The subtitle of this book could easily have been the main title; “Real Food for Everyone” is what I found in the pages of Ann Gentry’s latest cookbook.

I received a complementary review copy from the publisher, Andrews McMeel, a few months ago and I’ll admit the title didn’t entice me to pull my attention from the many tasks at hand to flip through it right then and there. I set it on a bookshelf with good intentions but those good intentions dissolved into out-of-sight-out-of-mind abandonment.

After chatting with a friend (who happens to be vegan) about recipes and cooking, a little bell went off in my head about this book. There it was on the bookshelf where I’d left it, patiently waiting to be cracked open.

I began flipping through the book from page one to see what looked enticing. My initial pass through a new book is always done with a stack of sticky note tabs in hand to flag every recipe of interest. Then I sort through my selections and decide which recipes I’ll make first, which moves the tap from the top of the page to the side. There’s a process for everything.

I flip a page and see a recipe for Umeboshi Rice Balls. Really? My heart raced just a little bit because I have a container of umeboshi (Japanese pickled plums) in my refrigerator, also teetering on the brink of out-of-sight-out-of-mind abandonment. Purchased for a specific recipe, the remaining puckery-tart, pungent, salty little plums have been languishing ever since. Reading on, the recipe included toasted sesame seeds, nori, and sushi rice made from short-grain brown rice and sweet brown rice, rice vinegar and mirin. With the reveal of each ingredient I became more excited as I realized I had all of these items in my kitchen.

Umeboshi, brown sushi rice, and nori - ready to roll

What are the odds? I’d only just discovered sweet brown rice weeks ago. I purchased it simply because it looked cool and I wanted to know what it was like (it’s really good, incidentally). Without turning another page I stood up, headed to the kitchen, got the rice cooking and was eating Umeboshi Rice Rolls within the hour. I proudly discarded the empty umaboshi container chalking up a point for me in the endless game of use-it-up-before-it-goes-bad. Though I lost a point today when I noticed mold on a lemon. Drats.

Umeboshi Rice Balls

Umeboshi sushi was not what I was expecting to find when I flipped this book open. Had I known, it would’t have gone untouched for so long. Ann Gentry explains in the introduction that she’s explored all kinds of plant-based diets over the course of her adult life. Clearly the time she spent eating a macrobiotic diet informs the way she cooks today. Not only through her use of Asian flavor-powerhouse ingredients like umeboshi, rice vinegar, miso, and fresh ginger, but also through her talent for playing ingredients off one another to capture the elusive balance of sweet, salty, bitter, tangy and hot that is so much a part of Asian cuisine.

Curious to see if the other recipes would be as pleasing, I made the Ginger-Apple Smoothie and Blueberry Corn Pancakes the next morning. The Ginger-Apple smoothie called for 1 (6-inch) piece of ginger. That’s a lot of ginger! With my first sip a cartoon image of steam blasting out of my ears flashed through my mind. Behind the heat and bite of the ginger was a nice combination of banana, apple juice, almonds and green tea powder. Next time, I’ll use less ginger. A six inch piece of ginger is somewhat ambiguous. Given that the ginger is grated and the juice squeezed from the pulp, a specific measurement of ginger juice seems like a more accurately replicable quantity, and is what I’ll use next time.

Blueberry Corn Pancakes

Skeptical of vegan bready goods, I was really surprised at how good these pancakes were. Rolled oats, corn meal and buckwheat flour give them great texture and flavor. Not being a vegan, the only reason I have for making these again is that they are good, and I’ll be making them again. Yes, that’s real butter I slathered over my vegan pancakes, which makes the point that these are just good pancakes that happen to be vegan.

Edamame and Spinach Hummus

There’s hummus and then there’s this beautiful bright green Edamame Spinach Hummus. Everything goes in the food processor and in about two minutes a spectacular spread is ready to serve. The recipe suggests serving this on endive spears, but I went the casual chip and dip route and toasted up some whole wheat pita chips. Edamame and spinach not only make the hummus pretty, but also add a sweet fresh flavor. I did back off a bit on the eight cloves of garlic that were called for because I didn’t want to be breathing fire the rest of the day. This is the nice thing about cooking your own food, you get to cater to your own taste.

Jicama-Carrot Slaw

This Jicama-Carrot Slaw is a happy bowl of sunny refreshment. The vibrant colors and juicy crunch of the vegetables gets you halfway there, but it’s the clever balance of sweet maple syrup, tangy apple cider vinegar and tart lime juice that brings it home. I’m not a big fan of raw onion and the one I had was particularly pungent, so I only added half of what was called for. This salad hit home on all levels and is a great example of Ann Gentry’s skill at keeping it simple and letting the ingredients do their thing.

Creamy Herbed Zucchini Soup

Thrilled with everything I’d made so far, I moved on to one of the three soups I had flagged; a lovely and simple zucchini herb soup that took less than an hour to make from start to finish. The smooth creamy texture is in part due to rolled oats of all things.

I nervously flipped through the dessert section a number of times trying to decide if I wanted to risk breaking my recipe winning streak. I’ve had some incredibly lackluster and downright awful vegan desserts in my eating history. I selected the Chocolate Cupcakes figuring if anything was going to be dreadful it would be these. I was encouraged, however, by the fact that there was no applesauce in the recipe, an ingredient I blame for most of the odd texture issues that plague so many low-fat and vegan baked goods. A hefty amount of cocoa powder promised good flavor and no skimping on the oil or sugar gave me even more hope.

Chocolate Cupcakes that happen to be vegan, but that's beside the point because they're good.

These are fantastic rich chocolaty cupcakes that taste like cake should taste. The icing I used is not a vegan recipe from the book. I didn’t want to run out and buy vegan butter, so I improvised and made a simple chocolate glaze. I baked them at 375 degrees F rather than the suggested 350. Partly because I always bake cupcakes at 375, but mostly because I had something already baking in the oven at 375 degrees and I wanted to get double duty out of the oven. The recipe says to bake them for about 32 minutes, which seems like a long time even with a lower oven temperature. I took mine out at 22 minutes and probably could have taken them out a minute or two earlier. My advice anytime you’re cooking anything is to base cooking times on what your food is doing rather than solely on what the recipe states.

The success with these cupcakes is because they were allowed to be a true sweet indulgence. Sugar, fat, cocoa, white flour, it’s all in there with no apologies. Bravo Ann Gentry for steering clear of the “healthy” whole-wheat, fruit-sweetened “cake” trap.

Ingredient highlights are sprinkled throughout the book along with cooking tips.

I look forward to continuing to explore this book and discover new ingredients. I’ll likely never get around to trying the Maple Tempeh Bacon or Tofu Frittata because quite frankly I’d rather have actual bacon and an egg frittata. That’s of little concern though because I’ll be plenty busy with recipes like Adzuki Bean Soup, South American Stew stuffed in a whole kabocha squash, Sesame-Hiziki Croquettes, and Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Fries, along with revisiting many of the recipes I’ve already made. This is a great book if you’re looking for some new inspiration, but still want to keep things simple. It also never hurts to have a collection of great vegan recipes on hand.

Ann Gentry owns the popular Vegan restaurant, Real Food Daily, in Los Angeles. She is also the executive chef to Vegetarian Times magazine.

With permission from the publisher, I’m happy to be able to share a couple of recipes from Vegan Family Meals. Give them a try, I’d love to know how you like them.

Recipe Links

• Edamame Spinach Hummus
• Jicama-Carrot Slaw

Over the weekend a friend gave me a gift wrapped in an appealingly understated brown paper bag. My curious peek into the bag was met with an intoxicatingly sweet floral scent. A rush of excitment and gratitude hit as I instatly identifide the gorgeous scent.

Meyer lemons

The beautiful blushing orange Meyer lemons were picked from a mutual friend’s very own tree just days before and sent from sunny California to brighten the overcast misty days still so prevelent here. Living in the Northwest the idea of citrus trees in the yard is mind boggeling and somewhat akin to a miricle.

Three Orchards Blend Olive Oil from Dry Creek Olive Co.

Just days before, I received an equally spectacular gift, also born of the fertile lands called California. The coveted souvenir from my parent’s latest trip through the wine country was Three Orchards Blend Olive Oil from Dry Creek Olive Company in Healdsburg.  This is the company’s award-winning signature blend; it’s smooth and buttery with a clean bright flavor and delicate peppery finish. This olive oil will never see heat, but rather every drop savored fresh and raw.

Everytime I passed through the kitchen over the weekend I smiled when greeted with the sunny fragrence of Meyer lemons, and then worried. How will I use my Meyer lemons? Feeling pressure to put them to the absolute best use and not squander a single one I was completly devoid of inspiration.

Sunday evening inspiration hit. Memory of a raw dinasour kale salad from Tom Douglas’ restaurant, Serious Pie, had been lurking around in the back of my mind since tasting it. I’ve also been quite preoccupied with fennel seeds as of late given that they are the topic for the next SpiceChat later this week. While smelling the aroma of the Meyer lemons and staring at the beautiful bottle of olive oil, this salad sort of jumped in the bowl all on its own.

A full spectrum of flavors come together to dance all over the deep forest-green crinkled kale leaves; tangy bright lemon, rich smooth olive oil, earthy parmesan, creamy pine nuts, the pungent bite of crispy garlic chips and delicate grassy hint of licorice from the fennel seeds. Thanks to the hearty constitution of kale this salad holds well for hours, in fact it gets better with time, so make it a head, take it on a picnic, bring it to a pot-luck, and definatley save any leftovers.

Dinosaur Kale Salad with Meyer Lemon Fennel Seed Vinaigrette

A special thanks to my friends Julie and Amani and my parents for inspiring this salad. I’d say birthday month is off to a spectacular start. Yes, birthday month!

Recipe Link: Dinosaur Kale Salad with Meyer Lemon Fennel Seed Vinaigrette

I had  fun over the weekend doing a cooking demonstration of low cost meals at a community fair organized by The City of Lake Forest Park, WA. They brought together all sorts of community resource agencies sharing information to help people navigate these difficult economic times. 

One of the agencies participating was Solid Ground, an organization I volunteer with. In partnership with Share our Strength, a national anti-hunger organization, Solid Ground runs a free six week cooking and nutrition program called Operation Frontline, designed to help people on a low income build skills to maximize their resources by learning to cook healthy low cost meals

All of the meals in the program are designed to cost less than $1.68 per serving, which is the amount of money a person on food stamps has to spend for each meal. In the demo I made a White Bean and Chicken Chili with Fresh Basil and a Northwest Apple Salad. These are quick and really flavorful dishes that aren’t fussy to make and can easily be adapted to all kinds of variations. These dishes won’t remind you of your starving student days, in fact I wish I had eaten like this when I was a starving student.

The chili is finished with fresh lime juice and basil, which delivers a bright flavor and fresh satisfying aroma.  The apple salad is simply dressed with a little plain yogurt, but of course I turn to spices to take it in a variety of directions. At the demo I had three versions for sampling, one with cinnamon, one with ground fennel, and one with ground coriander. All work great with apple and it was fun to see apprehension turn into delightful surprise as people tasted the different versions. The different spices pull differnt flavors of the apple forward and lend a nice flavor complexity to what couldn’t be a simpler salad.

It might seem like cooking with a variety of spices would be too extravagant when on a limited budget, but I did some research to show that’s not the case at all if you know where to shop. I expected bulk spices to be cheaper, but I didn’t realize how much cheaper, even when buying from a specialty spice store. The difference in cost per ounce is dramatic enough, but when you consider that with bulk purchasing you only buy what you need for a few months, which in most cases an ounce is more than enough, so cash isn’t tied up in large expensive jars of spice that just sit in the cupboard. The jar of grocery store brand cinnamon was priced at $3.89 (1.75 oz.) , whereas buying an ounce of bulk cinnamon only requires  $0.41, or a $1.00 out of pocket.

Share our Strength partners with different organizations all over the country to implement the Operation Frontline classes. Visit their site to see if there is a group in your community you can get involved with. It’s a great program.

A perfect nibble for summer entertaining. The creamy avocado plays so perfectly against the bright tart flavor of grapefruit and rhubarb. Grapes chime in with a sweet note and a toasty crunch from almonds adds a little contrast. The bite-sized salad is brought together with the peppery bite of watercress and the cool crunch of the cucumber round. It looks and tastes like summer!

photo by David Peterman

The cucumber round as a delivery vehicle was a revelation inspired by the pressure of a ticking clock. The first time I made a salad hors d’oeuvre similar to this one, I rolled the salad in long thin strips of cucumber “noodles” and speared each one with a toothpick to keep them closed.  What a slow process that was. As I was madly preparing this salad to take to a friend’s party, I had to accept the fact that I would miss the entire event if I tried to roll the salad in strips of cucumber. I really hate to settle for a less-than option, and was quite pleased when “cucumber rounds” popped into my head. Initially I thought it was a reasonable substitute to the cucumber roll, but I am now of the opinion it is a superior presentation and I will forever save myself the effort of rolling spoon-fulls of salad in cucumber strips. 

The cucumber round allows the beautiful salad ingredients to dazzle your eyes before it even hits your palate. It can also be quickly assembled on-site when taking the canapes to a party, which is always better than trying to transport an assembled tray of hors d’oeuvres.

Deborah Madison, in her book Local Flavors, Cooking and Eating From America’s Farmer’s Markets, has a lovely avocado grapefruit salad with pomegranates and pistachios that is part of the inspiration behind my salad canapes. Additionally, earlier this year I had the good fortune to eat at Charlie Trotter’s new restaurant in Las Vegas, Restaurant Charlie, and enjoyed a wonderful asparagus, rhubarb, and nasturtium salad. The rhubarb was cut into long thin ribbons and pickled. It was delicious and made me realize I had never had rhubarb in a savory application, so I decided I needed to start playing around with rhubarb in applications beyond desserts. My Avocado Grapefruit Salad Canapes are the result of these two experiences. I hope you make them for a party this summer.

Avocado Grapefruit Salad Canapes
2 thin ribs of rhubarb
1 small red onion
2 grapefruit
1 avocado
1 cup seedless red grapes
1 bunch watercress
2 medium to large cucumbers
1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted
3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
3 Tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. water
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Slice the red onion and rhubarb very thinly and place in a small bowl with the white wine vinegar, seasoned rice vinegar, and water. Mix the ingredients together, then place in the refrigerator for about an hour to marinate.

Cut the peel and pith off of the grapefruits. Carefully cut between the membrane sections to remove the wedges of grapefruit pulp leaving behind the membrane. Cut the grapefruit sections into small pieces and place in a medium bowl. Peel and cut the avocado into small pieces (about 1/4″-1/3″ cubes) and add them to the bowl with the grapefruit. Slice the grapes into quarters and add them to the bowl along with the toasted almonds.

To make the dressing, place the orange juice in a small bowl and whisk in the olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Wash and dry the watercress and remove any thick stems. Cut the bulk of the stems off, but don’t worry about using some of the stems. Rough chop the leaves and remaining stems by cutting through the watercress just two or three times. The watercress should be in larger pieces than the other ingredients that have been chopped. Add it to the bowl of chopped ingredients.

Slice the cucumbers into rounds thick enough to be stable when picked up, about 1/8″ thick. Set aside for assembly.

Drain the onion and rhubarb then add it to the bowl of chopped ingredients. Add the dressing and toss everything together. Taste salad and add additional salt and pepper if desired.

Place a spoon-full of salad on each cucumber round just before serving.