Happy Vegan Food: Fast, Fresh, Simple Vegan

Chef Bordi follows up Celebrate: Plant-Based Recipes for Every Occasion with an uneven collection of vegan fare. Recipes reflect Bordi’s dedication to simplicity and cooking philosophy of combining appealing visuals with flavors that “satisfy the tastebuds.” The author indicates whether recipes are freezable, are batch cookable, can be made nut-free, or can last for several days in the fridge; all four apply to baked shakshuka with butter beans, while pasta with pesto and nut parmesan is batch cookable and can last for three days in the fridge. Bordi shows how to make vegan cooking staples—instant hemp milk, pistachio milk, and almond milk among them—from scratch and offers some decadent desserts, a gluten-free sticky toffee pudding and chocolate mousse among them. But the chapters are sometimes contradictory: a section of “quick and simple” recipes calls for making a ground hazelnut crust, while the dill yogurt that accompanies sweet potato cakes needs to set for an unspecified amount of time. Some vague health claims (a breakfast bowl of turmeric porridge with berries “incorporates Ayurvedic healing knowledge”) also don’t bring much to the table. Even so, this is a suitable primer for those who are new to vegan fare. Agent: Martine Carter, Sauce Management. (Jan.)