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4.5
These recipes are wonderful, no doubt, but they're not for everyone. I'm shelving this on the fussy gourmet end of my cookbook shelves. To be fair, the author never claims to be offering "meals in under 30 minutes" fare. But she does make somewhat laughable statements in this regard, such as suggesting that a dish involving homemade pasta dough is doable for a quick weeknight meal. In whose world? Not this working mom's.This is a great cookbook for entertaining, or for any occasion where you really want to impress. But for use beyond that, you're going to have to brush aside the purist attitude and make your own shortcuts. Believe me, your recipe will not crash and burn because you substituted store-bought stock for homemade. Case in point: I made the vegetable curry last night. The recipe instructed me to rehydrate 3 cups of dried coconut, and then squeeze the coconut milk out by hand through a cheesecloth. Now... I had dried coconut. I had cheesecloth. What I didn't have was time to waste. But I also had 2 cans of canned lite coconut milk, so that's what I used instead. And the results were very good. The recipe also called for a large number of whole spices to be freshly ground. I followed these instructions. But in a pinch, I doubt the recipe would have suffered too badly had I used pre-ground cloves, cinnamon, cumin, or coriander.The other problem I had with this book is that it frequently calls for produce or herbs that the average person will not have access to. Lemon thyme is a perfect example. I may add lemon thyme to my garden next year. But until then, my chances of finding a supplier of fresh lemon thyme are fairly slim.I bought this book used and I'm glad about that. It's not that I won't use it, but I suspect it will be one of those cookbooks that I'll only drag out for holiday meals or special dinners.Book arrived early & in fine shape?Some recipes are a lot of work!We are fortunate to live close to San Francisco and have been to Greens several times, so when I saw the cookbook, I had to have it. I have used and enjoyed it since 1987. Everything I have ever cooked from it is fabulous. A special favorite is the leek and mustard tart. I'm on Amazon.com today because I served the tart to my sister-in-law and niece last month and they asked me to send them not just the recipe but the cookbook.The recipes are complex and have a lot of ingredients, but that is what makes them taste so wonderful.. Don't leave anything out! Fortunately here in California the ingredients are all available at our neighborhood grocery. My husband jokes that even the most simple recipe in the book takes at least an hour to prepare, and it's true. You think, "This looks simple; it can't take very long," then it does take very long. But it's worth it. By the way, my husband is able to use the book just fine, and he is definitely a novice cook.Believe it or not, my husband and I have been to France and Italy, and nothing we ate there was as good as the recipes in this book. We also enjoy the cookbook Fields of Green by Anne Sommerville, (who took over Greens aftrer Deborah Madison left, I think), but this is our favorite of the two. Happy cooking! Happy eating!This book is from the ether. Really great cookbooks draw you into a world that you had not understood before. Many people who love the Marcella Hazan book love it because it includes the comfort foods of Italy they are familiar with, but also has tons of wonderful, varied surprises. This book is kind of similar. There are recipes that you will realize are the province of the vegetarian and are very appealing, and then there are new things to be discovered that will make you feel, upon their discovery, almost ashamed. The first recipe I prepared was for the White Bean and Tomato Soup with Parsley Sauce. I just about lost my mind. I had only recently started using the mortar and pestle for prepping garlic and this recipe made use of that technique to stunning effect. With a piece of crusty bread, it is as fulfilling as anything you are going to find to eat with animal parts in it.I also like DM's 1400 recipe book but this one is more exciting as a cookbook, the other more encyclopedic. The soups section is especially amazing. I've made almost all of them now. Also, as some people may know, many cookbooks have blunt wrong recipes. I haven't had any recipes miss yet from this book.I have been to The Greens Restaurant in San Francisco a number of times since 1991, including one special occasion: my best friend's wedding reception in 1996. The restaurant is superb, one of the best in SF and in any city! My husband turned me on to the cook book back in 1992, and since then we refer to it more often than The Joy of Cooking. Our favorite recipes include the mushroom pizza with jack and dry jack cheese, and the mushroom lazagne. These are not beginner's recipes, but the directions are easy to follow if you're familiar with all the standard cooking techniques. The recipes are out of this world!I personally am not a vegetarian, but these recipes take your vegetables and taste buds beyond your wildest dreams. I would recommend this cook book to anyone who likes cooking and eating fine food. If you're looking for easy recipes that take 10 minutes, you'll have to settle for hamburger helper or kraft macaroni and cheese... this is not the place for you! But if you love cooking and love trying new recipes, this is one to add to your collection.I’ve dreamed of a cookbook like this one! It’s what you need when you’ve got a bunch of asparagus, for example, that you don’t have plans for and need to cook before it goes bad. Since it’s organized by the main veggie ingredient, you can go to the asparagus section and chose from a selection of recipes that are simple (you will have the other ingredients) or more complex.Great price for a nice book. Was a smooth transaction. Book was well packed. I deducted one star because it was a dicarded library book. Ugh! This possibility was stated. Would have preferred it not to have been. Otherwise, no problems.There is a big attraction in lavishly illustrated cookery books in as much as what the finished dish could look like, but sometimes one can get the impression that the illustrations are more important than the recipes. The Greens Cookbook does not fall into that trap. When I showed my sister my copy - she has more cookery books than I have, she was not into getting yet another until she looked up Sorell - which is growing in her garden, found a description and recipe, thumbed through the rest of the very clearly written recipes, and said, I will get my own copy. It makes a change to get a book where there are more than half a dozen recipes than one likes, especially when the genre is relatively small. It does not fall into a common trap - a lovely Italian Vegetarian book I have which assumes that everyone makes their own pasta - there is a nice section on pasta here, nor does it meet the aims of the brilliant Vegistan, although there is clearly a Mexican influence in some of the recipes - but the palette is very broad. One reviewer described it as an extraordinary book in enthusiasm, scope and clarity: it isGood vegetarian recipes. Unusual.Who makes a cookbook in this visual age with no pictures? I'm afraid it has actually put me off trying out the recipes.Good bookBest veggie cook book ever! It blows all other books away. I love it
