The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking) by Mollie Katzen

The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking) Reviews

• 
  Rebecca

  Fantastic recipes with gorgeous pen and ink drawings (brussels sprouts drawn in pointillistic style!)and hand-lettered text. It's fun to just look at, but if you do feel like cooking, make the twice-baked potatoes.
• 
  Jensownzoo

  Katzen is one of my go-to people for good vegetarian recipes. This book, along with the Moosewood Cookbook, are charmingly hand-lettered and illustrated. Here's a sample recipe:
  
  Tsimmes
  
  3 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes or yams (or a combination)
  2 lg carrots, sliced
  1 lg apple, sliced (peeling optional)
  1 heaping cup chopped onion
  2 c chopped dried apricots
  3 to 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  1 tsp salt
  1/2 tsp cinnamon
  2/3 c orange juice
  1 c apple juice
  1/4 c fine bread crumbs or matzo meal
  
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Peel the sweet potatoes/yams and cut them into 1" pieces. Place them in a large bowl, add all remaining ingredients except bread crumbs or matzo meal, and toss until nicely combined. Don't worry if it is not perfectly uniform.
  3. Transfer to a 2 qt. casserole or equivalent baking pan, sprinkle with crumbs or matzo meal, and cover with foil. Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until everything is very tender and indistinguishable from everything else.
  
  4-6 servings
• 
  Christine (AR)

  My first and still possibly my favorite vegetarian cookbook. Tomato soup (v. 1) I make at least once a month. Other stand-outs are mushroom pate and banana muffins -- plus the best tutorial on traditional bread-baking I've seen.
• 
  Jerry

  This is not a review of the book; this is an examination of the differences between The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest (2000) and the original Enchanted Broccoli Forest (1982). Which may make this useful only to me, but keeping notes that are useful only to me is half of why I use Goodreads anyway.
  
  I’ve had the original Enchanted Broccoli Forest for longer than I’ve been keeping track of when I purchased books. I bought it as a reminder of where I went to college (Moosewood Restaurant is in Ithaca, New York) but it’s also a really nice cookbook; I’ve used its Moroccan Orange-Walnut Salad for a long time as one of the few greens-based salads I make. I also converted its Sesame-Lemon Bread for use in a bread machine. I decided to take a more serious look at it after picking up
  The New Moosewood Cookbook about a year ago. I ended up adding its Amaretto Cheesecake, Peach & Rum Puddingcake, and Sweet & Pungent Fried Rice to my repertoire as well.
  
  When I saw a nearly pristine copy of The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest for only $1.50 while traveling a few weeks ago, my latent OCD kicked in: not only was my current copy very beaten up (it’s an ex-library edition that clearly had been used a lot before I bought it, and my own use has not helped), but getting the new version would mean both of my Moosewood books would be in matching editions.
  
  Both the original and this revised edition are great cookbooks. The New edition adds some really nice glossy color photographs (8-½ by 11, not 8 by 10). The important part of any cookbook is the recipes, however, so I went through my favorites, as well as some I plan to make, and some random choices, to see how it’s changed over twenty years.
  
  The Amaretto Cheesecake (p. 276 original, 260 new) is nearly exactly the same. The only difference is that the crust now takes 2 tablespoons of butter instead of 2-3 tablespoons, and the filling takes ⅔ cups of sugar or honey instead of 1 cup of sugar. I don’t remember this being overly sweet, so on balance I’d prefer the original. There’s also an interesting difference with the cooking time. The original says to turn off the oven, open the door, and leave the cake in for another 15 minutes. The new says to turn off the oven and leave the cake in for 30 minutes: no opening the door and twice as long. My memory of this cheesecake is that it was near perfect; I find it hard to imagine that baking for an extra 15-30 minutes, depending on the effect of opening the door, would be an improvement.
  
  The Orange Walnut Moroccan Salad (p. 61 original, 45 new) removes the bit about preparing the oranges ahead of time to left them stand for at least an hour. Honestly, I’m not sure how much of a difference that made. It also uses twice the olive oil (6 tablespoons instead of 3). The organization of the ingredients is also removed; instead of two sets of ingredients, one for each step, there is one set of ingredients (this is a general change throughout the book as far as I can tell). And instead of mixing the salad just before serving, the recipe specifies to “Let each person assemble his or her own salad”. None of these are substantial changes, although I somewhat prefer the way the original is written.
  
  The Peach & Rum Puddingcake (p. 258 original, 240 new) is perhaps the most disappointing change. The new version may fix a typo, which is a plus for the new book, but it also removes the rum, which is a huge negative. The recipe is renamed to Peach Puddingcake, and the rum is removed from the cake; it becomes optional for the sauce. The other changes are that the vanilla is increased from ½ teaspoon to a whole teaspoon plus a quarter teaspoon of almond extract (probably replacing the rum), and an entire cup of milk is added. The latter might be fixing a typo, so I’ll probably try it with some milk next time I make it. But I don’t remember it being so dry it needed an entire cup of liquid, and going back over my photos it sure looks like a cup of liquid would be wrong. The cooking time drops from 35 minutes to 30 minutes (at 350° in both cases). In my notes, I note that 25 minutes was what I needed, so this may also be a fix, but I would think that milk would increase the time. I don’t really know, however. The topping changes from 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar to “maple syrup to taste”. So this recipe is a toss-up. If it fixes a typo, that’s great, but I want my rum!
  
  Sadly, the Sesame-Lemon Bread (p. 98 in the original) has been completely removed. Admittedly, it was a huge mess in the original—I don’t see how it could have worked as written. If it hadn’t been for my overall feel that it ought to be great, I would never have done the work to fix it. But I would have liked to see how close my reimagining of this bread is to what it was supposed to be.
  
  The Sweet & Pungent Fried Rice (p. 220 in both) might not even be the same recipe. The ingredients are similar, but the name changes from “sweet & pungent fried rice” to just “fried rice”, and the tofu is no longer marinated in soy, scallions, ginger, and garlic but rather in either plain water or dry sherry—and that’s optional. The eggs are stir-fried separately and then added again later; and the bean sprouts are replaced with more normal vegetables. Whether the old recipe has been replaced or updated, however, it is definitely a win for the original in my estimation.
  
  The recipes I plan to make show similar alterations. The Honey-Bran Muffins (p. 116 original) have been completely removed. Honey-bran muffins are not exactly uncommon, but recipes that use actual bran instead of breakfast cereal are. I definitely want to make this recipe, so I definitely want to keep the old book.
  
  The Indian Pulao (p. 222 original, 224 new) is obviously the same recipe, but also very different. That’s somewhat understandable: this is a recipe that is designed for variation every time you make it, and I expect the author varied it so much that by the time she started working on the new edition her version had heavily evolved. The newer recipe contains fennel, mustard seed, and garlic, which is a win for the new version.
  
  The Wholewheat Poppy Seed Cookies (p. 278 original, 263 new) hasn’t changed substantially; the whole wheat flour has been replaced with whole wheat pastry flour, and the ¼ teaspoon salt has been doubled.
  
  To reduce the chances of my missing other important changes, I also randomly chose four pages from the new edition. Each page contained only one recipe, which may be another difference between the old version and the new; the old tended to accentuate the handwritten nature of the book by cramming recipes into every open space.
  
  The Puréed Vegetable Dip (p. 251 original, 115 new) has slightly different spices—more basil, no thyme—and the yellow summer squash has been given a zucchini option, but the recipe is basically the same.
  
  The Carob Pumpernickel (p. 101 original, 78 new) has been given a full page where it originally had only a quarter page. However, it also uses 1 extra cup of water and an extra 1-½ cups whole wheat flour—a half cup less in the sponge and two cups more when adding the rest of the flour at the end. I don’t know if that means the original recipe was wrong, or that the recipe was so good that she kept making it bigger and bigger.
  
  The Broccoli & Tofu in spicy peanut sauce (p. 190 original, 184 new) is basically the same except for replacing the tamari sauce with salt; but it increases the sauce by 50% so that there is more sauce for the same amount of stir-fry.
  
  The Spicy Baked Beans with Rum & Molasses (p. 216 original, 219 new) is a recipe I must have missed, because it looks great. However, like the Peach Puddingcake, this recipe removes the rum from the title; it does leave it as optional in the recipe itself. It also replaces the three tablespoons of butter with a single tablespoon canola oil, vastly increases the garlic from three cloves to ten, switches from tomato juice to fresh tomatoes while at the same time switching from dried beans to canned. It also adds some chili powder, cumin, and more salt; it’s harder to compare the spiciness of this recipe both because of the switch in kind of ingredient but also because it increases the number of servings by 50% so that some, but not all, of the ingredients are also increased by about that. Other than making the rum optional, however, the two versions seem very close to each other.
  
  I’m probably going to keep the old edition. Except for de-emphasizing the rum, however, it’s pretty much a toss-up.
• 
  Sally

  Every recipe takes about a billion years. Dicing zucchini, chopping tomatoes, peeling potatoes, coring apples, measuring seven types of vinegar. Ugh. I wish I liked prep work but I just don’t. Cooking to me is more about the end product than the process. I find very little joy in that regard.
  I was vegetarian for political reasons for much of my teen years and gave up due to apathy and laziness.
  If I were a more disciplined person I’d never be giving away this cookbook. But I’m giving it to a new teenager full of ambition to stop eating meat. Her mom wants her to cook for herself, just like mine did. So I’m letting get have this copy.
• 
  Elizabeth

  While revisiting some of the pioneering works in the area of vegetarian cookery, I was redirected to The Enchanted Broccoli Forest by a former professor and friend who caught my interest with his description of a cream of tomato soup in the above mentioned book. I can only give this book three stars just yet because I've only tried one recipe and so can't really comment on the quality of the others. I can say that while Katzen's tastes and my own aren't always in sync (and really, who ever likes all the recipes in any cookbook?), she goes to great pains to provide variations within the recipes for cooks to try.
  
  I tried the second variation on the tomato soup recipe and was very pleased, although I did use my immersion blender to puree the soup and incorporate the cream cheese(!). Also,I think I may try dried rather than fresh rosemary, or use a sprig which I will later remove, to keep from getting ahold of little bits of rosemary.
  
  It is important to point out that this book was originally published in 1982 by Ten Speed Press, and features Katzen's own drawings and hand printed recipes. There are some color photographs, including on of the Enchanted Broccoli Forest with upright broccoli heads standing in veggie pride in a bed of herbed rice pilaf. I am particularly interested in the soups in this book, but wait until you get to the desserts. More later on this book.
• 
  GoldenjoyBazyll

  If you have been following my reading style.... you will also understand my cooking style.
  
  Mollie Katzen is tops in my book- particularly after eating at the Moosewood 2 years ago when I was in Ithica on business. For four days I ate every meal there! Just laugh.... why look for something else when you have the best!
  
  Anyhow... I just got this cookbook as a gift and am DELIGHTED with it.
  It is called the Magical Broccoli Forest because there is a receipe called just that. It is seasoned rice baked with spears of broccoli standing up in it to create a little forest. Since I adore entertaining... I just might make it for my next gathering which will be in honor of the Spring Equinox. I will just have to think about how to create little edible animals to hide amongst the broccoli! How fun will that be!
• 
  Cat

  This is one of my favorite cookbooks to just sit and real, or even just to look at. Katzen's hand-lettered pages draw you in by creating a personal feel—like reading a recipe card handed to you from a neighbor. Her recipes don't include meat, but they have so much promise for yummy meals—all veggie or not—and they incorporate Katzen's Jewish roots. I've learned new food words and techniques from these kookily illustrated pages, and I particularly like the improvisation tips, complete with a three-column list of which veggies to put in when. A great cookbook for beginners, for basics and for seasoned cooks.
• 
  Rhonda

  I purchased this book after I had enjoyed The Moosewood cookbook. There are excellent recipes in it, but this book never saw the action which my poor brown stained Moosewood did. I was excited by the recipe for the Enchanted Broccoli Forest, but the result was less than exciting. I do use this recipe when I have someone with little kids come to dinner because it is definitely appealing to the eye.
  
  The recipes in this book are good, for the most part, but it was not nearly as exciting as the Moosewood, where everything was quirky and fun, even the things I still haven't made. It's worth buying just to see some of the different things she does.
• 
  Lillian

  i just found this book at a thriftstore yesterday and fell in love. not only are cookbooks in my top 3 kinds of books for leisure reading, this one is in line with me right now- today, yesterday and probably tomorrow! it is all about vegetarian cooking, has been updated with low and lower fat options and is written in such a comfortable, loving way that i feel like the author is a friend. the best part is the illustrations though! they remind me of my mom and are so intricate and sweet. i love this book already and haven't even made any of the recipes!
• 
  Lesley

  A co-worker suggested this book to me in my quest of going vegetarian for 2011. I think the book is well written (I love the fact that it appears as though it's entirely handwritten) and presents a lot of advice and tips. I will say that while I'm sure most of the recipes are very good (I've only made one and it's not quite as spicy as I would like it) I didn't find more than 3 that I would actually make. Maybe it is my being picky or a food snob, but I just didn't find some of the recipes (a few because of the names) that appealing.
• 
  Sarah

  The vast majority of parents have used the, "Broccoli are little trees!" ploy in an attempt to get their children to eat the venerable green veggie. Katzen's cookbook takes the tree (er, broccoli) one further by layering it in a cheesy " forest" casserole. plenty of other delectable recipes to entice the palate.
• 
  AdultNonFiction Teton County Library

  Teton County Library Call #: 641.5636 KATZEN
  I love this cookbook! It has one of my most favorite recipes of all time, for vegetarian shepherd's pie. I love the hummus recipes as well. If I had one cookbook to take to a deserted island that had a full, well stocked kitchen, I would take this one! (Suzy
  
  This would be a great gift for anyone who loves to cook or eat.
• 
  Elle

  I tried a number of these recipes & found a few new favorites... namely the frittata and the sesame peanut noodles. Most of it was a little too frou-frou for everyday cooking, at least in my house, but these two were easy and phenomenally good!
• 
  Suzy

  I love this cookbook! It has one of my most favorite recipes of all time, for vegetarian shepherd's pie. I love the hummus recipes as well. If I had one cookbook to take to a deserted island that had a full, well stocked kitchen, I would take this one!
• 
  Melody

  Just remembered this book after I made Hot Marinated Cauliflower and Macaroni. Most everything I've made from this has been yummy. Also loved the Yogurt and Herb Bread served with the Tomato Soup.
  
  And can't forget to mention the Sweet Potato Pie!
  
  
• 
  Mele

  The most amazing noodles in peanut sauce recipe can found within these pages...
• 
  Lily

  this book has some inventive recipes. good crusts for dinner pies. it was written back when vegetarian meant dairy, dairy and more dairy. overall: good for ideas
• 
  Emily

  See disclaimer regarding "The Moosewood Cookbook," and watch out for even more cutesy Capital Lettering, but nonetheless it's a good one to have on hand when you wanna manger co-op style chez toi.
• 
  amelia

  I received this as a gift years ago, and still haven't made anything from it. Now my inner hippie is awakening and I think it's time.
• 
  Dottie

  Good. Not my own favorite of Katzen's though.
• 
  Mary

  mmmm yummy broccoli forest....
• 
  Dioscita

  Never cared much for these recipes ... and, man, did my friends make fun of this book's name!
• 
  Kaya

  Buy this book for the gingerbread recipe alone!
• 
  Melissa

  Whimsical! Lovely little illustrations! A fun cookbook, especially, I imagine, for those with kids.
• 
  Deb

  This is a good book but not quite as good as the original Moosewood. That said there are a lot of great recipes in this book.
• 
  Sonia

  Delicious!
• 
  Jami

  i love the shortbread and enchilada recipes in this book, though the titular broccoli forest is way too casserole-y for me.