Styl­ish, inno­v­a­tive, and total­ly veg­an, Tal Ronnen’s cre­ative dish­es have all the fresh fla­vor and sat­is­fac­tion of con­tem­po­rary cui­sine. In devel­op­ing his veg­an recipes, Ron­nen, a trained chef and restau­rant con­sul­tant, demands the same vari­ety and nutri­tion­al val­ue that he enjoyed when he ate a meat-based diet.

Ron­nen, who designed Oprah Winfrey’s veg­an reg­i­men, can tempt any appetite with dish­es like Arti­choke and Oys­ter Mush­room Rock­e­feller, Pep­per­corn-encrust­ed Por­to­bel­lo Fil­lets with Yel­low Toma­to Béar­naise and Mashed Pota­toes, and Mediter­ranean Chick­pea Wrap. To sup­ple­ment his own recipes, Ron­nen has invit­ed four guest chefs to pre­pare orig­i­nal dish­es from their restau­rants. For Ron­nen and his fel­low chefs, much of the plea­sure of food is in the prepa­ra­tion, and Ron­nen encour­ages read­ers to cook with friends, a good social and culi­nary sug­ges­tion as many of his recipes take some time and effort. 

Ron­nen admits to being a bit of a cru­sad­er for ani­mal-free food, and The Con­scious Cook presents the eth­i­cal and health argu­ments for veg­an­ism. How­ev­er, the array of beau­ti­ful­ly pre­sent­ed and con­struct­ed dish­es in this lav­ish­ly illus­trat­ed book is the best argu­ment for try­ing Ronnen’s cusine. He also includes much help­ful infor­ma­tion on equip­ment and ingre­di­ents, from greens to veg­an prod­ucts. An added val­ue for the kosher cook is the flex­i­bil­i­ty of total­ly ani­mal-free recipes that can sup­ple­ment any meal. Full col­or through­out, sea­son­al menus, index.

Recipe: Pine Nut Gardein

This dish uses Gardein ​“chick­en,” a great tast­ing and high-pro­tein prod­uct that is a great tran­si­tion­al option for peo­ple new to veg­e­tar­i­an cui­sine. You can find it in the frozen and fresh sec­tions of your local gro­cery store. Kale cuts the rich­ness of the sauce and the ​“meat” just enough.

For the chicken:

1 cup pine nuts, toast­ed
1 cup unbleached all-pur­pose flour
5 large basil leaves, cut into chif­fon­ade
4 Gardein breasts, thawed
Sea salt and fresh­ly ground black pep­per
4 table­spoons canola oil

For the lob­ster mush­room beurre blanc:
Sea salt
1 tea­spoon extra-vir­gin olive oil
2 shal­lots, minced
1 pound lob­ster mush­rooms, cut into brunoise
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup reg­u­lar Cashew Cream
2 table­spoons nutri­tion­al yeast flakes
8 table­spoons Earth Bal­ance, cut into
table­spoon-sized pieces
Juice of 1 lemon
1 table­spoon minced fresh chives
Fresh­ly ground black pepper

PREPA­RA­TION


Make the cashew cream: (Prep time: 10 min­utes, plus soak­ing overnight)


1. Put the cashews in a bowl and add cold water to cov­er them. Cov­er the bowl and refrig­er­ate overnight.


2. Drain the cashews and rinse under cold water. Place in a blender with enough fresh cold water to cov­er them by 1 inch. Blend on high for sev­er­al min­utes until very smooth. (If you’re not using a pro­fes­sion­al high-speed blender such as a Vita-Mix, which cre­ates an ultra-smooth cream, strain the cashew cream through a fine-mesh sieve.)


3. To make thick cashew cream, sim­ply reduce the amount of water in the blender, so that the water just cov­ers the cashews. Makes about 2 1/4 cups thick cream or 3 1/2 cups reg­u­lar cream.


Make the chick­en:


1. Pre­heat the oven to 200 degrees F. In a food proces­sor, pulse the pine nuts, flour and basil. Trans­fer to a shal­low bowl or plate.


2. Flat­ten the breasts with your hand to 1/2 inch thick. Sea­son each side with salt and pep­per to taste, then press each side into the pine nut dredge.


3. Place a large sauté pan over medi­um heat. Sprin­kle the bot­tom with a pinch of salt and heat for 1 minute.


4. Add the oil and heat for 30 sec­onds, being care­ful not to let it smoke. This will cre­ate a non­stick effect.


5. Place the breasts in the pan and cook until gold­en brown, about 2 min­utes on each side. Remove to a wire rack set over a paper-tow­el-lined bak­ing sheet and put in the oven to keep warm while you make the sauce.


Make the lob­ster mush­room beurre blanc:


1. Place a medi­um sauté pan over medi­um heat. Sprin­kle the bot­tom with a pinch of salt and heat for 1 minute. Add the oil and heat for 30 sec­onds, being care­ful not to let it smoke.


2. Reduce the heat to low. Add the shal­lots and sauté until translu­cent but not browned, 2 to 3 min­utes. Add the mush­rooms and sauté for 2 min­utes. Add the wine and cook until reduced by half.


3. Add the cashew cream and con­tin­ue to cook for 5 min­utes, then whisk in the nutri­tion­al yeast.


4. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the Earth Bal­ance 1 table­spoon at a time, then stir in the lemon juice and chives. Sea­son with salt and pep­per to taste.


5. Spoon the beurre blanc over the breasts and driz­zle a few drops around the edge of each plate. Serve immediately.

ABOUT GARDEIN: Gardein, the pro­tein in this recipe, looks and tastes like chick­en but con­tains no ani­mal or dairy ingre­di­ents. It has a savory taste and authen­tic tex­ture and is made from a blend of veg­eta­bles and grains — soy, wheat, ancient grains, peas, beets, and car­rots, among others.

From The Con­scious Cook: Deli­cious Meat­less Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat, Tal Ron­nen, pub­lished by William Morrow