Review: “Food52 Vegan,” Gena Hamshaw

Pros: Delicious food; lovely photos
Cons: …
Rating: 4 out of 5

I’m not vegan, but I believe that good vegan and vegetarian cookbooks can provide wonderful vegetable-based recipes. It’s a great way to find excellent side dishes, or reduce the amount of meat that you eat. Food52 Vegan: 60 Vegetable-Driven Recipes for Any Kitchen (Food52 Works), by Gena Hamshaw, delivered very well on its promise.

The sections are divided into: breakfast, appetizers and snacks, soups, salads, main dishes, and desserts. My favorite recipe so far is the pumpkin pancakes (a variation on the “Go-To Pancakes”). It’s quick and easy and really delicious. The pancakes are mildly chewy but not tough, which is a difficult line to ride–Hamshaw does a fantastic job of it.

Pumpkin Pancakes

There are plenty of recipes that use meat substitutes such as tempeh and tofu, but there are more that don’t. The cookbook rests heavily on bright, tasty vegetables. The sweet potato and peanut stew seemed a little odd with kale in it (an unusual texture component for me), but it was delicious.

Additional recipes include such things as butternut squash mac and cheese (I soooo need to try this one); cauliflower and oyster mushroom tacos; parsnip fries with spicy harissa mayonnaise; carrot and fennel pot pie; date nut bread; creamy tomato soup; banana chia pudding.

Everything we’ve made from this book so far has been delicious, and it has taken its place beside our other healthy, ‘vegetable-forward’ cookbooks.

This book was provided free for review by Blogging for Books.