The Real Food Daily Cookbook: Really Fresh, Really Good, Really Vegetarian [Paperback]

Ann Gentry (Author), Anthony Head (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

With three bustling restaurants located throughout the Los Angeles area, Real Food Daily boasts a loyal clientele of ravenous vegetarian diners and health-conscious celebrities, trendsetting young hipsters and members of Southern California's culinary community at large. After 10 successful years as a cherished destination for lovers of delicious and naturally wholesome cuisine, this eclectic hot spot continues to thrive under the stewardship of its pioneering founder, Ann Gentry, who raises the standards and expectations of nutritious, meat-free cooking through her unique brand of California cuisine. In THE REAL FOOD DAILY COOKBOOK, you'll find recipes for 150 of the restaurants' most popular dishes, such as Lentil-Walnut P?¢t?©; Country-Style Miso Soup; Tuscan Bean Salad with Herb Vinaigrette; Southern-Style Skillet Cornbread; Tofu Quiche with Leeks and Asparagus; Acorn Squash Stuffed with Sweet Rice, Currants, and Vegetables; and Coconut Cream Pie with Chocolate Sauce. After years of getting floods of recipe requests from her loyal customers, Ann is delivering in full force, not only to her patient fans, but to everyone who yearns for delicious, healthful, real food in their daily lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Gentry opened her first vegan restaurant, Real Food Daily (RFD) in Santa Monica, Calif., in 1993, naysayers said a meat-free, dairy-free restaurant with a focus on organic produce would never make it. But Gentry knew she could serve "real food"—satisfying, nutritious and delicious cuisine—without animal products. Three RFD restaurants later, she presents this cookbook, a reflection of what she has learned about seasonal, organic, macrobiotic and vegan cooking. Gentry doesn't break new ground—sandwiches made with tempeh instead of meat, and nut cheeses like cashew cheddar will be familiar to most vegans—but she provides clear and comprehensive directions on how to make them more interesting and flavorful. For example, she adds tofu ricotta cheese to her Reuben sandwich and enhances Lentil-Walnut Pâté with fresh basil and thyme. Gentry explains the basics without preaching or condescending to readers, and discusses nutritional benefits without unnecessary jargon. Beginning cooks and those new to veganism will find much to enjoy here. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

This vegan cookbook springs from Gentry's experiences at her Southern California restaurant chain. Gentry has attracted a host of followers to her vegan lifestyle by cooking with carefully chosen and imaginatively seasoned fresh, organic ingredients. In making pasta salad, Gentry uses spelt pasta rather than the customary wheat version. With this salad's julienned peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, olives, and toasted pine nuts in balsamic vinaigrette, one needs no extraneous meat. Soymilk substitutes in many recipes for cow's milk, and tofu cheese makes up for the absence of dairy cheese. She transforms hackneyed green bean-canned mushroom soup casserole by steeping fresh green beans in vegan mushroom gravy and topping them with homemade fried onion rings. Tempeh substitutes for meat where necessary. Since many devoted vegans avoid refined sugar, desserts call for maple syrup and swap in vegetable oils for butter. Gentry advocates using only seasonally available fresh ingredients, preferring not to prepare any dish that calls for an item not immediately locally available. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580086187
• ISBN-13: 978-1580086189
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #95 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Natural Foods

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Vegan cookbook. The BEST that I have found so far., June 13, 2006

By 

Amalfi Coast Girl (Mid-Atlantic, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Real Food Daily Cookbook: Really Fresh, Really Good, Really Vegetarian (Paperback)

A passionate home cook that has been honing her cooking skills for the last 25 years, concentrating on Italian cooking for the last 10 years, writes this review. My favorite cookbooks are "The Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute and "Culinary Artistry". With more than 500 cookbooks in my collection I am usually disappointed in my recent cookbook acquisitions. As a very recent convert to the vegan lifestyle (94 days) I have been feverously adding books to my vegan cookbook collection. This book is the best addition to my vegan cookbook collection so far.

I love the fact that the author does not rely heavily on white sugar and wheat flour to make vegan substitutes for old favorites. I did see a few recipes with white flour, but they are definitely in the minority.

The recipe section is subdivided as follows:
Starters and small plates
Salsas, sauces and gravies
Soups
Salads and dressings
Breads and spreads
Sandwiches
Side dishes
Daily spring entrees
Daily summer entrees
Daily autumn entrees
Daily winter entrees
RFD meal
Desserts

The directions provided for the recipes are very clearly written and easy to follow. I also like the beautiful photographs of many of the finished dishes.

As a recent vegan, the food that I miss the most has to be cheese. I was thrilled to see a number of cheese recipes included in this book. The author provides recipes for cashew and tofu cheddar as well as tofu ricotta.

The Bolivian samosa recipe that does not have a pastry outer wrapper fascinates me. This recipe is more a filled potato gnocchi, but is still good. This concept opens up a lot of possibilities for additional fillings. I also appreciate that it is baked, and not fried like a traditional Indian samosa.

Having recipes for pecan pie and chocolate chip cookies makes a vegan lifestyle much more palatable. Also, I will be trying both the carrot cake and cheesecake for the next celebratory occasion.

I have one minor criticism of the book. Locating some of the more unusual ingredients is easy in a major metropolitan area, however in more rural settings this could prove to be a problem. It would have been nice if the author had provided substitutes for some of these items. Some of the more unusual ingredients that the book relies on are as follows: Agar, Kombu, Nutritional Yeast, and Umeboshi. If you don't live near a Whole Foods, or Wegman's I would confirm that you have a source for these products before picking up this book. I would suggest trying Amazon's gourmet food area. I have found some very unusual food items there.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to serve healthy meals to their family, be it everyday or just occasionally.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Non vegetarian meat eater and cave man review, November 21, 2005

By 

Stelle Smith (Ocean, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Real Food Daily Cookbook: Really Fresh, Really Good, Really Vegetarian (Paperback)

Ok, I am NOT a vegan, nor a vegetarian, nor macrobiotic. I dont particularly like vegetables. In traveling to LA, I had the good fortune to eat at ann gentry's restaurant in santa monica, real food daily, where this cookbook was on sale... Never, have I eaten food that literally ten minutes after eating do I feel stronger, healthier or invigorated. Based upon the great food at the restaurant, I purchased the cookbook, simply to make my dish from the menu, soba noodle surprise. At home, the effect was the same as the restaurant, so, I made a few more dishes. I am hooked! EVERY dish in this book is flavorful, rich, visually appealing and DELICIOUS. I have not gone wrong with ANY recipe. Ms. Gentry is a true master of this interesting cuisine. This book can be used by vegetarians and non vegetarians alike. I made the acorn squash with savory brown rice stuffing and golden gravy and brought it to a dinner party for 8. by the end of dinner, they all went online and bought this book. For my mom's garden club meeting, I made udon noodles with thai rice croquettes... again, by the fruition of the evening, I sold ten more copies of the book. Per week, I prepare at least 50% of my meals now from this one cook book. AMAZING - Stelle

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can hardly wait to see the looks on my guest's faces!, December 19, 2005

By 

Melanie Wilson "mongoliamel" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Real Food Daily Cookbook: Really Fresh, Really Good, Really Vegetarian (Paperback)

You know a vegetarian restaurant is good when celebrity sightings are a regular occurrence. Real Food Daily has seen the likes of famous veggies such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Tobey Maguire, and Moby, just to mention a few. Located in Southern California, owner Ann Gentry steered away from the "granola" image of health food and created instead two hip, sophisticated and very successful restaurants, one in West Hollywood and the other in Santa Monica.

Comfort is the key word to this food. This beautiful cookbook with magazine styled food pics, is a joy to thumb through. I am one of those people who likes to see what the finished product will look like, so this is a bonus for me. I also love to read cookbooks, so I appreciate when they have good introductions. This one meets all my requirements.

The book opens with Gentry's story, a Real Food Daily Profile, and information on eating organically and with the seasons. There's also a useful Guide to Real Food, which tells you step by step how create a fabulous atmosphere and an unforgettable meal and lists all the tools you'll need to do it. Then, if you don't have much experience cooking with whole foods, there's a section on preparing grains, legumes, soy foods and more. Wouldn't you like to know the "top twenty real foods to always have in your kitchen"? I can't list them all here, but the list includes maple syrup, quinoa, and root vegetables just to give you an idea of the variety (and peak your curiosity, of course).

Finally, the recipes. Oh, the recipes. I started with guacamole. I figured if they could make it special, then they'd have me hooked. The intro boasts that their guac is "so rich and sinful tasting that people never believe we make it without sour cream." First, I was horrified to think that I'd unknowingly eaten sour cream with my last Mexican meal, then my interest was piqued. Honestly, this is the best guacamole recipe I've ever made, and I've made many a bowl in my time.

There are raw recipes sprinkled throughout the book, and I loved how the entrees were divided into four sections corresponding to the seasons. Real Food Daily is closed every Thanksgiving, but they provide a long list of loyal customers a complete ready-made Thanksgiving take-out meal, and yes, the recipes are included here. We were traveling this past Thanksgiving and didn't celebrate it for the first time in my life, so these dishes will grace my Christmas dinner table, and
I can hardly wait to see the looks on my guest's faces!

This beautiful book has become one of the most treasured in my collection, and it would make a great gift for that special someone - veg or not - on your list.--Melanie Wilson