• DKennedy on October 07, 2017

  Bought this book based on rave reviews of her first book, Community, which is priced very high here in the states. This book has a US release as well so more affordable.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Four ways to use leftover salad: go kuku

  • e_ballad on December 29, 2016

    Granted, this was a means of using up excess quinoa/corn/tomato salad, so I didn't go in with very high expectations. This took a good deal longer than the cooking time specified, which led to the egg being rubbery around the outside in order for the middle to set. I would also season more generously if I did it again, though I suspect that I will revisit the principle of this dish using another frittata recipe, rather than returning to this particular recipe.

• Roasted golden beets with lentils, soft herbs and lemon-saffron yogurt

  • sosayi on November 08, 2017

    Both the initial meal and the subsequent leftovers were delicious, and the flavor got even better over time. While I did enjoy it, there were a few changes I made: 1) beluga lentils in place of brown; 2) extra lemon juice; 3) extra vinegar. I've regularly found that I need to add more acid to Hetty's recipes, so I'm not surprised. I probably doubled the quantities of both, if not more. For my soft herbs, I used cilantro, mint, dill and parsley. I'd also note that the saffron got mostly lost in this dish. I might switch it for turmeric (if I wanted to keep the color) or just add much more than a pinch. Lastly, the picture in the book looks nothing like what I ended up with. Partly, that's due to my darker lentils, but she also shows the beets as wedges, not 1/3-in squares which she instructs you to cut them into, with a far smaller proportion of lentils and more yogurt. I think I'd roast whole beets (and then peel and slice) in the future, and perhaps assemble a layered salad instead.

  • Lepa on February 28, 2018

    I wasn't crazy about this. If I had read @sosayi's note, I might have made adjustments and ended up with a dish I liked better. I used brown lentils and the dish tasted a bit too muddy. I kept adding lemon but never got a good, balanced taste. I used dill and cilantro for the herbs. I diced the beets, following the recipe, and the finished product was very unattractive.

• Chipotle black beans with collard greens, avocado and chipotle-lime vinaigrette

  • Lepa on April 17, 2018

    I like raw collard greens and this salad is pretty good. It was pretty involved, though, and in the end I'm not sure I want to put that much work into making it again. The other collard salad from this book was easier to make and probably better.

• Brussels sprout Caesar with croutons, borlotti beans and sunflower seeds

  • Lepa on August 16, 2017

    This salad was shockingly good. The dressing was especially dreamy. The seeds added a lovely crunch. The croutons were delicious. Everybody in my family loved this- especially my seven year old!

  • sosayi on June 07, 2018

    Really great salad. I loved the addition of the beans (I used braised cassoulet beans from Rancho Gordo), red onion, and sunflower seeds to a caesar. The dressing was creamy and unctuous, but I made a few small changes to it to adjust to my preference: instead of adding salt to season, I added anchovies; instead of adding water to blend and make it pourable, I added more lemon juice; and I also increased the quantities of garlic. I think I prefer things more acidic than this author, as I've had to add more with each salad of hers I've made. I also blended the dressing instead of just mashing and mixing with a fork. Regardless, this was great! Even with romaine (I had soooo much from my CSA) in place of brussels sprouts. I think you could use anything sturdier green here, really.

  • sosayi on November 27, 2018

    Made again for Thanksgiving 2018, this time with brussels sprouts. And it was again great! Leftovers hold really well for a few days, even keeping their bite, if you just keep the croutons out on top.

  • prkrgrant on February 18, 2026

    Really great salad. Added a bit of le juice to the dressing but otherwise made as is and it was great.

• Sugar snap peas with radish and spelt grains

  • sosayi on June 23, 2018

    Great early summer salad! We substituted farro (had on hand) for the spelt grains, but otherwise made as instructed. I slightly tweaked the dressing amounts due to personal preference (slightly more lemon juice), but overall good balance. I made this ahead, and while it held up reasonably well and tastes perfectly fine for lunches, I'd cut the peas and radishes slightly thicker next time so that they keep their crunch a bit better (mine were paper thin). Served with hot smoked salmon for dinner, which went perfectly with the flavors.

  • Jane on June 29, 2019

    I got some freshly picked sugar snap peas and radishes from the farm stand and this recipe made a lovely lunch. I used farro rather than spelt. I liked the light ginger/lemon/sesame dressing.

• Cumin-spiced cauliflower with fried lentils and spinach yogurt

  • Lepa on July 30, 2017

    This dish was outstanding. It is easily the best thing I have made in the last couple of months. The combination of lentils with the rich spinach yogurt was amazing. My kids also loved it and ate it without complaint (after a skeptical first bite).

  • DKennedy on October 28, 2017

    Made this as one of a trio of salads I will be serving tonight for the first course of our community progressive dinner. It calls for 2 heads of cauliflower. I 1/2d the recipe and now I wish I had doubled it. The roasted cauliflower is delicious straight out of the roasting pan. So is the fried lentil component. Note that I added coriander to both components which I think was a good tweek. This is make again fantastic. Note that the amount of sauce (even 1/2d) is way too much. Note to self: cut the sauce recipes in this book by 1/2 every time.

• Caponata with pearl couscous and almonds

  • Melanie on November 25, 2016

    Tasty. Makes a huge amount though and my partner wasn't a fan. Would make again as part of a mixed buffet as the flavour became overwhelming.

  • amystar on January 22, 2022

    love this. adding pearl couscous and harissa to caponata is genius. great recipe to make when you have a vegan guest amongst meat eating people. you can serve this with crusty bread to the vegan and the meat eating friends can have it as a side dish. makes enough to feed ten armies. for an everyday meal i halve the recipe and my husband and i still eat this for a few days as a side dish. in the past, i’ve omitted almonds or harissa because i didn’t have them and it’s still delicious. the only faff is the amount of chopping and frying, but all is forgiven because it’s yummy. meat loving hubby says “it’s just ok, not a big fan” but he eats it like a starved animal every time i serve it.

• Winter panzanella with roasted tomatoes, fennel, kale and caramelized balsamic

  • prkrgrant on February 26, 2026

    Another winner, solid recipe overall

• Roasted cauliflower with farro, pine nuts, mint and agrodolce

  • sosayi on July 26, 2017

    Another stellar salad from Hetty McKinnon. I made a few substitutions (based on ingredients I had to hand), but don't think they substantially affected the dish: subbed leftover red rice for the farro, used parsley in place of basil, and grilled the cauliflower instead of roasting. Great balance of sweet and sour, with lots of freshness from the large quantities of herbs. Served with grilled lamb burgers with tzatziki.

  • Lepa on October 25, 2017

    The whole family enjoyed this; my young son was a huge fan. It looks like a large list of ingredients but it comes together easily. I didn't have juniper berries so I added a teaspoon of gin to the sauce while it was cooking.

• Sumac-roasted cauliflower with spiced freekeh and pomegranate

  • SesJB on July 24, 2023

    Delicious, I made with pearl barley and halved the amount of barley + stock. Nice for winter while cauliflower is in season.

• Chargrilled Brussels sprouts and kale with crushed borlotti beans and za'atar

  • sosayi on May 02, 2018

    Dinner last night on the grill; another great vegetarian grilled option. We grilled both the brussels and the kale, along with some homemade pita as an accompaniment. The beans (cranberry), I cooked in the pressure cooker while grilling and half-mashed instead of doing a full mash. I ended up needing to add more vinegar (again with Hetty) than called for, probably closer to 3 T not 3 t. The layers of beans, then kale and brussels, then oil-cured olives and za'atar really worked well together. It was a bit dry, so maybe a dollop of yogurt on top next time? Flavors were great, though, so maybe not.

• Israeli chopped salad with tomatoes, cucumber, radish and feta

  • sosayi on October 24, 2017

    Simple chopped vegetable salad with loads of flavor from the herbs and lemon. Would definitely have been better in peak tomato season, but still good. Served with Beet and Chickpea cakes in a brown rice bowl with tahini yogurt sauce and harissa. Nice combination. Would also be good with some pita and simple grilled meat with those accompaniments, I think.

• Eggplant with haloumi, beet tzatziki and yogurt flatbreads

  • Melanie on November 25, 2016

    Delicious beetroot tzatziki - used precooked beetroot to help simplify prep. Great flsvour, a real party dish. Served with store bought flatbreads and pan fried haloumi, keen to try the full dish though.

  • e_ballad on December 19, 2016

    Loved the tzatziki & the flatbreads, while the rest was a little ho-hum. Whilst I recognise that there is quite a lot of flavour packed in, the large quantity of eggplant needed something extra to make this special - I'm thinking sumac or a spice blend.

• Moghrabieh with black lentils and sugar snap peas

  • sosayi on July 24, 2017

    Delicious salad! Only adjustments: I upped the quantities of both olive oil and lemon juice (it was a little dry); I used Israeli couscous in place of the moghrabieh; and I added the zest from the lemon and some feta I needed to use up. Request was made for this to become a "house salad" always available in the refrigerator.

• Lentils, leeks, rice and caramelized onions with lemon-tomato okra

  • mzgourmand on April 16, 2025

    This recipe looked SO good and I really wanted it to taste as delicious as it looked and to live up to all the much vaunted Hetty McKinnon food magic I keep reading about. It sadly did not sparkle, though it was fine. Followed it exactly as written, and although the recipe is not hard, it is time-consuming. I am trying all the new-ish vegetarian - or plant-centric - cookbooks that are coming out in boatloads, but so far people aren't living up to the legacies of Deborah Madison, Anna Thomas, or Molly Kazen, or any of the amazing vegetable or grain recipes by Madhur Jaffrey, Ken Hom, Marcella Hazan, Claudia Roden, and Paula Wolfert. Study up people!

• Roasted beets with quinoa, shallots and orange miso

  • e_ballad on November 15, 2016

    Liked this salad, but not superkeen on the dressing. It held up really well for lunch at work the following day though.

• Basil-lemon scented millet with roasted broccoli

  • e_ballad on June 28, 2017

    Another Hetty hit. A whole heap of flavour & incredibly easy to pull together.

  • Lepa on August 16, 2017

    This is very good. My kid were skeptical but after trying a bite, wolfed it down (sans arugula). Warning, this recipe, like all the recipes in this book, makes a huge amount of food. I stored the millet separately from the arugula and it seems like it will work well as a leftover. In college I often made couscous with pesto and chickpeas and this salad reminded me of this dish. I might add some chickpeas to this salad next time to add more protein.