Product Description

One of America's foremost vegetarian cooks reveals amazing shortcuts to dishes that are short on prep and long on flavor!

Instant classics. That's just what vegetarians in a hurry will find in the more than 100 amazingly quick, full-flavored recipes, like Moroccan Carrot Slaw and Thai-Inspired Red Bean Stew, in Lorna Sass' Short-Cut Vegetarian. Sheer culinary magic can be created from a pantry stocked with carefully selected prepared and instant foods, such as homemade curry powder, roasted red peppers, spicy salsas and mustard sauces, and roasted garlic oil. A splash of orange juice, a touch of cinnamon, and a few sliced leeks transform handy frozen spinach and a can of highest-quality lentils into an exotic Orange-Scented Lentil Ragout to satisfy the most sophisticated palate -- in minutes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #504504 in Books
• Published on: 1997-07-02
• Released on: 1997-06-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Amazon.com Review
Vegetarian magician Lorna Sass pulls another carrot out of the culinary hat with this book. (Of course it's a carrot--this is a vegan cookbook!) This short and snappy book will wow you with Mushroom Barley Soup that cooks in 15 minutes, an almost instant Chickpea Curry, an inspired Vegetable Paella, Tortilla "Sushi," and more. In addition to the recipes, Sass names specific products useful for making speedy, tasty meals and recommends ingredients to keep in the pantry and freezer so there's always something to work with in the house. To prove that quick, good eating doesn't depend on recipes alone, Sass offers time-saving principles: adapt them and you'll quickly move from needing recipes to easily creating your own.

From Library Journal
In a world awash in cookbooks, many of them vegetarian, this one by an award-winning author of many other cookbooks (e.g., Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure, LJ 8/94) stands out. Handsome and well designed, it offers recipes that are truly quick and easy to prepare without being boring or predictable. All recipes are vegan?no dairy products or eggs are used. Sass begins with "Ten Strategies for Short-Cut Vegetarian Cooking." These include the use of high-quality prepared foods and of "secret" ingredients for intense taste. Following is a section on stocking the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer with staples. Sass stresses the importance of using the right tool for each preparation and cooking task. The 100-plus recipes include preparation times and storage hints. Highly recommended for cookery collections.?Carol Cubberley, Univ. of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
It should come as no surprise that very few of us loll around the kitchen these days, whether because of simple disinterest, the growing number of take-out places, or the sheer lack of time. Cookbook authors who ignore this fact could be headed straight for the remainder bin. So, to her credit, vegetarian specialist Sass has reengineered the making of salads, soups, stir-fries, and desserts to produce more than 100 virtually fuss-free recipes. Tofu and tempeh are rarely included; instead, the emphasis is on quick-cooking grains, pasta, leafy stuff, and solid complex carbos to fill up a meal. Many pages are lavished on equipment, ingredients, and seasonings; the dishes--the heart of the book--usually contain only a handful of ingredients and some prepackaged fare (say, granola or bagged slaw). Barbara Jacobs

Customer Reviews

Written for speed -- the most practical cookbook I own.
Every cookbook I own has a focus. Some are ethnic cookbooks. Some are gourmet cookbooks. Some are comprehensive references.

This cookbook's focus is speed. Every recipe lists the "prep time" and "cook time", and for almost all recipes those times are each between 5 and 15 minutes.

Each recipe consists of a short list of ingredients, and the preparation directions are clear and super-concise. Occasionally, one ingredient in a recipe will be a product of another recipe, which is usually a pet peeve of mine in cookbooks, but such ingredients are rare and always have store-bought equivalents if you don't want to prepare them yourself.

Many of the recipes can also be converted from leftovers into a different form -- the quinoa / potato / corn / pepper pilaf easily becomes a stew with a couple cups of water and some veggie stock powder. This is especially handy if you primarily cook just for yourself (as I do.)

I only have two complaints about the book, and they're not major. The first is the lack of all photography, although it sure makes the cookbook unbelievably inexpensive, so it's a fair trade.

My second (minor) complaint is that either I'm a slow cook, or her prep times assume that the ingredients are already as specified -- a recipe will call for chopped carrots, diced pepper, diced tofu, etc. and I think the prep time assumes you already have it all diced and chopped. Either that, or it's simply that I'm chopping everything by hand rather than with a food processor. Either way, the recipes generally seem to take me roughly 150% to 200% of the time she allots. Since I'm not a professional chef (to say the least) I can totally accept that this is just me being slow.

If you're like me, you browse Amazon and add most things to your wish list, only buying fairly sparsely of the items that are really compelling. If so, buy this book. It's inexpensive, and it's fantastic. In just the past week I've owned it, it has dramatically changed the quality and diversity of what I eat at home.

The best vegan book around
I'm a vegeterian. I don't eat meat, dairy, eggs or fish. It's been very difficult to cook for my family. I finally found this book which has excellent recipes. My husband is not a vegetarian but, seems to love all the meals I've been preparing lately. He is now considering on becoming a vegan too. The recipes are super easy and the ingredients can be easily found at the supermarket.

I really use this cookbook!
Since I own hundreds of cookbooks, it's rather difficult to actually use them all, especially on a regular basis. However, I LOVE this one, and it's used quite regularly. Some of the recipes have become family favorites that we make often. The recipes really are easy too! Good food fast & easy!