Vegetarian cookbook?

I have a vegetarian friend who wants to get together periodically and improve her cooking skills. One thought was to focus on one cookbook. Suggestions for one that would be fun?

Greenstuff
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26 Comments

Bevi August 22, 2011
Anna Thomas's Vegetarian Epicure Books One and Two. She has great recipes that I still make.
 
chickenX2 August 22, 2011
Martha Rose Shulman's Mediterranean Harvest is a lovely book!
 
HomegrownTravels August 22, 2011
I love Moosewood Cookbooks for the basics! They recently came out with a new one called Simple Suppers and there are some great basic recipes that you can easily build off of.
 
cookbookchick August 22, 2011
Barbara Kafka's Vegetable Love. Everything I've cooked from it has been fabulous!
 
Dorothye August 21, 2011
I use my Deborah Madison cookbook alot. I also like Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. I've given it as a wedding gift and gotten rave reviews.
 
alygator August 21, 2011
I have to say that I also find Heidi Swanson's cookbooks amazing. You should check them out! I have made several dishes and they were all delicious!
 
There'sAlwaysPie August 19, 2011
Heidi Swanson's cook books are fantastic. I'm also a HUGE fan of the Moosewood cookbooks - I've always had great success with their recipes and own practically the whole library!
 
vvvanessa August 19, 2011
i second the suggestions of deborah madison, madhur jaffrey, and heidi swanson, and i'll throw in the classic moosewood cookbook by mollie katzen. it's old-school, but it's got so many great recipes that have become staples for me over the last few decades.
 
moka August 18, 2011
While it's not entirely vegetarian, the Williams Sonoma Eat Well Cookbook has a section full of really delicious vegetarian dishes. I highly recommend it.
 
moka August 18, 2011
While it's not entirely vegetarian, the Williams Sonoma Eat Well Cookbook has a section full of really delicious vegetarian dishes. I highly recommend it.
 
moka August 18, 2011
While it's not entirely vegetarian, the Williams Sonoma Eat Well Cookbook has a section full of really delicious vegetarian dishes. I highly recommend it.
 
susan G. August 18, 2011
For complete and basic veg cooking, I use Nikki and David Goldbeck's American Wholefoods Cooking. It's modeled on the Joy of Cooking, and covers all categories. Not cutting edge though!
 
cookinginvictoria August 18, 2011
Such a fun project! I agree that the Greens Cookbook is a superb cookbook and stands the test of time. And what a great idea to do a field trip to the Green Gulch Farm. I also like the Heidi Swanson cookbook, Super Natural Every Day. There is one other vegetarian cookbook that would also be a great candidate for this project: The Vegetarian Option by Simon Hopkinson. Hopkinson is the celebrated British chef who wrote Roast Chicken and Other Stories. His recipes in The Vegetarian Option are simple but very creative.
 
spuntino August 17, 2011
tender by nigel slater! beautiful cookbook all around, and the veggie recipes can't be beat!
http://www.amazon.com/Tender-Cook-His-Vegetable-Patch/dp/1607740370/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313628346&sr=8-1
 
BlueKaleRoad August 17, 2011
Enjoy your cooking project. Sounds like a LOT of fun! :)
 
Greenstuff August 17, 2011
No, but I walked through there this weekend. Ironically, I was with a Buddhist friend. She's spent whole weeks, while I've only ever just walked through. And even more ironically, leafing through my new purchases, I just discovered that the watermelon and feta salad she brought for our picnic is a recipe from Plenty! I guess we're all connected.
 
boulangere August 17, 2011
I'm very jealous. Green Gulch Farm is such an idyllic place. Have you ever been to the Sunday Zen service?
 
Greenstuff August 17, 2011
Thanks, everyone! I'd been thinking maybe Greens, because we could take field trips to the restaurant and to Green Gulch Farm, the gorgeous source of their vegetables. But hmm... a field trip to Ottolenghi? Now, that would make for a fun project!

Anyway, I just picked up those two books, and I'm keeping a list of your other suggestions, so that I can be on the look out for them. Thanks again.
 
Erica T. August 17, 2011
I have been wanting to pick up the Ottolenghi cookbook, but I have heard that many people have had problems with the recipes working. One that I can recommend with absolutely no reservations is Heidi Swanson's newest "Supernatural Every Day." The food is fairly simple, creative and always delicious. To get an idea of what she is about, check out her blog: 101cookbooks.com.

 
SKK August 17, 2011
Deborah Madison - Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is superb. Also, allow yourselves to get into some raw food recipes. Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein (yes, the Charlie Trotter) have a wonderful book with beautiful illustrations called simply Raw. This sounds like a really fun project. A group of friends and I did this with raw recipes. We met once a month a fixed our favorite foods and shared them.
 
student E. August 17, 2011
I'm also a huge fan of the Ottologenhi cookbook. I'd also add Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian...a classic that exposes you to a variety of cuisines and flavors.
 
Esther P. August 17, 2011
I'll second Ottolenghi, creative and flavourful!
 
ChefJune August 17, 2011
I've enjoyed cooking from "Grains, Greens and Grated Coconut," by Ammini Ramachandran. It's the vegetarian cooking of Kerala, India. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=ammini+ramachandran

I realize that's cuisine specific, but just thought I'd mention it. Such lovely food.
 
boulangere August 17, 2011
The Greens cookbook is a classic. Sounds like a lovely project.
 
BlueKaleRoad August 17, 2011
Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi ... I hope to make every dish in this book! The recipes are unique and inspired, and Ottolenghi provides detailed, step by step, instructions (I learned the best way to poach an egg). Lovely photos, too.
 
Smainiac August 17, 2011
Lucid Food by Louisa Shafia - a beautiful book with easy to use recipes organized around seasons. Her focus is on eco-friendly cooking - making vegetarian the way to go (there may be one chicken recipe in the book).
 
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