Plenty

Great book, filled with yummy recipes

Wer es nicht bereits geahnt hat, der weiss es spätestens nach Durchsicht dieses Kochbuchs und erstem Nachkochen von vorgeschlagenen Gerichten: Fleisch ist eigentlich überflüssig. Ich bin zwar kein Vegetarier, aber so richtig in Begeisterung versetzt mich ein Steak nun mal nicht. Anders ist es bei fast allen dieser Gerichte, die zeigen, wie viel sich mit guten Zutaten, vielfältigen Gewürzen und einer Portion Kreativität machen lässt: Sie können einen zum Schwelgen bringen. "Vibrant Recipes" trifft den Nagel auf den Kopf. Dazu die sehr schöne Darstellung und der erstaunlich niedrige Preis des Buches!

Interesting, creative vegetable recipes. I have made the carmelized garlic tart and the cauliflower salad with raisins and red onions. Both were superb. The recipes are fun to read and appeal to the mind of the tongue--one wants to make them all right away! I am not a vegetarian--thank goodness the author isn't either, so the book avoids any attempt at being weirdly "healthy"--so I paired the tart and the salad with fish dishes, which worked very nicely. A reviewer on the U.S. Amazon site recommended doubling the garlic and halving the cheese in the tart, and my answer to this was maybe, as the tart is rich, but it's really really good as it is. Another U.S. reviewer complained that the quantities in the recipes were sometimes off. I didn't find this in the recipes I made, but then I sort of fly free anyway, adjusting as I go to suit my palate at the moment, and the contents of the cupboard and the garden. I tend to use more herbs and hot pepper, perhaps, than many readers do. Still another reviewer objected because some ingredients were hard to find--I would just replace that ingredient with something having similar gastronomical qualities. Again...very creative book. The recipes are interesting combinations of hot with sweet, crunchy with soft, and application of herbs and spices to vegetables that I would never have thought of, being a California girl living in France and thus totally lacking a Middle Eastern sensibility. I can hardly wait for my summer vegetable garden to give me tomatoes and eggplants to use in these recipes! This is a book, I guess,for cooks that would call themselves experienced and adventuresome, and for people who like their food with a bit of a kick. It's not for those who want familiar comfort food and lack of spices, or for cooks who don't want to think too much about what they're making. I've now ordered the author's other book to try.

Great choice if you are looking for colourful, delicious vegetarian recipes with something different. Includes many tasty dishes suitable for vegans. Flavours are from well combined fresh herbs, spices and seasonings, not simply the all too common reliance on the addition of cheese or cream. Recipe ingredients, while not every day staples in the vegetarian/vegan cupboard, are easily found by exploring the rest of the spices shelf in your grocery store. Contents are laid out by specific vegetable which is particularly useful and the photos are especially tempting and helpful for presentation. Recipes are great for both "at home" meals, but definitely if you want to make a statement at dinner parties. Recipes can be used with confidence when entertaining either a veg or omnivorous group. One of the "better purchases" for sure!

Every dish I have made from this is a winner. It's definitely not just for vegetarians.