Cafe Flora Cookbook (Hardcover)

by Catherine Geier (Author), Carol Brown (Author)
Key Phrases: rotating the pizza halfway, ocean cakes, pizza peel with cornmeal, Cafe Flora, Mushroom Essence, Pico de Gallo Salsa (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Seattle's popular vegetarian restaurant shares its recipes with fans of meatless cooking. What sets this book apart from so many other vegetarian cookbooks is its attempt to take this branch of cookery beyond the usual melange of steamed and stewed greens into more decidedly haute cuisine. Portobello Wellington lacks the beef and foie gras of the parent dish, but its accompanying sophisticated Madeira sauce marks it as more complex than just mushroom-stuffed pastry. For a stunning brunch dish, Geier turns a quesadilla inside out, coating the potato and cheese-stuffed tortilla with a layer of scrambled eggs. Goan curry uses chickpeas and a welter of freshly toasted spices and homemade vindaloo paste to achieve its effect. A welter of pizza recipes shows how adaptable basic pizza can be to a host of different interpretations, some savory, others sweet. Many recipes, specially marked, satisfy vegan requirements; but dairy products and eggs abound throughout most dishes. Meat substitutes such as seitan appear only rarely. Oddly enough, there are no dessert recipes. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description
For more than a decade, Seattle's award-winning Cafe Flora has been serving up ingenious vegetarian and vegan dishes which have become so popular that even meat lovers long for the taste of their Portobello Wellington or Oaxaca Tacos. Now, from brunch dishes to appetizers and main courses to sides, salads, and condiments, here are 250 of its original recipes-with detailed instructions, clearly presented, to save time cooking and cleaning up. Along with serving and presentation suggestions, substitutions where appropriate, and a host of other culinary tips and advice, Cafe Flora Cookbook embodies the true genius of this inventive restaurant.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: HP Trade; illustrated edition edition (October 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557884714
• ISBN-13: 978-1557884718
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #115,059 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indescribably Delicious!, December 5, 2005

By	R. Hanson "rhanson739" (New Bern, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wonder: what am I doing writing a review for a cookbook? I rarely write Amazon reviews and the few reviews I have written are related to a completely different genre of book. Plus, I've only recently taken a renewed interest in being in the kitchen - I don't suppose that makes me an "expert" by any stretch of the imagination.

But I wanted to share my opinion of this book with other readers. It's fantastic and the recipes are delicious.

Never before have I enjoyed a cookbook so much. Reading through the table of contents was enough to get my palate fired up. At the time of this writing, I've created over a dozen of the recipes in this book, and each one is a sure winner, not one is a reject. I might have tried more recipes by now, but the temptation to go back to a dish I've already tried is just too great. (We've done the Coconut Tofu with Sweet Chili Dipping sauce four times, now.)

How about a really wonderful Portobello Wellington with Madeira Sauce? Now THAT was a Thanksgiving dinner! Yam and Mushroom Enchiladas with Smoky Tomato Sauce? Spinach, Mushroom, and Gorgonzola in Puff Pastry with Red Pepper Coulis? Despite what I - a carnivore - have always thought, vegetarian cooking can be great. That's a claim I've never been able to make regarding any other vegetarian or vegan cookbook.

The book is extremely well laid out with timing suggestions, "prepare ahead" ideas, and handy tips for getting through the process without any unexpected surprises. Each recipe is preceded by a good description that makes you want to try it immediately. If a recipe has multiple components, each is presented as a logical and timed subsection of the overall plate.

I only wish I knew about this restaurant when I visited Seattle last year. Next time... next time.

Five Stars for the book that got me back into the kitchen after a long hiatus. Feel free to contact me with any questions, but I'll be busy cooking up the next Flora meal.

~R~

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspired Vegetarian Gourmet, October 3, 2007

By	J. Daugherty (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Chiming in to agree that this is terrific modern, gourmet food. Well flavored but not fussy. Everything I've made so far has come out perfectly. I've learned new flavor combinations that work well together, and I feel like I can put that information to use when I cook other things.

There are plenty of vegan choices, and these recipes are all marked in the table of contents. There are no dessert recipes. Sections are starters, soups, salads, dinners/suppers, pizza, sandwiches, brunch, beverages, side dishes, sauces/spreads. They list sources for some ingredients (like arame, miso or fenugreek) and often give you an easier to locate alternative.

For recipes that require a number of steps, they've been extremely organized about breaking it down into manageable sections. There are number of fairly involved recipes mixed in with easier things like pizzas (their herb pizza dough is spot on), but the results of the more time consuming recipes are well worth it. Besides, I have enough of those "veg. meals in minutes" type books for quickie meals. Cafe Flora is something else altogether - elegant and original vegetarian recipes that have broadened my cooking horizons.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, an entire book of Cafe Flora recipes!!!, March 8, 2007

By	Gayle Schmidt (Ft. Myers, Florida USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For almost 15 years, the most popular dish I've served to friends and taken to potlucks has been one cut from a magazine and attributed to Cafe Flora. Knowing this dish appealed to both vegetarians and non, I would periodically check to see if there was an entire Cafe Flora cookbook "out there". Then, just before a spate of seasonal visitors were scheduled to descend, I googled up what is now my most used and reliable partner in terms of taste, nutrition and dependable results. I ended up amazoning another one to a vegetarian family member who, like me, is always trying to bridge the tastebuds of meateaters and veggers. And, the recipes are FUN to make.