Rick Stein's Food Heroes

Caroll Gelles

1,000 Vegetarian Recipes

The award-winning cookbook that's not just for vegetarians Carol Gelles, one of the best-known authorities on the subject, offers hundreds of appetizers, entrees, soups, salads, and more, proving that vegetarian cuisine is anything but boring. The flavor combinations are limitless, drawing on the ingredients and spices from every international cuisine. Discussions of vegetables, grains, beans, and soyfoods are interspersed throughout the recipes, making the book easy enough for beginners to follow. And every recipe is coded as lacto-vegetarian (some dairy products), ovo-vegetarian (some egg products), or vegan (made without dairy or meat products).

Mary Urrutia Randelman

Memories of a Cuban Kitchen: More Than 200 Classic Recipes

Memories of a Cuban features more than 200 traditional recipes for Cuban dishes, a cuisine that lusciously combines Spanish, Indian, African, Chinese, and Portuguese influences. Filled with reminiscences and evocative photos from Mary Urrutia Randelman's childhood in pre-Castro Cuba, this beautiful cookbook, cowritten with Joan Schwartz, presents more than 200 Cuban dishes, from appetizers like Green Plantain Chips, to such entrees such as Roast Pork Creole, to tropical rum-based drinks and desserts.

Elizabeth Jacobi, Dana Jacobi

The Best of Clay Pot Cooking

Since Roman times, cultures around the world have been enchanted with cooking in clay and the juicy, full flavors it preserves in any dish. Today's healthminded cooks will find an added bonus: Clay pot cooking is practically foolproof and often fat-free. In The Best of Clay Pot Cooking, Dana Jacobi takes a fresh look at cooking in clay pots and comes up with over 40 easy and delectable recipes, from soups and stews to breads and desserts. Some reflect traditional uses for the clay pot, such as roasting poultry and beef; others are inventive new dishes drawing on ethnic influences -- Chicken Tagine with Green Olives & Preserved Lemon, for example, or Salmon with Ginger & Lime, Shrimp & Ham Jambalaya, Black & White Chipotle Chili, Moroccan Semolina Bread, or Banana Bread Pudding. And all these are prepared with minimum fuss, maximum flavor, and enormous nutritional value.