Annie Somerville

This cookbook has some of the fussiest recipes that I've ever cooked. Two hours is not even close to how long the lasagne that I tried took (excluding baking time).

First I made the mushroom stock (an hour, not including cutting the vegetables and other preparations), then I made the mushroom sauce using the stock, (probably another hour of preparation and cooking time). Next was preparing the mushrooms and leeks (maybe 30 minutes or so), putting together the ricotta mixture and other cheeses (maybe only 15 minutes). And just when I thought I was done, there's the Herb Béchamel (30 minutes or so to scald the milk and make the roux). Now that everything is prepared, put it all together in layers, bake for 20 minutes, add some more cheese and then bake yet another 15 minutes. Then there are all the pans and dishes to clean up....

I've got to say, I never imagined that a single recipe would take so much work (and I'll probably never do this one again), but it was still rewarding in its own way.

Now, not everything in the book is this fussy, but she hasn't left out some of the most ambitious recipes I've ever found. Not surprisingly, Greens, the restaurant where Somerville was the executive chef at the time of writing the book, is a 5 star, mostly vegetarian, restaurant.

I've since eaten at the restaurant in San Francisco and it shows the same attention to detail that the recipes in this book do. I'm not a big wine person, but the restaurant paired each item with a wine and had a very full selection. The book doesn't obsess over wine, but does have a small section in the back discussing how to pair vegetarian dishes with different wines.

Some of the easier, yet equally enjoyable, recipes I've tried in the book include several pizza recipes (odd California style combinations). Also there's great advice on ingredients throughout the book.… (más)