July is National Culinary Arts Month in the USA. It spotlights professional cooks and chefs and the art of preparing and presenting food. I had the great fortune to attend a wonderful conference earlier this year called “Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives”, at the Culinary Institute of America – Copia, in Napa, California. Since this is Culinary Arts Month, I thought it would be a perfect time to tell you about the conference and share one of the recipes presented there.
The “Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives” conference is jointly sponsored by the Culinary Institute of America – Copia and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. The conference is presented annually on the impressive campus of the Culinary Institute – Copia. The conference is designed for health care professionals, doctors, nurses, dietitians and nutritionists, and public health folks and combines lectures, cooking demonstrations, and actual food preparation experience. It was exciting to prepare a meal in the spacious kitchen of the CIA under the tutelage of faculty chefs.
The lectures took place in the Chuck Williams (of Williams-Sonoma fame) Culinary Arts Museum. The walls were covered with glass cabinets displaying more than 4,000 artifacts of specialty cookware, beautiful and interesting cooking vessels, and kitchen tools and equipment collected by Chuck Williams during his lifetime (he died at age 100 in 2015).
It was a marvelous place for a conference! The setting was grand. The Copia building is full of light. There are vegetable gardens outside. The building is whimsically decorated with statues of a man and a woman raising their wine glasses and sitting atop the highest point. Napa is a lovely town in the heart of one of California’s major wine industry areas.
The conference has been presented annually since 2007. It includes presentations by leading physicians, public health professionals, and culinary professionals and marries nutrition science, health care, and culinary arts. Food was provided throughout the three days of the conference, cooked and served buffet-style by the staff of the CIA.
There were breakfast items, snacks, luncheon items, wine tasting (this was Napa, of course!), and hors d’oeuvres. As participants, we left the conference with full tummies and all the recipes from the cooking demonstrations as well as from the food we were served.
I stayed for an extra half-day for a course in the teaching kitchen with CIA chefs. My course was on Asian-inspired foods. Nine students were in my group, and we produced a beautiful buffet, which we all enjoyed eating after preparing and cooking. I made a wonderful noodle stir-fry. Also included were an assortment of salads and sticky rice with fresh mango for dessert.
The following recipe comes from one of the presenters, Adante Hart, MPH, RDN, a Registered Dietitian, nutrition educator, and speaker. This West African Groundnut Stew was a big hit with everyone at the conference. I hope you enjoy it as much as we all did. My comments are in parentheses.
West African Groundnut Stew
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon canola oil
- 16 ounces onion medium diced (2 medium onions)
- 6 garlic cloves grated
- 2 Tablespoons fresh ginger root grated
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes peeled, medium diced
- 16 ounces tomatoes medium diced
- 1 quart vegetable broth (1 quart = 32 ounces = 4 cups)
- 1 scotch bonnet Chile stem removed (or other hot pepper)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup creamy unsweetened peanut butter
- 16 ounces of chickpeas (garbanzos) cooked (1 can drained & rinsed)
- 1 bunch of spinach cut into 1-inch pieces (can also use kale)
- 1 bunch of chopped cilantro
- 1/2 cup of chopped peanuts roasted
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the oil on medium heat and sauté the onions to develop browning. Add the garlic, ginger, and spices and cook for an additional minute.
- Add tomato paste and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the sweet potatoes, tomatoes, stock, and chile. Cover, and simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.
- Place the peanut butter in a bowl, add some liquid from the pot, and whisk until the mixture is combined.
- Add the thinned-out peanut butter mixture to the pot and combine.
- Add the chickpeas and spinach to the pot and combine.
- Garnish with the chopped cilantro and peanuts and serve the stew over hot cooked whole grain.
