We've Been Eatin' Good
Working my way through my new favorite cookbook
A few weeks ago when I recounted my summer trip to Ithaca, NY, I mentioned that we ate at a restaurant called Moosewood three times in three days. It’s a legendary spot that makes really good comfort food — soups, stews, burgers, lasagna — all with a vegetarian twist.
I’ve never been to a place quite like it. In most of the U.S., restaurant menus are naked without some slate of meat-based offerings. So the idea of that a restaurant can sustain a nearly 50-year legacy on almost entirely vegetarian dishes is pretty remarkable to me.
There’s this misconception that vegetarian food is bland, boring, and unsatisfying. But at Moosewood, everything we ate was comforting, creative, delicious, and very filling. I didn’t miss the meat for one second.
I’m also kind of a pseudo-vegetarian — I haven’t sworn off meat entirely, but most of my meals contain a combo of grains, fruits, veggies, and legumes. I used to think plant-based eating meant sacrificing taste and satiety. But these days, I’ll almost always take a hearty minestrone soup over steak and potatoes. It’s easier on my stomach and I feel better when I’m eating a dish with a wide variety of ingredients rather than just one plain, main course and a side.
So when I learned that Moosewood is also famous for its cookbooks, I couldn’t have been more elated. When I was in Ithaca, I bought a copy of Moosewood Restaurant Cooks At Home. And after working my way through it these past few weeks, I can safely say it’s my favorite cookbook I’ve ever owned.
The most famous cookbook that Moosewood has put out is probably The Moosewood Cookbook. It was self-published in 1974 and contained a series of recipes from one of the restaurant’s founders, Mollie Katzen. But when I was browsing the wide variety of books the restaurant keeps at their store in Ithaca, Moosewood Cooks At Home resonated with me the most. It promised quick, easy, and flavorful recipes — all of which I was in the market for.
A recipe has to meet a few criteria in order to be a “good” one in my book. The first is that it’s tasty, which is the most important thing. Bland, boring recipes are such a waste of time in my opinion (unless I’m having stomach issues or need to eat something out of necessity). In most cases, I have to enjoy what I’m eating. Food is more than a need to me; it’s also a hobby.
Usually that means the food is well-seasoned, containing a variety of fresh herbs or pantry spices. There’s typically olive oil or butter involved. And the combination of ingredients has to work together like a symphony, with flavors complimenting and amplifying each other with each bite.
The second thing that matters to me is how filling the food is. I’m not wasting my time on dishes that require me to eat a snack an hour later. My mom taught me well in this manner — a solid meal has a mix of protein, carbs, and fiber. When it’s missing one of those things, you’re probably going to be hungry too soon after eating. So I always make sure our lunches and dinners are well-rounded.
And finally, while I like spending time in the kitchen, meals that take way too long to cook are a surefire way to put me in a bad mood. I want to cook and eat in the same day, thank you very much. Nothing is worth hunching over the stove for more than two hours to make — and if it’s going to be that long, I’ll at least want a snack while I’m doing it.
So, in a nutshell: a good meal has to be tasty, filling, and quick(ish) to cook. Moosewood Cooks At Home hits the mark on all of those.
One of our favorite recipes so far is for Cajun Skillet Beans, which I made last night for the second time. This is a one-pot dish with beans, tomatoes, bell peppers, celery, onions, and garlic. The ingredients are simple, but it’s really the Dijon mustard, honey, oregano, basil, and thyme that give these veggies their flavorful oomph. And we also top it with cheese and scallions.
I also made some lemon-garlic-tahini kohlrabi as a side dish. We had so much kohlrabi from our farm share, so this was a great way to use it up. This recipe was one I actually found online, but it was a good compliment to the beans. Italian bread, also, was a must-have side.
Last week, we tried the Savory Scallion Biscuits. Despite requiring me to make the dough from scratch, they came together really easily.
The recipe required a lot of dill, which I’ve actually never cooked with before! When I was buying some at the store, the cashier told me the smell of dill always reminded her of her grandma’s house. It does carry a comforting, earthy aroma, especially in baked goods. I thought of her comment when I took the biscuits out of the oven.
I paired the biscuits with Eggplant Mykonos, a hearty eggplant stew that was great topped with some feta cheese.
Another recipe that absolutely knocked it out of the park was the Sweet Potato Quesadillas. I know you might be thinking, who needs a recipe to make quesadillas? But I’d really never thought to make one with sweet potatoes. So having a guide for shredded, pan-fried sweet potato filling was super helpful.
The final quesadillas also had cheese and refried beans, and were generously topped with salsa and sour cream. The recipe made so much food that we had enough for two people to eat for three days. Sadly, I did not take a picture, but trust me that the final result was beautiful.
The only thing in the cookbook I haven’t liked so far was the Mediterranean Lentil Salad. But I also had to make a lot of substitutions because I was missing several ingredients (dried tomatoes, parsley, bell peppers, etc.), so I might try it again and see if it was just me who was the problem.
Anyway, I hope this post made your mouth water. I wish I could send you all a package of delicious stew or quesadillas, but that would be pretty gross.
I’d love to write more about this cookbook and what I’m cooking/eating in general. If y’all would be interested in that, let me know — food isn’t everyone’s biggest interest, so I don’t want to be a bore. And if you feel so inspired that you end up getting a copy of a Moosewood cookbook, let me know what you end up making!
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Someone recommended me that cookbook a few years ago, and the only reason I didn't go for it was because I saw it didn't really have pictures—and it's easier for me to choose recipes to cook when I can see what the final product may look like. But your review has totally changed my mind! I have a lot of the same criteria for cooking, and I love a good bean recipe.