Hailed as "a more hip Joy of Cooking" by the Washington Post, Mark Bittman's award-winning book How to Cook Everything has become the bible for a new generation of home cooks, and the series has more than 1 million copies in print. Now, with How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian, Bittman has written the definitive guide to meatless meals-a book that will appeal to everyone who wants to cook simple but delicious meatless dishes, from health-conscious omnivores to passionate vegetarians.

How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian includes more than 2,000 recipes and variations-far more than any other vegetarian cookbook. As always, Bittman's recipes are refreshingly straightforward, resolutely unfussy, and unfailingly delicious-producing dishes that home cooks can prepare with ease and serve with confidence. The book covers the whole spectrum of meatless cooking-including salads, soups, eggs and dairy, vegetables and fruit, pasta, grains, legumes, tofu and other meat substitutes, breads, condiments, desserts, and beverages. Special icons identify recipes that can be made in 30 minutes or less and in advance, as well as those that are vegan. Illustrated throughout with handsome line illustrations and brimming with Bittman's lucid, opinionated advice on everything from selecting vegetables to preparing pad Thai, How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian truly makes meatless cooking more accessible than ever.

Praise for How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

"Mark Bittman's category lock on definitive, massive food tomes continues with this well-thought-out ode to the garden and beyond. Combining deep research, tasty information, and delicious easy-to-cook recipes is Mark's forte and everything I want to cook is in here, from chickpea fries to cheese soufflés."
—Mario Batali, chef, author, and entrepreneur

"How do you make an avid meat eater (like me) fall in love with vegetarian cooking? Make Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian part of your culinary library."
—Bobby Flay, chef/owner of Mesa Grill and Bar Americain and author of the Mesa Grill Cookbook

"Recipes that taste this good aren't supposed to be so healthy. Mark Bittman makes being a vegetarian fun."
—Dr. Mehmet Oz, Professor of Surgery, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia Medical Center and coauthor of You: The Owner's Manual
Author of a dozen bestselling cookbooks and beloved columnist for The New York Times ("The Minimalist"), Chef Mark Bittman bookends his award-winning modern classic, How to Cook Everything, with How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian the ultimate one-stop resource for meatless meals. Refreshingly straightforward and filled with illustrated recipes, this is a book that puts vegetarian cuisine within the reach of every home cook. You'll want to spend countless days in the kitchen with Bittman's latest culinary treasure.

A: What motivated me--several years ago--was seeing the handwriting on the wall: That although being a principled, all-or-nothing vegetarian was not a course of action that would ever likely inspire the majority of Americans, the days of all-meat-all-the-time (or, to be slightly less extreme, of a diet heavily dependent on meat) could not go on. Averaging a consumption of two pounds a week or more of meat (as Americans do) is not sustainable, either for the earth or our planet. And, as more and more of us realize this, I thought it was important to develop a cookbook along the lines of How to Cook Everything, but without meat, fish, or poultry. Needless to say, there’s plenty of material.

Q: In the course of writing How to Cook Everything Vegetarian did your approach to food shopping, cooking or dining change significantly?

A: Completely. The more I tried new ways of cooking with vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, the more I enjoyed them. I probably eat sixty or seventy percent fewer animal products than I did three years ago.

Q: Because meatless cooking isn't limited to a single cuisine, your recipes introduce the flavors and techniques of many different cultures and cuisines. How did you manage to cover so much ground? Seems like a daunting task.

A: It’s what I do.

Q: Out of the more than 2,000 recipes in the cookbook do you have a favorite dish or dessert that you turn to again and again?

A: No. There are hundreds I wish I could cook all the time, but one can only cook and eat so much. But in the last week, for example, I’ve made Fava Bean and Mint Salad with Asparagus; Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes; Cornbread Salad; and Red Lentils with Chaat Masala.

Q: Why is simplicity so important in cooking? What does the novice home cook need to know to cook and eat well?

A: Simplicity is only important because it’s the way to learn to cook; it’s very difficult to start cooking with complex dishes. For people to learn to cook, they must start simply--the way everyone used to cook. And, for most of us--including me--there’s no reason to carry things much further. Even the simplest cooking is rewarding, enjoyable, and--obviously--the healthiest and best way to eat.

An Exclusive Recipe from Mark Bittman


Crunchy Corn Guacamole
Here's a new twist on the traditional guacamole (which you can find in the form of the first variation). The fresh corn kernels add texture and flavor without taking away from that of the avocado.

Serves 4
Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
--1 lime
--1 cup corn kernels, preferably just stripped from the cobs, but thawed frozen is acceptable
--1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
--1/2 cup chopped scallion
--1 serrano or jalapeño chile, stemmed, seeded, and minced (optional)
--2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
--1/4 cup roughly chopped toasted pumpkin seeds
--3 medium ripe avocados, preferably Hass --salt

1. Grate the lime zest (or use a zester to make long strands) and reserve; cut the lime into wedges. Put the lime zest, corn, and garlic in a food processor; squeeze in half of the lime wedges and pulse to make a chunky purée.
2. Put the corn mixture along with the scallion, chile, and a large pinch of salt into a medium bowl and mash until the mixture is well combined. Add the cilantro and pumpkin seeds and mash a few more times.
3. Cut the avocados in half and reserve the pits if you will not be serving the guacamole right away. Scoop the flesh into the bowl and mash, leaving a few chunks of avocado. Squeeze in lime juice from the reserved lime wedges to taste.
4. Season with salt to taste and serve or tuck the pits back into the mixture and cover the surface with plastic wrap (this will help keep the guacamole from turning brown), then refrigerate for up to 4 hours. Remove the pits before serving.

Minimalist Guacamole More traditional: Omit the corn kernels and pumpkin seeds. Add the zest and garlic to the scallion in Step 2 and proceed with the recipe.

Guacamole with Tomatillos. The tomatillos add a nice hit of acidity: Substitute 1/2 cup chopped tomatillo for the corn and pumpkins seeds if you like. Skip Step 1 and add the tomatillos to Step 2.

Avocado and Goat Cheese Spread or Dip. Spread this on bread and layer with grilled vegetables for a fantastic sandwich: Omit the garlic, chile, cilantro, and pumpkin seeds. Substitute lemon for the lime and 3/4 cup goat cheese for the corn. Put everything in a food processor if you want a smooth spread; for a chunkier spread, just use a potato masher or fork.

Pea Spread or Dip. Great on Crostini: Instead of the corn and the avocados, use 1 pound lightly steamed fresh or frozen peas. Omit the chile and pumpkin seeds. Use lemon instead of lime and process all the peas as you would the corn in Step 1. Substitute fresh mint leaves for the cilantro. If you like, thin the consistency a bit by adding a little cream, yogurt, or silken tofu.

Asparagus Spread or Dip. A great low-calorie alternative to traditional guacamole: Follow the variation for Pea Spread or Dip, but use 1 pound lightly steamed asparagus instead of the peas. Pat it dry, slice it into manageable pieces, and proceed with the recipe.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Adding to the applause...
Comment: I'll just add to the raves of other readers who found this book to be a wonderful addition to their cookbooks. I must have over 150 cookbooks, and this was on my shelf for quite some time before I picked it up recently. I was amazed at the recipes, and I will turn to this book more and more in the future. I'm trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into my diet, but beyond that, I just find this book to be quite useful in all aspects of my menu planning. I will now reconsider other books by Mark Bitman.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Recipes that even my non-vegetarian husband loves
Comment: A co-worker of mine brought this cookbook to work and said "here, take this home and look it over." I thanked him politely, but inside was feeling imposed upon. Sure I'm a vegetarian, but does this mean I have to take home YOUR gigantic cookbook and look at it? I ended up taking it and also cooking from it. The things I discovered were that Mark Bittman is talented and knows how to create food that tastes really good. Dependably good. The recipes are not complicated, and sometimes very easy yet produce delicious and interesting vegetarian food. This book engaged me in a way no other cook book has. There is something thrilling to me about making a exotic sounding Senegalese Peanut Soup full of rich flavors including chard and having my 16 year old picky son tell me it is delicious. Or seeing my husband (carnivore) with a plate heaped with black-eyed pea fritters looking blissed out as he snarfs them down. As a result, I got hooked, maybe even a bit obsessed with the cookbook for a while. It seemed to have the same effect on others, however. I caught another co-worker holed-up with the copy machine and the book. I fortunately got a copy for Christmas. I am really happy about that.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent for vegetarians and everyone else
Comment: I'm not 100% vegetarian, but I love many vegetarian foods and dishes, and was really looking forward to this book. I haven't actually made any of the recipes yet. Those two caveats aside, this book is fantastic. It's absolutely comprehensive, and I would imagine extremely useful for vegans or someone like me who still eats meat but enjoys meatless foods (and everyone in between). Mr. Bittman has a great way of explaining things as if assuming the reader really doesn't know anything, without dumbing it down or writing as if he's talking to a child. I have loved "How To Cook Everything" for a few years, and this book has a similar style of recipes. Very simple, with the emphasis on using the best quality of ingredients (or, making the best use of what you have handy), but also lots of international variations and many lesser known ingredients. He gives a very basic example of a particular recipe, then lists 10 or 15 variations that could be made, to please just about anyone. I sat for a couple hours just perusing the recipes and there are many that I really can't wait to try, and quite a few that I hadn't heard of or thought of before. Also, the book has lots of useful information as far as preparing techniques and equipment.

Bottom line, I have lots of cookbooks, but would do pretty well with just this and "How To Cook Everything".

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Essential
Comment: This is hands-down the best cookbook I've ever bought, for several reasons. First, at a whopping 900 pages it is far more comprehensive than competitors such as Laurel's Kitchen and the various Moosewood Cookbooks. For example, when I brought home fresh chestnuts from the store and needed ideas on how to cook them, I was impressed to find a good half-dozen uses for them in the cookbook, from basic roasted chestnuts to bean and chestnut soup to chestnut ice cream. I rarely come up empty-handed when I go looking for a recipe in this tome. Second, the straightforward recipes eschew fancy techniques when they are superfluous and thus can actually be made by everyday cooks in a reasonable amount of time. This sets it apart from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, which constantly makes use of specialty sauces described elsewhere in her book. Her approach works fine if your own a restaurant and have an army of minions to prepare these specialty ingredients, but not so well if you're cooking alone and trying to get dinner on the table. Third, the cookbook teaches you *how* to cook, rather than simply follow a recipe by rote, by describing the key techniques and principles of cooking and offering a plethora of variations to go with most recipes. Cook with this cookbook for a few months -- and read the author's "Bitten" blog on the New York Times website --- and you'll find yourself starting to experiment more and more with your cooking, creating your own variations. I find this incredibly freeing! If you're like me, once you get this book you'll find yourself reaching for it to the exclusion of most others.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: I never met a Mark Bittman cookbook I didn't like...
Comment: This one is my new favorite. Here's what I like about it:

* His approach to vegetarian cooking. I learned the term "flexitarian" from this book, which is how I now describe myself. His approach to meat consumption is reasonable and works with where I am in life (limited weekly consumption of animal products).

* This is not a "diet" book, a nutritional guide or a lecture on why you should eat more plant-based foods. You can find that elsewhere. This is still, first and foremost, a cookbook. Bittman has a demonstrated appreciation for the environmental and practical benefits of consuming more plant-based foods. This book will help you appreciate that you can have a more wonderful, flavorful diet by increasing your consumption of vegetables, fruits, grains, and dairy. You will not get bored with these changes and will not be doomed to a austere life of celery sticks and bland purees. You can also cook delicious meals for others who don't share your outlook on food (and they probably won't realize you are omitting meat). If you eventually remove dairy and eggs from your diet, this cookbook will still serve as a comprehensive guide to great cooking.

* Bittman's recipes are typically minimalist and focus on fresh, simple ingredients. They also encourage creative expermentation. I appreciate how he will start with a good, basic recipe (i.e., pancakes), and provide several realistic and effective variations. This flexibility is great for those times when you want variety in your diet (or your pantry is lacking in certain ingredients).

* Every time I read through this book, I learn something new. He doesn't pretend that you aspire to be the top chef at a 5-star restaurant, but realizes that most of us can take our daily cooking to the next level. Essential tools, techniques and shopping tips are covered. He also guides you through what you need to know about a particular food. For example, he will explain the characteristics of a specific vegetable, how it can be cooked, what to remove, and how to clean it; then he presents recipes that feature the vegetable.

* It makes a lovely gift. I should know... I gave it to myself. I wouldn't hesitate to buy it for a friend who would appreciate it.

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