redefining ‘vegetarian,’ ‘painting’ rice, and making tomato sauce with mollie katzen
THE ADVENTURE IN Mollie Katzen’s “The Heart of the Plate: Vegetarian Recipes for a New Generation,” begins even before the first recipe page. It starts in the delicious, intimate endpapers—which came from illustrated journals that the author has been keeping since she was a teenager, which were also the origin of her beloved, bestselling “Moosewood Cookbook.” The musings (that’s one in the photo above), in drawings and hand-lettered words, speak to how Mollie—a keen gardener, and the guest on my latest radio show—approaches food today. Learn how she suggests we re-define “vegetarian;” how she “paints [her] rice,” and makes her simplest, most delicious tomato sauce. And maybe win her newest book, too.
How has the cooking changed since the 1970s and the origins of “Moosewood” back in Ithaca, New York, which Mollie left 30ish years ago for Berkeley, California? She recently said in an interview that the answer to that question is just two little words:
Olive oil.
“You could not buy a bottle of good olive oil in this country then,” Mollie says. Her current cuisine is lighter, and “more modular,” she explains, with “layered plates” and more small dishes (including little charmers she calls “saladitas” that bump up the flavor of a meal and may incorporate a bit of fruit or nut or herb—lots of surprises, as in: good things come in small packages.)
prefer the podcast?
MOLLIE KATZEN, with more than 6 million books in print and for decades a leading advocate of smarter eating, was the guest on this week’s public-radio show. It’s a must-listen, and you can do so anywhere, anytime: Locally, in my Hudson Valley (NY)-Berkshires (MA)-Litchfield Hills (CT) region, “A Way to Garden” airs on Robin Hood Radio’s three stations on Monday at 8:30 AM Eastern, with a rerun at 8:30 Saturdays. It is available free on iTunes, the Stitcher app, or streaming from RobinHoodRadio.com or via its RSS feed. The October 7, 2013 show can be streamed here now. Robin Hood is the smallest NPR station in the nation; our garden show marked the start of its fourth year in March, and is syndicated via PRX.
highlights of my radio q&a with mollie katzen
Q. What’s the view out your window, Mollie, looking into your garden?
A. I’m somewhat limited—which is a good thing, I think. I live in a fog belt, near the San Francisco Bay. The limitation is a good one, because it keeps me in greens, but I don’t have long enough sun days to get tomatoes ripened on the vine. I can get them all the way into existence, but not ripened.
Kale loves it here—all sorts of kale. It’s the rock star of vegetables now, but I have been growing it forever. And I grow several different strains of arugula, including one that’s genuinely perennial here—so I have arugula showing up in the cracks in my patio, and the cracks in my driveway. I joke about it, but secretly I’m very envious of myself.
I have a beautiful purple collard—the official vegetable of Richmond, California, the next town over from me, with beautiful deeply purple stems.
Mustard greens insist on procreating here, too, so I have mustard—a red mustard. So the greens show up everywhere—there’s no shortage of greens here—and they sort of take care of themselves if I pull everything up and keep everything watered.
Spinach will come back, year after year, too.
And I have two artichoke plants that are “un-dead”—I cut them back and they spring back to life.
One of my other favorite plants is the radicchio ‘Treviso.’ When you let it bolt, the flowers are cornflower blue, and it will climb, so I plant it near a trellis. I’m crazy about this radicchio in every stage of the game. And I can grow beans, too—favas and others.
Q. What would you not be without in the garden—noting those limitations of your site, of course?
A. For me the fun things to grow are the fresh herbs—the flat-leaf parsley and cilantro. I like snipping just what I need for that one occasion with my scissors, letting them grow in the garden where they will be preserved for weeks. I can buy great herbs at the farmer’s market here, but then you use a small amount and the rest of that bunch doesn’t keep well.
I don’t have enough sun to grow enough basil to make pesto from my garden, but I grow small amounts to snip into salads.
I like to feather some flat-leaf parsley and cilantro with some scallions in the food processor, and get them really powdery, and then you put that into some cooked rice. It turns the rice bright green—and you have added a serving of vegetables.
Q. There are many bright-colored rice dishes in the new book—blueberry rice, cranberry rice, green and orange rices…tell me more.
A. I’m into painting my rice! There are a lot more grains and rices available now. So for example: One of my favorite is black or forbidden rice, and I embed with beluga lentils and minced mushrooms. It becomes “Black Rice Plus.” I love playing with the classic rice-and-beans combinations, and using fruits and vegetables and herbs to do that.
My orange rice doesn’t start out orange—it starts out as brown basmati, my baseline rice. I orange it up with orange bell peppers and roasted ‘Butternut’ squash, and the garnish it with chopped papaya and I serve it with a Cuban-style black beans. Great for October, for Halloween!
Q. Though you are a creator of some of the best-selling vegetarian cookbooks of all time, I have read that you are not a strict vegetarian. Can you speak about that a little?
A. I feel that the definition of the word “vegetarian” is up for renewal. I am not a big fan of people labeling themselves food-wise. It limits the imagination and limits the conversation.
Eat what you want; don’t eat what you don’t want. The identity thing takes it a bit far for me.
I would prefer semantically that the food be what we are describing, and not the person. The person will change—we will have days when we have different energy levels and different needs, and eras in our lives, as we age, where our metabolism changes.
We don’t want to lock ourselves into an identity…I used the word “vegetarian” in the subtitle of the new book, but I am also questioning that word more than ever.
For me, I see it as an adjective, and not a noun.
I find that the definition of it has always been something about meat: as in, “Keep it off my plate, please.” I have not very often heard it as a positive statement about vegetables. And I have met many vegetarians who don’t eat a lot of vegetables. So that word is problematic.
Q. Your tomato sauce seems to have evolved, too—I see it now comes from roasted ‘Roma’ type tomatoes.
A. I love a very plain tomato sauce. Most commercial tomato sauces are positively saturated with salt—with some kind of sodium. But when you make your own, in the case of these slow-roasted ‘Roma’ tomatoes, you don’t need any salt.
They’re the meatiest and least-juicy tomatoes. They can start out very unpromising—not very red, not very soft—but they really hold a lot back!
What they hold back comes forth when they are in a slow oven, 250 degrees F or so, and cut into quarters or sometimes sixths or eighths, depending on their size.
Laid out on a single layer on a slick of olive oil—it’s kind of like a cross between roasting them and drying them. You keep them there for a good long time, and they become like candy.
They are so genuinely, deeply the essence of tomato. You can mash them or rough puree them, and it’s an incredible, rich tomato sauce.
- Find Mollie Katzen anytime at her website, and check there to see if she’s doing a book event near you sometime soon.
how to enter to win ‘the heart of the plate’
I’VE BOUGHT TWO EXTRA COPIES of Mollie Katzen’s big new cookbook, “The Heart of the Plate,” to share with you. All you have to do to enter is answer the following question, typing your reply into the comments box way at the bottom of the page (past all the other comments).
What’s at the heart of your plate these days? What has changed most about the way you cook, or the ingredients you use, compared to Moosewood-era or even just five or 10 years ago?
(My answer: I added dairy and eggs back into a formerly all plant-based diet of many decades in duration. As Mollie says, our bodies change and we may need more or less of something!)
Feeling shy, or have no reply? Just say “count me in” or some such, and I will.
I’ll select two winners (U.S. and Canada only) at random, after entries close at midnight on Wednesday, October 16. Good luck to all!
(All photos courtesy of Mollie Katzen. Disclosure: Amazon affiliate links yield a small commission that I use to buy books for future giveaways.)
My cooking has gotten simpler, often grilled or roasted, using three fresh, local, organic ingredients, sparing on the salt, and always with vegetables. I took to heart what Michael Pollan stated simply. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
I have all of her other books…learned to cook from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest! Without a doubt, we have restructured our menu’s and eating plans to revolve around what comes from out garden and/or what we find at the farmers market. We also have been getting fresh eggs as a friend now has chickens.
Count me in!
I still have my first copy of The Moosewood Cookbook – bought in the late ’60’s as a new bride, and it’s been used most of the last 40+ years. Extra copies went to the children as they left the nest, and I would really enjoy some updates from Mollie’s repetoire. The most significant change in my cooking style has been using more fresh herbs, only fresh veggies ( nothing processed) and simplifying the whole event – using the best ingredients I can grow or buy, and letting the true flavor of the product come thru.
I’ve started to leave rice out of many of my dishes because of the arsenic scare and warnings. We’re eating more Greek yogurt, substituting it where it calls for creme fraiche or sour cream.
In the past couple of years we’ve been eating lots more locally and organically grown veggies. Last year I added coconut oil to my cooking oils and Olive oil has been a staple for a many years now. In general I’ve become being more aware of how our food choices affect not only ourselves but many others, and the well being of the planet.
We eat mainly fish, salads and veggies from garden. Preferred cooking methods are grilling with simple marinades and roasting with brushing of olive oil, fresh chopped garlic and herbs from garden. Love and have all of Mollie Katzen’s books- congratulations to her for having a new book out.
We are not vegetarians but we love vegetables and I’m always trying new ways to fix them. We eat lighter than we used to and over the years have moved away from a lot of the “bad” fats and now use mostly olive and coconut oils. Count me in!
The heart of my plate used to be cheese. I use far less cheese now than I did 10 years ago. I have found many flavorful ethnic dishes that do not need cheese – even Mexican!
I’m working on a Whole 30, so I’m eating a lot of veg, and local, grass-fed meats and wild caught fish. Some fruits and nuts. Nothing processed, no grains, sugars, or alcohol. It’s a healing process, and I’ve never had such even blood sugars and stayed satisfied in my life. Love this book for lots of new veg ideas.
Oh I loved this episode so much! I was listening yesterday and thought I had to buy this book, but sadly I’m furloughed so that isn’t a possibility right now. :( It’d make my day to win it!
10 years ago I was in my 20’s and eating Doritos as the heart of my plate. Now I have gone to a much more plant based diet. Moved to olive oils and more of a Mediterranean type diet.
Please count me in!
How exciting!
I adore Moosewood cookbooks, I know they helped me to become the spicy and adventurous cook I am today! I can’t wait to check out this new cookbook. Thanks!
Kirsten
I have started eating eggs again but not many yolks due to cholesterol. My dogs are LOVING the yolks!!
Mollie’s recipes (and her hand lettering – oooh!) are a joy. I’m so glad she has a new book!
I shy away from processed foods and try to listen to my body and it’s needs and cravings.
Moosewood and Enchanted Broccoli Forest style cooking is still my favorite – my books are quite worn.
What I’ve added is more quinoa, black rice, chia seeds and like Mollie says: Olive oil
With the addition of my small flock of chickens last year, I have been incorporating eggs into our evening meals more often. Shakshouka, kale/swiss chard hash with poached eggs, huevos rancheros, and others grace our dinner plates. Vegetables have always played a large role in our meals but I notice we have been eating more beans and grain varieties as they have become more widely available. While never a conscious decision, it was no surprise to me that meat didn’t hit our plates once last week and neither of us missed it. I would never go so far as to say we are adapting a vegetarian lifestyle (there are days where a burger just hits the spot!) but I see a definite shift to dairy- and plant-based proteins to meet our dietary needs over the past few years.
The Moosewood Cookbook was one of the first cookbooks I bought as a young bride. Its food-stained, dog-eared pages are a testament to its value! I would love to try updated works from Molly.
I’m going back to my roots. I eat basically everything but I grew up in a home where it wasn’t necessary to have meat every day…my mom made delicious meals with and without meat. I then married a meat and potatoes man who expected meat on every dinner plate. 30 years later, I’m putting my health (and his!) first and bringing back the occasional meatless meal. Please choose me for this book…I need all the help I can get!
The Moosewood Cookbook was the heart of our college kitchen in the 1970s. I still have that book — spattered, dog earred, stuffed full of notes and other college era recipes we used as bookmarks. Since then, Mollie’s always been on my most-used cookbook shelf. In fact, I am currently cooking up some barley to make Everything Bread out of Sunrise Kitchen.
Having been an ovo-lacto vegetarian since 1991 didn’t stop me from being influenced by the fat-free diet, the high protein diet, the gluten free diet, etc. I never went whole hog on any of these, but they did shift what I was eating.
For the past few years, however, it’s Mark Bittman’s wise advice — eat food, not too much, mostly plants — that has influenced my plate. I no longer run from whole milk, I keep chickens and eat eggs many times each week, and I do my best to eat vegetables and fruits locally, in season. And sometimes I go totally off that plan, and I do NOT stress about it!
I’d sure love a copy of the new book!
So excited to see this book from Ms. Katzen.
My plate has changed largely in it’s size. I eat far less of everything then I used to. I also have more veggies that I have grown myself, or canned or frozen from my own garden. I haven’t bought commercial tomato sauce in decades. Much more of what we eat is sourced locally, especially during the growing season. We also eat more organic fruits and veggies, which thankfully are becoming more widely available. I’m hopeful for the eating habits of all of us.
We have all of Mollie Katzen’s other books as well – Still Life with Menu is a particular favorite! Our greatest cooking changes over the past few years involve eating out of our garden as much as possible and preserving what we don’t immediately eat, reducing dairy and wheat consumption, and the discovery of quinoa!
greens seem to be the heart of the plate now – the darker the better
Our diet changed tremendously when my then 11-yo said two and a half years ago that she no longer wanted to eat meat. Recognizing that she meant it and that in making sure she got what she needed nutritionally, I joined her. We still eat some fish, but it completely changed the way we ate. Nuts, beans and greens are very central to our meals now.
I’ve moved vegetables to the center of the dinner plate for my family of four. My 12-year-old pasta-terian is not a big fan of the change, but the rest of us love it. I just read CindyP’s comment, and that’s my next step: eat less of everything! Can’t wait to try out Katzen’s recipes for “painted” rice and slow roasted plum tomatoes. Thank you for your especially exuberant interview!
I have and love all of her books. I still only like to eat fruits and vegetables when they are in season, but a new thing is that I try to buy local whenever possible.
I am canning and/or storing my own and farmers market fruits and vegetables and get to enjoy sauce, salsa, jams, pickles, green beans, applesauce, garlic, onions, potatoes… you get the idea. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity.