This book is going to revolutionize how you do dinner. You know how “What’s for dinner?” is always the question? You stare at what you’ve got in your fridge for a while but just have no idea what to do with what you’ve got? Well, The Vegetarian Flavor Bible by Karen Page, with photos by Andrew Dornenburg, is about to answer that “What’s for dinner?” question for you every night! Instead of the usual cookbook with recipes, this book is like an A-Z encyclopedia of every vegetarian food, flavor and ingredient and what they taste best with. Each ingredient in this 550+ page book has information on its peak season, its flavor, its nutritional content, techniques for cooking it and then finally (and most helpful of all to me!) long lists of flavor affinities…aka what ingredient combinations taste best with this particular food item. It’s so genius because instead of offering precise recipes which you might not have all the ingredients for, it offers us meal inspiration for what will taste best with what you’ve got!
So I decided to put The Vegetarian Flavor Bible to the test and see if I could use it to inspire a great meal with an ingredient I didn’t know much about. I opted for eggplant because 1. it’s a staple at all the farmers markets right now and 2. because after one serious failed attempt at making an eggplant dish back in college, I was always too scared to try cooking with eggplant again. So it would be a real test to see if I could use it to create something delicious this time around. I looked up eggplant in The Vegetarian Flavor Bible and saw that one of the recommended flavor combinations is eggplant, bell peppers, onions and tomatoes. According to The Vegetarian Flavor Bible this particular flavor affinity is recommended by a number of experts.
So with no specific recipe in mind, just faith that that flavor combo would taste good, I set out to the farmers market to pick up those four fresh ingredients.
I chose sungold tomatoes because they are in season right now and so, so sweet! Then I chose a red bell pepper, a yellow bell pepper, two onions and two smaller size eggplants.
The book lists many ways eggplant can be cooked so I decided to sauté all my fresh veggies together in a little bit of olive oil. The tomatoes gave the veggies a nice sauce like consistency and helped all the flavors come together. Then I seasoned with only a little bit of salt and pepper and served it all over pasta. And…
The result was FABULOUS! It gave me a super easy to make, healthy dinner that was absolutely bursting with flavor! The flavor combination was legitimately perfect and as I was chowing down I thought to myself, “Those experts sure know what they are talking about.” It turned out to be a perfect example of how well this book works as a guide for inspiring delicious, healthy dishes. I have a million other foods I want to try making now that I have this flavor bible to guide me. If you’re looking for meal inspiration and trying to eat a little more plant-based I so recommend The Vegetarian Flavor Bible! And I’ll include the recipe I made below in case you want some dinner inspiration right now. 🙂
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 small-medium eggplants or 1 large eggplant, cubed
- 1 pint sungold tomatoes, cut in halves
- 2 small onions or 1 medium onion, sliced
- 2 bell peppers, diced
- 8 oz pasta
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add eggplant, onions and bell peppers and cook until softened, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once vegetables have softened add tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook until tomatoes begin to soften, about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Drain pasta. Top with veggie sauce and serve hot.
xo,
Tedi
I want!