Deborah Krasner review: a veg queen goes back to her roots

Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen

By Deborah Madison (Broadway Books, $27.50)

I've always thought of Deborah Madison as the Colette of food because her recipes provide such sensual delight. While this is particularly true of her early cookbooks, The Greens Cookbook and The Savory Way, her latest, Vegetarian Suppers, is a little more low-key. That's because Suppers focuses on home cooking. In her introduction, Madison explains that unlike dinners, suppers are informal, spur-of-the-moment, relaxed occasions to share with friends and family.

After cooking six meals from the book, I can only say that her family and friends are lucky. Follow her recipes, and your loved ones will be too. I started off with Chickpeas and Chard. It was delicious and even better as a leftover the next day. I then tried the rich and creamy Sweet Potato Gratin. Fit for the fanciest of guests yet still homey enough to make for the family on a weeknight, Madison's tweak of a classic French potato gratin was something to crow about.

I'm grateful to Madison for reminding me how easy it is to make crepes and how wonderful they are as a meal. I made a batch of her buckwheat crepes, folded their edges around a sprinkling of grated Gruyere cheese, then served them topped with a fried egg (Buckwheat Crepes). It was comfort food of the highest order: simple, elegant and just as delicious as the crepes you'd get in Paris.

Skillet-Seared Tofu is a 10-minute dish I loved so much that I've made it several times since. Madison provides a couple of vegan sauces to accompany it, though I didn't care much for the Miso Topping.

Filled with flavor and mouth-watering aromas, Porcini and Tomato Ragout with Polenta is an unforgettable entree for a damp or chilly evening. I've been making polenta for years, but I'd never tried Madison's double-boiler technique. It is time-consuming (1 1/4 hours start to finish) but outstanding, and it gives the cornmeal a smooth, almost satiny texture.

Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen also shows thoughtful consideration of Madison's readers. By dividing the book into categories (such as eggs, or crepes and fritters), she has made it user-friendly. By indicating the seasonality of most ingredients in the recipe introductions, she subtly encourages us to eat local produce. Finally, by incorporating wine suggestions into every recipe, she reminds us to enjoy every "supper" with delight.

Completely vegetarian; many of the recipes are also vegan.

There are no nutritional breakdowns of recipes; however, this is generally healthful cooking by a great home cook. When recipes call for cream or other rich ingredients, Madison notes that richness in the headnotes.

No real technical challenges, but openness is required. For instance, if you haven't made crepes in years (or ever), you need to a) have a crepe pan and b) trust Madison's instructions--use your fingers to pull them up and flip them.

Reasonably well-designed with one recipe to a page and with alluring, full-page photographs every few pages.

Some recipes, such as the Skillet-Seared Tofu, are amazingly fast. Others, like the Porcini and Tomato Ragout, or double-boiler polenta, take time. But it's pleasurable time, without a lot of stirring or watching.

At 224 pages, this book sells for $27.50--a fair price.

SAMPLE RECIPE

CHICKPEAS AND CHARD

Serves 4

I happen to like a lot of chard in proportion to the chickpeas, but you can use half this amount. Vegan as is.

This is a substantial dish so you don't need much else--a pureed red pepper soup to start or a spunky green salad at the end. A spicy white wine, such as a Spanish Albarino, would work with these Mediterranean flavors.

  2 tablespoons olive oil
  1 large onion, finely diced
    Pinch or 2 of saffron threads
  2 garlic cloves
    Sea salt and ground black pepper
  1 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 cup parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  2 teaspoons tomato paste
 14 chard leaves (2 medium bunches)
    with stems
  2 15-ounce cans chickpeas,
    preferably organic, with liquid,
    or 3 cups home-cooked

1. Heat 1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. olive oil
in wide skillet. Add onion and saffron.
Cook over medium heat, stirring
occasionally, 12 to 15 minutes. Pound
garlic with 1/2, tsp. salt, cilantro, parsley,
and cumin to make a rough paste.
When onions are golden, add paste to
pan along with tomato paste.

2. Slice chard leaves off stems. Place in
wide pot with 2 cups water and cook,
covered, until wilted, about 5 minutes.
Set leaves aside in colander, reserving
cooking water.

3. Trim chard stems so that you're left
with planklike pieces of even width.
Cut planks [stems] into fine dice and
drop into reserved chard water. Simmer
until tender, about 10 minutes.

4. Add chickpeas with liquid, or
1 cup water or stock, to the onion.
Coarsely chop chard and add it as
well. Simmer 10 minutes, then add
chard stems. Taste for salt and season
with pepper. Serve with remaining oil
drizzled over all.

VT's NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS

PER SERVING: 282 CAL; 135G PROT; 10G TOTAL
FAT (1G SAT FAT); 38G CARB; 0MG CHOL; 820MG
SOD; 10.5G FIBER; 8G SUGARS