Leaving the Enchanted Broccoli Forest: Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live without by Mollie Katzen

I feel like I may be the only person in the world who actually learned how to cook from the Moosewood cookbooks. Strange but true. When I was eighteen, I went to live in Jerusalem for a year, armed only with a previously unopened copy of Joy of Cooking. At that point, my entire culinary repertoire consisted of boiling water and using a microwave. One day, I came home to my overcrowded Jerusalem apartment to the most amazing smell. A roommate was making pesto with spaghetti from the Moosewood cookbook. I was utterly shocked, and totally enchanted, by the concept that fresh herbs could be used in food (who knew?). I ditched Rombauer and started borrowing my roommate's copies of the Moosewood Cookbook and the Enchanted Broccoli Forest, both by Mollie Katzen.

Mollie Katzen was the leader of an iconic vegetarian cooperative known as the Moosewood collective, known for the Moosewood restaurant in Ithaca and for the Moosewood series of cookbooks. Although she and the Moosewood collective have long since parted ways, each has continued to publish numerous vegetarian cookbooks. The early Moosewood series, charming though it may be, is known to many for unreliable recipes that often require doctoring. But, for me, they were also the place where I learned to cook from fresh ingredients and to appreciate the excitement that produce brings to food. I started shopping in the souk and learning about local produce, and became completely obsessed with cooking. Bizarrely enough, Mollie Katzen was kinda like my Alice Waters.

So I really wanted to like Vegetables Dishes I Can’t Live Without. Unlike her earlier cookbooks, however, this book seems primarily focused on streamlined, unfussy vegetable side dishes. Although Mollie has returned to the hand-written format that made early Moosewood so adorable, these recipes are neither as homey and filling, nor as charming, as her earlier books. Some – like the spaghetti squash pancakes and the ruby chard recipes – fell flat until I doctored them with cheese or condiments. The carrots in North African spices were a bit raw and unfinished-tasting. Unlike most recipes which I have tried, in which the carrots are boiled or steamed until soft and then covered with a cumin-spiked marinade greedily absorbed by the carrots, this one was steamed briefly and then roasted briefly with the spices.

A couple of the recipes were wonderful ideas that I would make again. The fennel with lemon – sauteed fennel matchsticks topped with paper thin slices of lemon that were dusted with flour and then fried until brown and crisp – was tart, caramelized and unreal. The spaghetti squash roasted in the oven for almost an hour with fried onions and topped with fried sage leaves was similarly caramelized and good. But while I thought these were great ideas, I will not need to confer with the cookbook to make them, simple as they are.

It is a little hard for me to understand the demographic at which this book is aimed. It seems to be designed for use by people with some, but not extensive, experience cooking vegetables, who are looking for a reference for quick vegetable side dishes with a little flair or a unique twist. While I will always be grateful to Mollie, I think there are other books that more expertly fit that niche – including books by Jack Bishop and Deborah Madison. Because those books are more reliable, sophisticated and informative, I would turn to them before this one. I will always love Mollie, but I think it’s time for my Moosewood cookbooks to go into storage.

Comments

[James]

Heh. It was you who introduced me to the Moosewood cookbook. Although I liked to cook, I'd never seen a cookbook before. I've always wanted to like that book more than I do. Its palate is overwhelmingly brown. It's an autumn book, and its very 70s. Nothing wrong with any of that, but definitely not to my taste.

That said, the fennel matchsticks sound great and I might give them a try.

[Mr. Addict]

TCA introduced me to vegetarian cooking, and I have eaten a lot more of these types of dishes than I would otherwise as a result.

Maybe I am biased by the "look" of the book, but I feel that vegetarian recipes need to work harder to be better. Both in what goes in them and how they are presented. Drawings don't cut it for me, and I like more complex flavors in the absence of meat or other protein.

That being said, the fennel and the roasted spaghetti squash were really great. The other recipes were lackluster for exactly the reasons that I mentioned.

There is another book by a British author (Paul something) that gives me vegetarian recipes the way that I like them. I will try to remember the author's name and post again.

[The Cookbook Addict]

James - Funny but guess it makes sense that I would be the one to get you using cookbooks...The idea of cooking without them is enchanting to me, probably because I did not really learn to cook at all growing up, let alone without a recipe. I'm a little jealous. But, I am so very attached to my books --

Mr. Addict - Think you're referring to Paul Gayler's book. I am with you, that might be the most sophisticated vegetarian cookbook out there. Even though it's not new, maybe I'll review it at some point.

[Mr. Addict]

That's the guy. Paul Gayler.

His recipes are as you said very sophisticated, but often simple. They are not just good for vegetarian recipes, but good for recipes in any categorization.

I made steamed buns from that book and there is no way you would think they were from a "vegetarian" cookbook besides not having pork in them.

[tina]

The very esteemed British cookbook author, Jane Grigson has an excellent book of vegetable "cookery":"Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book" that functions as my encyclopedia of vegetable recipes.It is very informative and well written. However, it may be out of print.

[The Cookbook Addict]

Tina - Thanks for the tip. They actually came out with a paperback, updated version of Grigson's vegetable book last year, with conversions to American measurements. I'm thinking I might review it at some point. Or, maybe I should start reviewing some of the classics, instead of sticking to relatively newish books. Any thoughts?

[pbromley]

I like that you are doing current books that are out there. It gives me an idea where to turn when I am interested in adding to my collection. That being said, it might be interesting for you to intersperse some of the classics in there. It's hard to find current write-ups of people testing out the classic books. That could be really useful.

[gruzia]

her moosewood cookbook was the very first cookbook that i became enchanted by and painstakingly wrote out recipes from. i was going through my first year of med school and that cookbook was such a refuge! very pathetic, on my part, too, since i had absolutely no time to actually cook more than one recipe from it, but i loved reading the handwritten descriptions of the food and imagining what everything would taste like. and btw, the one recipe i did cook out of this book - yogurt-herb bread -> absolutely fantastic!

[The Cookbook Addict]

Hey gruzia,

I too have spent many a night reading longingly from cookbooks (for me it was law school...) There is something so soothing about those hand-written recipes. I like the recipes from the original two Moosewood cookbooks a lot - they are very flavorful and full of character. But, many need "adjustments" which is fine if you know your way around a kitchen. I'll have to try that yogurt bread, that sounds nice. Thanks for checking in!

The Cookbook Addict

[Tracy]

The original Moosewood cookbook was one of my first cookbooks. I still have it. It looked so charming that I really wanted to like it. There were a couple of good recipes in there -- I still make the cornbread recipe -- but sooo many recipes flopped. At the time, I didn't have the wherewithall to know how to adjust them and found the process to be frustrating. I'm relieved to know other people found its recipes to need "adjustments."