Customer Reviews

New Vegetarian: Bold and Beautiful Recipes for Every Occasion

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I own a number of vegetarian cookbooks, and although all of them are good, they tend to be in the "nuts and grains" variety of cooking. Which I love, but its nice to get a different perspective sometimes, which is why this book is great. It breaks from typical veggie cookbooks in two aspects, actually: types of recipes, and the look of the book. Its simply beautiful, actually. I enjoy flipping through it and looking at the recipes. And so far, although I'm no master cook, the dishes have turned out as well as the pictures.

One downfall, I think, is the focus on mostly Asian dishes (again, I love Asian food, but it would be nice to get a few more non-Asian recipes... maybe in the sequel), and the small number of recipes in the book. I guess you can't have both huge, pretty pictures and lots of text at the same time... oh well.

However, it covers all the basics of vegetarian cooking as well as suggesting some exciting ideas. Pick up the veggie cookbook staples, and then this will make a wonderful addition to your collection!

I 1st borrowed this from the Library and have tried to make at least one recipe from books I borrow. I am a newbe to Vegetarian food and found this book so addictive. After making some of the recipes from this book I am totally convinced that a great vegetarian meal can be 10x tastier and better for you than a meat one. I loved this book so much that I ended up buying it as I'm now constantly using it. Why is this the best vegetarian book I have ever read;
1. Usability, it is extremely easy to understand the recipes
2. The ingredients are common and easy to make and master
3. They taste delicious
4. They look fantastic when you serve
5. Best photography I've seen in a cookbook
6. Truly will WOW all your vegetarian and non vegetarian friends
Trust me, you'll love it. This is my 1st amazon review ever and I really love this book. 10/10.

I just got this book yesterday, which happened to be my parents' 33rd anniversary, and so I made them a gormet meal, which looked gorgeous, tasted good, and was veggie. I made the mushroom and chickpea salad (mmmmmmmmm) and the rasberry roulade, which was rather complicated, but had photos of each step. it was sweet and pretty. :-D the only drawbacks of this book come from its being a gormet cookbook. the recipies take a while to make (about 3 hours for those two dishes) and some ingredients are really hard to find (such as rosewater). but her instructions are excellent, and the food tastes wonderful. For simpler and faster vegitarian dishes, The Teen's Vegetarian Cookbook
by Judy Krizmanic is excellent. It also is very savory, but it is geared toward the college student, and therefore the recipies are a little simpler and more basic. well I hope that this helped, and GO VEGGIES! hehehe

~~Samantha R, MA, age 17

I received this cookbook as a gift, and at first thought, "I really don't need another cookbook!" My cookbook shelves were already overflowing, but after looking through this book, I decided I'd definitely find a place for it.

As with most vegetarian cookbooks, this one starts out with the basics about grains, protein sources, etc., with the added twist of discussing the actual nutrients we all need in our diets (iron, b vitamins, etc. and what they're good for). This section is only two pages, though, but there is general advice on what foods supply which nutrients. There are beautiful photos throughout this section, as well as accompanying each recipe in the book.

The next few pages cover the basic vegetarian pantry (with nothing more obscure than kosher salt and truffle oil) and basic recipes like veggie stock and basic tomato sauce. There's also a page on kitchen equipment.

The actual recipes are roughly grouped by meal type. Recipe chapters are: Breakfast; Soups & Salads; Appetizers & Snacks; Dips, Salsa, & Sauces; Entrees; Vegetables on the Side; Vegetarian Grills; Party Food; and Sweet Things. Some of the recipes are pretty basic (pancakes, anyone?), but in those cases there are usually variations suggested (like cottage cheese pancakes). More involved recipes have two-page "how-to" instructions with nice pictures and clear step-by-step directions. This approach makes recipes like Japanese Omelets (cut to look like sushi!) and (polenta-stuffed) Piedmontese Peppers incredibly approachable even for the faint of heart.

I was most surprised, though, that I found several new recipes to try. With my full shelf of vegetarian cookbooks, I expected to flip through this one and put it away forever. Not so -- from the Thyme and Mushroom Gravy (for a vegetarain Bangers and Mash!) to the aforementioned Peppers, there are several inspiring ideas in this book.

Most biggest complaint is that the book is much too short, especially for the price (so only four stars). Each section only has a handful of recipes, just enough to whet the appetite. but I definitely hope to see more from this author in future.

I have a cookbook habit. That said, there aren't that many that I end up using over and over again. I end up buying cookbooks, reading, the, but walking away overwhelmed by the sheer number of recipes.

This is not one of those books. There is a nice selection of recipes, but there are just a few recipes per category, so it's not daunting or overwhelming. And as someone who cooks a lot, you can tell by reading the recipes that they're cook.

Here are my top 5:
1. Lentil, coconut, and wilted spinach soup -- You will make the again and again and get raves for it every time you serve it. Double the recipe though, because it doesn't make a large quantity, and you're going to want more.
2. Roasted teriyaki tofu steaks with glazed green vegetables -- Not sure what the other reviewer meant by it being too salty. I did use a high quality light soy sauce though.
3. Haloumi fajitas -- This recipe introduced me to haloumi, and I've never turned back. We use it all the time now for tacos or fajitas.
4. Torta di Risotto -- I make this all the time. If I don't have zucchini, then I layer in other veggie goodness -- eggplant and mushrooms also work great.
5. Carrot and olive oil cake -- To die for. I left out the cardamon and nuts, because I didn't have any. And, I opted not to frost it. Still amazing. I think the other reviewer missed that the recipe calls for a 9" springform instead of a cake pan.

I'm not an vegetarian. I just try to eat less meat.
I rate this book very high, possibly over Debrah Madison books, for the beautiful photos, and simple instructions. She sometimes mixes ingredients that you never imagined together, yet they come out very delicious with complex and delicate flavor. I have made 7 or 8 recipes out of this book, and never been disappointed.
Again, you don't have to be vegetarian to enjoy this book.

I'm not a vegetarian, but came across this cookbook and the pictures looked so wonderful. The ingredients are easily found, most of which you may have on hand already. The dishes are very flavorful, easy to prepare, and beautifully crafted. I highly recommend this book to vegetarians and carnivores alike!

Here are the recipes I've tried from this book:

-Blueberry muffins: Very good.
-Gazpacho: Mediocre at best.
-Tuscan Panzanella: Absofreakinglutely delicious!!
-Foccaccia: Very good.
-Quesadillas: They came out all right, but the instructions were not good. I ended up making up my own techniques for flipping the quesadilla, and the cooking times were all wrong! My first one almost burned.
-Teriyaki Tofu with Glazed Green Vegetables: Now this was just awful. WAAAYY too salty, and the cooking times were too long, so some of the veggies came out limp. And they were all too salty. You couldn't taste the vegetables at all--only soy sauce, and the tofu was the same way--salty and bland. Yech!!
-Piedmontese Peppers w/ Polenta: Fabulous.
-Feta-Stuffed Peppers: Fabulous. My mom is constantly begging me to make this for her.
-Carrot Cake: This is a very poorly written recipe. It makes way too much batter for one cake pan. Beware! If you poor a single batch of this batter into a 9-in cake pan, as instructed, you will end up with burning goo all over your oven, and you'll most likely have to throw out the cake, which happened to me. Complete disaster.

So, basically, there *are* some good recipes here, but there are some awful ones among them as well. My other complaint is that many of these recipes are very "heavy"--by which I mean high in fat, and many of them use refined/heavily processed grains. This is by no means a "healthy" cookbook or a "low-fat" cookbook or even a "light" cookbook, although there are some (very few) recipes that would fit those categories. The tamale recipe is so high-fat that I'm not even going to attempt it. Brown relies very heavily on dairy products and eggs, so this is not suitable for vegans, the lactose intolerant or dairy allergic, or people trying to avoid saturated fats. But if you're o.k. with dairy, then I guess that's not a problem.

I cannot very heartily recommend this book to you. I suggest one of the Moosewood cookbooks instead. Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites is very good, or if you are unconcerned about fat, you can choose one of the others to suit your needs. Also, Farmer John's Cookbook (The Real Dirt on Vegetables) is really good.

This book caught my eye at a gourmet cook shop. The illustrations are as luscious as the recipes. While there are many "new" vegetarian cookbooks, few measure up to the description as this one does.