Product Description

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the legendary Buddhist monastery set deep in California's Ventana Wilderness, is famous for its healthy gourmet vegetarian cuisine. Guests are known to rave about one particular Tassajara tradition: the bag lunch. Tassajara Cookbook shares these never-before-published recipes for savory sandwich spreads, pâtés and loaves, egg and tofu sandwich fillings, salads, chutneys, sauces, marinades, and butters, as well as recipes for baked goods and sweet treats.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #147950 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-07
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From the Inside Flap
TASSAJARA COOKBOOK
The Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, a legendary Buddhist monastery set deep in California's Ventana Wilderness, is famous for its healthy gourmet vegetarian cuisine. Guests rave about one particular Tassajara tradition: the bag lunch. Now Tassajara Cookbook: Lunches, Picnics & Appetizers shares these never-before-published recipes for savory spreads, pates and loaves, sandwich fillings, granolas, salads, chutneys, sauces, and marinades, as well as baked goods and sweet treats.
A valuable resource for picnics, snacks, appetizers and small plates, Tassajara Cookbook is filled with recipes that can be prepared in advance for parties or camping and traveling. The Tassajara Cookbook is perfect for vegans and vegetarians on the go, or anyone who wants to add healthy, tasty snacks to his or her diet.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Date and Coconut Cookies (Auntie Nuke's)
For the past twenty-five years, these vegan cookies have been very popular with Tassajara guests.
1/2 cup nuts, roasted
1/2 cup date pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 cups unbleached flour*
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup canola oil or other vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put the nuts and date pieces into a food processor and chop together. Put mixture into a medium-size bowl and then add the yeast, coconut, flour, baking powder, and salt; mix well.
In another small bowl, combine the maple syrup, vanilla, and oil. Mix into the dry mixture and stir together until the dough is firm and holds it shape. Spoon by tablespoon onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on a rack. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
*For a wheat-free alternative, blend baby oats until fine and use in place of flour.

Customer Reviews

Tassajara Cookbook... an inspiring recipe/ picture book
the history and traditions of tassajara are evident in this collection of recipes inspired by the retreat centre's picnic lunches. i found this to be a much-used book both for the recipes (which can be easily adapted and taken in many different directions) and the photographs which capture the practice and peacefulness of the zen centre. these days, nothing slows you down more to the state of presence and joy like a well-made picnic!

Look carefully before buying . . .
I am always seduced by cookbooks that purport to give recipes for delicious vegetarian food, especially picnic goodies.

So seduced, I bought the book, paying full price at a wonderful inn with an equally wonderful vegetarian restaurant -- the Stanford Inn in Mendocino CA if anyone is interested.

When I went looking for a recipe, I decided to try the Honey-Mustard Tofu (p. 126).

The first direction is to preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Okay, that's clear. But then you see that you are supposed to marinate the tofu for at least 2 hours! With the oven on?? Obviously not, but a well-edited cookbook would not put the instructions in the wrong order. This cookbook either was not edited at all, or was edited by someone who never cooked anything AND lacked commonsense.

We see that the recipe is the most requested recipe for the Bag Lunch at Tassajara. Hmmm. Wouldn't you think that the author would take the time to get the recipe right?

Well, the author not only did not get this recipe right, but several others appear to never have been edited as well.

Thumbing through the book, I find Three Nut Pate on page 79. The introduction says it is best if made ahead and allowed to sit for a few hours. The recipe, however, says to spoon it into a serving dish immediately after processing it in a food processor and to garnish with fresh basil leaves. In my experience fresh basil leaves quickly turn brown and look really sad if left for a few hours.

Here again the author should have provided clear instructions regarding adding the garnish just before serving.

The publisher should publish a revised edition of this book. It's a discredit to Tassajara in its present form

It feels like deja vu
All the recipes seem to be very similar with minor exceptions. The book is a nice collection of condiments and spreads and will not tax your budget too much. All the cookies that I have tried have come out well, too bad the publisher messed up the end of the book and reprinted the dressings again after the cookie section. If you are interested in purchasing this book, first preview it from a library or your local bookstore. It really didn't inspire the vegetarian in me.