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Archive for the ‘Special events’ Category

Author Lorna Sass donates treasured cookbooks to the Natural Gourmet Institute’s library

Posted in check out our instructors, Life in Chef's Training, Natural Gourmet Institute, Special events, tagged , , on May 9, 2013 | 1 Comment »

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Author & Life Coach Lorna Sass, her partner Michael, and her donated books

On Friday, May 3, Natural Gourmet honored transformational life coach and renowned cookbook author Lorna Sass (Cooking Under Pressure, Lorna Sass’ Short-Cut Vegan, Whole Grains for Busy People, Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way) for her generous donation of 1000 books from her personal collection to NGI’s newly organized library. The dedication occurred at our weekly Friday Night Dinner.

Our founder Annemarie Colbin, PhD and our own resident author, instructor, and librarian Jay Weinstein personally and warmly thanked Lorna in a special ceremony for her valuable contribution to the school.

Jay Weinstein was duly impressed with the collection:

Lorna has donated just about 1000 books to the library, and you can see the range of books just by looking on our shelves. Everything from Larousse and Escoffier to Louisiana Bayou youth group fundraiser cookbooks. Mostly, I chose international and American regional titles from her enormous collection. Her most recent donated trove represents Eastern Europe, including Russia, Poland, Georgia, Ukraine, and the Balkans. . . . [Lorna] spoke . . . about wanting to place these books in a good home, and how she felt that NGI was the perfect place for them.

Perfect indeed. The books have been and will be put to good use. Our students use the library extensively to research menu plans for classes and design menus for their own Friday Night Dinner projects.

Lorna at the dedication with NGI Founder Annemarie Colbin and Instructor Jay Weinstein

Lorna at the dedication with Annemarie Colbin, PhD and Instructor Jay Weinstein

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Natural Gourmet partners with doctors from Lenox Hill Hospital to promote wellness through cooking

Posted in check out our instructors, Health news, Natural Gourmet in the community, Special events, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 17, 2012 | 6 Comments »

doctor-chefs-in-training

On October 15, Natural Gourmet Institute had the privilege to host Dr. Robert Graham, his wife Julie Graham (a certified holistic health coach), and 13 residents from New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital for a special, hands-on evening of healthy vegetarian cooking. The Grahams and NGI created the event to draw attention to the Meatless Mondays campaign and give doctors the knowledge and tools to treat common lifestyle illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity with healthy food choices and cooking techniques.

The evening kicked off with hors d’oeuvres and a meet-and-greet between the doctors and NGI staff. Then it was into the kitchen for the doctors to prepare a healthy, balanced vegetarian meal under the direction of NGI instructor Richard LaMarita, who designed the Italian-inspired menu.

Colin Zhu, a recent graduate of NGI’s Chef’s Training Program and first-year resident at CentraState Health Care System, introduced the evening’s recipes and talked about their health benefits and nutritional highlights. Chef Rich followed with a quick knife skills tutorial, and then the doctors teamed up to make a healthy, seasonal four-course meal.

The class was a resounding success and the first in a series where these internists, each committed to promoting the role food choices make in our health, will learn basic vegetarian cooking techniques they can share with patients.

 

 

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Natural Gourmet’s Olivia Roszkowski and Fran Costigan to demo this weekend at The Seed Experience

Posted in check out our instructors, Natural Gourmet in the community, Special events, what our grads are doing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 13, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Heads up, vegans (and food expo habitués). Here comes The Seed Experience. On June 16 and 17 at 82Mercer in Soho, there will be a multi-media vegan event that includes speakers, film screenings, food tastings, demos, workshops, and more.

Speakers will include Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Kathy Freston, Nick Cooney, our friend and blogger JL Fields, and many more. Check out film screenings including Vegucated, Forks Over Knives, Lunch Hour, and Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead. Tastings will be provided by Cinnamon Snail, Pure Food and Wine, Candle Cafe, Blossom, Cafe Terri, among others.

Most importantly, look for demonstrations by NGI’s Olivia Roszkowski and Fran Costigan. Olivia will prepare Spring Shoots with Asparagus, Miso-Spiced Eggplant, Adzuki Beans, Edamame, & Black Sesame Seeds in a Ginger Dressing at 4:00 on the 16th (Stage B). Fran will prepare Irresistible Chocolate Vegan Desserts for Everyone on the 17th at 2:00 (Stage B).

Follow the event on Twitter @theseedexp. Also, rumor has it there’s a 50% off Groupon waiting for you.

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Recipes from Natural Gourmet’s demos at Vegetarian Food Festival, Part V

Posted in check out our instructors, Natural Gourmet in the community, Special events, tagged , , , , , , on March 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Vegan Pastry Diva Fran Costigan

Always a star in vegan constellations, our instructor and renowned vegan pastry chef extraordinaire Fran Costigan brought the chocolate. Check out her recipes for decadent chocolate pudding and chocolate sauce

FRAN COSTIGAN’S MY-T-SATISFYING CHOCOLATE PUDDING

Makes generous 2 cups; 4 to 6 servings

Recipe reprinted from More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts Naturally

Unsweetened cocoa powder plus a very small amount of chocolate make a pudding so satisfying no one will ever guess this quick and easy treat as made without dairy, eggs or white sugar, or any of the unwanted ingredients found in boxed pudding mix.

Tips:   Tapioca starch needs to cook at a low boil for 30 seconds, not any longer, while cornstarch needs a full minute.  Do not use arrowroot in this recipe. It will result in a too soft and stringy pudding!

Ingredients

½ cup organic cane sugar, lightly ground in blender

6 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder [unsweetened]

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

1/3 cup very hot water [I use just boiled water]

2 cups nondairy milk, divided (use your favorite)

2 ounces chopped organic fair trade vegan chocolate (or use chocolate chips)

3 tablespoons organic tapioca starch or cornstarch (do not use arrowroot)*See tips

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

  1. Sift the sugar, cocoa and salt into a medium saucepan. Pour the water over the dry ingredients and mix with a silicon spatula until moistened. Bring to to a low boil over medium heat, stirring frequently with a silicon spatula.  Make sure to stir the bottom of the pot, and be careful that the chocolate does not scorch. Reduce the heat to low and simmer 2 minutes.
  1. Stir in 1 2/3 cup of the nondairy milk and simmer 2 minutes. Add the chocolate, and stir with a silicon spatula until the chocolate melts.
  1. In a small bowl, combine the tapioca starch and remaining 1/3 cup of nondairy milk.  Stir with a fork until the tapioca is completely dissolved. Whisking constantly, add to the simmering chocolate. The mixture will thicken and darken immediately. Stir frequently until the pudding bowls. Boil low for 30 seconds, not longer. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour into individual cups or one large bowl. If you don’t like “pudding skin”, press parchment paper directly on the hot pudding.
  1. Serve the pudding warm or refrigerate and serve lightly chilled. The pudding can be made 2 days ahead and refrigerated.

 

© Copyright Fran Costigan All rights reserved


 

Fran’s ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Makes 1 ½ cups

Recipe reprinted from More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts Naturally

Keep a jar of this versatile, delicious, and very low fat chocolate sauce in your refrigerator for homemade chocolate milk, hot cocoa, smoothies, or drizzle over puddings, frozen desserts and cakes too. Eating a spoonful directly is a hard to resist option. This recipe is used to make the Ultimate Chocolate Icing.

Tip: The sauce will thicken in the refrigerator. Add more water if needed to thin.

Ingredients

½ cup boiling water

¾ cup Dutch process cocoa

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

½ cup pure maple syrup, grade b or dark amber, or use agave

2 tablespoons mild tasting extra virgin olive oil, organic canola or melted coconut oil

1/3 to ½ cup organic sugar (light or whole cane), ground in blender

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

  1. Combine the cocoa, sugar, and salt in a blender or food processor. Add the boiling water and maple syrup and blend 1 minute. Clean off the sides of the blender bowl with a spatula, add the oil and blend 1 minute. Add the smaller amount of sugar and the vanilla and blend 1 minute. Taste and add more sugar to taste.
  1. Pour the sauce covered jar and refrigerate for up to one week, or freeze for up to one month.

© Copyright Fran Costigan All rights reserved

Fran’s links and info: www.francostigan.com, Facebook: Vegan Pastry Chef Fran Costigan, Twitter: @Goodcakesfran

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Recipes from Natural Gourmet’s demos at Vegetarian Food Festival, Part IV

Posted in check out our instructors, Natural Gourmet in the community, Special events, tagged , , , , , on March 10, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Rich LaMarita was our first demonstrator of Day 1. He’s our resident expert on all things Ayurveda and Indian. His paratha and dhal (curried lentil with sweet potato) were a big hit with the crowd.

Rich working the crowd with his paratha and dhal

Curried Lentils with Sweet Potato and Swiss Chard

serves 15

 

 

Ingredients

Dahl

1 ½ cups red lentils (masoor), washed thoroughly

3 green chilis

½ teaspoon tumeric

4 – 5 cups water

1 ½ teaspoons salt

Vegetables

1 ½ lb. sweet potato, diced and roasted

1 lb. Swiss chard, chiffonade

Tarka

4 tablespoons coconut oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon ginger, chopped

1 cup tomatoes, finely diced

Finishing Spice Oil

2 tablespoons coconut oil

½ teaspoon each cumin seeds, fennel seeds, black mustard seeds,

fenugreek seeds, black onion seeds

1 bay leaf

9 fresh curry leaves

3 red chili pods

Procedure

1.         Combine the red lentils, chilis, tumeric, water and salt. Bring to boil and simmer, stirring often, for about 40 minutes. Reduce heat, partially cover and cook an additional 20 minutes until soft.

2.         Tarka: While the lentils are cooking, heat coconut oil in pan and sweat onion and ginger. Add the tomatoes and cook until thickened. Add to the dahl and cook until the flavors are blended.

3.         Vegetables: When dahl is almost done, add the sweet potato and Swiss chard, and cook for 5 minutes.

4.         Finishing Oil: Heat coconut oil in pan, toast the spices and add bay leaf, curry leaves and chili pods. Fry for about 15 – 20 seconds.  Pour the mixture into the dahl and serve.

 Fennel – Scented Paratha

yield: 10 Parathas

Ingredients

2 ½ cups chapati flour, or 1 ½ cups whole wheat & 1 cup unbleached white

1 tablespoon Lucknow fennel seed

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons ghee, melted

2/3 cups warm water

extra flour for dusting

extra ghee for brushing

Procedure

1.         Mix flour, fennel seed and salt in a bowl. Drizzle in melted ghee and rub   with fingertips until mixture has consistency of coarse breadcrumbs. Add the water, bit by bit, to form a soft dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Rub ghee over it and let it rest for at least 1 hour.

2.        Divide the dough into 10 even pieces and roll into balls. Cover with towel. Flatten a ball and dip into dusting flour. Roll out to 6” diameter. Brush the top with ghee and fold in half. Brush half-circle with ghee and fold in quarter-circle. Dust it with flour and roll out into a large triangle. Cover with cloth. You can roll all out, but do not let them touch.

3.         Prepare griddle to medium heat and brush with little ghee. Place the paratha on the griddle and drizzle a bit of ghee around the edges and a bit on the top. Cook the paratha for a minute or until the bottom starts to form spots. Turn over, drizzle with ghee and cook until done.

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Recipes from Natural Gourmet’s demos at Vegetarian Food Festival, Part III

Posted in check out our instructors, Natural Gourmet in the community, Special events, tagged , , , on March 8, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

From instructor Elliott Prag comes this easy quinoa salad that you can creatively improvise upon in so many ways – use different fresh herbs, nuts, or vegetables. Replace the lemon juice with lime or grapefruit juice. The possibilities are endless.

NGI Instructor Elliott Prag makin' up a batch of quinoa salad

Quinoa salad with Toasted Pine Nuts, Sun-Dried Tomatoes,

Currants, Cucumbers and Scallions in Lemon-Mint Dressing

Serves 6

Ingredients:

¼ cup pine nuts

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 ½ cups water

¼ teaspoon salt

4 sundried tomatoes (1/4 cup), soaked in hot water until soft, then minced

½ cucumber (4 ounces), seeded and diced

2 scallions, green and white portions thinly sliced

¼ cup currants

¼ cup chopped fresh mint

Salt and pepper to taste

Lemon-mint dressing (recipe below)

Procedure:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Place pine nuts on baking tray. Toast pine nuts in oven until lightly golden, approximately 5-7 minutes. Set aside to cool.
  1. Bring water to boil in 2-quart pot. Add quinoa and salt. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer until all water is absorbed, approximately 15-20 minutes.
  1. Remove pot from heat and set aside, covered, to steam for another 10 minutes.
  1. Transfer quinoa to bowl and fluff with fork. When quinoa is cool, add toasted pine nuts, tomatoes, cucumber, scallions, currants, and mint. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss with dressing.

 

Lemon-Mint dressing

Yield: 1 cup

Ingredients:

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons maple syrup

¼ cup loosely packed mint leaves

1 teaspoon sea salt, or more to taste

Procedure:

Combine all ingredients in blender and process until smooth.

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Recipes from Natural Gourmet’s demos at Vegetarian Food Festival, Part II

Posted in check out our instructors, Natural Gourmet in the community, Special events on March 7, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Barbara Rich at our festival demo stage making her notorious pasta

This versatile pasta recipe with Mediterranean accents was prepared by NGI instructor Barbara Rich. Barb is an avid triathlete, and this is one of her favorite quick-fuel dishes.  Something a little out of the ordinary for a pasta dish . . .

Roasted Cauliflower with Almonds, Golden Raisins, and Chili

Yield: 4 servings

This is a great recipe for anytime of the year.  The balance of the roasted cauliflower with the sweetness of the raisins, heat of the chili and richness of the almonds makes a great meal.  This can also be made without the pasta and is a terrific side dish.

Ingredients:

1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 small Spanish onion, small dice

2 cloves garlic, minced, approximately 1 tablespoon

¼ cup almonds, lightly toasted & roughly chopped

¼ cup golden raisins

Large pinch red pepper flakes

½# whole wheat penne pasta, cooked (also, reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water)

¼ cup parsley leaves, chopped

½ cup panko bread crumbs, lightly toasted, for garnish

Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

  1. Heat oven to 400˚.
  2. Toss cauliflower florets with half the olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper.
  3. Transfer cauliflower to baking tray and roast in oven until slightly tender and browned, approximately 20-25 minutes.   Remove from oven and set aside.
  4. In a large sauté pan, heat remaining olive oil over medium heat.  When oil is hot, add onion and garlic.  Cook until lightly browned.
  5. Add almonds, raisins, and red pepper flakes.  Stir to combine.
  6. Fold in cauliflower, cooked pasta and parsley.  If the dish is a bit dry, add in some of the reserved pasta cooking water to moisten.
  7. Garnish each bowl with the bread crumbs.

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Chef Chloe Coscarelli’s book signing at Natural Gourmet

Posted in Special events, what our grads are doing on March 7, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Chef Chloe Coscarelli

On Tuesday, March 6, Natural Gourmet graduate Chloe Coscarelli returned with fanfare to her alma mater to sign her new book Chloe’s Kitchen. The book signing is part of a nationwide tour to promote Chloe’s 7-year commitment to a vegan lifestyle.

You may have seen Chloe in her appearance on The Food Network’s competition reality show Cupcake Wars, where she emerged victorious – with vegan cupcakes. She’s also had her recipes featured in The New York Times, O Magazine, and Martha Stewart’s Whole Living - to name but a few places where her work was featured. While Chloe is renowned for her vegan baking prowess, the book highlights her expertise in all realms of vegan cooking.

Check out her new book, featuring 125 vegan recipes, ranging from vegan comfort foods to dishes suited to upscale entertaining. You won’t be disappointed.

It was great to see Chloe again at NGI, and are proud to call her yet another stellar, world-changing NGI grad.

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Natural Gourmet Brings Fresh, Healthy Organic Food to New York Vegetarian Food Festival

Posted in check out our instructors, Natural Gourmet in the community, Special events, tagged , , , , , , on March 6, 2012 | 1 Comment »

For the second year in a row, Natural Gourmet participated in the New York Vegetarian Food Festival, held March 3 and 4 at the Metropolitan Pavilion on 18th Street in Manhattan.

Working from our own demonstration stage, Natural Gourmet instructors (and grads) Barb Rich, Olivia Roszkowski, Rich LaMarita, Barb Rich, Jay Weinstein Jill Gusman, Fran Costigan, and Elliott Prag provided two days of non-stop demonstrations and food tastings featuring fresh food featuring seasonal ingredients.

All demonstrations were packed with satisfied festival attendees, many of whom stayed glued to their seats for each demonstration. The demos were so popular, in fact, that we didn’t have enough recipe handouts for everyone in the room. As a result, this week and next we will publish a recipe a day from the festival for those that didn’t get a recipe handout and those unable to attend.

Forgive us, in our busy haste at the festival, we didn’t get any pictures of the food. If any attendees have pictures to share, we’d be most grateful.

Today, we feature the recipe prepared by our graduate, Olivia Roszkowski.

 

NGI Grad Olivia Roszkowski demonstrating her fabulous kale recipe

 

KALE WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATOES & PINE NUTS IN A GARLIC-INFUSED OIL

Yield: approximately 1 1/4 cup

Ingredients:

1 head of garlic, peeled

1/2 cup olive oil
6 cups of water

1/3 cup salt

1 bunch of kale, stems removed

1 ounce of sun-dried tomatoes

1/4 cup pine nuts

 

Procedure:

1. Place the peeled garlic in a small saucepan, and pour the olive oil over the cloves, making sure they are completely submerged.  Allow the garlic to simmer at a low heat for approximately thirty minutes, or until the cloves are tender. Remove from heat.

 

2. Bring six cups of water to a boil in a medium pot. Fill a bowl with ice water and set aside.  When the water comes to a boil, add the salt and blanche the kale for four minutes or until tender.  Transfer to ice water, then drain and squeeze the water from the leaves.  Chop into bite size pieces.

 

3. Soak the sun-dried tomatoes in hot water for approximately five minutes, or until completely rehydrated.  Drain and thinly julienne.

 

4. Using a sauté pan, heat two tablespoons of the garlic-infused oil over medium heat, and add the sun-dried tomatoes.  Cook until softened, for approximately two minutes.  Add the pine nuts and keep stirring for thirty seconds.

 

5. Add the blanched kale to the pan and continue stirring until heated through for approximately one minute.  Gently mix in the reserved garlic cloves.  Remove from heat and serve immediately.

 


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Being with our peeps: Just Food Conference 2012

Posted in Natural Gourmet in the community, Special events, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 25, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

The Farm Bill. Urban agriculture. Local Food. Food politics. Food access. Food justice. School food. All this and more were the focus of Day 1 of the Just Food 2012 Conference held February 24 and 25 in Manhattan. Just Food – if you don’t know – is the non-profit that makes local, fresh food accessible to all New Yorkers through community gardens, CSAs, farmers markets, pantry programs, and forging relationships that foster its goals in the community.

I attended Day 1 and was happy not only to see so many Natural Gourmet students and graduates, but also to meet so many like-minded people from our local food community.

The day kicked off with remarks from Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who detailed the progress New York has made in the arena of healthy food access. But I knew things were going to get interesting when Tanya Fields, Executive Director of The BLK ProjeK, informed the crowd that under-served neighborhoods didn’t need well-meaning white liberals to teach them what to eat. Then Garret Oliver, the Brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery followed up with an apt comparison of the processed and simulated foods we eat to life in The Matrix.  George Weld, founder of Egg Restaurant & Parish Hall Restaurant, spoke last but eloquently about the unacknowledged nobility of preparing food for a living.

Almost 50 break-out sessions and a job fair rounded out Day 1. I attended a memorable and riveting talk by Tracie McMillan, author of The American Way of Eating. Tracie wrote her book after going undercover to work as a migrant farm laborer, a waitress at Appleby’s, and an employee at Walmart. The challenge she set herself was to live and eat off her below-subsistence wages. The thrust of her presentation and argument was that we could pay living wages to food workers and still have affordable food.

I can’t attend tomorrow (drat!), but it looks like a day devoted to sessions about farming, CSAs, and cooking. I’m counting on NGI students and grads to keep us informed.

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