Vegetarian & Vegan Cooking, International Cooking

Passionate Vegetarian

Name: Passionate Vegetarian
Author: Crescent Dragonwagon
ISBN: 9781563057113

by Crescent Dragonwagon

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Overview

Introducing a new voice in vegetarian cooking. Packed with 1,000 recipes that are seductive, sexy, and utterly delicious, Passionate Vegetarian covers all the bases of meatless cooking, from east (Stir Fry of Asparagus with Black Bean-Ginger Sauce), west (Talk of the Town Barbecued Tofu), from the Mediterranean (Swiss Chard with Raisins, Onions & Olives) to the American South (Black-Eyed Pea Ragovt). You'll find lush lasagnas; plump pierogies; bountiful burgers, beans, and breads; pleasing pasta and pies. You'll spoon up soups and stews, and delight in desserts from simple to swoonworthy.

Written by longtime vegetarian Crescent Dragonwagon, author of Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread Cookbook, Passionate Vegetarian employs innovative methods (try "Ri-sort-ofs," in which risotto technique is used to create splendid, richly flavored grain dishes built around not just rice but also barley, buckwheat, spelt, and even toasted oats with an array of seasonings) and introduces lesser-known ingredients (get to know and love not just tofu and tempeh but a whole new generation of soyfoods, as well as "Quick Fixes" like instant bean flakes). Opinionated, passionate, and deeply personal, Ms. Dragonwagon's tantalizing headnotes will have readers rushing to the kitchen to start cooking. (Can her over-the-top Garlic Spaghetti really be that good? It is.)

Whether you're a committed vegetarian, a dedicated vegan (most recipes offer low-fat and vegan options), or a food-loving omnivore in search of something new and wonderful, this is not just vegetarian cooking--but cooking, period--at its most creative, inspiring, and exuberant.

Winner of the 2003 James Beard Foundation Cookbook Award: Vegetarian/Healthy Focus

About the Author, Crescent Dragonwagon

Crescent Dragonwagon, the author of the James Beard Award-winning Passionate Vegetarian, The Cornbread Gospels, Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread Cookbook, many children’s books, and two novels, is now working on The Bean Book, which will be published by Workman in 2010. For 18 years she was innkeeper/chef/ owner of Dairy Hollow House, an acclaimed country inn in Eureka Spring, Arkansas, which she owned with her late husband, Ned.

Dragonwagon has the distinction of having prepared cornbread for a president (Bill Clinton), titled royalty (Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia), a world-renowned feminist (Betty Friedan) and a World Series of Poker champion (Stephen Zolotow). She teaches "trans-genre" writing workshops around the world, and has appeared on Good Morning America, Today, TVFN, & CNN.

She lives, writes, cooks, gardens, and blogs in a 1795 home near Saxtons River, Vermont ... under the supervision of her tabby cat, Cattywhompus.

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

Crescent Dragonwagon's editor at Workman Publishing described this book as "in effect as a vegetarian Joy of Cooking." With its 1,000 recipes and its eclectic meal suggestions, this mammoth 800-page book does indeed justify such an ambitious claim. The diversity of these recipes will surprise even veteran vegetarians, and vegans can rejoice too: Most recipes offer low-fat and vegan options.

Christian Science Monitor

Don't limit this cookbook just to vegetarians on your list; it deserves a place in every kitchen.

Cincinnati Enquirer

A complete and all-purpose vegetarian cookbook for any time of year.

Newsday

If there is one book that will encourage you to stay home and cook this winter, it is Passionate Vegetarian.

Seattle Times

How often do you come across a cookbook, vegetarian or otherwise, where every page has something worth exploring.

Library Journal

For many years, Dragonwagon and her husband ran an inn in the Ozarks of Arkansas, and two previous cookbooks, The Dairy Hollow House Cookbook and Dairy Hollow House Soups and Breads: A Country Inn Cookbook, grew out of that experience. Despite having been a vegetarian for decades, Dragonwagon did not feature vegetarian fare at the inn or in her earlier books. This big, exuberant book marks her foray into the cooking closest to her heart, with more than 1000 recipes, from "Welcoming Hors d'Oeuvres" to "Just Desserts." Dragonwagon is indeed a passionate vegetarian, and adjectives like sensual and voluptuous appear in many of her recipe notes. Her food is boldly seasoned and draws from a variety of cuisines. In addition to the recipes, she includes hundreds of boxes and sidebars on ingredients and myriad other subjects; the vegetable chapter, for example, features an A-Z guide to her favorites. There is also a chapter called "Quick Fix," with recipes and suggestions for no-fuss meals. Many of the other recipes offer suggestions for easy variations. Deborah Madison's huge Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone came first, and it and Dragonwagon's book cover similar ground by virtue of having the same topic, but there is little overlap in terms of recipes. With vegetarian cooking more popular than ever, most libraries will want Passionate Vegetarian, too. Highly recommended. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.