In How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food, the 1000-page addition to the New York Times food columnist’s “How to Cook Everything” book series, ignorance is no excuse for not cooking meatless. Far more than just a book of recipes, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian presents kitchen basics all cooks need to know, along with guides to vegetarian meal planning that work for cooks who want to incorporate the occasional vegetarian meal into their rotation, or the new vegetarian cook who’s trying to find a diet that goes beyond frozen faux chicken nuggets and Ding-Dongs. There’s a strong focus on adding protein sources to vegetarian meals without relying on textured vegetable protein. Instead, look for lots of recipes using a huge variety of beans, soybeans, tempeh, grains, eggs, and dairy products. I love this approach, since I’m not a fan of factory-produced anything in my foods, be it soy or meat.

Bittman introduces a lot of ingredients that might not be familiar to non-vegetarians (seitan and tempeh, for example) and explains the scientific and nutritional profiles of unusual ingredients. He also is a master of variety, throwing in sidebars like “11 Great Seasonings for Applesauce,” “6 Simple Additions to Cooked Beans,” “7 Ways to Flavor Fresh Cheese,” and “39 Dishes That Can be Stir-Fried with Asian Noodles.” These asides provide an easy way to mix and match recipes in the book.

The same day I got How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, I acquired a surprisingly large amount of fresh arugula, which seemed like a good starting point. This dish, which comes across as a wonderfully updated version of southern grits and greens, can be used as a one-dish meal, but I used it as a side dish with a roast chicken to appease the Carnivores. Variations of the recipe include a version with escarole instead of arugula, another with white beans, which might go over well with the protein-cravers at my house, and a super-hearty version smothered in tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella.

Grits Gratin with Arugula and Garlic

Makes 4 to 6 servings

From How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food (How to Cook Everything)

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus oil for the pan
• 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 4 cups arugula leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons balsamic or sherry vinegar
• 1 recipe Polenta (page 543), made with grits and molded according to Grilled or Fried Polenta recipe*
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a shallow 2-quart gratin dish or oblong baking pan with a little olive oil.
2. Put 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is soft, plump, and starting to color, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the arugula. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss gently once or twice, and spread the leaves onto the bottom of the prepared dish. Drizzle with the vinegar.
3. Turn the grits out of the pan and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices; sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Carefully spread them out on top of the arugula, overlapping them a little if necessary. Drizzle with the remaining oil and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake until the topping is golden and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve, topped with lots of black pepper.

*Polenta, made with grits and molded

4 servings

• 1/2 cup milk, preferably whole
• Salt
• 1 cup stone-ground grits
• Freshly ground course black pepper

1. Combine the milk with two cups of water and a large pinch of salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring just about to a boil, then add the grits in a steady stream, whisking all the while to prevent lumps from forming. Turn the heat down to low and simmer, whisking frequently, until thick, 10 or 15 minutes, to a consistency approaching thick oatmeal. Season with black pepper.
2. Pour the cooked grits out onto a board or into a loaf pan. (I used a shallow oval plate.)
3. Let cool for at least 10 minutes (it can really sit there all day), then cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices.

I didn’t get to Patchett’s article until long after our trip, though, because I got sidetracked by “Staying on Alone,” an article by Laura Shapiro profiling Scott Peacock, executive chef at Watershed in Decatur, Georgia. I fell in love with his book The Gift of Southern Cooking: Recipes and Revelations from Two Great American Cooks upon its release in 2003.

I’d never heard of Peacock or his co-author, Edna Lewis, until a friend, whose husband grew up with Peacock in Alabama, recommended the book to me. Miss Lewis, who passed away at the age of 89 in 2006, was considered by many to be the Grande Dame of Southern cuisine. A native of Freetown, a town founded by emancipated slaves in Virginia, Miss Lewis moved to New York while still in her teens. After working briefly as a seamstress, she started cooking at hipster hotspot Cafe Nicholson in 1949. By the 1970s, she was writing cookbooks, most notably The Taste of Country Cooking, which remains one of the definitive guides to Southern cuisine. She returned to the kitchen in Brooklyn’s Gage and Tollner until she retired in the mid-1990s.

She mentored Peacock from 1988 until her death, and together they researched the history of Southern cooking, founding the Society for the Revival and Preservation of Southern Food (a precursor to the Southern Foodways Alliance). Before meeting Miss Lewis, Peacock was determined to move away from his Southern roots and into a pastry career in Europe until she convinced him otherwise. During Miss Lewis’s final years, she lived with Peacock and he acted as her caregiver until the very end.

The profile in Gourmet, which can now be read on their Web site, features an update on Peacock’s life since Lewis’s death, along with a glorious brunch spread of his modern Southern classics like pimento cheese toasts, braised-pork hash, low country breakfast shrimp with creamy stone-ground grits, and ambrosia without a canned fruit in sight.

The article prompted me to revisit The Gift of Southern Cooking. I had nearly forgotten how beautifully Peacock’s writing captured the stories of his and Miss Lewis’s lives, the food that came from their friendship, and the lovely photographs from their personal collections. And the recipes! While it focuses on Southern cooking, the book exemplifies the wonderful properties of all good cooking — the history and love that go into them.

One of my favorite recipes from the book is so simple, but so delicious: Miss Lewis’s Roast Chicken.

Roast Chicken

Makes enough to serve 3 or 4

from The Gift of Southern Cooking by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock

• One 3.5-pound chicken, brined*
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 small onion, peeled and quartered
• 1/2 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Rinse the brined chicken and dry thoroughly, inside and out, with paper towels. Mix together the softened butter, salt, pepper, and dried thyme until well blended. Rub the butter mixture over the chicken and inside the cavity as well. Truss the chicken with butchers’ twine, making sure you secure the wing tips and tie the legs so that the whole bird is in a tight, plump form.
3. Place the chicken on a wire rack in a roasting pan that will hold it comfortably. Put the quartered onion and water on the bottom of the roasting pan. Set the roasting pan on the middle rack of the preheated oven, and roast for 40 minutes without opening the oven door. After 40 minutes, remove the roasting pan and carefully pour off the fat and juices from the bottom of the pan into a small bowl; reserve. Return the chicken to the oven for approximately 20 minutes longer or until the juices from the thigh run clear when pierced. Remove from oven, and transfer chicken and the onion to a warm platter. Tent with foil while you prepare the sauce.
4. Skim off any visible fat from the bottom of the roasting pan, as well as from the roasting juices reserved in the bowl. Set the pan over high heat, and pour the juices in, scraping the bottom of the pan with a large spoon to dislodge any browned bits and caramelized juices. Boil hard for 2 or 3 minutes, until the juices have reduced slightly. You should have just a small amount of delicious sauce. Taste critically, and adjust the seasoning if needed.
5. Bring the chicken to the table and carve, portioning out light and dark meat as wanted plus a quarter of the onion, spooning a little sauce over each serving.

*How to Brine the Chicken

Stir kosher salt into cold water until dissolved, in the proportion of 1/4 cup salt to 1 quart of water. (Don’t use table salt in this formula, by the way; it will be too salty.) Mix enough brine to cover the poultry completely in a (nonreactive) bowl or pot. Store refrigerated for 8 to 24 hours (after 24 hours, the chicken will become too salty).

Well, things have changed. With the state of the economy and food shipping prices getting higher and higher and the growing focus on eating locally grown, minimally produced foods, all of a sudden, home canning doesn’t seem like such a ridiculous idea. Always at the forefront of home preservation, the Ball Corporation publishes the quintessential guide for beginners, Ball Blue Book of Preserving. This short paperback covers the basics of canning, from how to choose produce to how to keep from blowing up your kitchen with a pressure canner. It also includes enough recipes for a newbie to create a well-stocked pantry.

If you want to delve further into the creative possibilities of home preserving, there’s Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Nearly 500 pages cover all aspects of canning, with over 400 recipes ranging from basic strawberry jam to tamarind chutney and beyond. While the breadth of recipes appeals to experienced home canners, the book still contains all the basics for novices and is an indispensable part of any home canner’s library.

On the left is a jar of the basic strawberry jam, featuring nothing but fresh-picked strawberries, cane sugar, and fruit-based pectin. The jar on the right contains a strawberry-lemonade concentrate, containing only berries, lemons, and sugar. Try finding a lemonade mix on a store shelf with such an ingredient list.

I know I’ll be taking my copy of the book with me every time I visit a farmer’s market or farm stand so I’ll know exactly how much to buy of the pick of the crop. So many items I purchase commercially — canned tomatoes, salsa, jelly, jam, roasted red peppers, and such – can be made in my own kitchen. While it’s time-consuming, as a cook I enjoy the process. As a foodie, I love that the results are almost always better than what’s available commercially.

Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

Makes about seven pint (500 mL) jars

from Ball Complete Book Of Home Preserving

• 6 cups hulled strawberries
• 4 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 25 lemons)
• 6 cups granulated sugar

1. Prepare canner, jars, and lids. (For more information, refer to the book.)
2. In a blender or food processor fitted with a metal blade, working in batches, puree strawberries until smooth. Transfer to a large stainless steel saucepan as completed. Add lemon juice and sugar and stir to combine. Heat to 190 degrees Fahrenheit over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Do not boil. Remove from heat and skim off foam.
3. Ladle hot concentrate into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase fingertip-tight.
4. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.

Wash berries gently in small batches in a colander under cool running water to make sure you remove all dirt and grit and to avoid bruising the soft fruit.

To reconstitute, mix one part concentrate with one part water, tonic water, or ginger ale; adjust concentrate to taste.

Allison had to fight the TV personality for her lunch, but that’s a fair exchange for being able to tell people that Alton Brown tried to steal her Reuben.

When Mr. Brown returned to St. Louis for his most recent book signing on April 27, the crowds far exceeded the small bookstore quarters. They nearly overwhelmed the St. Louis Ethical Society. The sanctuary was filled to standing room capacity with a room of overflow fans in the basement who listened to Mr. Brown’s presentation through the intercom. It was an affair large enough to merit a catered meal by a local culinary school, so Mr. Brown probably didn’t have to battle for boxed leftovers this time.

The Alton Brown who came to St. Louis on that earlier book tour was merely the guy from Good Eats, who’d just released his first book, I’m Just Here for the Food: Food + Heath = Cooking. That was before his hosting gig on Iron Chef America, two successful seasons of Feasting on Asphalt, and the books I’m Just Here for the Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking and Alton Brown’s Gear for Your Kitchen. St. Louis was the only city Alton visited during both seasons of Feasting on Asphalt, so it makes sense that his local following would rival that of a rock star. And yet, in his seersucker suit, he still blushed a deep beet at the wild applause that greeted him from a crowd eager to ask questions and hear his tales from the road.

While watching both seasons of Feasting on Asphalt, where Alton and crew motorcycled the backroads of the U.S., spontaneously eating at whatever mom ‘n’ pop joint caught their attention, I kept hoping for at least a DVD set. It never occurred to me that the show was perfectly suited for book format. As Mr. Brown told the St. Louis crowd, photographer Jean Claude Dhien took so many wonderful photos during the second season that it was a shame for them to not be seen. Thus, the TV show evolved into the book, which not only features those gorgeous photos of the people and food that line the small towns between southern Louisiana  and northern Minnesota, but tales from the road and over 40 recipes.

In the preface Mr. Brown specifies that some of the cooks they met in their travels happily shared their recipes, while others were more secretive. The book gives credit to those generous cooks and indicates which recipes were altered for home cooks or inspired by the trip and developed by Mr. Brown afterwards. In christening my newly autographed copy of the book, I opted for two restaurant original recipes: Nana Deane’s Pecan Coconut Pie from Ray’s Dairy Maid in Barton, Arkansas, and Hot Chick on a Stick from Fast Eddie’s Bon-Air in Alton, Illinois.

Nana Deane’s Pecan Coconut Pie
Courtesy of Ray’s Dairy Maid, Barton, Arkansas.

• 10.5 ounces sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 4 ounces buttermilk
• 3 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
• 3 ounces chopped pecans
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• Prebaked 9-inch pie crust

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, butter, buttermilk, coconut, pecans, flour, vanilla, and salt. Pour into the pie crust. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the pie is golden brown and the center is barely set. Let cool for 40 to 45 minutes before serving.

Hot Chick on a Stick
Courtesy of Fast Eddie’s Bon Air, Alton, Illinois

• 16 chicken drummettes (about 2 pounds)
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt (homemade or Lawry’s)
• 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (like Emeril’s or one of your choice)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Place the chicken drummettes in a large mixing bowl, add the seasonings, and toss to coat well.  
3. Place the drummettes  on 4 kebob skewers. Lay the skewers on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 45 minutes. Place the skewers in the refrigerator until cold, at least 1 hour.
4. When ready to serve, preheat a grill to 350 degrees.
5. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and place on the grill. Cook for five minutes per side. Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 appetizer servings

Cook’s Illustrated Light Recipes, Spring 2008 ($6.95 U.S./$7.95 Canada) will be on newstands until June 16, making the transition from heavy winter fare to light summer goodies a little easier. It includes classics like meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, scalloped potatoes, a variety of cookies and New York-style cheesecake. Cook’s Illustrated’s regular columns - Quick Tips, 101, Done Right, Kitchen Notes, and product reviews also focus on lightening the caloric load.

Tonight I let the magazine dictate my family’s dinner: low-fat fettuccine Alfredo and a leafy salad with balsamic vinaigrette. One popular restaurant chain’s fettuccine Alfredo weighs in at 850 calories and 48 grams of fat. A mass-produced variety of balsamic vinaigrette contains 100 calories and 10 grams of fat, if you’re lucky enough to not slosh half the bottle on your salad when the dressing gushes through the bottle’s wide mouth.

With two recipes and a portion control tip from the Quick Tips column, let’s see if Cook’s Illustrated can lighten the load without losing the flavor.

Low-Fat Fettuccine Alfredo

from Cook’s Illustrated Light Fare magazine, Spring 2008

Serves 4

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup half-and-half
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and lightly crushed
• Table salt and ground black pepper
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 (9-ounce) package fresh fettuccine

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Using ladle or heatproof measuring cup, pour about 1/2 cup boiling water into each of 4 individual serving bowls; set bowls aside to warm.
2. Meanwhile, heat butter over medium heat in large saucepan until foaming. Whisk in flour until mixture is smooth and golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in milk, half-and-half, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and nutmeg and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Discard garlic, stir in Parmesan, and remove sauce from heat.
3. Stir 1 tablespoon salt and pasta into boiling water and cook, stirring constantly, until al dente, 2 to 3 minutes. Reserve 1 cup pasta water, then drain pasta.
4. Return sauce to low heat, add 1/3 cup pasta water and cooked pasta, and toss until evenly coated. Cook until sauce has thickened slightly, about 1 minute. Add more pasta water as needed to thin sauce to proper consistency; adjust seasonings. Working quickly, empty water from warmed bowls and fill with pasta. Serve immediately.

Calories: 320

Fat: 12 grams

Instead of fettuccine I opted for fresh cheese tortellini to give the meal a bit more protein, and because that’s what I had in my fridge. Of course, this means my dinner was higher in calories and fat than the recipe. The sauce held up to the flavorful pasta, and I have no doubt that its velvet texture and rich flavor will work with regular fettuccine. Even though the garlic is merely steeped, the sauce has a potent garlic flavor. While that was fine with my family and me, you might want to remove the clove a bit earlier in the cooking process if you want a milder sauce.

After step #2 the sauce becomes extremely thick and goopy. At this stage it’s essentially an Alfredo concentrate - extremely flavorful but unusably thick. At first I wondered if thinning the sauce with pasta water would dull its flavors, but it didn’t. However, do be careful to add the water gradually. I went a bit too far and my sauce was a bit runnier than I would have preferred.

Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette

from Cook’s Illustrated Light Fare magazine, Spring 2008

Makes about 1 cup.

• 6 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons minced shallots or red onion
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Shake all ingredients together in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Dressing can be refrigerated for up to 1 week; bring to room temperature, then shake vigorously to recombine before using.

Calories per 1-tablespoon serving: 35

Fat: 3.5 grams

Water? Really? I was skeptical about this, but as the accompanying article explained, the intensified flavors of the other ingredients combated the large amount of water, making a vinaigrette on par with the full-fat balsamic vinaigrette I usually make.

In this issue’s Quick Tips column, Elyse Boule of Greenwood Village, Colorado, suggests putting vinaigrette in a child’s sippy cup without the spill-proof valve. This allows you to shake small amounts of vinaigrette evenly over salads. It worked well, but I do recommend labeling the sippy; I know my four-year-old would be less than thrilled to get a mouthful of dressing when she’s expecting milk. Also, after a week of the plastic absorbing the flavors of shallots, garlic, and vinegar, I doubt if the flavors will ever disappear. That’s fine, because I intend to make this method a regular in my kitchen.

An extra perk: this meal can be prepared in less than an hour.