I got Robin Robertson’s One-Dish Vegan from VeganMoFo 2013 giveaway. Once again, I was browsing the book a lot and reading the recipes when I got it, but only cooked couple of recipes. That’s why I didn’t blog about it then. I knew December would be a busy month with holidays and everything, so this book seemed a perfect choice for weekday dinners. The rule in my challenge is that I have to cook at least once a week something from the book, and this month I cooked something 2-3 times a week, except during the holidays.
One-dish in this case means that the dinner is served from one dish, you may need more for preparing. But in many recipes it does mean you need only one pot or pan for making and serving the dish. The book also has conversion tables for liquid and weight measurements and oven temperatures. I love this, it’s really useful for us who live outside US. I hate when the recipe says I have to bake something in 375 F and I have no idea how hot is that in Celsius degrees, and I have to go and google it.
The book is filled with recipes for soups, stews, pasta, baked dishes, chilis, salads and other dishes that can be made quite easily. They don’t require hours of cooking, so they’re great for cooking on weekdays after work. Polenta bake was a clever idea. If you know you won’t have much time for cooking, you can prepare it day before and just bake it for dinner.
My favourite part of the book was the soups. Usually soup recipes are a bit boring, but not in this book. They are hearty and they’re filled with vegetables and a protein source, so they’re a complete meals, not just starters. My favourite recipe in the whole book is Creamy Bean and Winter Vegetable Soup (p. 29). I haven’t tried Indonesian Noodle Soup with Tofu or Spicy Peanut Soup yet, but they sound so great that they may be even better.
I skipped the salad section, because I want to have warm dinners when the weather is cold. But how about Mediterranean Rice and Chickpea Salad or Citrus-Dressed Quinoa and Black Bean Salad next summer? I’m sure they’ll also be great lunches for work.
I recommend this book for anyone, who isn’t allergic to tomatoes, since a lot of recipes include tomatoes in some form. Many recipes call for a can of fire roasted tomatoes, which are not available here, so I substituted them with regular crushed tomatoes or chopped sun dried tomatoes. Otherwise the ingredients are easy to find, you can buy most of them from any supermarket.
Elitefood 