Included are 35 Years of recipes (over 350) and reflections from the landmark vegetarian
restaurant.
restaurant.
Welcome to Claire's
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Book Description
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From the Back Cover
For some thirty-five years, the legendary Claire’s Corner Copia has been much more than a restaurant to its customers; it’s been a home away from home. A New Haven, Connecticut, institution since its founding in 1975, Claire’s has consistently won recognition for its vegetarian and vegan cuisine, leading to a national reputation and following.
Within these pages ebullient owner-chef Claire Criscuolo shares more than 350 of her beloved recipes—from Spicy Thai Sunflower Noodles to Quinoa-and-Pecan-Stuffed Acorn Squash to her signature Lithuanian Coffee Cake. Spiced with photos, stories, and remembrances, it’s the next best thing to being there yourself.
About the Author
Claire Criscuolo cofounded Claire’s Corner Copia, a New Haven, Connecticut, landmark vegetarian restaurant, in 1975 with her husband, Frank Criscuolo. A certified culinary professional, Claire is also a registered nurse and the author of three cookbooks, including Claire’s Corner Copia Cookbook, Claire’s Italian Feast, and Claire’s Classic American Vegetarian Cooking. She has been featured in Vegetarian Life, Vegetarian Times and Bon Appetit, as well as the Food Network and numerous other TV and radio stations across America. Visit her at clairescornercopia.com.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Gigi
Format:Paperback
As a new Vegetarian I needed to do some research regarding balancing a vegetarian diet. I selected four books one of which was Welcome to Claire's. I have always enjoyed cooking and I like to use the freshest ingredients that I can find. Welcome to Claire's is my new bible! I have prepared something new for lunch and dinner everyday for two weeks now. The recipes are delicious and the book is full of information. I would highly recommend it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
When I was a law student at Yale in the late 80s, great vegetarian food in New Haven was hard to come by. Then, I discovered Claire's Cornercopia. Claire's was (and remains) my favorite vegetarian restaurant, and I've had many runners up. I was thrilled to obtain Claire's first cookbook, but was ultimately disappointed. It contained recipes for only a small number of the foods served at Claire's, was visually unappealing, and made most recipes more complicated than needed.
Claire's new book, 35 Years of Recipes & Reflections is good enough that I forgive Claire the disappointment I experienced as a result of her first cookbook. The book is visually attractive, with useful photos well correlated to the recipes. The recipes are presented in an easy-to-follow format suitable for the experienced or novice cook, but never complicate things that are truly simple.
While some may dislike Claire's peppering her book with anecdotes and adorations of her recently deceased husband, I did not. I found them fun and insightful, as if I'd been let in on a secret that held the key to a successful dish.
Lastly, I appreciate the variety of the recipes Claire chose to include in this book. The book is well balanced, focusing more on the foods that make up one's main diet, yet giving coverage to the indulgences (desserts, etc...) as well.
Claire's new book, 35 Years of Recipes & Reflections is good enough that I forgive Claire the disappointment I experienced as a result of her first cookbook. The book is visually attractive, with useful photos well correlated to the recipes. The recipes are presented in an easy-to-follow format suitable for the experienced or novice cook, but never complicate things that are truly simple.
While some may dislike Claire's peppering her book with anecdotes and adorations of her recently deceased husband, I did not. I found them fun and insightful, as if I'd been let in on a secret that held the key to a successful dish.
Lastly, I appreciate the variety of the recipes Claire chose to include in this book. The book is well balanced, focusing more on the foods that make up one's main diet, yet giving coverage to the indulgences (desserts, etc...) as well.
Format:Paperback
I'm probably going to be in the minority of reviewers of this cookbook in that I have never been to Claire's. I picked it up because I love vegetarian and vegan cookbooks and I've often found some of my favorite recipes in cookbooks put out by vegetarian restaurants. Unfortunately reading this book it became pretty clear to me that I was not the intended audience. While I expected it would be targeted at fans of the restaurant I also expected it to have more crossover appeal to general vegetarian and vegan cooks than it actually does.
I could see this being very appealing to a fans of the restaurant. From reading the headnotes a lot of menu favorites seem to be included and there are also ample pictures of the restaurant, customers, dessert case, etc. Unfortunately all of these pictures come at the expense of actually showing photos of the finished recipes. Even though we get quite a few photos related to the restaurant as well as photos of raw ingredients there are very few pictures of the recipes in the book. For me as someone who has never been to the restaurant this was disappointing because I'm a visual cook and beautiful food photography often influences what I choose to make.
As far as the actual recipes go, they are generally relatively uncomplicated and easy to prepare. There's also a good range of recipes from some that can be easily made in 20-30 minutes to others that require slightly lengthier prep time. But overall, they don't require exhaustive cooking knowledge. The culinary influences tend more toward Mexican and Italian influence so if you like these kind of recipes, you'll probably enjoy this book. A lot of them are for the classics like marinara sauce, minestrone, hummus, etc. Personally, I was less interested in these kind of recipes since I already have quite a few cookbooks many of which already cover these kinds of recipes amply. But thankfully there were also some more creative recipes in the book like a peach puree and ricotta bruschetta, blueberry and ricotta cookies, quesadilla with caramelized onions, quince preserves and cheddar with horseradish, and Cincinnati Chili (a chili with a mole sauce). While the cookbook is not exclusively vegan or gluten free there are also designations of which recipes are vegan and gluten free or have vegan or gluten free substitutions/options. These designations are also included in the index making it an easy book to navigate if you're cooking with either of these considerations in mind. The other thing to know from an ingredient standpoint is that there is an ample use of vegan/vegetarian meat substitutes like soy bacon, soy chicken, soy sausage, etc. in the book. I personally don't have a problem with cooking with these ingredients but having written and read many reviews of vegan and vegetarian cookbooks I know there are a lot of people who seek to avoid these kinds of products so it seemed worth calling out. I personally would have preferred if the author also included recipes to make your own if you have the time. Elsewhere I've gotten great recipes for homemade chickpea cutlets, homemade vegan sausages, and homemade seitan. The one area where I found myself a little disappointed was in the veggie burger recipes since again meat substitutes were called for in the burger recipes since my favorite veggie burgers are recipes that are 100% made from scratch.
Overall I think this is a cookbook that fans of the restaurant are sure to love, but I question how much appeal it holds for those who have never been. I did find some interesting recipes in the book as mentioned above but didn't find the recipes to be quite as creative or unique as those I have found in books like How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food, Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook, The Grit Cookbook: World-Wise, Down-Home Recipes, Great Chefs Cook Vegan (pb), ExtraVeganZa: Original Recipes from Phoenix Organic Farm, or Eat, Drink & Be Vegan: Everyday Vegan Recipes Worth Celebrating. If you're in the market for a vegetarian or vegan cookbook and haven't tried those yet I would recommend them first. Though I wouldn't necessarily consider this a must buy it is worth checking out from the library for some of the more unique recipes.
I could see this being very appealing to a fans of the restaurant. From reading the headnotes a lot of menu favorites seem to be included and there are also ample pictures of the restaurant, customers, dessert case, etc. Unfortunately all of these pictures come at the expense of actually showing photos of the finished recipes. Even though we get quite a few photos related to the restaurant as well as photos of raw ingredients there are very few pictures of the recipes in the book. For me as someone who has never been to the restaurant this was disappointing because I'm a visual cook and beautiful food photography often influences what I choose to make.
As far as the actual recipes go, they are generally relatively uncomplicated and easy to prepare. There's also a good range of recipes from some that can be easily made in 20-30 minutes to others that require slightly lengthier prep time. But overall, they don't require exhaustive cooking knowledge. The culinary influences tend more toward Mexican and Italian influence so if you like these kind of recipes, you'll probably enjoy this book. A lot of them are for the classics like marinara sauce, minestrone, hummus, etc. Personally, I was less interested in these kind of recipes since I already have quite a few cookbooks many of which already cover these kinds of recipes amply. But thankfully there were also some more creative recipes in the book like a peach puree and ricotta bruschetta, blueberry and ricotta cookies, quesadilla with caramelized onions, quince preserves and cheddar with horseradish, and Cincinnati Chili (a chili with a mole sauce). While the cookbook is not exclusively vegan or gluten free there are also designations of which recipes are vegan and gluten free or have vegan or gluten free substitutions/options. These designations are also included in the index making it an easy book to navigate if you're cooking with either of these considerations in mind. The other thing to know from an ingredient standpoint is that there is an ample use of vegan/vegetarian meat substitutes like soy bacon, soy chicken, soy sausage, etc. in the book. I personally don't have a problem with cooking with these ingredients but having written and read many reviews of vegan and vegetarian cookbooks I know there are a lot of people who seek to avoid these kinds of products so it seemed worth calling out. I personally would have preferred if the author also included recipes to make your own if you have the time. Elsewhere I've gotten great recipes for homemade chickpea cutlets, homemade vegan sausages, and homemade seitan. The one area where I found myself a little disappointed was in the veggie burger recipes since again meat substitutes were called for in the burger recipes since my favorite veggie burgers are recipes that are 100% made from scratch.
Overall I think this is a cookbook that fans of the restaurant are sure to love, but I question how much appeal it holds for those who have never been. I did find some interesting recipes in the book as mentioned above but didn't find the recipes to be quite as creative or unique as those I have found in books like How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food, Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook, The Grit Cookbook: World-Wise, Down-Home Recipes, Great Chefs Cook Vegan (pb), ExtraVeganZa: Original Recipes from Phoenix Organic Farm, or Eat, Drink & Be Vegan: Everyday Vegan Recipes Worth Celebrating. If you're in the market for a vegetarian or vegan cookbook and haven't tried those yet I would recommend them first. Though I wouldn't necessarily consider this a must buy it is worth checking out from the library for some of the more unique recipes.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great place to eat...great cookbook!
Whenever I go to New Haven, I HAVE to eat at Claire's. Best food! Cookbook will not disappoint! Easy to follow recipes!
Published 2 months ago by A. Redding
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kenneth
Good cookbook overall - like that gluten-free and vegan versions were provided as well. Have had several dishes and like them all.
Published 4 months ago by kenneth c long
5.0 out of 5 stars
Meat loving husband goes veggie for Claire's
My husband used to live in New Haven and asked for this book for his birthday. I made the coffee cake and gave it to him and he was over the moon excited. Read more
Published 6 months ago by AlyB
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Variety of Recipes with Vegan and GF Options
Welcome to Claire's is a great book for people who want fresh, easy vegetarian recipes. With years of experience in her namesake restaurant, Claire Criscuolo has an abundance of... Read more
Published 8 months ago by shelfishness
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great cookbook but not for kindle
I bought this about a month ago because I love Claire's in New Haven
I split my time the kitchens in two homes so I bought the kindle version. Read more
I split my time the kitchens in two homes so I bought the kindle version. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Marilyn Miller
4.0 out of 5 stars
Plenty of vegetables
Claire has many stories of her restaurant and her husband and plenty of dishes for those who want vegetarian recipes. The emphasis is on organic and sustainable foods. Read more
Published 12 months ago by wogan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Claire's cookbook
This book is beautifully presented. Very informative with delicious recipes using many wonderful ingredients. Who said vegetarian meals can't be delectable? Read more
Published 14 months ago by Foodie number one
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