Almost Vegetarian: A Primer for Cooks Who Are Eating Vegetarian Most of the Time, Chicken & Fish Some of the Time, & Altogether Well All

by Diana Shaw

A spirited, reliable, nondogmatic primer with more than 130 recipes for the ever-growing number of people who are eating and cooking semi-vegetarian fare. Offers everything from Chunky Lentil Soup with Parmesan to Peach Scone Cake--all served with an abundance of practical information and advice.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 051788206X
• ISBN13: 9780517882061
• Release Date: October 1994
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (CA)
• Length: 245 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.6" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Not Just Recipes

I love this primer. It is more than just a book of recipes. It has directories of vegetables and fruits along with their peak season, storage method and life, as well as suggestions on how to showcase and cook them. There is also information on types of beans, rice, vingegars and oils. I've never liked to cook nor properly learned how. This book will make a handy reference. Oh yes, and the recipes are great!

Vegetarian Dining

I borrowed this book from my son at Christmas and was so pleased with the recipes and helping comments about eating vegetarian or almost vegetarian, that I bought it for myself. I have tried some of the recipes and they are very good. I recommend this book to anyone looking to eat light.

Slimming with Italian flair

Shaw's cookbook has a sumptuous Italian flair, given that it was tested and written while the author was living in Milan. She balances the Old World savor of herbed asparagus torta, risotto with mussels, potato frittata, rice stuffing with pine nuts and dried cherries, and braised chicken breasts tapenade, with American innovations like sweet potato pancakes (cut with plain potatoes and ricotta cheese) and chilled corn chowder, and international touches such as chickpea curry, couscous with vegetables and fish, and tea steamed chicken or bean curd.Each recipe is accompanied by preparation and cooking times and nutritional information. Many also include serving suggestions and variations.The book opens with a cooking primer describing basic techniques and a buying and storing guide for vegetables. In addition cooking tips, such as how to clean various shellfish, or press tofu, or microwave vegetables, or even clean lettuce, are scattered throughout the book.Shaw's emphasis is on fresh, naturally low-fat foods. Most recipes are simple to prepare if not always quick and will appeal to cooks of any level. Especially useful for those trying to sneak a few meatless meals into the dinner routine.

The first cookbook I've actually wanted to use

I never really bothered to learn how to cook. My extended family does it -- and does it well -- almost as second nature, but for some reason, the love (and the know-how) of preparing wonderful food never made its way down to me. Then I started broadening my tastes, and then I got engaged. Suddenly, I wanted to learn how to cook. I made peace with the kitchen over the course of a summer, and then I decided we'd need to be friends. I borrowed my mom's cookbooks and flipped enthusiastically through the pages, but everything was meat, and everything contained words like broil, blanch, and braise, and I didn't even know what those words meant, let alone how to do them.I found Diana Shaw's ALMOST VEGETARIAN in a used book store for [just a little money]. I loved the format, the nutrition information, the glossary of terms, the how-to boxes (ex: how to clean a leek), the appendecies on how to select fruits and vegetables for best taste, etc. I flipped through it, and right away I saw ten recipes I wanted to try. With my fiance, I got to work immediately, and we have both loved the results so far. Many of the recipes take a long time to make, and some call for specialized ingredients, but there are time saving do-ahead tips for each selection, and exact instructions on how (and how long) each can be preserved (before or after completion) and where to find some of the more obscure ingredients. If you're vegetarian, mostly vegetarian (like me), or you just want to cook more with fruits and veggies, try this book. Some recipes may take longer than expected, especially the first time you make them, but the vast majority are worth the wait. Kudos to Diana Shaw!

There's some good eatin' in this book!

I have tried several of the recipes in this book and found all of them to be delicious. Most selections are relatively low fat with lots of flavor. It's perfect for individuals who eat meat occasionally. All recipes that call for poultry or fish also have suggestions for keeping it vegetarian. Sorry, this doesn't have many vegan recipes, although the vegans I know are pretty clever enough to make substitutions