandwiches. Put the two together and IMHO this sandwich is a the one to get.

The flavors of this sandwich keep coming at me. All sorts of wonderful veggies that combine with fresh nutty zesty falafel to entertain my taste buds more than any other falafel thingy I’ve tasted.

Picked up four salads as well. The first time I ever tried kale salad was at Gjelina, which was a revelation at the time, so I always associate kale with the Gjelina group. Their kale salad was with goat cheese and radishes - just okay considering the pedigree.

The chickpea salad was wonderful. Lots of flavors and aromas.

Wood fire-roasted broccolini was smoky, chile-spiked umaminess.

Speaking of umami, the mushrooms - wow - savory, meaty and so deep with flavor. Who needs meat? Okay I still want meat but these mushrooms will satiate most conscientious vegetarians.

Gjusta always has so much going on that it is very hard for me to order with restraint. And that is why I keep coming back.

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I love Gjusta’s daily salad specials. :slight_smile: I don’t think I’ve ordered their Falafel Sandwich before; must try it next time. :slight_smile:

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Great post. You describe everything wonderfully… and funny too. My son is vegetarian. He will love these dishes. Must go.

Sous vide? Duck fat? You’re not playing. Looks great!

@TheCookie Thanks…it was quite good. Each of the vegetables tasted more like themselves with the sous vide technique. They were also a perfect tender-crisp. Carrots and kohlrabi were sealed with salt, pepper, thyme and a double cream butter from the UK. The potatoes were sealed with salt, pepper and duck fat. The three were seared in the a hot pan with duck fat or butter just to get color.
Out of all my sous vide experiments, I think I really enjoyed the working with the vegetables the most.

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From the way it’s described I’m not surprised vegetables would do well sous vide. I hope we don’t get reprimanded for talking home cooking on a restaurant thread. But I gotta’ ask… Are you a chef? Because you seem really passionate. The only time I’ve seen anyone sous vide a dish is on Top Chef.