Vegetables Unleashed

My favorite cook book. Everything about it is amazing.

I have 100+ cookbooks and this is my new favorite. There are many inspiring and unique recipes. I avoid dairy and my husband is vegetarian. Vegetables are something we can both eat. Some of the recipes include dairy or anchovies, but most do not. I'll substitute dairy with non-dairy substitutes, and leave out the anchovies. I've made the Tomato Tart (marinated roasted tomato with sherry over puff pastry) and Little Gem lettuce with warm garlic oil & smoked paprika. Both were excellent. Other recipes on my list to try: Grilled Vegetable with Romesco, Tomato Bread, Tomato Tartare, Smashed Cucumber Salad, Austin Grill Corn Soup, Vegetable Tempura, Frozen Pea Soup, Grilled Spring Onion with Black Garlic Romesco, Castillian Garlic Soup, Miso Roasted Asparagus, Artichoke Chips, and more - and that's just in the Spring and Summer chapters. The ingredients are mostly Spanish (Spanish paprika, sherry vinegar) with some asian influences (miso, sushi rice). Most of the techniques are simple, but there is a technique for Cryoconcentrated carrot juice that blows my mind. Wow. I've dined at Jose Andres restaurant in Beverly Hills a few of times and it was always an amazing experience. I admire him for the work he does to feed people in Puerto Rico. I'm looking forward to trying more of the recipes.

Full disclosure, I bought this book because I hate vegetables and I'm not a great cook but I love Jose Andres' restaurants. I thought to myself if anyone can get me to like these nasty, bitter plants then it's gotta be him. I've owned this book for a week and have already made several of the recipes, all of which turned out surprisingly well (for someone who is hit-or-miss in the kitchen). I appreciate that the recipes and the writing style are approachable and encouraging, many of them start off in a simple place and then provide additional suggestions for how you could experiment to alter the flavor profile based on what you might already have in the kitchen. The food styling/photos were also a nice perk - the food looks delicious and the photos inspire you to want to try each dish, but they're not perfectly manicured w/ Instagram-worthy tableaus. They actually look like food I could make in a reasonable amount of time, with a reasonable amount of effort which I found to be empowering. Some of the ingredients could be hard to find if you live in an area where there aren't a lot of fancy grocery stores, but I was able to buy everything I needed off of Amazon (like white miso paste and gochujang.)

A lot of the recipes are modified Spanish traditional cuisine, but for us who either have roots in Spain or lived there this book will take you back. The vegetables dishes I found new were the ones with oriental taste, I will try them and I can’t wait for the vegetables sushi (there was an all vegan sushi place in concord California that was amazing, I’m hoping these come close) the sauces are mostly traditional and very good, there are a few ingredients that where I live will have to be omitted or replaced (Cambria, California, population 3000. ⬆️ 5000 at summer time, one market, 1 gas station 19 restaurants not one decent pizza in sight !! 😭) Overall I loved the book, brought back memories of dad, grandma and family back in Spain, I always enjoy watching chef Andres on tv, and where ever I find him in interviews, he’s a chef but also a hero who fed the people when mostly needed and nobody asked him or reimbursed him, he does it because his heart is as big as a whale!!! Great book by a great Chef and humanitarian !!!

Great cooking book

I love José Andrés ever since I followed his cooking shows on Spanish television where he taught recipes that were original or at least with an original twist. I enjoyed this book for a few new ideas but, as a person who lives in Spain, I was disappointed to find that so many of the recipes he includes are simply well-known Spanish dishes for which everyone here knows the tricks. So nothing new there. I was especially appalled to find a Creme of Zucchini recipe which was the same one that young Spanish housewives passed around in the 90s, including a cube of bouillon and 3 pieces of (that gosh awful processed) Vaca que Rie cheese (Laughing Cow cheese). I remember that recipe used by those who didn't know how to cook and now its found its way into the book of a major chef. Yes, that was the final blow for me. Otherwise, for a non-Spanish audience, learning the cooking techniques behind Spanish cuisine could be very rewarding. I must commend this book in that it is kindle friendly: each recipe is listed in the contents and thus easy to access on its own.

Vegetables Unleashed is, first of all, a gorgeous book. Both the text and photos are beautifully presented. But my first reading left me, well, confused. There is is so much text, and the recipes don’t all look like they would in a cookbook. However, I decided to try actually using it, and discovered that the written sections are all about the things you will be cooking. I have just finished making the tomato sauce. Holy cow!!!! It is unlike any tomato sauce I have ever eaten. It is SPECTACULAR!!!!!! And the written sections chat with you about why you do the unusual things (like frying the tomatoes🤪) and include suggestions about the sauce’s use on much more than pasta. Some of the recipes contain many steps, which means I won’t take time to make them unless it’s a special occasion. And you may need to buy some unfamiliar ingredients. But I say, don’t let it scare you. It is likely to give you some truly wonderful experiences!

This cookbook will help me up my veg game at meals. I do the same saute stirfry vegetables. Or salad. So excited to try these!

Ive been a big fan of Jose since some early episodes with A.B on No Reservations and more recently the Parts Unknown series, and also of the literary works by Matt since his "Rice. Noodle. Fish" Japanese food/travel guide (an invaluable book which lured me to Japan for a month after reading it). This outstanding collaboration is much more than just a cookbook, though it does an extraordinarily delicious job at that. It's also very philosophical, helping change the way you look at vegetables (and so-called food "waste") in a multitude of creative culinary ways, while simultaneously nudging you to source local seasonal ingredients for not only superior results but a greater environmental good. The recipes in this book and the stories peppered throughout it are mutually inspiring and just downright wonderful. It's a cookbook I never knew I needes and it's easily becoming one of my go-to cookbooks that I use all week long. Outstanding.

Love. Can’t say enough about it.

Some cookbooks are recipe collections, other cookbooks teach you new ways to cook, this book does a little of both while mainly getting you excited about vegetables. Jose Andres makes that very clear right from the start. Interspersed throughout the recipes are articles on food innovators (a group focused on growing produce on rooftops, a man who grows vegetables in food deserts, etc.) and on the work Jose Andres and his organization are doing. The recipes for the most part are very simple and straightforward with, of course, some Jose Andres flourishes thrown in. Fruit and veg are definitely the focus but the book makes no apologies for suggesting some well-placed meat or cheese into certain dishes because the through-line is a generous love of delicious food. It’s a fun book. And like the author hopes, you’ll feel excited about vegetables after cracking it open.

I have bought a lot of vegetable cook books, some good many disappointing but this is totally inspiring. I love the River Cottage veggie books and use them a lot, but I can't wait to start cooking recipes from this book! Just love it!!

I love a cookbook that explores where our food comes from and the people who are passionate about growing it. These are not labour intensive recipes-they are humble vegetables, beautifully prepared, in ways you may never have thought of. The pictures are so beautiful they make you want to stop reading and go into the kitchen so you can smell and taste!