cover image Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source with More Than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You

Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source with More Than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You

Terry Walters, . . Sterling Epicure, $30 (290pp) ISBN 978-1-4027-6814-9

This friendly cookbook makes (mostly) vegan cooking approachable with simple recipes and straightforward descriptions of more exotic ingredients, and makes it of-the-moment by focusing on using local, seasonal ingredients. More than 230 recipes—each fits on a single page—are organized into spring, summer, fall and winter chapters and showcase the produce that should be available at a given time of year. While there's some typical vegan fare, like seitan bourguignon or scrambled tofu, many recipes play with expected ingredients in interesting ways: marinated tofu with ginger cashew dipping sauce; quinoa and black bean salad with apricot lime dressing; and spicy coconut pumpkin soup. The desserts are especially appealing, with options such as fresh fruit tart with almond crust; chocolate pecan pie; and banana coconut chocolate chip cookies. Although it's surprising that a book so focused on avoiding processed foods would feature processed ingredients in some recipes—the lemon berry cream pie calls for purchased lemon snaps; a savory deep-dish pie uses frozen pie crust—occasional shortcuts like this make the collection even more approachable. (Sept.)