Description:
The bland-looking cover of Claire's Classic American Vegetarian Cooking conceals a world of food as appealingly creative as it is classic, offered in 225 dishes full of bold flavors and inspired combinations. And its definition of American cooking happily includes a melting pot of ethnic dishes. The recipes range from a truly All-American Fresh Fruit Cobbler to authentic, crusty, cheese-filled Sicilian Rice Balls, and fiery Thai Vegetable Soup to Greek Lima Beans, Artichoke Hearts, and Scallions with Orzo, Feta Cheese and Spinach. (You will cook and consume this aromatic, dill-and-garlic seasoned sauté faster than you can repeat its name.) Reflecting Criscuolo's Italian heritage, her Riso E Fagioli is lovingly long-cooked and includes broken spaghetti. For exciting twists on familiar classics, look for polenta with fresh corn and chopped tomato studding the steaming cornmeal, and Sweet and White Potato Burritos topped with exquisitely creamy, gently fiery Avocado-Jalapeño Sauce. Criscuolo devises unexpected ideas for using veggie burgers. For Chicken-Fried Veggie Burgers, they are in dredged in flour and pan-crisped, then bathed in properly creamy Sawmill Gravy. Her Vegetable Burger au Poivre is elegantly imbued with Cognac, while tangy sauerbraten-style burgers are served on bed of noodles and topped by the properly sweet-tart sauce made with gingersnaps and German spices that should accompany this dish. Soy foods, from tofu and soy milk to sausage and other meat alternatives, are used liberally in dishes as simple as Beet and Tofu Salad with tangy balsamic vinegar dressing and as sophisticated as sausage-studded, saffron-gold Garden Paella, bright with 10 vegetables. (This book includes generally outstanding vegan food, though some may object to its generous use of margarine.) Vegetarians will find new pleasures in this exceptional collection of recipes, and lovers of Italian cooking will be particularly well-rewarded. --Dana Jacobi
| 
