Culinary Adventures, Part One: The Vedge Cookbook

There’s a restaurant in Philidelphia that I’ve never been to, called Vedge. Chefs Richard Landau & Kate Jacoby call it a vegetable restaurant, instead of a Vegan or Vegetarian restaurant & they are famous for making vegetable combinations so delectable that even the most skeptical of carnivores leave their restaurant startled & sated. Since beginning this journey toward wellness, I have been hunting for ways to make fruits and vegetables as fresh, interesting & exciting as possible. One of my best friends is both vegan & lactose intolerant & since I pride myself on cooking for my guests, I also determined to find wonderful & new ways to excite her palate when she comes to visit. That’s how I discovered Vedge & the cookbook: “Vedge:100 Plates Large & Small that Redefine Vegetable Cooking.”

These recipes are not overly complicated or 'scary' to try. They don’t require high-end cookware & equipment I don't have, they don’t require ingredients that you can’t find in any decent grocery store. These recipes make vegetables sexy. It reinvents them in such delicious combinations that they feel like they must be traditional dishes, even though they’re completely new. Basically, a lot of them are destined to become my family’s classics.

Last night I tried two new recipes from the Vedge cookbook. My first course was a chilled appetizer of Salt-roasted golden beets with smoked tofu, avocado, red onion, capers & cucumber-dill sauce. Playing with the way we often eat smoked salmon, the thinly sliced salt-roasted golden beet is marinated lighty in sherry vinegar & its sweet-salty-sourness was in perfect harmony with the other flavors on the plate. My son, who is the salmon fanatic in our family, commented: "I don't even think I'd like this better with lox!"

The second course & entree was hearts-of-palm cakes served over curried red lentils. Hearts-of-palm have a similar texture & slightly brighter taste than artichoke hearts. The cakes, made similarly to a crab cake, are also stuffed with scallions & minced bell pepper. Warm, inviting & hearty, at the end of the meal I was found I didn’t miss the meat at all.

I am not now, nor am I ever likely to become, a vegetarian, but I am always interested in new culinary adventures. A big part of making healthy eating a lifestyle choice rather than a ‘diet’ has been finding new & exciting ways to do just that. Vedge's cookbook is one of the best ways I've discovered yet & I recommend it to everyone! I’m currently trying to obtain permission from the restaurant to post the two recipes I tried on my site, & if I do you’ll be able to find them shortly on a coming recipe page. If not, I still recommend you buy the book & try them out yourself!

You can find it on Amazon in print or for your Kindle here.

Happy vegetable eating!