Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Eastside Road, January 16, 2012—

NO, WE DIDN'T go to Deborah Madison's excellent, indispensable book of that title for dinner tonight; it didn't really need a cookbook. I just put the title up there because L. pointed out that tonight's dinner was in fact vegetarian, and because I so admire Deborah's book, and so admire and respect her.

In fact, dinner was simply lentils from last night — from another friend and Panisse alum, David Tanis — a baked potato with olive oil and salt, romanesco sautéed with hazelnuts in olive oil and a little butter the usual green salad, an apple and a tangerine, and three little chocolate candies. Nothing exciting, you say? You haven't tasted these lentils, tiny tiny ones from Italy I think, we've lost track of the lineage; nor the olive oil from Les Baux that went on the potato; nor those sweet sweet hazelnuts from Oregon (thanks, Bhishma); nor (if I do say it myself) the green salad with red wine vinegar from Eastside Road Zinfandel.

Zinfandel: Viano Vineyards, 2006