| Synopsis: |
Vegetarian Planet celebrates the globally-inspired, world-wise pantry. Its recipes are not "ethnic" dishes "from" this place or that, nor are they "fusion" dishes that marry two distinct cuisines. They are original creations of a young chef who seamlessly incorporates adventuresome flavors into simple everyday meals. Emmons shows how to enliven with flavor all the grains, like millet, spelt, quinoa, and kasha, now widely available. She liberates classic flavoring combinations - like East Asian ginger-and-scallion, Southeast Asian coconut-and-lime, Mexican chile-and-onion, Italian olive-and-caper, and Middle Eastern garlic-and-lemon - from their homelands, using them on foods they'd never met before but now will wish they had. She wakens slumbering treasures of the American harvest, like parsnips and beets, collard and kale, and dresses them up in ways Grandma never imagined. And she amply attends to the staples of the meatless palate, from carrots, broccoli, and spinach to rice and tortillas, along the way making them more intriguing and lively than we've come to expect. |