SPICING IT UP
How to make veggie powders at home
Even Chrissy Teigen is into vegetable powders.
Earlier this year, the popular cookbook author and social media star tweeted an “aha” moment about DIY snacks: She could makeherownj alapeño potato chips by drying jalapeños to make an intense homemade powder to toss with homemade or storebought chips.
It was a revelation that Cane Rosso chef Josh Healy had years ago.
Healy, previously chef de cuisine at the Dallas restaurant Filament who now helms the kitchen at the Sunset Valley restaurant, has used this drying and pulverizing technique with just about every produce item you can imagine. It started as a way to use up ingredients that might otherwise be tossed, such as tomato skins or mushroom stems, but has grown to be an important p art of his creative process.
“Chef sa re asking, ‘How do we save the planet and be really great chefs at the same time?’” he says. “It reminds you to take pride in produce and is a reminder not to take it for granted.”
Fori nstance, the San Marzano tomato skins from Cane Rosso’s big batches of sauce end up drying in a thin layer on a large, foil-covered sheet pan in the restauran t’sp i zzaovens as they are cooling down, sometimes over-
night. He then uses a blender to pulverize the skins into a tomato powder that can go on pastas, eggs, pizza, salads or countless other dishes.
To make mushroom powder, he simmers stems and unused mushroom pieces in white wine and herbs before drying them to bring out a rich umami flavor that he loves to sprinkle on a steak or in the restaurant’s Caesar dressing.
At-home dehydrators are widely available online and in kitchen and home goods stores, and they all operate a little differently, so the amount of time it will take you to make these types of powders will vary. But you don’t need another kitchen appliance; if you’re using an oven, just don’t set the heat higher than 200 degrees, and check the drying ingredients often.
“Once you make one, you think, ‘What else can I do?’” Healy says. “Once you figure out a process, you find ways to replicate it.”
At Cow Tipping Creamery next door to Cane Rosso, you’ll find collaborative desserts featuring owner Corey Sorensen’s soft serve with Healy’s citrus and chocolate powders on top.
“There’s no limit to what you can do,” he says.
The most sophisticated powder he makes is with beets. He braises the vegetables with bay leaves, peppercorn and orange juice for about 40 minutes, or until fork-tender, and then refrigerates them overnight. Simmering takes some of the earthiness away while giving the beets a chance to absorb other layers of flavor, he says, and cooling the beets down helps them start to dry out on their own.
Once the beets have simmered, you can add a smoky flavor using a smoker or a smoke gun — a tool used to infuse the flavor of smoke into foods inside