I love this book! Love love love. I can say, with complete and utter honesty, that this book has never steared me wrong. To date, I have made many, many recipes from this book, and with each one, I am blown away with how the flavors and textures come together to make...magic!
There are so many highlights, I hardly know where to start: 1) the recipes are vegetable based (I know this seems like a given for a vegan cookbook, but many just replace eggs, meat, and dairy with soy); 2) the format of the book is smarty-pants! Recipes are collected in Menus, making planning a complete meal a no brainer; 3) because I am such a messy chef by nature, I love that the book tells me when to do what. Each meal comes together with minimal mess and fuss; and, 4) because so much backgroud and "education" is provided throughout the book, it is easy to know how to make substitutions for my hunny-bunny.
Case in point, last night I crafted a yummy "Chicken" Pot Pie, and was able to make it Grant friendly with just a few simple substitutions (namely, spelt for wheat. Bam!). Not only was this pot pie filled with delicious green beans and root veggies, but served with it was an orangey-cranberry sauce--making the whole dish taste like the Thanksgiving dinner I always wanted, but never came close to having. In addition to being soul-warming, comfort food, this pie was also a lovely excuse to make use of my most favourite pie dish from Emile Henry (a Christmas gift from my fabulous sister in law). If only I had an Emile Henry for every occasion!
In addition to this recipe, there are many others comprised of pure genious: African Groundnut Stew with Spicy Sauteed Spagetti Squash, Thai Vegetable Stew (a yummy green curry), Shepherd's Pie, Sweet and Hot Sesame Nori Strips, Butternut-lemongrass Soup, and Tempeh Bourguinonne with Mashed Potatoes and Parsnips (step aside Julia Child!). It is hard to believe that this book has been around since 2000. Even today, almost 10 years later, the Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfeld and George Minot is creative, adventurous, healthy, inspiring, and relevant. I suppose the only major change I have noticed in the last 5 years of personally owning the book, is the ease with which most of the ingredients are now available. Thanks Whole Foods. Can we look forward to a second edition some time soon?
1 comment:
I will definitely have to check this book out. I'm by no means Vegan.. but I've started cooking with tempeh and the Tempeh Bourguinonne with Mashed Potatoes and Parsnips and the Shepherd's pie sounds like a few dishes I would love to try.
Your pot pie looks amazing, btw. Nice job.
Post a Comment