First post!
Vegetarian Cooking: A Commonsense Guide is a wonderful and obviously vegetarian recipe collection with plenty of great photos as well. This is an Aussie publication (Bay Books) from 2008 and I believe it's out of print, but being Australian there are going to be words like
rocket instead of
arugula,
fibre instead of
fiber and of course
courgette as an alternate version of
zucchini. The metric conversions are already done, though, so you won't need to worry about any of that. Recipes include Fruit Salad with Lemongrass Syrup, Tunisian Eggplant Salad, Roasted Mushrooms with Tarragon and Lemon Creme Fraiche, as well as vegetarian classics like Insalata Caprese, Minestrone, Veggie Burgers, Focaccia, Tabouleh and even roll your own Udon Noodle Sushi. For sweet tooth cravings, there are recipes for biscotti, cakes, biscuits, tatins, brownies, puddings and the exotically delicious Banana Fritters in Coconut Batter. This is one of my absolute favorite cookbooks even though it got in the way of an overturned half-cup of olive oil years ago and now gives off kind of a funky smell. It has a small but enthusiastic following
on Amazon and is available in used condition there at very low prices (and my not too good photo is surprisingly better than the one on Amazon). And since it is out of print, I'll offer a sample of the contents in this tasty and summery
Corn Spoonbread:
3 cobs sweet corn
1 cup creme fraiche (or 1/2 cup whipping cream + 1/2 cup sour cream)
1/4 cup self-rising flour
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons butter
sea salt
black pepper
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice kernels off corn cobs and place in a large bowl. Add the creme/cream, egg, flour, cayenne pepper and half the parmesan. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix together well.
Spoon mixture into a greased, shallow 7 inch baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining parmesan over the top; dot with the butter and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until firm and golden. Serve hot, straight from the dish.
