The weather is slowly changing (right?) and so I pulled this off the shelf, my favorite cookbook, The New Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas because I always like to cook newish things that sort of reflect the seasonal change. That sounds so noncommittal, but so is our weather. My mother-in-law gave this book to me 10 years ago, when it was a hard back with a completely different and much better cover. Anna also wrote the Vegetarian Epicure in the 1970s. Don't confuse that one with this one. The old one is wonderful and so 1970s vegetarian--very dairy heavy. It's dated now, but in a great way-the cover art is awesome.
Being a vegetarian, I am used feeling left out of most cook books (except for the desserts) or having to fend off the abundance of tofu and meat substitutes that are in a lot of vegetarian cook books, which is exactly why I usually steer clear of them. When I got this book, Pete and I had just graduated college and moved to Seattle and I was so anxious to set up a kitchen that didn't remind me of college food (mac and cheese from the box and ramen) and this book made a huge impact on me.
I still use this book so much and I have adapted so many recipes from it that I often forget they came from here originally. Like when you quote a movie so long you forget where that phrase even came from? This book doesn't have a ton of recipes--it's not huge. And it's tastes are really specific; with some Italian, Lebanese, Polish, Asian, Indian, French, Jewish, and Mexican all rolled into one.(Not all in the same dish.) No lightweight flavors here, it's got gusto. I think the only thing it doesn't cover is down-home-style American, which is fine because I have so many books that cover that type of food anyway-except this book does have THE apple crisp (which mailorder borrows heavily from, with some minor tweaks)
I love cooking. And I really love cookbooks. I'm the type that reads them in bed. I have a whole ton of them and try not to buy more, but I usually do buy about 2 a year. But this one, it's hardly even a cookbook to me. It's more like "my cooking book." I think this book is what taught me how to eat. Not with a bunch of text talking about slow food and all that (that's all good and well, but really, I just want the recipes). And what is so cool is I rediscovered the bit in the middle about feeding kids. So many years went by when I ignored that part completely, because I didn't have any- and now I read every word. Anna also has a newsletter and a new free recipe every month here.
here's the Easter Brunch Menu, which I want to make this year:
-spinach, green garlic and mushroom pie
-beet salad
-onion and thyme flan
-roasted asparagus
-Easter baba
-gypsy mazurek
I love hearing about people's favorite cookbooks, the whys and history-do you have any? If you blog about it let me know and I will add the link here. And check the comments! great suggestions!!
-lazy jane
-plum street
-wise craft
-creative kismet
-touch the spindle
And yes, angry chicken has a new look. And, no, I wasn't looking right at the new denyse schmidt fabrics when I drew this, but I do see the obvious similarity. . .and I need to re-organize more-my categories are out of control, and I will add a new, much shorter, but monthly rotating blog-roll, cause there's too much good stuff out there!
