The Bold Vegetarian Chef: Adventures in Flavor with Soy, Beans, Vegetables, and Grains [Paperback]

Ken Charney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

Discover the secrets of lively vegetarian cuisine

Think vegetarian cooking is bland? Not any more! Now you can create outrageous appetizers, adventurous soups, exciting entrees, and daring desserts that will have everyone clamoring for seconds. The Bold Vegetarian Chef offers more than 200 dazzling recipes that bring out the best in all of the fresh natural ingredients you crave. You'll learn the secrets behind such irresistible delights as:
* Savory scrambles, burgers, and sandwiches
* Tasty tofu and tempeh
* Comfort carbos-pasta, polenta, and risotto
* bold and beautiful beans
* The wonderful wheat meat: seitan
* Crisp salads and a slew of side dishes
* Delectable, dreamy desserts


You'll also discover a wealth of tips, techniques, and ideas that will inspire your own vegetarian creations-bursting with flavor and flair. All you need is a little help from The Bold Vegetarian Chef.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Want to put verve in your veggies, snap in your soy, and bounce in your beans? With The Bold Vegetarian Chef to guide you, you’ll never have to prepare a bland or boring vegetarian meal again. Bold and innovative chef Ken Charney lets you in on all of the spicy secrets that you can use to create rich and exciting vegetarian flavors that will satisfy even the most adventurous palate.

From beautifully simple but luscious combinations like Lentil-Scallion Fritters with Feta Cheese to the more complex range of flavors found in Broiled Polenta with Chipotle-Mushroom Ragout and other tempting dishes, you’ll discover new textures, tastes, and presentations that will bring new excitement to your kitchen–and your table.

Chef Charney provides more than 200 easy-to-follow recipes, explains the place and purpose of each dish, and shows you how to combine dishes in new and surprising ways. He shares foolproof preparation techniques that bring out the full flavor of every ingredient. He also provides valuable shopping pointers to help you select the best possible ingredients, whether you’re looking for local produce or exotic items from around the globe.

Complete with an extra-long chapter on soy, the most versatile of all food products, The Bold Vegetarian Chef also offers inventive approaches to less familiar ingredients, such as tempeh and seitan. Beyond the book’s stunningly stylish recipes, you’ll also learn principles and techniques that will inspire you to create your own bold vegetarian masterpieces.

Delight yourself and everyone you cook for with bountiful breakfasts, lively lunches, and sumptuous suppers–all meat-free and proud of it! The Bold Vegetarian Chef blazes a tasty trail into a brave new world where every meal you make can be audacious, fresh, and deliciously different. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

Discover the secrets of lively vegetarian cuisine

Think vegetarian cooking is bland? Not any more! Now you can create outrageous appetizers, adventurous soups, exciting entrees, and daring desserts that will have everyone clamoring for seconds. The Bold Vegetarian Chef offers more than 200 dazzling recipes that bring out the best in all of the fresh natural ingredients you crave. You’ll learn the secrets behind such irresistible delights as:

• Savory scrambles and sandwiches
• Aromatic burgers, fritters, and loaves
• Tasty tofu and tempeh
• Comfort carbos–pasta, polenta, and risotto
• The wonderful wheat meat: seitan
• Crispy salads and side dishes
• Delectable, dreamy desserts

You’ll also discover a wealth of tips, techniques, and ideas that will inspire your own vegetarian creations–bursting with flavor and flair. All you need is a little help from The Bold Vegetarian Chef.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 314 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471448265
• ISBN-13: 978-0471448266
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,375,071 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank goodness!, August 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bold Vegetarian Chef: Adventures in Flavor with Soy, Beans, Vegetables, and Grains (Hardcover)

The recipes in this book are so easy to follow. And they're not your run-of-the-mill boring vege recipes either. This book offers a creative array of ideas and the writing couldn't be any easier to follow. The ingredients are easy to find and I couldn't be happier.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delivers on the title's promise, June 21, 2007

By 

Born To Cook (Warrenville, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bold Vegetarian Chef: Adventures in Flavor with Soy, Beans, Vegetables, and Grains (Paperback)

I bought this book because my vegetarian daughter's tastes have evolved beyond the usual fare offered by cookbooks for vegetarian kids or teens. Now she wants her dinner to be something worth salivating over during soccer practice. This book delivers on its promise: the recipes use readily available ingredients in innovative ways and combinations that result in memorable dishes with a ton of flavor.

Yes, we already have a dozen recipes for really nice lentil soup, so why buy this book? I mean--think hard, now--when was the last time you were truly surpised by a bowl of lentil soup? Mr Charney gives you recipes for lentil soups unusual enough to make you raise your eyebrows before you start licking the bowl. Yes, we already have a serviceable recipe for vegetarian shepherd's pie, but Mr Charney's shepherd pie puts those other pretenders to shame. Yes, we already have a teriyaki tofu recipe, but Mr Charney's teriyaki tofu is so good you'll want to raid the fridge for it at 3 AM. And so on and so on, right through the sandwiches, burgers, pastas, side dishes, salads...

The recipes do not require weird ingredients (I can get everything at my regular market or at Whole Foods), no fussy techniques, no equipment you can only get at the cooking specialty store. There are plenty of recipes that give you a great dish in 30 minutes or less, but there are also some recipes for those long, dark, bone-chilling January days when you want to spend an hour or so in a steamy and tantalizingly fragrant kitchen. The book is intuitively organized and has a good index.

When it's time to start the holiday gift shopping, I will be getting this book for all the vegetarians and parents of vegetarians on my list.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How bold it is!, August 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bold Vegetarian Chef: Adventures in Flavor with Soy, Beans, Vegetables, and Grains (Paperback)

The recipes in this book are authentically appealing and full of flavor. Vegetarian food has never looked so delicious and flavorful. The food, filled with spicy, fusion flavors, is sure to tickle the palate of any vegetarian. Keeping the true vegetarian in focus, I was offered clear instructions and creative ways of cooking with soy, tempeh, and seitan.