The vegetable garden is in full swing! Today I cut off the garlic scapes (flowers), pruned the tomato plants, fertilized the potato plants, and weeded the red currant bushes. Plus, I picked spinach for soup, arugula for salad, and radishes to eat with butter and salt. This is the best time of year to become a vegetarian!

Here are our upcoming cooking classes that will focus on the joys of cooking and eating fresh produce:

“Any Which Way You Can” with chef Josh Galliano of Monarch featuring pickled green tomatoes, elderberry jelly, and kimchee on Monday, June 20.

“Girls’ Night Out” with Kelly Gardiner features caramelized onion dip, tomato tart, and beet ravioli on Friday, June 24.

“Mexican Vegan-omics” with Clara Moore of Local Harvest Cafe making tamales, salsas, enjitomatados, beans and rice on Wednesday, June 29.

“One Jam Thing After Another” with Christie Maggi features blueberry jam, pineapple marmalade, brandied cherries, and red pepper ketchup on Thursday, June 30.

“Burning Desire for Grilled Pizza” with Margi Kahn has a myriad of fresh vegetables on homemade pizza dough on Friday, July 1.

“Jam-Packed” with Anne Cori features blackberry jelly, plum chutney, hot pepper peach jam, tomato-ginger preserves, and pickled cherries on Sunday, July 10.

“Prep School” with Barb Nack teaches how to chop, dice, flute all kinds of vegetables and fruits on Wednesday, August 10.

Get fancy with your vegetables in the “Haute Vegetarian Tasting Menu” on Thursday, August 11.

“Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better” with Dawn Meyer has apricot preserves, tomato preserves, caramel apple jam, and mango chile sauce on Sunday, August 14.

“Ripe” with Anne Cori is all tomatoes, all the time on Sunday, August 14.

“Vegan-onmics of Comfort Food” with Clara Moore of Local Harvest Cafe will make roasted eggplant meatloaf, mashed sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and fruit cobbler on Tuesday, August 30.

“I Beg Your Garden, Did You Say Vegetarian” with Jack MacMurray features butternut bisque, mozzarella-grilled romaine with tomato sauce, spaghetti squash-stuffed zucchini, lentil-mushroom burgers with miso dressing on Tuesday, September 20.

In the last Haute Vegetarian Tasting Menu class, the most favorite recipe was the most surprising: a Spanish chilled soup made out of nothing (bread, almonds, garlic, oil, and vinegar). The traditional name is ajo blanco (white garlic), but I like to contrast it to that other chilled soup, tomato gazpacho.

White Gazpacho

• 12 slices white bread
• 1 cup blanched almonds
• 2 garlic cloves (or 4 roasted garlic cloves)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup sherry vinegar
• 1 cup seedless grapes

 

Soak the bread in a cup of water, then squeeze dry. In a food processor, finely grind the almonds, garlic, and salt. Add the bread and puree. With the machine running, add the olive oil, another cup of water, and vinegar. If the soup needs to be thinned, add more water. Serve chilled. Slice the grapes lengthwise to garnish the soup.