Tuesday, January 19, 2010

vego paradiso

IMG_0052

I am the owner of quite a few cookbooks. Mostly bought on sale. And many bought, I have to admit, because of their pretty and inspirational food photos, rather than mainly for the recipes. even if good recipes doesn't hurt.

This book ' Vego Paradiso ' by Pia Hall I got at the annual Swedish book sale in February some years back. Since then it has been tucked into one of the piles of cookbooks I should make something from, but never seem to get around to... Until now.

It's all about vegan cooking, filled not only many recipes - munches, super quick, Mediterranean, mild, Swedish, spicy, fancy, bread, sauces, desserts - but also offers an easy and informative read about the history of veganism and vegetarianism, nutrition facts, measurement converters, websites etc. And fine photos.

I'm not quite there yet, but I would like to eat a lot more vegan and I think 'Vego Paradiso' is a grand little cookbook and a great entry to the vegan kitchen. The recipes are easy to follow and the ingredients easy to find. So far I've tried two of them and they both turned out great.

IMG_0112

The so called cowboy stew - lentil stew with peanut butter and corn - may look rather... displeasing to the eye, but it's full of lovely flavours and good ingredients. I wanted a bit more texture and added fried quorn pieces making it vegetarian and not vegan.

IMG_0136

The chickpea balls was full of nice flavour but the consistency left a lot to be desired. The batter just didn't hold together and I had to flatten them in pan. But they tasted lovely and went so well with the simple bean-carrot-tomato-garlic salad I served it with.

Can't wait to try more of the recipes, I'm especially looking forward to a broccoli lasagna, nut steak, apple buns and chocolate cake with orange spark...

6 comments:

P.K said...

Vegan cooking is an adventure, I am looking for the perfect veggie burger recipe. Now vegan baking... not so successful. Good luck with the recipes.

A Bun Can Dance said...

Hi there Pia
I hope your cold is better :-)
Like you, as a Vegetarian I am trying to consciously eat more Vegan food. We tend to eat a lot of bean-based casseroles anyway, but I am trying to find more ways of being creative with Vegan food- hence the new Rose Elliott book I featured on the blog.
As you and I go along with our Vegan exploration we could compare notes and recipes - it's always good to have recommendations!
Have fun,
Denise x

fleegan said...

what is orange spark?

Anonymous said...

Hi there, just found you blog today. I'm always looking for more veggie recipes too! The stew looks great :)

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

interesting. Sounds as though you'll enjoy exploring the recipes. I rather like the sound of the cowboy stew - but then, almost anything with peanut butter appeals to me!

Pia K said...

haven't tried the vegan baking yet, p.k, if you don't count cakes... well of course one does i suppose:) the bread thing might be trickier i guess.

thanks denise, yes i did invest in the rose elliot cookbook (as i mentioned in your blog today of all days) but haven't cooked anything yet. will get back to you when i have:)

fleegan, orange spark is the ronage zest that covers the cake and probably put a zing to the cake itself.

hey, may, just let me know if you'd like the recipe!

i myself am not so much fan of peanut butter actually, afos, but the flavours did combine nicely in this stew. might opt for less corn next time though as the flavour was tad to sweet for my liking with that.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...