A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen

I admit to having a weakness for cookbooks. I love to read through them like novels at bedtime, always aspiring to cook something new soon! Having convenient access to Roots Market, and being part of my first CSA this past summer has allowed me to buy and learn about local, seasonal vegetables and fruits. My husband and I are not vegetarians, but we try to eat as healthy as possible and enjoy most types of cuisine. My most recent go-to cookbook, A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop, has its recipes divided by seasons and their specific bounties, and covers all types of easy suppers.

The recipes are very straightforward and there are helpful tips throughout explaining things like how to peel an avocado, how to puree soups in a blender without splattering the kitchen, and which type of grater (Microplane) is best to zest a lemon or lime.  Bishop’s tone is personal as he shares his wisdom: Those beans that refuse to soften are probably too old to absorb water – his advice? Avoid shriveled beans and buy from a store that does a good legume business. Can’t find the long, flat Chinese noodles called for in the recipe? Regular linguine will work fine.

Lately, I’ve been craving chickpeas. Until I was an adult, I never knew that these “khaki colored beans” were used other than to top salads. Now, in addition to the requisite salads, I’ve also eaten them sautéed with olive oil and pasta, as the main ingredient in tahini and hummus, and now in my newest attempted Jack Bishop recipe: North African Chickpea Soup with Harissa.  I first had to figure out what harissa was (Bishop explains it’s a thick red chile paste often sold in toothpaste-like tubes). With that fact stowed away in my mind’s grocery list, I only needed to find it, along with a fresh bunch of cilantro and a baguette loaf – I had all of the other listed ingredients.  I didn’t find North African harissa exactly, but now knowing what it was, I confidently bought some Thai red chile paste instead.

I followed the recipe, filled my house with garlic, onion and cilantro aromas, and voila!, my husband and I had a spicy, wonderfully aromatic, soothing winter soup (almost broth-like) with toasted baguette slices for sopping up all the goodies. It was wonderful.

Now I am on the look-out for harissa – I’m curious to see how it may or may not change the recipe. I’ll let you know.