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Feasts of Veg
Following on from the success of Bowls of Goodness, Nina moves from casual bowl food to celebrating in style. This joyful book focuses on delicious festive vegetable dishes that are easy to make. The recipes are driven by modern plant-based cooking inspired by kitchens from around the world: with Mediterranean, Asian, Northern European and Middle Eastern flavours. Chapters include Soups & Breads, Cold Buffet (including canapes, celebration salads and picnic food), Warm Buffet, Fire Food (including skewers, pizzas and slow-roasts), Sharing Plates, Sweet Endings and the Bar (botanical alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails). This is food for relaxed parties with a pick-and-mix attitude, but there are also stand-out dishes to feed the whole party and more fine-dining plates for dinner parties. Recipes include Fig & Goat's Cheese Muffins, Blinis with Beluga Lentils & Lemony Cashew Fraiche, Spring Revival Salad, Pizza Nicoise, Kashbah Aubergine Skewers, and Wild Forest Summer Cake. Nina makes vegetarian cooking fun and sociable - the recipes, in themselves, are worth celebrating!
192 pages, Hardcover
Published June 28, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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February 16, 2020Am I allowed to add cookbooks to my Goodreads?
July 5, 2019
This is a stunning cookbook. If you enjoy gorgeous color photos of each and every recipe, not to mention that whole “aspirational lifestyle” vibe, this one is definitely for you. But all that aside, if the recipes aren’t up to snuff, no amount of Instagram-able pics of striking Nordic people sitting down to a perfectly plated smorgasbord is going to mitigate that and, happily, the food in this book is as impressive as the imagery.
I should start by saying that I try to eat mostly plant-based. I do occasionally “cheat” but that’s usually when I’m out and have less control over what I’m eating. Since this cookbook is vegetarian, and not vegan, not to mention that it was prepared by a Scandinavian, many of the recipes are a bit dairy heavy for my taste. To her credit, author Nina Olsson does provide ways to “vegan-ize” as many recipes as she can. I tried several recipes and was pleased with all of them.
Under the Hearty Meals, section the Ribollita (p.103) is a tomato-based white bean and kale soup that was comforting and nourishing on a cold winter evening. The recipe calls for Cavolo Nero, or black kale, which the author makes a big case for in the recipe description, but I found that regular kale (which apparently lacks the “deep baritone flavor” of its black cousin) worked just fine. To make up for any flavor deficiency, I added a sprinkle of smoked paprika for depth.
Another Hearty Meal, the Roasted Baby Pumpkins with Harissa Lentils (p. 115) was a zestier version of the stuffed acorn squash I often make during the late fall. Again, I felt no need to use Puy lentils (as the author specifies) since regular old hum-drum dried lentils seemed a worthy [and more readily available] substitute. What really takes this to the next level is the surprise addition of spicy harissa paste which gives the dish a Moroccan flair.
The Celebration Salads section also yielded several scrumptious meal-sized bowls – the Wabi-Sabi (p. 80) Sweet Potatoes, Kale and Spicy Chick Pea (p. 75) and the Farmer’s Market Noodle (p. 79). With these three (as with just about every recipe in the book), I was forced to make substitutions because Olsson insists on recommending the most obscure version of every veggie. You can’t just use any beets, they must be Chioggia beets, instead of red pepper flakes, she suggests shichimi togarashi and I simply couldn’t find any dragon fruit in January to save my life (so that was simply omitted). But if you can get past the pretension, this food is really, really good and nutritious.
This is an excellent cookbook. Not only am I enjoying sampling the variety of savory dishes, but I’m finding that just flipping through it and admiring the beautiful food [and people] is its own sort of pleasure.
I should start by saying that I try to eat mostly plant-based. I do occasionally “cheat” but that’s usually when I’m out and have less control over what I’m eating. Since this cookbook is vegetarian, and not vegan, not to mention that it was prepared by a Scandinavian, many of the recipes are a bit dairy heavy for my taste. To her credit, author Nina Olsson does provide ways to “vegan-ize” as many recipes as she can. I tried several recipes and was pleased with all of them.
Under the Hearty Meals, section the Ribollita (p.103) is a tomato-based white bean and kale soup that was comforting and nourishing on a cold winter evening. The recipe calls for Cavolo Nero, or black kale, which the author makes a big case for in the recipe description, but I found that regular kale (which apparently lacks the “deep baritone flavor” of its black cousin) worked just fine. To make up for any flavor deficiency, I added a sprinkle of smoked paprika for depth.
Another Hearty Meal, the Roasted Baby Pumpkins with Harissa Lentils (p. 115) was a zestier version of the stuffed acorn squash I often make during the late fall. Again, I felt no need to use Puy lentils (as the author specifies) since regular old hum-drum dried lentils seemed a worthy [and more readily available] substitute. What really takes this to the next level is the surprise addition of spicy harissa paste which gives the dish a Moroccan flair.
The Celebration Salads section also yielded several scrumptious meal-sized bowls – the Wabi-Sabi (p. 80) Sweet Potatoes, Kale and Spicy Chick Pea (p. 75) and the Farmer’s Market Noodle (p. 79). With these three (as with just about every recipe in the book), I was forced to make substitutions because Olsson insists on recommending the most obscure version of every veggie. You can’t just use any beets, they must be Chioggia beets, instead of red pepper flakes, she suggests shichimi togarashi and I simply couldn’t find any dragon fruit in January to save my life (so that was simply omitted). But if you can get past the pretension, this food is really, really good and nutritious.
This is an excellent cookbook. Not only am I enjoying sampling the variety of savory dishes, but I’m finding that just flipping through it and admiring the beautiful food [and people] is its own sort of pleasure.
June 11, 2019
Beautifully designed cookbook, too bad it wasn’t vegan. Too much Greek yoghurt and egg in recipes.
March 21, 2026
Some cookery books I love because I know there's a recipe for Monday dinner. Others like this , are for browsing and dreaming and imagining. Nina is wonderful. I've now found all her books in charity. Here is a perfect scandi midsummer evening with cool people and cooler scandi veggy food . And I'm in my 20s and wearing a crown of flowers.
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January 22, 2019641.5636 O528f 2018
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews