College Vegetarian Cooking_ Feed Yourself and Your Friends - Megan Carle [4]
Mushrooms: Fresh mushrooms should be brushed off, rinsed briefly under running water, and patted dry with a paper towel. Never soak them in water; they are like little sponges and will absorb water and become soggy. Also, be sure to trim off the ends (the part that would stick in the ground) before you use them.
Piecrust: Premade piecrusts are wonderful and way easier than making your own. The kind we buy are in the refrigerator section and usually come in boxes with two crusts. It is best to let them sit until they’re room temperature because otherwise they crack when you try to unroll them. If you’re impatient like me you can throw them in the microwave for a few seconds, but don’t put them in for too long or they’ll stick together.
Potatoes: There are many different types of potatoes available in the store, but we usually use red or russets (also called Idaho). Red potatoes are more expensive than russets, but they are also less starchy. Since they hold their shape better when sliced, we always use them for potato salads. For almost everything else we use russet potatoes. They are cheap and work well for baking, mashing, or frying.
Puff pastry and phyllo dough: We are huge fans of frozen dough. It is easy to use and makes you look like a pro. In most grocery stores you’ll find them in the freezer section by the desserts. Just be sure to thaw them in the refrigerator (think ahead: it takes about 8 hours). If you thaw them at room temperature, the condensation will make the dough sticky and hard to work with.
Rice: With long-grain, short-grain, medium-grain, white, brown, and more, the variety of different types of rice can be overwhelming. The good news is that any of those will work in these recipes. Beyond size and shape, the difference between long-, medium-, and short-grain rice is the amount of starch released during cooking. Short-grain rice releases a lot of starch and is sticky when cooked. Long-grain releases much less starch and is fluffy when cooked. White and brown rice start out the same, but white rice has the nutritious, high-fiber bran coating removed. Because brown rice still has the bran coating, it takes 20 to 25 minutes longer to cook. Rice used in sushi is a type of Japanese short-grained white rice that has the right amount of starch to be sticky, but not mushy. It’s best to stick with rice that’s specifically labeled sushi rice if you want your sushi rolls to stay together. Jasmine rice is a long-grained Thai rice that has a kind of nutty flavor and is often used in Asian or Indian dishes. It’s not as sticky as other rice and is good for adding that extra flavor. Armed with all that information, you can choose whichever type you like, but truth be told, we buy whichever one is cheapest.
Size matters: All eggs in the recipes are large. All other ingredients are medium unless we mention a size. In other words, if we just say potato, we mean a medium-sized potato. If we say large potato, we mean a large potato. Just don’t get carried away. If it’s big enough to make you say, “Wow, look at that!” it’s too big.
Soy products: For vegetarians and vegans alike, soybeans and their derivatives can provide a good source of protein that you don’t get from meat. Products containing soy protein appear in nearly every aisle of the supermarket. That’s because soy doesn’t just mean tofu. Traditional soy foods also include soymilk, soynuts, and edamame (green soybeans), just to name a few. Soy is a versatile bean used mostly in Asia and is found in foods like soymilk, soy sauce, miso (soybean paste), tempeh, and tofu. Soy is also sometimes added to foods like breads, cereals, and meat products, and used as a meat substitute in products such as soy burgers and soy hot dogs.
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