Lisa Messinger's
Cookbooks of the Week

The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet

by Nava Atlas (Broadway)

Use Nava Atlas, author of many popular healthy cookbooks such as Vegetariana and Vegetarian Express, as an atlas in navigating a quick escape from your kitchen. Her 250 recipes each contain five ingredients or less and do, in fact, manage to be just as "gourmet" as the book title promises. Chapters include soups, salads, pasta, grains/beans, soy, pizza, wraps, potatoes, vegetables, sauces/dips/spreads and fruits. Some of the many standouts (resulting from Atlas' excellent ability to simply match and balance dynamic ingredients) are a Cold Curried Cucumber Soup made with buttermilk that's smooth and spicy at the same time, Ricotta and Green Chili Brown Rice, Baked Barbecue Tofu and Potato Kebabs, a pizza topped with petite peas and cured olives, Sweet Potato Quesadillas and Southeast Asian-Style Spicy Mashed Potatoes. Additional treats are the well-matched multicourse menus Atlas suggests.

RECIPE: RICOTTA AND GREEN CHILI BROWN RICE