Betsy DiJulio wrote “The Veggie Table” column for Norfolk, VA’s Virginian-Pilot newspaper. A lifetime cooking enthusiast, Betsy has worked as a caterer, taught private cooking classes, and has also won national recipe competitions. As a writer, DiJulio focuses on topics of vegan and organic food, art, home and garden design, and green initiatives. A practicing artist, Betsy DiJulio, M.A., Ed.S., is a full-time art teacher at Princess Ann High School in the Virginia Beach (VA) City Public Schools, where she was chosen as the 2010 Citywide Teacher of the Year. This longtime vegetarian-turned-vegan is an animal rights supporter and Virginia Beach SPCA volunteer. DiJulio and her husband, Joe, share their home with a pack of beloved canines. Her newest book, The Blooming Platter Cookbook is a wonderful cookbook for vegans and non-vegans alike, and I am happy to have had the opportunity to interview Betsy! She’s a wonderful author and her recipes are absolutely delicious! You can visit Betsy’s website at http://www.thebloomingplatter.com/
Your methodology on seasonal produce buying is the best way I believe to challenge one’s palette do you have a similar approach to fresh herbs and or spices?
You are so right. Very insightful. When we can get virtually anything virtually any time of year in our supermarkets, we’re not encouraged to branch out and experiment with what may have never been a favorite fruit or vegetable but is in season. I believe you’ll find in The Blooming Platter that the recipes either call for fresh herbs in season or for dried ones. In the latter cases, I made sure that the dried variety worked well. For example, they are great in dishes that are cooked a while. But, on the other hand, you will want to make my Fresh Pea and Tarragon Hummus in the spring or early summer when both peas and tarragon are bursting forth from the earth. Ditto my Lemon Verbena Pancakes. You just can’t get lemon verbena anywhere in our area in Eastern Virginia in the cool months, and it is one of my absolute favorites. So, alas, I reserve those coveted cakes for summer. On the other hand, there is rosemary which grows as an evergreen shrub in our climate, and it’s a good thing because there are few aromatic herbs I like better.
Last summer, I had quite an herb garden—as I plan to this summer–and long about late fall, I wished I had frozen and/or dried some of my own herbs, So I am going to experiment with that this summer. The idea appeals as much for its lessened impact on the environment (due to processing, packaging and transporting) as for flavor. Freezing/drying one’s own herbs is also far more economical than purchasing them most places.
In terms of spices, one like cinnamon, though it is available year round in our grocery stores and is purchased dried/ground for practical reasons, I associate with cool weather and tend to use it in cool weather recipes. Others, like paprika, seem perennial to me and I am just as likely to use them in the dead of winter as in the dog days of summer.
I do like mock meats too, but, don’t favor relying upon them for tastes; do you ever substitute tubers or roots for the heartiness?
Yes, the mock meats are only as good as their seasoning and the other ingredients that they are cooked with or in. For instance, the fried seitan for my Spicy Baja Tacos gets a flavor boost from a dunk in mustard and then a roll in a mixture of Panko bread crumbs and briny kelp granules before the spicy-creamy sauce is ever added. I tend not to substitute tubers or roots in main dishes simply because of the protein factor. As a vegan, I am ever-mindful of including adequate protein in my diet, and I’ve found that the mock meats tend to pack a lot of protein in relation to calories. Another flavor tip that many of your readers may or may not know is that, if they find that tempeh tastes a little too bitter, steaming it for 15 minutes before proceeding with a given recipe can take that slight edge off.
I have to admit you’ve won me over on baby bok choy with your lemony ginger and butternut squash dish. I think presenting uncommon tastes with something you may not have liked before can do the trick. Did you have your own “aha” moment while writing “The Blooming Platter”?
That makes me happy to hear! Thank you for sharing. There were countless aha moments! The process was an education on every level. Specifically related to your question, though, the example that leaps immediately to mind is my Grilled Radishes and Spring Greens with Maple-Curry Vinaigrette. I tend to favor certain veggies that I return to again and again. Take sweet potatoes, for instance. I could have featured them in every recipe in the fall sections of each chapter. But I wanted to showcase a broader range of what shines in any given season, so I challenged myself to let less frequently eaten veggies inspire new dishes. Radishes are one such food. Up until recipe development began on the book, I’d never done much more than eat them raw on salads or as crudités. They were always on my mother’s and sister’s Thanksgiving relish trays. A few years ago, a close friend recommended them boiled and eaten like new potatoes. However, I let my mother try that first and let’s just say that they weren’t a huge hit. But it occurred to me that grilling radishes would slightly caramelize them and sweeten that characteristic “bite.” So I gave it a try and fell in love. The accompanying Maple-Curry vinaigrette was born simply of wanting a dressing that would pay homage both to the radishes’ spiciness and to their newfound grilled sweetness.
I loved your acknowledging the savory tart in your repertoire what are some of your personal favorite savory parings with pastry shells/dough not in The Blooming Platter?
It’s probably safe to say that I love anything tucked inside or spread over delicious pastry dough. One favorite not in the cookbook is my Vegan Tomato Tarts. Where we live, it is practically blasphemous to do anything to a summer heirloom tomato other than slice it and eat it. In this recipe, I slice them over individual tart shells and then spread them with a creamy mixture of tofu, fresh basil, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, etc., and then pop them in the oven only long enough to warm and slightly “set” the tofu topping. Two summers ago, I ate an embarrassing number of these and would have this past summer only I was developing new recipes. Another favorite that can be enjoyed all year round is Veganized Pissaladiere Nicoise a la Julia Child (Vegan Onion and Olive Tart), a recipe I created a couple of years ago for our annual Happy Birthday Julia Child end-of-summer French potluck dinner party. It’s simple and beautiful and very popular. You and your readers can find these recipes and more on my blog. One final thought: many of the appetizer recipes in TBPC, like the previously mentioned Fresh Pea and Tarragon Hummus, to name just one, would be delish spread on a pre-baked tart crust.
The pictures on your updated The Blooming Platter website are so visually stunning! Is it your contention how a dish is presented is almost as important to what is presented? What was your secret to nailing those first shots?
Wow. Thank you. I really appreciate that generous feedback. First of all, though, I doubt any of them were first shots! I will sometimes take 50 or more images of a dish with everything from virtually imperceptible to dramatic changes between the frames. That may sound excessive, but digital photography makes it possible by being affordable and very fast. In answer to your question, though, it is almost cliché now to say that we eat first with our eyes. But we do, and since we don’t have the capacity to transmit aroma—yet!—over the internet, the appearance of what is presented on a website or in a cookbook is paramount.
I am a high school art teacher and artist by day—formerly a museum educator–and the aesthetics of everything, including food, has always held great importance, interest and meaning for me. Light can be one’s dear friend or dastardly enemy when it comes to photography, an art form that I don’t consider my specialty, though I love it. I adore shooting in natural light, but we live in a house on a wooded lot—we cleared only what we had to in order to build our home—so my shots frequently need a boost of brightness. Special light bulbs that an artist friend recommended do the trick. Still, I much prefer the nuances and quality of natural lighting. Light does far more interesting things when left to its own devices. And I can use all the happy accidents that come my way!
In terms of content, I remember my first food editor used to say, “Shoot the food” when instructing both the photographer and me as the writer/food stylist. I took that to heart and tend not to use a lot of props, though I actually like a few well chosen/placed props. I’m working on how to incorporate them most effectively. I’m also a white plate gal, favoring color and pattern under and around the plate. If you look at food shots in virtually any high quality magazine, the food is virtually always presented on white. But, unless you’re looking for it, you don’t notice because of what lies beyond the white frame.