Chef and owner of Dirt Candy, Amanda Cohen operates one of the most innovative vegetarian restaurants in the United States, which has artfully reimagined the potential of vegetables and plant-based cooking to amaze and delight. A leader in the vegetable-forward movement, her restaurant is the first vegetarian restaurant to receive two stars by The New York Times, and she is the first vegetarian chef to compete on Iron Chef America. She is also the author of the first vegetarian comic book/cookbook Dirt Candy.

Amanda Cohen is the chef and owner of Dirt Candy, her award-winning vegetable restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The first vegetarian restaurant in 17 years to receive two stars from The New York Times, it has been recognized by the Michelin Guide seven years in a row, and won awards from Gourmet Magazine, the Village Voice, and many others. She was the first vegetarian chef to compete on Iron Chef America, and her award-winning comic book cookbook Dirt Candy: A Cookbook is the first graphic novel cookbook to be published in North America; it is now in its seventh printing.

Spinach Soup with Smoked Corn Dumplings and Lemon Confit

120 minutes cook/prep

Spinach Soup
6 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
½ cup (150 g) diced yellow onion
1 ½ tbsps minced garlic
1 ½ tbsps minced ginger
½ tbsp grated lime peel
½ tbsp seeded and diced jalapeno
¼ cup (60 g) peeled and diced potato
3 cups (7.1 dl) basic stock
4 cups (900 g) tightly packed spinach leaves
1 cup (225 g) roughly chopped cilantro
1 ½ cup (340 g) roughly chopped parsley
Salt to taste

Smoked Corn Dumplings
3 cups (525 g) smoked corn kernels
3 tbsps finely diced jicama
1 ½ tsps finely chopped green onion
1 ½ tsps finely chopped mint
¼ tsp salt
2 tsps potato starch
¾ tsp rice wine vinegar
¼ tsp sesame oil
1 package of store bought eggless wonton wrappers

Lemon Confit
2 lemons, zested
3 tbsps lemon juice
3 tbsps sugar

Spinach Soup with Smoked Corn Dumplings and Lemon Confit

Spinach Soup

Place a pot on medium heat, add olive oil and onions, then add garlic, ginger, lime peel and jalapeno, and cook until very soft (about 6 minutes).

Add potatoes and stir once or twice. Add the stock, bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are soft (about 3 minutes).

Remove from heat and let cool (15 minutes in an ice bath), then blend.

Refrigerate this mixture, which makes up the soup base, until cold. It will keep for about 3 days in the fridge.

Put cold soup base in blender. Add spinach, parsley and cilantro and blend until very smooth. Push through a chinois to remove chunks.

Heat the soup over medium heat. Up until now, it had had a dark muddy color, but now it should turn bright green. Add salt to taste and serve immediately.
Smoked Corn Dumplings

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl (except for the wrappers) until they are well mixed.

Lay the wrappers on your work surface and punch out the center with a round 2-inch (approx. 5 cm) cookie cutter. The round shape is easier to fold.

Place a heaping tsp of filling in the middle of the wrapper, wet the edges of the wrapper with water and fold into half-moon.

Pinch the ends of the dumpling together. Place the filled dumplings on a plate and cover with a damp cloth to keep from drying out.

Bring a deep pot of very lightly salted water to a boil. Drop the dumplings into the pot in batches, and let it boil for 2 - 3 minutes. The dumplings will float to the surface when they’re done, but there are a million variables that could keep them from doing that, so let them boil for 2 minutes before scooping them out with a slotted spoon.
Lemon Confit

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a pot over high heat. Add the lemon zest, let it return to a boil and keep boiling for 3 minutes. Remove and strain.

Repeat Step 1 with fresh water two more times (three boils in total). This makes the zest less bitter.

Bring lemon juice and sugar to a boil over low heat in a very small pot, and cook until the sugar is totally dissolved.

Add the zest. It should be covered by the liquid. If it's not covered, add water to cover.

Turn heat to low and cook zest until it’s almost translucent and lemon juice is thick and syrupy (about 20 minutes).

Her approach
I cook vegetables because no one else is doing it. There are plenty of vegetarian and vegan restaurants out there, and there are lots of places that cook vegetables for political or ethical reasons, but I can’t think of anywhere that cooks vegetables simply because they’re fun. Vegetables excite me. There are no rules, there are few traditions, and playing with them allows me to try anything I want. I’m constantly experimenting because there are so few experiments that have been done. Who knew that the most umami-rich broth you can make is roasted cucumber broth? Or that onion and chocolate are an amazing flavor combination? Or that Eggplants Foster is delicious?: What are your best tips to make vegetables appealing?
Blanch and shock vegetables to keep them colorful, use a mandolin to get beautiful even slices, and when you’re roasting vegetables, go extremely low and slow. Cook them longer than you think you should to let their sugars really caramelize and their flavors develop.: What 3 plant-based foods could you not be without in your kitchen?
Onions, garlic, and parsley. The first two are the foundations of almost any dish, and chopped parsley is the ultimate finishing touch. It is to vegetables what salt is to meat.