The Culinary Institute of America

Chef Mike Pyers is chief culinary officer at three-Michelin-starred restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, and shows us how he makes silken tofu with tomato and anise hyssop. He makes the tofu in-house using locally produced soymilk. The tofu sets in a steam box for 5 minutes, then is topped with tomato confit, fresh tomatoes, Calabrian chilies, and anise hyssop. Watch the full documentary and find recipes here!  

Chef Josh Hardnen, creative culinary director at Eleven Madison Park in Manhattan, shows us how he makes sunflower salad with beans and epazote. The dish utilizes all parts of a sunflower blossom. The core of the sunflowers have an artichoke-like flavor and texture, and are cooked in saffron and white wine. The petals are served three ways: baked, fermented, and fresh. Watch the full documentary and find recipes here!

Daniel Humm is the chef and owner of Eleven Madison Park in Manhattan, which has held three Michelin stars since 2012 and was ranked first by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2017. In 2021, Eleven Madison Park famously transitioned to a plant-based menu. Chef Daniel Humm talks about how shutting down the restaurant during the pandemic gave him time to think about his legacy, and the impact a plant-based menu would have on the culinary world. He reflects on the challenges of preparing, cooking, and presenting vegetables, and his continued passion to change diner perceptions about plant-based eating. Watch the full documentary and find recipes here!

Michaela Duke, sous chef at Michelin-starred restaurant, Dirt Candy in New York City, shows us a whimsical take on corn tamales. She starts the dish with an intensely-flavored corn puree dotted with mole, corn salsa verde, and raw baby corn slices. She tops the puree with a corn tamale steamed inside of a corn mold. Watch the full documentary and find recipes here!

Michaela Duke, sous chef at Michelin-starred restaurant, Dirt Candy in New York City, shows us how she makes Zucchini Spring Roll Rangoon. She starts with a salad of torn zucchini, squash blossoms, and bamboo, dressed in vegan fish sauce and lime juice. She creates a wanton-like shell by frying a zucchini dusted in cornstarch. The crispy zucchini shell is filled with a creamy puree of zucchini and squash blossom. Watch the full documentary and find recipes here!

Michaela Duke is sous chef at Dirt Candy in New York City's Lower East Side. Dirt Candy is a vegetable-focused restaurant with a 5-course tasting menu. She talks about the restaurant’s evolution since it opened in 2008, as well as the culinary team’s creative process in developing the seasonal menu. Dirt Candy’s Michelin star brings in more destination diners, and Chef Michaela loves to change their minds about what vegetarian cuisine can look like. Watch the full documentary and find recipes here!

Amanda Cohen is the James Beard-nominated chef and owner of Dirt Candy, the Michelin-starred vegetable restaurant in New York City's Lower East Side. Dirt Candy was the first vegetable-focused restaurant in New York City, and a pioneer of the plant-forward movement. Dirt Candy was also the first restaurant in the city to eliminate tipping and share profits with its employees. In this interview, Chef Amanda Cohen talks about how diner perceptions have changed, as well as the creative process in developing her whimsical vegetable dishes. Watch the full documentary and find recipes here!

Inside the Plant-Forward Kitchen: New York is the second edition of a new educational video produced by The Culinary Institute of America—a first-of-its-kind video reference library documenting the best of plant-forward cuisine. In this documentary series, we explore the markets and restaurants of New York with the chefs who are on the leading edge of this culinary mega-trend. We talk to Chef Amanda Cohen, a pioneer in the plant-forward movement at her restaurant Dirt Candy. We meet Chef Daniel Humm, who discusses how he transformed his world-famous restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, into a fully vegan establishment. We’ll experience the Middle Eastern creations of Shukette, traditional Iranian and Persian food at Sofreh, organic Queens diner fare at Golden Diner, and Southern Soul Food cooking at Cadence. We visit two Mexican restaurants, Cosme and Oxomoco, where the chefs combine Mexican gastronomy with locally grown New York produce. Finally, we leave New York to see how plant-forward principles can be scaled at high volume foodservice, when we head to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with Chef Alexander Ong. Watch the full documentary and find recipes here!

A sabich is traditionally pita or laffa bread stuffed with fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, chopped salad, amba, and tahini sauce. It’s an Iraqi Jewish street food that has become a staple of Israeli cuisine. This creative twist features watermelon salad and watermelon rind "amba." Amba is traditionally a super pungent, tangy mango sauce popular in Iraq and Israel. In this version, Chef Magnus Young, Chef de Cuisine and Culinary Manager at the Bruschetteria Food Truck for Clif Family Wines in St. Helena, CA, makes the sauce using watermelon rind in place of mango. This dish is a delicious way to use all parts of the watermelon and reduce food waste. Get the sabich recipe here!

For a delicious dish that balances the richness of grilled lamb with the bright and fruity sweetness of watermelon molasses, try these grilled lamb chops with watermelon molasses, watermelon sofrito, and polenta. Your guests will love the combination of savory and smoky lamb with sweet and fruity watermelon glaze, spiced watermelon sofrito, and creamy polenta. Chef de Cuisine and Culinary Manager at the Bruschetteria Food Truck for Clif Family Wines in St. Helena, CA, Magnus Young shows us how to make this stunning entree. Get the Grilled Lamb Chops recipe here!  

This fruity, sweet, and refreshing drink inspired by the traditional michelada, uses watermelon juice in place of tomato juice. Chef Magnus Young, Chef de Cuisine and Culinary Manager at the Bruschetteria Food Truck for Clif Family Wines in St. Helena, CA, shows us how he makes this watermelon “melonchelada.” Get the recipe for this Melonchelada Cocktail here!

Chef de Cuisine and Culinary Manager at the Bruschetteria Food Truck for Clif Family Wines in St. Helena, CA, Magnus Young shows us how to make a watermelon stack cake. This stack cake filling gets its beautiful color and sweet flavor from watermelon molasses and watermelon butter, and is inspired by a classic Appalachian dessert. Some historians believe that stack cake was a 19th century Appalachian wedding tradition, where each guest brought a single cake layer to the ceremony, which would then be assembled and spread with apple butter. This cake features sweet, jammy watermelon butter in between the layers. Get the Watermelon Stack Cake recipe here.

Here’s an elevated version of a banana split. This Maple Pecan Ice Cream Sundae is made with Caramelized Bananas, Pecan Honey Tuile, Orange Cranberry Compote and Candied Pecans. This Pecan Delight Ice Cream Sundae brings together familiar and nostalgic flavors that your guests will love. This was one of the winning recipes created by Tkaiya Dryden, a student at The Culinary Institute of America during the New Mexico Pecan Student Innovation Challenge. Get the Pecan Delight Ice Cream Sundae recipe here!

Delight your guests with this delicious dish that’s perfect for fall: Pecan and Mascarpone Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce. The crisp and buttery New Mexico pecans, the creamy mascarpone, and the rich brown butter sage sauce create a dish that’s both indulgent and comforting. These ravioli are the taste of fall in one creamy, sweet, and savory bite: Pecan and Mascarpone Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce. This was one of the winning recipes created by Jayden Kemanian, a student at The Culinary Institute of America during the New Mexico Pecan Student Innovation Challenge. Get the Pecan and Mascarpone Ravioli recipe here! 

Wow your guests with this delicious vegetarian pasta dish: Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Pecan Ricotta, Roasted Brussels Sprout Leaves and Apple Fennel Salad. The combination of pillowy soft gnocchi, creamy pecan ricotta, and refreshingly crisp apple fennel salad, make this a winning menu option. This was one of the winning recipes created by Olivia Delisle, a student at The Culinary Institute of America during the New Mexico Pecan Student Innovation Challenge. Get the Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Pecan Ricotta recipe here!  

This beautiful dish brings the comforting flavors of fall to your guests: Acorn Squash Mousse Tart with Spicy Pecan Brittle and Candied Bacon. The crisp and nutty pecan brittle, the smoky bacon, and sweet creamy mousse work together to make a delicious combination. These tarts can be served as a nice fall appetizer, an amuse bouche, or even a light lunch accompanied by a salad. This was one of the winning recipes created by Nyah Marshall, a student at The Culinary Institute of America during the New Mexico Pecan Student Innovation Challenge.  Get the Acorn Squash Tart Recipe here!

These mouthwatering Chipotle Tofu-Crumble Tacos are quick and easy to make, and they’re packed full of healthy, plant-based protein. We’re using Nasoya Plant-Based Meat Crumbles in place of meat and topping it off with some fresh tomatillo salsa and pickled red onions for the ultimate plant-based taco night! These plant-powered tacos re-imagine tofu as an exciting new menu item in your kitchen. Get the recipe at: https://www.plantforwardkitchen.org/recipe/chipotle-tofu-crumble-tacos

This scrumptious Crispy Tofu Bites Sandwich is topped with Spicy BBQ Sauce and Southern Slaw for a delicious plant-based take on a cookout classic! We’re giving this sandwich a healthy twist by swapping traditional BBQ’d meat with Nasoya Crispy Tofu Bites, which are crunchy on the outside, and meaty and tender on the inside. Sweet, tangy and guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser! Get the recipe at: https://www.plantforwardkitchen.org/recipe/crispy-tofu-sandwich

Chef Mica Talmor of Mediterranean restaurant, Pomella, in Oakland, Calif., shows how she makes shawarma using American lamb loin. Chef Talmor says the key to shawarma is the marinade. The robust warm spices and vinegar help to tenderize the lamb and balance the flavor. Tender American lamb loin is perfect for this dish because it grills quickly on high heat. Serve the grilled lamb with hummus, shirazi, sumac onions, tahini, and amba– all wrapped inside of a fresh pita or a laffa wrap. This tantalizing combination of savory, smoky, aromatic spices, and tangy accents, makes an epic sandwich! This video was produced by The Culinary Institute of America as an industry service to the American Lamb Board. Get the Grilled American Lamb Shawarma recipe here!

Mrouzia is a sweet and spicy North African lamb stew that has graced tables for centuries. Chef Mica Talmor of Pomella restaurant in Oakland, Calif., shows us how to prepare Mrouzia with American lamb shank. Her version draws from tradition, but includes some modern updates. The combination of rich, tender lamb, aromatic spices, and sweet, roasted grapes makes this iconic dish a menu favorite. This video was produced by The Culinary Institute of America as an industry service to the American Lamb Board. Get the American Lamb Mrouzia recipe here!