Mother-and-daughter team Trudy Crane and Chloé Crane-LeRoux's The Artful Way to Plant-Based Cooking: Nourishing Recipes and Heartfelt Moments serves up a delectable delicacy of a vegan cookbook, showcasing the mouth-watering meals inspired by their travels across Spain, France, and Italy.
Their impeccable attention to detail is evident in the recipes themselves--"Our recipes reflect this approach: versatile, easy to make, and featuring ingredients that can be swapped or substituted according to personal preferences or seasonal availability"--and in the beautiful photographs that accompany them, taken by Crane-LeRoux. These photos present stunning plate settings in outdoor gardens, rustic kitchens, and elegant châteaux. Each dish is remarkable for its brilliant, balanced colors, presentation, and staging.
Dishes like Polenta with White Beans and Tomatoes and Tartines with Peas, Ricotta, and Beet Hummus will please almost any palate, vegan or not. And the recipe for Mediterranean spinach pie promises "you'll find yourself grabbing another after you just finished one." The Artful Way to Plant-Based Cooking is a gift that will both inspire and satisfy. --Elizabeth DeNoma, executive editor, DeNoma Literary Services, Seattle, Wash.