• Eat Your Books

  1997 Gourmand World Cookbook Award Winner

• curtisca on October 15, 2010

  I made the Cauliflower Kukus and they were wonderful. Recommend!

• wester on April 16, 2010

  I've only made one recipe of this book yet since I got it yesterday, but I think it's my new favorite cookbook. It's a book about enhancing vegetables (instead of hiding them as so often happens). The recipes are original without being over the top, and I just want to make them all. It's vegetarian in a nondogmatic way, almost accidental. The recipes just happen to be all meatless, but that is because meat does not belong in them, not because it was left out. The details do matter in this cookbook, so I suggest not tampering too much with the recipes, especially the first time you make them. And you do need a well-stocked cupboard for this book.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Simplest tomato salad

  • wester on August 15, 2011

    As the book itself says: a minimalist recipe for enhancing tomatoes' natural brilliance. You do need very good tomatoes for this, but it does make them just that bit better, a fuller, "meatier", flavor.

• Green salad with blue cheese, walnuts and figs

  • oboistaalli on December 06, 2020

    Simple and elegant salad, perfect for summer when our homegrown figs are available.

• Onion-wilted spinach salad with cumin, avocado and apple

  • oboistaalli on March 05, 2021

    Delicious, easy, and quick salad. On its own, this salad makes a satisfying meal.

• Arugula salad with orange vinaigrette

  • wester on September 03, 2010

    Lovely salad, good balance of sweet, bitter and acidic, fragrant, with a nice hint of orange.

• Orange, beet, and fennel salad

  • wester on May 19, 2010

    A good variation on beetroot and orange salad. The fennel adds a nice crunch and a nice pale pink to go with the dark red of the beetroot and the deep orange-red of the orange. The taste of this salad is actually quite subtle but its color is not. Children will love the looks of this salad - dark pink on red on pale pink. Next time I will cut the beetroot much finer, possibly even julienne it. The beetroot is brilliant as a very present background in this salad, but it's not so brilliant to get a great big mouthful of just beetroot. I don't think this salad will suffer too much if you use precooked beetroot instead of roasting your own.

• Chickpea soup

  • Queezle_Sister on February 14, 2015

    This recipe's name also includes "with golden spices", and golden it is! An easy and delicious soup, perfect for a cool winter day. I prepared chickpeas in my pressure cooker (always better than canned), and it took about another hour to sautée onions, garlic, carrots, etc. The soup is spiced with cumin, mustard, cayenne, and a bit of saffron. This gave it a delightful golden color (hence the name). I did add the optional tahini, and the optional drizzle of sesame oil at serving. As with most soups, this was even better the next day.

• Tomatillo-chile soup

  • Waderu on September 11, 2010

    I used half poblano, half red bell pepper. I added some refried black beans to make it thicker and give it more protein

  • Waderu on October 09, 2010

    next time was just as great, used black beans instead of refried.

• Tortilla soup

  • oboistaalli on December 06, 2020

    Hands down the best Tortilla Soup we've ever had! I've made this many times. The corn-cilantro stock is AMAZING. I actually purée all of the veggies from the stock into the soup.

  • michalow on January 01, 2013

    This soup is flavorful and delicious. A few steps could be skipped to speed things up -- ie, peeling the tomatoes -- but do be sure to make the corn-cilantro stock!

• Black-eyed pea and squash soup

  • wester on December 05, 2010

    Good, different from other squash soups, just not brilliant.

• Tunisian tomato soup

  • Babsadon on October 25, 2017

    Made a broth with seaweed, wood ear mushrooms, celery, beet. Used fresh turmeric.

• Persian kidney beans

  • michalow on January 01, 2013

    A good balance of sweet/tart/spicy. Serve alongside some greens for a slightly bitter component.

• Dreamy white beans

  • jaelsne on July 28, 2014

    Very good white beans. Recipe is rather standard, but the suggested addition of balsamic vinegar and olive oil brought it to a new level. I made it with canned beans and it was quite good.

• Santa Fe stew

  • michalow on January 01, 2013

    This was a miss. Tasty ingredients that should have worked together, but did not blend well at all.

  • CHedges on October 22, 2016

    I love this recipe and make it frequently. It is no fat. You can make it hotter if you like.

• Tuscan bean and pasta stew

  • LemonVerbena on June 02, 2023

    This did not work for me. I kept having to add liquid and the flavor ended up being bland.

• Chickpea and sweet potato koftas

  • michalow on January 01, 2013

    Really nice. Mixture keeps well in the fridge for a few days, so you can fry up a couple of patties now, then a few more later. Can also form the patties and freeze before cooking.

• Coconut rice

  • wester on September 03, 2010

    This one smells great. Nicely complex, vaguely Asian. Would go well with Thai, or Indonesian, food, although the other flavors can be very simple, an omelet or some fish, and a salad. Make sure not to overdo the lime juice.

• Fantastic bulgur dish

  • wester on September 03, 2010

    Nice but a bit plain.

• Roasted tomatoes

  • Queezle_Sister on September 17, 2011

    page 98

• Moroccan roasted vegetable stew

  • eliza on June 02, 2023

    I liked the basic idea here but for me there was too much cumin. If I make again, I would reduce cumin, toast it briefly, and grind it.

• Green beans and tofu

  • eliza on September 13, 2015

    I liked this dish a lot. It is very filling, tasty, and easy to make. I did reduce the peanuts in it since it calls for quite a lot, so I reduced to 1 cup. I loved the hit of hot pepper flakes, and it would be good with sriracha for extra heat.

  • wester on September 21, 2013

    Simple, and a great combination of flavors and textures. I dried the tofu before cooking it, and I used quite a bit more than "a drizzle" of oil, so it would crisp up nicely. To make the recipe child-proof, I left out the red pepper flakes and served hot sauce with it for the adults.

• Bitter greens with sweet onions and tart cheese

  • wester on November 22, 2012

    Nice but nothing special.

• Sesame carrots

  • wester on April 15, 2010

    Hard to believe that such "ordinary" vegetables can combine to something as lovely as this. A wonderful balance of sweet and bitter, with a lot of depth and fragrance. The preparation isn't difficult in itself, but it does take some intricate timing - I had to take the cabbage off the heat for a while. I didn't have tahini so I used sesame seeds instead.

• Cauliflower in tomato curry

  • wester on September 03, 2010

    A simple, mild but tasty curry. Vegan. I would put a bit more spices in, but I like my spices outspoken. In my experience, the amount given will not serve more than 4 people, but maybe it will if you add some of the accompaniments given. The time needed to make this recipe is 40 to 45 minutes, not 30.

  • jaelsne on November 30, 2014

    I agree with another reviewer. The spicing was too mild for my taste. IT was a good weeknight meal.

• Sweet and potatoes and spinach

  • jaelsne on July 28, 2014

    This out-of-the-norm recipe was enjoyed by my family. Personally, I don't generally like sweet vegetables. The dish is sweet enough without the addition of chopped prunes. I think I'll try leaving them out next time. Addendum: I ended up tossing out leftovers from this meal. It was cloyingly sweet.

• Brussels sprouts in creamy mustard sauce

  • oboistaalli on February 08, 2022

    I needed a quick and easy Brussels sprouts recipe and this was exceptionally good.

• Fried green tomato pillows

  • bching on October 13, 2022

    https://www.molliekatzen.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipe=green_tomato_pillows online at Katzen's website.

• Cauliflower kukus (Persian omelette)

  • wester on July 26, 2010

    There is some promise to this recipe, but it's not been fulfilled yet - it was a bit bland this first time. Next time I will definitely brown the cauliflower a bit, and the breadcrumbs too. It was too much for my muffin cups - I used about two thirds of the amount and then they were full. With this smaller amount the baking time was shorter as well - at the first try at about 25 mins they were definitely cooked, a bit shorter might even be better.

• Frittata

  • wester on July 21, 2014

    OK, but not that special.

• Fusilli with sweet and hot peppers, white beans, lemon, and olives

  • Breadcrumbs on October 28, 2010

    This would be good w chx.

• Rice noodles with cashew-coconut sauce

  • leilx on February 07, 2020

    Delicious and very simple! Sauce keeps well also.

• Orange vinaigrette

  • wester on September 03, 2010

    Different and good, tart with just a hint of orange.

• Amaretto-peach crunch

  • judykays on September 08, 2013

    This recipe calls for a full stick of butter, which is way too much. Cut at least in half.

• Mexican chocolate cake with buttercream mocha

  • Couture911 on September 19, 2010

    Good, but not worth the effort to make again.

• Homemade butterscotch pudding

  • oboistaalli on February 08, 2022

    This is a very simple recipe of milk, light brown butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cornstarch. Very tasty—not too sweet comfort food.

• Filled figs

  • oboistaalli on December 06, 2020

    We enjoy this dish when our homegrown figs are available. As zorra mentioned: a divine combination!

  • zorra on August 09, 2015

    Divine combination. Prefer to serve the figs whole & upright, cut criss-cross & stuffed. Usually forget the nuts.

• Orange chocolate chip cookies

  • michalow on January 01, 2013

    I like the flavors, but texture is too fluffy for my taste. Will borrow the idea and add orange zest to my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

  • cupcakemuffin on October 13, 2011

    These are nice, soft cookies with a subtle orange flavor. The suggested yield does result in fairly small cookies, so you won't get as many if you make these larger.

• Sesame stars

  • oboistaalli on December 06, 2020

    I make these every year for our Chanukah party. I've even made gluten-free batches using Namaste gluten-free flour. For my oven, 350°F is best and I bake them for 8-10 minutes.

  • wester on September 23, 2011

    The children loved making these, and eating them. I halved the amount given, and it still was two baking sheets full.