Justin Fox Burks - The Chubby Vegetarian: 100 Inspired Vegetable Recipes for the Modern Table

PRAISE FOR THE CHUBBY VEGETARIAN

Justin and Amy bring huge flavor and modern style to easy and unexpected vegetarian recipes, perfect for chic entertaining or any night of the week.

Lloyd Boston: TV host, author, and Style Contributor known to millions of viewers as Style Contributor on NBCs Today Show and expert guest on Oprah, ABCs The View, The Insider, Extra, Access Hollywood, and The Wendy Williams Show.

I love Justin and Amys creativity in each and every dish. They take common vegetables and transform them into beautiful and tasty treats. Each recipe photo draws me in to want to take a bite.

Whitney Miller: Season 1 MasterChef winner, chef at The COOP, and author of Whitney Millers New Southern Table.

The Chubby Vegetarian offers mouthwatering recipes that even lifelong I will never eat rabbit food omnivores will find irresistible. From their take on classic American comfort foods (see the ingenious Charred Carrot Hot Dogs) to their renditions of regional mainstays from around the globe (Masala Dosa for the win), Justin and Amy further demystify plant-centered, from-scratch cooking in this informative and approachable book.

Bryant Terry, James Beard Foundation Leadership Award-winning chef and author of Afro-Vegan and Vegan Soul Kitchen.

I love keeping an eye on what Justin and Amy are doing its never less than fascinating and always inspiring.

Amanda Cohen: Chef-owner of Dirt Candy, an all-vegetable restaurant located in New York Citys East Village and recommended by the Michelin Guide, and author of Dirt Candy: A Cookbook.

I really love what Justin and Amy are doing: a really bold approach to veg cooking.

Rich Landau: Chef and co-owner of Vedge and V Street and co-author of Vedge: 100 Plates Both Large and Small that Redefine Vegetable Cooking.

I have to write this quickly, because I have almond flour biscuits in the oven, beets curing in pastrami spices, and spaghetti squash slices on the grill: Friends are coming for dinner, and Im making a raft of colorful, bold recipes from Justin and Amys mesmerizing new book. Who knew vegetables could be this enticing, this worldly? They did and now everyone else does, too.

Joe Yonan:Food and Dining Editor, The Washington Post, and author of Eat Your Vegetables.

THE CHUBBY VEGETARIAN

100 INSPIRED VEGETABLE RECIPES FOR THE MODERN TABLE

JUSTIN FOX BURKS & AMY LAWRENCE

SUSAN SCHADT PRESS

W e dedicate this cookbook to all of the readers who have kept up with our blog throughout the years. To the people who have given us chances that we never dreamed we would have. And to the friends and family members who love us and our cooking beyond measure. We feel so much gratitude for all the folks in Memphis and throughout the country who have believed in our mission from the very beginning.

CONTENTS

BY P. ALLEN SMITH

FOREWORD BY

P. ALLEN SMITH

Its no accident many fruits and vegetables begin their lives as flowers. They bud and bloom, grow tall or sprawl, and then transform into peppers or squash or tomatoes. Watching this transformation is my favorite part of the growing season.

A s a child, I would spend hours in the garden, watching the blooms become tiny green morsels, which would ripen into juicy tomatoes, watermelons, or cucumbers. My other favorite part of the season is when those outrageously large yellow crookneck squash plants started to produce. I couldnt wait until my mother turned the harvest into one of my favorite summer dishes: fried squash and okra. Ive always felt such gratitude for plants, which take nutrients from the earth and air and turn them into something that is first beautiful and delicate, and then all at once healthy and delicious. Those vegetables, in turn, nourish our bodies, and we also become healthy and productive.

In order for this system to work, edibles need our time and attention to grow. A large harvest of edibles does not come easily. It takes planning and weeding and troubleshooting. We are given a lesson from this, too: we learn to find beauty in the toil. The hard work begets appreciation. That appreciation goes both ways, from seedling to sower and back again. Plants working hard to produce edibles should be appreciated for their efforts, and I believe the best way to appreciate them is to allow them to transform againinto beautiful meals. And no one appreciates them better in that way than the Chubby Vegetarian. The recipes and photographs in this book are equal parts mouthwatering and stunning. These two truly honor the vegetables and their flavors, allowing them to shine in everyday dishes in unexpected ways. Im consistently inspired by their creativity and resourcefulness in the kitchen.

Its my pleasure to know them and to inspire them in return.

P. Allen Smith is an award-winning designer and gardening and lifestyle expert, providing ideas and inspiration through multiple platforms including broadcast, print, and new media.

INTRODUCTION

LOOKING OUT & LOOKING IN

BY JUSTIN FOX BURKS & AMY LAWRENCE

Though we didnt officially meet each other until an assigned locker was switched in a sly and crafty fashion during the 1990-1991 school year, we have a shared history in many ways. We were both born in small towns in Mississippi, and when we were little, our families moved from Jackson and Greenwood to a suburb right outside of Memphis, Tennessee.

W e both grew up in Germantown, where we sat down to dinner with our respective families for some pretty traditional Southern meat-and-three meals like fried chicken or steak with a side of green beans, a baked potato, cucumber and tomato salad, or mac and cheese. That is until the unlikely idea to become a vegetarian came simultaneously to many kids in and around Memphis; both of us were swept up by the trend as well. Maybe it was rebellion, or maybe we had all gotten tired of barbecueits hard to say exactly what incited this movement. All of a sudden in our town, it just became really cool to not eat meat. Just the simple introduction of this idea made our plates much more exciting. By the time wed met, wed both already gone from looking only at our longstanding Southern ways to peering outward at culinary traditions from all over the globe.