With the New Year so close, I thought I would dig into my new cookbook collection and give a sample of a few of them, especially if you are new to veganism.
As you must know, one of my absolute favorite authors is Bryanna Clark Grogan. No surprise, I am sure that she is a favorite among many of you as well, being such a pioneer in vegan cooking as far as I am concerned. She was one of the first ones who made vegan delicious for me and introduced me to many techniques to make vegan successful.
A few of my first books were:
Simply Heavenly by George Burke - yes, I still own my one copy that I was lucky enough to buy before it went out of print again. Simply Heavenly was my first successful introduction to seitan.
New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook by Hagler and Bates, with their simple and rustic recipes. It is a perfect segue into veganism.
Then came Bryanna, and I knew for the first time that year that our family was going to be okay.
Since then, Robin Robertson, Tami Noyes and Isa Chandra are among my super stars of cooking. You really can't go wrong with any of them.
New Year, New You, and no excuses.
My first cookbook in my international week line-up is Bryanna's new one - World Vegan Feast. The first thing I noticed about this book is that she has ingeniously included some (most?) of the recipes from her Vegan Feast Newsletter. Love it!
I made the first international (aren't they all that, though??) recipe that jumped out at me, Peruvian Stew with Pepper and Walnut Sauce, mainly because it uses aji pepper paste. I have 25 pounds of dried aji peppers and love using them simply anyway it is remotely appropriate.
This dish was delicious and unusual! It makes a lot of sauce and I advise you to double the potatoes in the recipe. We still have some of the sauce left over - which isn't a problem if you can make more potatoes right away, however, at the dinner table, it is not so optimal. Trust me, make extra.
The sauce is beautifully thickened, flavorful with walnuts and parm cheese (recipe is in the book). This is poured over Crispy Tofu and boiled potatoes. I roasted my potatoes, but that is totally optional and more than likely not at all authentic.
This and 197 other recipes await you.
That looks so good!
ReplyDeleteEmail me if you want the recipe. We're tight.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post to inspire non vegans to make the jump and to give them a point to start from.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Tender B.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone has any newbie questions or such stuff, feel free to ask!
I feel like people don't talk enough about World Vegan Feast. So far, I haven't had any failure and I've discovered keepers like the Boursin, the Brown Yeast Gravy and the Uganda Stew.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reviewing the Peruvian stew. It looks delish with all those potatoes.
Now that you mention it, Babette, you're right - the buzz is very low on this book. Maybe because we just expect her to be on top of things. Having it brought to my attention, though, I'll have to make more dishes and posts using this book. I love Bryanna and just took it for granted that everyone else did as well!
ReplyDeleteAfter purchasing a lot of cookbooks in 2011, my thought was that 2012 should be spent actually using said books rather than accumulating more...
ReplyDeleteWell, that did not last, as I have to get my hands on Simply Heavenly.
So glad that you brought that book into the light.
Awesome book, simple recipes and methods, lots of cool ideas, and for me, and eye opening quote from The Book of Genesis.
This month I am going to endeavor to make at least 4 recipes from WVF.
Thanks for the reminder. :)