Cookbook review: You Won t Believe It s Vegan!

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Cookbook review: "You Won t Believe It s Vegan!

By Kat Mulkey Contra Costa Times correspondent

Article Last Updated: 09/09/2008 12:01:44 PM PDT

 

 

 

 

 

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Sep 9: Recipe: Sauteed Greens Recipe: Tempeh Bacon Recipe: Chickpea Socca

 

 

The following review is by a reader who was given a cookbook from this newspaper. The included recipes were selected and prepared by the reader.

Vegans are like everyone else — they want their food to be yummy, and maybe even to taste like it comes from a fine restaurant. As it turns out, vegans may just get their wish, thanks to "You Won't Believe It's Vegan!" a book by vegan restaurant owners Lacey Sher and Gail Doherty. Their book shares a fun, uncompromising, unapologetic way of eating for vegans and for everyone else.

First, let's talk about bacon. Bacon is never on the menu if you're vegan. Even store-bought fake bacon is not an option if you must — like me — also avoid gluten. Enter Sher and Doherty's Tempeh Bacon recipe. While I was making it, my flabbergasted family thought I was cooking real bacon. The bacon was so good that I prepared the Tempeh Bacon recipe three times in one week. The second batch ended up in BLT sandwiches; the third was tossed with a different dish in the book, Sauteed Greens made with kale. Popeye would love this dish. I liked the twist on traditional sauteed greens of adding tamari instead of salt. It seasons greens nicely.

I would say that the Holy Grail of this cookbook is another gluten-free recipe — Chickpea Socca, a flatbread that is all the rage with both vegans and gluten-free cooks. What's great about socca is that it's simple, healthy and versatile. You can eat it with greens, use it to make a sandwich, or turn it into a base for pizza.

The only problem I had was that I used the wrong size baking dish the first time I made it, so it came out too thick. Socca is much better when it's thin — ¼-inch — because it turns out crisp and chewy. Making socca is well worth a try, for a thousand fiber-filled reasons.

Want to be a critic? We'll give you a new cookbook to review. Contact jthym.

 

BOOK: "You Won't Believe It's Vegan! 200 Recipes for Simple and Delicious Animal-Free Cuisine" ($17.95, Da Capo Press, 224 pages). AUTHOR: Lacey Sher is a caterer and restaurateur; Gail Doherty is a specialty vegan chef. REVIEWER: Kat Mulkey enjoys life in Lafayette through photography and good gluten-free vegetarian food.

 

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