Product Description

A steaming bowl of soup with fresh bread and a green salad, a tempting combo plate of crisp, complementary salads--these Daily Specials have been staples of Moosewood's ever-changing menu board since the restaurant opened its doors more than twenty-five years ago.

Over the years the creative chefs of the Moosewood Collective have introduced literally thousands of new soups and as many salads, all devised to showcase the fresh seasonal produce, vibrant ethnic flavors, and meatless food products that form the core of their cuisine. Now, for the first time, they have gathered the very best offerings from their vast soup and salad repertoire, as well as the ingenious extras that transform these simple dishes into world-class meals. Here are classics like Very Creamy Vegetable Chowder and Tuscan Bean Soup, as well as intriguing new creations like Caribbean Sweet Potato Coconut Soup, Golden Gazpacho, and Fennel Vichyssoise. Salads range from straightforward choices that are easy to mix and match, such as Spinach with Cilantro Cashew Dressing, Mexican Chickpea Salad, or Tunisian Carrot Salad, to satisfying one-dish meals like Broiled Tofu & Sugar Snap Peas or Persian Rice & Pistachio Salad. Each recipe is followed by helpful suggestions for selecting dishes so that creating well-balanced combo plates at home is a snap.

There are easy-to-use indexes of recipes by categories including children's favorites, quickly made, low-fat, low-carbohydrate, and vegan dishes. And each recipe has a complete nutritional breakdown, so it's simple to create menus for those with special health or dietary concerns. The section on transforming leftovers into sprightly new dishes also makes Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special a practical primer for those who want to make the most of seasonal bounty.

Few foods are more comforting--or satisfying--than a good soup and a well-made salad, and because many can be made ahead and served on demand, they are perfectly suited to the way we eat and live today. With more than 275 kitchen-tested recipes to fit any occasion, Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special offers years' worth of inspiration for Daily Specials every cook will be delighted to serve.

Moosewood Inc. and the authors of this book have donated 1 percent of their royalties from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special to the community food and nutrition programs of the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (G.I.A.C.) in Ithaca, New York.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51040 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-05
• Released on: 1999-10-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

From Amazon.com
Since 1973, The Moosewood Restaurant, well off the beaten path in Ithaca, NY, has been demonstrating how exciting vegetarian cooking can be. Their excellent use of seasonings and the variety of their multiethnic menus have influenced chefs all over the U.S. Customers come from all over the world to dine at this shrine to natural foods at their best. The collective running the restaurant, whose members put together The Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special--their eight cookbook--spread meatless inspiration to home cooks, too.

At the restaurant, everything on the menu changes every day, except the daily special, which consists of a bowl of soup, a salad, and a hearty slab of bread. Here, in more than 275 recipes, you can have comfortable, easily prepared ethnic adventures inspired by places in every corner of the globe, from Tibet to Cuba. Beginning in the east, there's Asian Bean Curd Soup, based on a rich broth, and fanciful Balinese Rice Salad, made with brown rice and a zippy, chutney-spiked dressing. Moving west, you find briskly chilled Golden Gazpacho, made using mid-summer's sunny, yellow tomatoes, and Alabama Hot Slaw, a classic cabbage salad doused in a warmed-up dressing. For accompaniments, there are cloud-light buttermilk biscuits, vibrant curried croutons for enlivening soups and salads, and nine of the restaurant's most popular salad dressings.

Every recipe is accompanied by information-packed notes about its ingredients, a nutritional analysis, suggested accompaniments, and alternatives, such as adding grated cheese, rice, or shrimp to Pepperpot Soup, a stew of greens, sweet peppers, tomatoes and potatoes, spiced with a Caribbean blend of thyme, cinnamon and chiles.

This book is a perfect way to get pleasantly acquainted with a wide variety of grains and vegetables, from millet and South American quinoa to daikon radish and tomatillos. A useful gift for students, beginning cooks, budget watchers (many of the soups require only water, not stock), newlyweds, and everyone who wants to eat well and healthfully, this sweetly illustrated book could live happily in any household. It includes some recipes using fish, as well as a good selection of vegan choices. --Dana Jacobi

From Library Journal
Moosewood, the well-known vegetarian restaurant in Ithaca, NY, offers a different special--soup, salad, and bread--every day. In its eighth cookbook, the restaurant collective presents dozens of recipes for soups, main-dish and side salads, and accompaniments, inspired by a dazzling variety of cuisines, from Algerian Tomato Soup and Grecian Isle Stew to Thai Noodle Salad and Louisiana Black-Eyed Pea Salad. Some of the recipes are vegan, and there are seafood soups and salads for those who eat fish. For most collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
The Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York, was established in 1973 and now boasts twenty Collective members. This is their eighth book. The Collective has twice won the James Beard cookbook award in the vegetarian and healthy focus categories.

Customer Reviews

Simply delicious!
The recipes are reliable and easy to follow.

Personal favorites: Butternut squash soup with sizzled sage, Jamaican tomato soup, Spicy carrot peanut soup, Black bean and chipotle soup, Tortilla soup, Corn chowder, Cream of mushroom, and Creamy herbed potato.

There's a large chapter on salads. Try the Asparagus and fennel pasta salad, Caesar salad, Chef salad a la Moosewood, Tomato flowers and the Tostada salad.

At the end of each page it will give menu ideas as to which salads go with which soups. Very helpful. Their salad dressings are very good but my all time favorite which I make once a week is the Moosewood house dressing. A delicious combination of canola oil, cider vinegar, honey, spinach leaves, basil leaves, dijon mustard, a little salt, fresh ground black pepper and buttermilk. All whirled together in a blender and tossed on fresh greens. It will keep in the fridge for about a week.

Very easy directions. Lovely.

Excellent cookbook for soup lovers
This book is about soup, salad and sides. The soups in this cookbook are imaginative and delicious! Being a vegetarian and loving soup I always get bummed because nearly all soup in restaurants is made with Chicken or Beef stock, with this book I can have soup as much as I want! I have made some of the salads, which were good and several salad dressings which were very good. There are several deterrants from purchasing this book 1. You absolutely need to have a cupboard full of exotic spices 2. You can't be intimidated by long ingredient lists 3. Everything seems to be pureed (best advice-get a hand mixer-cuts time, work and clean-up) 4. Many recipes call for expensive cheese (not good for budget or vegans). If none of this seems daunting then again this is a fantastic soup book. Plus, if you make a big batch it lasts for several days-no cooking! Everything i have made has been oustanding!

If you can't get to the restaurant, get this book!
As a former student at Cornell University, I had the distinct pleasure of being able to dine at the Moosewood Restaurant from time to time. Unfortunately, my journeys have taken me away from Ithaca, but this cookbook brings me back every time I open it.

As a lover of soup, I find this book fabulous. There are so many distinctly varied recipes originating from all cuisines that I find it refreshing over your typical cookbook that often hails from one culture. For the most part, the recipes are very easy to follow and you won't have to go to some crazy health foods store to find the ingredients like a lot of other vegetarian cookbooks.

This is THE cookbook I turn to when cooking for myself and friends.