Vegetarian Classics: 300 Essential Recipes for Every Course and Every Meal

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Although it's true that vegetarianism passed through an unfortunate period when it was best known for dishes like soybean, brown rice, and sunflower seed casseroles, Jeanne Lemlin's Vegetarian Classics offers fresh, flavorful, healthy, meatless wonders like Roasted Red Pepper Hummus; Romaine with Apples, Walnuts, and Blue Cheese; and Classic Vegetable Pot Pie. Lemlin's vegetarian dishes will appeal to everyone. Even if you're a meat eater, Lemlin reminds us, you still need side dishes and starters, and sometimes even a vegetarian meal.

Lemlin's recipes are simple and easy to follow, and very few require any advance preparation. A glossary covers the more unusual ingredients she uses, but there's nothing more outrageous here than tomatillos, couscous, and wasabi. A family-friendly collection, Lemlin includes favorites such as Classic Currant Scones, Portobello Mushroom Sandwiches with Lemon Garlic Mayonnaise, and Baked Macaroni and Smoked Cheese, but she'll also spice up your repertoire with dishes such as Crunchy Thai Noodle Salad, Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk, and Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
We vegetarians are known for daring. We improvise on culinary tradition; we riff on the spice rack. But despite our taste for wild variations, some dishes remain standard in every vegetarian repertoire. ￯﾿ﾽI enjoy alternating more adventurous menus with tried-and-true favorites that have withstood the test of time,￯﾿ﾽ explains award-winning cookbook author Jeanne Lemlin. ￯﾿ﾽA meatless lasagna bolstered by a garlicky marinara sauce, a thick and hearty lentil soup, vegetarian enchiladas that stick to your ribs, and a vegetable pot pie￯﾿ﾽhave become staples in vegetarian kitchens.￯﾿ﾽ In this book, Lemlin collects for us the greatest hits of vegetarian cooking -- all those solid, satisfying dishes we return to when we￯﾿ﾽre ready for homey comfort.

Here, we find all the classics of meatless cuisine: Classic Vegetarian Lasagna, Classic Tabbouli, Classic Lentil Soup, Shepherd￯﾿ﾽs Pie, and so on. But we also find the more unusual delicacies that will become standards: Indonesian Style Curried Vegetable Soup with Coconut Milk; Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas; Carmelized Onion, Walnut, and Goat Cheese Pizza with a Beer Crust; and Gorgonzola Polenta Topped with Braised Green Beans. Lemlin, author of Simple Vegetarian Pleasures and the award-winning Quick Vegetarian Pleasures, is perhaps the foremost authority on accessible, healthy vegetarian cooking -- so this hefty book of favorites should be in every vegetarian library. But it￯﾿ﾽs also an excellent introduction for those just beginning to explore vegetarian cooking: Lemlin￯﾿ﾽs Vegetarian Classics gives us the finest of the basics. (Jesse Gale)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Award-winning author Jeanne Lemlin includes only the best versions and variations of great vegetarian dishes in a cookbook that is sure to become a well-worn kitchen staple. With a bounty of simple recipes, Lemlin offers suggestions for every course and every meal, including pizzas and calzones, pastas, casseroles, gratins, and lasagnes, sandwiches, quick breads, breakfast, brunch, main-course salads, side salads, soups and stews, special holiday food, and of course, desserts, as well as a chapter on suggested menus. You can turn to this reliable book night after night, confident of success. In Lemlin's trademark style, each dish is easy and packed with flavor.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In this ideal starter book, Lemlin (Vegetarian Pleasures; Simple Vegetarian Pleasures) presents the comfort foods that have sustained the vegetarian movement for the past 40 years. She introduces the new vegetarian to staples like bulgur, wheat berries and rice in a helpful guide to ingredients, along with a few standard recipes such as Classic Tabbouli, Classic Cold Noodles with Peanut Sauce and Classic Lentil Soup. Yet Lemlin isn't puritanical; eschewing the heavy lentil and sunflower-seed loafs of yesteryear, she encourages cooking that is "more in keeping with our need for pleasure." Thus, she includes Tortellini with Spinach, Garlic and Smoked Cheese but not, say, Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Tofu and Tomato Sauce. Still, there's little here to satisfy the gourmand: some dishes are bland (Chickpea Soup with Garlic Crostini), all of the tart dishes call for frozen puff pastry and bread crumbs appear in otherwise respectable recipes (Crustless Yellow Squash, Red Pepper and Spinach Pie and Greens, Potato and Feta Cheese Pie). However, the dessert chapter, with Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread and Lemon Almond Cake, will satisfy even the most discerning sweet tooth. Too many vegetarian cookbook writers forget the joys of white flour, but not Lemlin: homey recipes like Ginger Cream Scones, Best-Ever Doughnuts and even a popover recipe make this a must-have for beginning bakers and vegetarians alike. Agent, Susan Lescher. (May) Forecast: With vegetarian cooking more popular than ever, this introduction to the easy basics should find readers. But given that similar cookbooks already exist, it's unlikely to become canonical. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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