Author: Paul Gayler
Publisher: Kyle Cathie
ISBN: 101 8 5626 7407
Reviewer: Lynda - Veggie Places
As soon as I started reading the introduction to the book I was 'sold'.
Paul, executive head chef at the Lanesborough hotel in London for the past 17 years, although not vegetarian himself has long been a champion of cooking using vegetables. He sees vegetarian cooking as an enjoyable challenge to produce tasty and innovative dishes and is a strong supporter of veggie chefs. He believes that you can enjoy vegetarian cuisine without being a vegetarian, in a similar way that you can enjoy Chinese food and not be Chinese.
The book has a clear layout with easy to follow instructions and beautiful colour photographs. Almost every recipe has a photo which not only shows you what the finished dish should look like but gives you presentation ideas.
A few of the recipes are a little fiddly to make but none should be beyond the average home cook. I rather like the sound of his recipes where he has married Asian and Italian flavours such as the Goan Chickpea Risotto and My Fusion Noodles.
Reading recipes is not the same as making them so I had a go at producing the Mini Tortilla Wraps from the Appetiser section and Sweet Potato and Coconut Polenta from the chapter on pasta and grains. Preparation of the ingredients for the wraps took me 30 minutes - most of this time was chopping the mango. Once this was done, cooking the filling and rolling the wraps took no time at all. The preparation could be done a few hours ahead making this a great dish to use when entertaining as your time over a hot stove is minimal. I was either very stingy with the filling or was using small wraps as it took 4 wraps to use up the filling I had made. If you are going to serve them as finger food, make the cuts about 10mm wide so they can be eaten in one mouthful. They were lovely eaten still warm - a great mixture of textures and flavours.
The Sweet Potato and Coconut Polenta recipe attracted me as the polenta is made without cheese. Not that I dislike cheese but it does tend to be added as almost a given 'the dish is vegetarian so throw cheese on top' and I think we would all benefit by reducing our dairy intake. Aside from all that I like polenta, coconut and sweet potato, so I did not need much persuasion! I used the time while the sweet potato was cooking to prepare the vegetables with a short break for blending and cooking the polenta. It actually was very easy once I got started. Polenta can be quite bland (which is why cheese gets added) and it lacks texture. The potato/coconut milk combination gave it flavour with an Asian twist, with the lightly stir fried vegetables adding the needed texture - for me it was a winning combination, although some might feel the polenta turns out a bit sweet.
As a vegetarian I like the fact that recipes with eggs specify using 'free range egg'. My only quibble is the inconsistent listing of cheese as an ingredient, sometimes specifying to use a vegetarian cheese (p15, p100) and sometimes not (p92, 93). Some cheeses used are not vegetarian, so you may have to find a suitable substitute.
This is definitely a book for anyone interested in cooking, whether they are vegetarian or not. It will certainly help to dispel the myth that veggie food is dull and consists of nut loaf!!
Pure Vegetarian
Paul Gayler
Do you have a favourite veggie book you would like to review for us or is there a book you think we should review? Send your suggestions to info@veggieplaces.co.uk with Book Review in the subject line.
