Eat Your Vegetables

Starred review from May 20, 2013
As more and more people embrace vegetable-heavy diets, the need for a primer on these wildly varying foods is great. Yonan, the Washington Post’s Cooking for One columnist and author of Serve Yourself, comes at the subject from the solitary perspective, showing how to cook flavorful and healthy nonmeat meals that serve one. Yonan starts off with an excellent chapter that both novices and experienced cooks will find useful: how to store and use up extra ingredients, including herbs, avocado, citrus, celery, and beans. He offers fresh options on salads, such as cold spicy ramen noodles with tofu and kimchi; kale and mango niçoise; and Asian bean and barley salad. Sandwiches and soups also get a makeover: recipes include curried mushroom bean burgers; vegan sloppy joes; and green gumbo. Spinach enchiladas; sweet potato galette with mushrooms and kale; and chicken-fried cauliflower with miso-onion gravy offer appetizing alternatives to standard vegetarian meals. Desserts seem to be an afterthought in most vegetable cookbooks, but Yonan doesn’t disappoint with his faux tart with instant lemon-ginger pudding and one-peach crisp with cardamom and honey. Recipes are designed to feed one but are easily doubled or can serve nicely as a side dish if desired. The greatly appealing dishes in this collection open up a whole new culinary world for veggie lovers. Agent: Lisa Ekus, the Lisa Ekus Group.