Vegan Dining Respun

Vegetarian dining is always often greeted with an upturned nose or a sneer. Many think it's a variety of tofu or veggie dishes done wrong. However in the last twenty to twenty five years meat and dairy free dining has taken on a more haute cuisine demeanor. A new generation of chefs is taking ordinary veggies to a whole new level of eating.

This is the case of chef Amanda Cohen , famed creator of the trendy lower East Side  restaurant Dirt Candy. She and the recently updated eatery were profiled in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section. The article was written by Food regular Jeff Gordonier  and it explored different aspects of vegetarian cooking, It is not the menu of deprivation with a stern lecture about saving  the    planet. Instead it's a celebration of all things green. CHef Cohen cooks with butter cream and eggs too, something most vegetarian chefs shun, (dishes at Dirt Candy can be prepared two ways, one with animal based ingredients and without them for the truly vegan). She also has her ingredients delivered to her  as she has  no time to visit Manhattan's many farmer's markets. They're not all organic but they are accessible and something her fans can recreate at home.

Vegetarianism has always been a North Star in Chef Cohen's life. she turned to it when she was a Toronto teenager(although she harbored a soft spot for oysters and breaded sweetbreads). Dirt Candy was created because she became tired of the usual , dull and depressing veggie platters most restaurants reserve for non meat eaters.At first she turned to the great chef Charlie Trotters' cookbook about vegetables for inspiration.It paid off. There is the portobello mousse, carrots that are pickled and jerked and then served with a Memphis barbecue.There is even a vegetable ice cream salad.Mr. Gordonier even includes a flavor bomb recipe from her. Its a frozen cube of cilantro,parsley , Thai basil along with spinach , garlic and peeled ginger. The greens are then blanched and then put into an ice bath.The greens are then pureed and poured into an ice cube tray. Use the frozen blocks in stir fry or just for reheated rice,It can even work well with any meat or seafood too.

Vegetarian cuisine has been turned up a notch thanks to innovative chefs like Amanda Cohen. Veggies are not only revered , they're reimagined into new dishes..It's achance to rethink the belief of only eating greens.