— Char Nolan

I try to choose foods that, or dishes that, um, are, are generally well-liked, you know, and, and familiar, but give it a little twist. And the twists, uh, can come through flavorful and eye catching garnishes, um, as well as sauces, uh, that you might add that add, uh, another facet or dimension of enjoyment, uh, to that classic preparation. Okay? And I think, um, you know, these can add some wow, uh, to the table. And, and, um, so let's start off with the ones that, um, are posted now under the question. And these are all links to our Rouxbe recipes that you can take a look at. The first one is the creamy kale, uh, zucchini pasta. And, uh, you know, this one, um, you know, calls, uh, for some, uh, zucchini noodles with a, a beautiful creamy sauce. Um, this one is popular anytime of the year, and, uh, this would, would very, very nicely work, uh, at Thanksgiving. I understand zucchini is really more of a late summer sort of a vegetable, but if you can access this, um, in late November, uh, this is a, a nice one to present. Um, the next item is a brussel sprouts with miso sesame sauce recipe. Um, brussel sprouts are, are very nice, and we see this a lot on Thanksgiving table. And, um, you know, I wanna talk about brussel sprouts for just a couple more minutes. And, and, um, if you wanna try brussel sprouts, uh, in different guises, that's fun too. Um, I like to roast them with a nice deep roast to develop a lot of color, which equates to flavor and visual interest at the table. And, um, you know, the way to do that is a nice, uh, high temperature, um, of, of at least 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and you can go a little bit higher than that too. Um, but do be careful of silicone baking mats, um, or parchment paper that you might use, which has, you know, a maximum recommended temperature of, you know, four 50 degrees Fahrenheit or so. Um, at those higher temperatures, discoloration of the mat will occur, okay? And, uh, even some burning of the edges or some, some, uh, caramelization of the edges of your parchment paper will occur. So please be careful. Um, I, I'll tell you what I do, you know, I set the temp at, uh, something closer to 400 degrees, and then I don't even use a rack. I place my sheet pan on the floor of the oven, which is super duper hot, and it will brown the food, uh, pretty quickly. So you do need to keep an eye on it. And in the case of Brussels sprouts, you know, cut 'em in half, put the, the flat, you know, cut side down so you get some nice surface area that browns, and you're gonna create some nice visual interest and again, deeper flavor. Uh, in the finished dish, you can flavor this, the, you know, the, the finished brussel sprouts, however you like, uh, with your favorite condiment, with your favorite sauce, um, with your favorite, uh, herb blend or spice blend. Um, but I'll give you another suggestion. And that is, um, I'm taking some inspiration here from, um, a preparation from, uh, David Chang, um, of Momofuku fame, uh, in a restaurant in New York City, uh, where he's, he has prepared a brussel sprouts dish, roasted first in the oven, and then combined with a kimchi sauce. It's, it's pureed kimchi. And, um, his particular, uh, preparation also call calls for some lardons, some nice thick, uh, uh, cuts of bacon. Um, but in place of the bacon, uh, the, the bacon version is great if you, if you enjoy bacon, but if you wanna omit that, then consider a firm or extra firm tofu, uh, that has a smoky flavor added to it. And, uh, you can smoke it however you want. It could be, you know, in a smoker, it could be with some liquid smoke. Um, you can toss it in some smoked paprika. Those are a few ideas on how to add some smokiness to, um, that meaty, uh, uh, internal ingredient that you would add to the dish. And, um, uh, if, if you happen to serve this individually, um, you know, as a, as a starter, maybe a side dish, um, uh, in presentation, uh, you can sauce the bowl or plate first with the kimchi puree. And then, uh, you've got your roasted brussel sprouts with your smoked tofu. Um, salt and pepper you can add for some color, uh, some shredded, uh, carrots. And then you toss all that and then plate it on top of the kimchi puree. And, uh, that makes, uh, for a nice side dish. Okay. Um, moving on down this list here in front of us, uh, there are a couple of soups, um, that I'm drawing on. And the first one is a creamy squash soup with a corn salsa and a wild onion chimi chew. Um, this is a little more in depth, a lot of ingredients, takes a little bit of time to prepare these side components that would be combined with the soup. Um, but the result is, is very nice and, um, you know, generally enjoyable by everybody at the table. Uh, and then the last recipe here, which is another soup, roasted carrot and white bean soup is a simpler soup, um, but certainly, uh, suitable for this autumn season. And, uh, you know, this can be, um, you know, seasoned nicely with, um, you know, with, with supplemental herbs and spices if you want to, um, but on its own, as is, it makes a nice soup. And then the last, uh, suggestion that I'll, I'll toss out for, or, um, uh, consideration is, uh, the classic oui. And, uh, I'm gonna talk about the version that is presented in its classic form, and that is, you know, a large dice, um, you know, or a, a a a medium to large dice of these various, uh, ingredients, eggplant. And you have, um, tomatoes and onions. Um, and then again, you know, zucchini appears, uh, on this list. Uh, and then, uh, this whole thing is gonna be flavored with, um, herbs. Um, it, it could be, um, thyme and oregano, just a little bit of rosemary, salt and pepper. Uh, and then, uh, traditionally it's gonna get, um, ample olive oil as well. Now, the tip that I'm gonna, uh, provide you if you approach it in this traditional fashion, is to cook each of the main ingredients that you're, you're cutting in large cubes separately in their own pots. That way you can control the doneness on each of these items. And then you bring them all together, combine them with your olive oil and, and adjust the seasoning. And then, or further olive oil, as you say, e each should have its olive oil as it's cooking, but you can adjust the, the seasonings and then present it. Okay? If you wanted to prep this ahead of time, cook each of these items separately, and then ideally, you would warm them up separately, uh, and then combine them quickly, adjust seasoning, and then serve, um, in a pinch. If these items are cooked separately, you can combine them and then reheat them, adjust your seasonings, and then serve. Okay? But the biggest issue that I've seen with Rati, uh, is that it's all cooked in one pot. These vegetables have different cooking rates or points of doneness, and you get some things that are cooked just right, and others that lose their form because they're overcooked. And so if you cook them separately, while it takes up some real estate on your stove top, you'll come up with a dish that is superior to the way that most folks do it.

Creamy Kale Zucchini Pasta

Brussels Sprouts with Miso Sesame Sauce

Creamy Squash Soup with Corn Salsa and Wild Onion Chimichurri

Roasted Carrot and White Bean Soup