Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 17, 1993 TAG: 9303170037
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOLORES KOSTELNI SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
VEG IN
THERE'S nothing dull in any of these vegetable cookbooks. All showcase tantalizing combinations of vegetables and complex carbohydrates with the unifying theme of healthful eating. They offer home cooks the potential for enlivening their family meals with a wider range of delectable and nutritious, freshly made vegetable dishes.\ "Yamuna's Table: Healthful Vegetarian Cuisine Inspired by the Flavors of India" by Yamuna Devi. (Dutton, $23, hardcover).
Culinary marriages work, and Devi proves it. In more than 200 inventive vegetarian recipes, fragrant Indian ingredients combine with everyday Western foods to produce simple yet elegant dishes. Every dish becomes a flavor journey where the ordinary becomes rejuvenated.
Devi's dishes are neither as oily nor as fiery as the reputation of Indian cuisine might lead us to expect. Soups, for example, are rich and creamy but made without butter and cream. Exciting seasoning blends and spritzes of a homemade vegetable or fruit-infused oil carry flavors.
A practical book in every respect, she explains how to do basic things, suggests alternatives for the few ingredients not locally available and offers balanced menu ideas.
Although this book has captured my fancy - and taste buds - I recommend it to those who delight in unusual and exotic combinations of foods. It's a groundbreaking book for innovative tasty eating, but clearly not for everyone.
\ "The Moosewood Cookbook, New Revised Edition" by Molly Katzen. (Ten Speed Press, $16.95, softcover).
This new version of the 15-year-old classic - which was actually the first vegetarian cookbook bible - provides the answers to the requests from the author's "constituency" for more healthful renditions of the dishes they had come to love. The nature of "Moosewood" has not changed, only the fat has been most cleverly trimmed, and 20 new recipes have been added.
Katzen is someone you'd want to cook with. She knows her foods and provides wonderful recipes for vegetables, grains and pasta, plus practical information, all in an engaging conversational style. Every page is hand lettered and enlivened with Katzen's cheery pen-and-ink drawings. Like the original, this is a remarkable book, and I recommend it to one and all.
\ "More Vegetables, Please. Delicious Vegetable Side Dishes for Everyday Meals" by Janet Fletcher. (Harlow & Ratner, $16.95, softcover).
Just the book many of us are looking for: 80 basic and uncomplicated recipes for 34 vegetables to serve along with whatever is for dinner. Fletcher knows her veggies, and her wholesome recipes will appeal to a wide range of tastes. This is a book for newlyweds, working parents and single people.
\ "A Vegetarians Ecstasy (ISBN: 0-9629698-0-5, $14.95) and "A Wellness of Being" (ISBN: 0-9628698-1-3, $16.95), both softcover, by Natalie Cederquist and James Levin M.D. Published by GLO Inc., San Diego.
Both of these new books invite us to enjoy gourmet vegetarian feasts of healthful no-cholesterol, no-dairy and low-fat dishes. They prove that it's possible to saute without butter and oil and still have food that tastes great. Instructions are provided on preparation and cooking techniques as well as for cleaning vegetables and fruits to rid them of suspected pesticides. Explanations abound, the authors tell all. Each book contains more than 250 recipes in large type and with some of the most magical drawings brightening every page.
Although I am not a vegetarian, the philosophy in these books has captivated my interest. I've gained a great deal of new knowledge about dietary fats and cholesterol, nutrition and food, aromatherapy and herbal steams.
\ "Potatoes: A World Class Vegetable" and "James McNair's Squash Cookbook" (both softcover by James McNair, Chronicle Books, $10.95 each).
James McNair, the master of the single subject, extends potato power for an eternity with his 12th book, "Potatoes: A World Class Vegetable." Its 96 pages are divided into a mere three chapters with each chapter devoted to a specific cooking method. Clearly outlined recipes for white and sweet potatoes are placed in the chapter that fits the technique.
\ "James McNair's Squash Cookbook" focuses on the entire family of squash with a multitude of unusual recipes. Divided into two seasonal sections - summer and winter - with a total of 35 recipes, the author describes in detail, each particular kind, what to look for and what to expect from it. Recipes cover the gamut of appetizers, casseroles, soups, breads, entrees and desserts. Each of the recipes in both of these books is complemented by the singular talent of Patricia Brabant's full-color photography.
Who among us can't use a few more potato and squash recipes? Because the instructions are detailed and practically foolproof, these books are great for everyone who enjoys cooking, from ages 13 and up.
Dolores Kostelni has extensive experience in the food industry, having worked as a restaurant consultant, manager and chef.