I've been a vegetarian on and off since I was a teenager when I objected to eating rabbit. My father argued that if I wouldn't eat a cute, fluffy rabbit then I shouldn't eat chickens, lambs, cows and so on. So my family became vegetarian and I continued that way until my daughter was born 7 years ago. She was a picky eater (something I vowed I would never have but that is for another post) and meat was one thing she ate so we introduced meat into our diet.
Lately, now that my children are older, we have been going back to vegetarian food. I love going back to my favorite recipes and cookbooks. The Vegetarian Epicure I, II and the New Vegetarian Epicure have been well used in my house. Anna Thomas's recipes are generally straightforward and use few meat substitutes. They celebrate the flavors of food, especially fresh vegetables.
Her Carbonara from The Vegetarian Epicure II has been one of my husband's favorites for many years -- and it is simple enough to make on a busy weeknight -- it takes about as long to make as it does to boil the pot for the spaghetti. I have also made Eggplant Parmesan (and even made up a varient using tofu) from The Vegetarian Epicure I -- it takes a little longer but I can pull it together with a baked rice pilaf in under an hour. There are two many favorites from these cookbooks for me to list but her breads, both yeasted and quick, soups, curries, pastas, and through to the desserts are wonderful.
The New Vegetarian Epicure is arranged in menus by season. I have long loved her Caesar Salad and only recently discovered the Pistachio Cream Cheese pasta but have made the Ruby Chard & Goat Cheese pasta for years. These are books I dip into frequently, to find old friend or something I have overlooked.
The drawback with Thomas's recipes is they generally aren't very healthy in terms of fat and calories and her books contain only line drawings. Sometimes her instructions are sparse and leave you wondering what you should be doing. But they are favorites of mine and I will continue cooking from them for years to come. It is often easy to reduce the amount of butter or oil in a recipe or try a different cooking technique. Her invitation to enjoy food and not miss the meat at all is clear and make the books well worthwhile.
1 comment:
My daughter forgets that we also argued that chickens were too stupid to be included as full-fledged animals - so there were exceptions in our vegetarian period.
Anna Thomas does not make non-vegetarian exceptions, but she does have some very, very good Indian and Spanish recipes as well as the ones already mentioned. Her newest book, Love Soups has a pretty bad title, but more wonderful recipes (not all of them for soup). I ought to know, since my daughter gave it to me for my birthday!
Her Dad.
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