Martha Rose Shulman - The Simple Art of Vegetarian Cooking: Templates and Lessons for Making Delicious Meatless Meals Every Day

Learn more about books that will inspire and
enable you to improve your life and the world around you.

Follow us @RodaleBooks

rodalebooks.com

Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the author or publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book, its author, or the publisher. Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press.

2014 by Martha Rose Shulman

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Book design by Laura Palese

Art direction by Amy C. King

Food styling by Chris Lanier and Mariana Velasquez

Prop styling by Paige Hicks

Photographs by Tom MacDonald/Rodale Images and Mitch Mandel/Rodale Images

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher.

ISBN-13: 9781623361297 hardcover
ISBN-13: 9781623361303 ebook

We inspire and enable people to improve their lives and the world around them.

rodalebooks.com

To my beloved stepmother,

Mary Gordon Shulman,

Who taught me to cook and always supported me as I, in her words,

took a frying pan and a piece of paper and forged a career.

W HATS FOR DINNER? Growing up in my family, the answer to that question was always the name of the meat we were havingSteak. Chicken. Lamb chops. That was good enough, as it is in most meat-eating households. But if youre a vegetarian or a carnivore who doesnt eat meat every night, the answer to Whats for dinner? can be wordy.

But not in my house. When my son asks what were having, I can always give a one-word answer, the name of a generic dish: Gratin. Risotto. Frittata. Stir-fry. Lasagna. Tacos. The sound of these words is reassuring. He knows what a risotto and a stir-fry is and if he wants to know more he just asks, With... ? The response will be the name of the vegetable thats going to go into the dishChard. Mushrooms. Roasted squash. Asparagus. Any of the foods that are at the heart of my cooking.

I CALL MY MASTER RECIPES for these vegetarian main dishes templates. A template is a formula for a generic dish such as a risotto or a frittata. I realized after decades of creating, adapting, and writing recipes that I always use the same formulasessential ingredients plus methodfor certain types of dishes. For example, when I make risotto, I always use cup of minced onion, about 7 cups of stock, and 1 cups of Arborio rice. No matter what type of risotto Im making, I always use the same basic ingredients in the same proportion as a jumping off point to which I then add whatever vegetables Ive brought home from the farmers market, or what I have in my refrigerator. Once I realized this, I began writing down these templates, and this streamlined my cooking and writing process and also became a great tool for teaching.

In this book, the template recipes will give you the framework for making a main dish, using whatever produce you want to cook based on availability or seasonality. What defines a specific vegetarian risotto or a frittata, a lasagna or a gratin, is the produce that goes into it, and that produce usually requires its for a frittata with chard or greens and green garlic includes a list of ingredients with instructions for cooking the wilted greens, green garlic, and seasonings together in olive oil. Once this step is completed, you can proceed with the template recipe for a frittata, stirring the chard into the beaten eggs and making the frittata.

WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE FIRST chapter, , make the most sense if all the ingredients and procedure steps are spelled out, so these are not presented as Variations, but as stand-alone recipes.

Many of the chapters in this book have more than one template. Soup, for example, is an excellent one-word answer to Whats for dinner? but there are many different types of soup. So in the includes a template for pasta and vegetables with a tomato sauce, a template for pasta and vegetables without a tomato sauce, and two templates for lasagna.

All of these recipes are designed to work as main dishes. My goal is to provide you with a language for cooking delicious vegetarian meals every day and to help you to become a confident cook. Master all of the templates (or just the ones you and your family like the best) and pretty soon youll have amassed a repertoire , how to turn an almost-bare cupboard into a luscious meal with just a few cloves of garlic, some rice or stale bread, and the last two eggs in your refrigerator.

The templates and recipes in this book reflect a range of flavors and cuisines. They represent the types of dishes that I cook the most often and that I feel will be easiest for you. Mediterranean cuisines are the most widely represented, as these are the cuisines Im most passionate and knowledgeable about. But I also love simple French food, tacos and stir-fries, Vietnamese ph and noodle bowls. Youll find that there are certain types of dishes that youll return to again and again. Some families prefer stir-fries, some could eat tacos or quesadillas a few times a week, some love soup, others never get tired of pasta. Having a fundamental understanding of the templates will allow you to vary the disheswhile still being able to give one-word answers to Whats for dinner?by plugging in whatever produce inspires you at the market or that you have on hand.

ONE OF THE ADVANTAGES OF TEMPLATE cooking is that it lends itself to cooking ahead. When I go to my Thursday farmers market Im bound to come home with a bunch of beets with the greens attached, some Swiss chard, tomatoes and peppers if theyre in season. Over the weekend, Ill roast the beets, blanch all the greens, make some tomato sauce for the freezer, and cook up some of the peppers. All of these preparations will keep for at least 3 days in the refrigerator and I can use them as I please for frittatas or gratins, risottos or so that, if you choose to cook like this, you can have some elements of your vegetarian main dishes prepared in advance.