A couple weeks back, on a blustery morning at the Union Square Greenmarket, I had a very interesting conversation with Karen Weinberg of 3-Corner Field Farm. A small dairy sheep farm on New York's border with Vermont, 3-Corner Field produces outstanding farmstead sheep's milk cheeses and yogurts. If you can get your hands on their luscious, showstopping bloomy-rind cheese called Shushan Snow, you will not be disappointed. On this particular Wednesday, Weinberg was also selling a couple of aged Pyrénées-style cheeses, one of which was perfectly smoked by the Monks of New Skete. As we stood teeth-chattering among her hanging sheepskins, the topic of vegetarian cheese came up, and I discovered that Weinberg has some really interesting, if contrarian, ideas...
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When it comes to satisfying, full-flavored vegetarian cooking Greens Restaurant founding chef Deborah Madison is everyone's go-to person. So who better to write the book on hearty, filling vegetarian suppers than Madison. Even a devoted carnivore like me was drooling with anticipation after leafing through Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen. Dishes like the sweet potato gratin with onions and sage, the pasta and chickpeas with plenty of parsley and garlic, and the eggs baked on a bed of sauteed mushrooms and croutons, will make your mouth water. Thanks to the good folks at Broadway Books, we've managed to snag five (5) copies of Vegetarian Suppers to give away. Just tell us what your favorite vegetarian main dish is. Winners...
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This week's installment of Cook the Book features Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. (We figured you could use a counterpoint to last week's selection.) Bittman is, of course, known for his Minimalist column in the New York Times dining section, for his popular How to Cook Everything series of cookbooks, and for his cooking show on PBS—all of which stress an informal style of cooking, as befits the Minimalist title. This book, obviously, puts Bittman's spin on vegetarian cooking. The first recipe we'll be highlighting from it will be along shortly, but, as always, let's take care of business. We've got five (5) of these to give away this week. Simply tell us in the comments: What's your...
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I'm a carnivore who doesn't drink very much wine so it never really occurred to me that wine could be vegetarian or vegan, but it turns out that the majority of wines are fined (clarified, softened or stabilised) with clay, milk or egg products like casein or albumen, which are vegetarian but not vegan; some wines are fined with gelatin or products made from fish and shellfish and are not vegetarian at all. The Observer's Tim Atkins picks out twelve solid vegetarian wines so you can stick to your diet without compromising your tastebuds, and if you can't find them at your local shops the Vegan Wine Guide lists where to best order wines online in the US and UK....
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Alaina mentioned earlier today that we'd be giving away five (5) copies of Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking: Five Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients into Your Cooking. Don't let the subtitle scare you. Swanson's book is full of recipes that are good for you without sacrificing flavor. And if you're new to this style of cooking, there are primers galore throughout its pages. Anyway, if you want to win a copy of this book, let us know what food you find most healthful and pleasurable at the same time. Leave your thoughts in the comments and we'll choose five winners at random at the end of the week. You have until 9 p.m. PDT Saturday to enter. Serious...
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The NYT's Mark Bittman makes a pudding promise: " You can make not only a credible but elegant and delicious chocolate or vanilla pudding in 20 minutes flat, not counting the time it takes to chill. That’s not much longer than it takes to start with a box of powdered mix, add milk and heat it." I have to admit that for some reason I've just always assumed pudding was fairly complicated to make and so had never so much as looked at a recipe for it before; Bittman is also sure to make the point that starting with quality ingredients (like with natural milk, not ultrapasteurized, and maybe purchased from a farm or farmer's market) is the best path...
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