Esalen Cookbook [Hardcover]

Charlie Cascio (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2006

The world-renowned Esalen Institute, located on the sacred cliffs above the ocean in Big Sur, California, is a place of peace and beauty, a place where people can contemplate, think, and discover. At the heart of Esalen is its kitchen, where food is made daily from the organic farm on its grounds. Recipes from Moroccan Lamb Stew to Pecan-Encrusted Chicken and Sponges of Love Pancakes to Chocolate Chunk Cookies delight newcomers to Esalen and veterans alike. Many years in the making, Esalen Cookbook is finally here, and features dozens of delicious recipes that emphasize healthy, fresh, and organic ingredients, and food made to satisfy the soul as well as the stomach. Also included are tips on how to make vegetarian versions of these recipes as well. It's a taste of the utopia of Esalen in your very own kitchen, with recipes such as Artichoke, Yam, and Blue Cheese Scones; Leek-and-Onion Tart; Greek Quiche; Esalen Granola; Sweet-and-Spicy Breakfast Polenta; Orange Essence Raisin Bread; Quinoa and Veggie Soufflé; Grandma's German Goulash; and more!

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Esalen Cookbook

By Charlie Cassio

The world-renowned Esalen Institute, located on the cliffs above the ocean in Big Sur, California, is a place of peace and beauty, a place where people can contemplate, think, and discover. At the heart of Esalen is its kitchen, where food is made daily from the organic farm on its grounds.

The Esalen Cookbook was many years in the making and has finally arrived! Filled with beautiful photographs, this cookbook features dozens of delicious recipes that emphasize healthy, fresh, and organic ingredients-food made to satisfy the soul as well as the stomach. It also includes cooking tips, instructions on making many of the recipes into vegetarian versions, and even some of the history and lore of Esalen itself.

Beautifully designed pages with easy-to-follow instructions offer recipes that will delight newcomers to Esalen and veterans alike. In these pages, you'll find such as favorites as Artichoke, Yam and Blue Cheese Scones, Moroccan Lamb Stew, Pecan-Encrusted Chicken, Orange Essence Raisin Bread, Sponges of Love Pancakes, Esalen Granola, and Grandma's German Goulash.

It's a taste of the utopia of Esalen in your very own kitchen!

From the Back Cover

Welcome to the cooking of Esalen, where healthy, organic, and naturally grown ingredients take center stage in recipes that will satisfy the soul as well as the body. The recipes are easy to make, taste excellent, and look great. Many of them include simple, high-protein vegetarian and vegan versions as well. So get ready to experience the Esalen Cookbook. The perfect recipe awaits you.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith; 1 edition (September 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586858521
• ISBN-13: 978-1586858520
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #369,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Needs an editor....bad, April 7, 2007

By 

A. Russo (Topanga, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Esalen Cookbook (Hardcover)

Although, I do like this cookbook and I'm glad that I purchased it, it has errors in the recipes. For example, in the quinoa vegetable souffle, it calls for 1 1/2 TBS. of sea salt!!! I ruined the dish the first time I made it. This sucks because I spent like 90 minutes making it and money for the ingredients. So the next time I made it, I used 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt and it was perfect. And there is a dressing recipe (spiral salad dressing) that claims to be the most requested dressing recipe at Esalen. It calls for an entire raw red onion minced, along with various vinegars, etc. to yield 2 cups of dressing. I have a hard time believing anyone would enjoy this much raw onion!! I used 1/8 of the onion and it is still too onion-y. It actually makes me nauseous just thinking about it. Also, many of the recipes are incomplete, leaving the cook to fiqure it out on their own (Milan Style Lasangna: it says to drain cooked ingredients in a colander, then to add canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, etc. and mix). All it needed to include was to transfer drained ingredients to a bowl before mixing in other ingredients. I know most of this is common sense, but to an amatuer cook just reading instructions, one can waste precious ingredients and time. I believe that some things got lost in translating the quantities that Esalen cooks it's food to the quantities for the cookbook. I say, just watch out for quantity and use your own judgement. If is sounds like too much, start little and then add more later. So far, these are the only examples of errors I have experienced. Every other recipe I have made has been fine.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Did the recipes get tested?, September 28, 2009

By 

Allison Jaqua "SBCook" (Santa Barbara, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Esalen Cookbook (Hardcover)

I am an avid gourmet vegetarian cook and was so excited to find this cookbook. Unfortunately the first recipe I tried, and spent over an hour making, was just a total loss. I make souffle's successfully often and this one had the quinoa amount off, and obviously the salt (2 1/2 tablespoons!) as well. It's apparent that in translating the recipes from serving 25+ to 4 there were some errors. The souffle turned out to be a quinoa casserole with none of the egg white or yolk even apparent in the dish, this was obvious before it went into the oven. The recipe almost twice the amount to fill the 6" souffle dish that the recipe calls for. This was the first clue that something was wrong with the quantities. It makes me realize that not all of the recipes were tested once the quantities were altered for the book. I'm afraid to make anything else.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Directions are bad, January 4, 2008

By 

C. Dupureur (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Esalen Cookbook (Hardcover)

I got this cookbook for Christmas, and was looking forward to making the Greek quiche. I have never made a quiche before, followed the directions, and it was a disaster. The directions were hard to follow. They say use half of this and half of that, but it's not clear which mixture they are talking about, and some halves never get mentioned again.... I ended up with ingredients I did not use, and the quiche was so watery I had to toss it. If you don't have enough experience to read between the lines and adjust proportions, I do not recommend this book.