The Chubby Vegetarian (TCV) — aka Flyer friends Amy Lawrence and Justin Fox Burks — recently announced their second cookbook, titled The Chubby Vegetarian.
It will be published in November by the local Susan Schadt Press.
The subhead of The Chubby Vegetarian will be “something like ‘100 Creative Vegetarian Recipes from Anywhere & Everywhere,'” says Burks.
Note the wording there. TCV’s first book, The Southern Vegetarian, focused on Southern dishes. But even while doing that book, Burks says they realized that Southern means a lot of things. So for this book, they’re taking the global approach.
Smoked Carrot Lox
Beet and Goat Cheese Ravioli
“This is a reflection of how we cook at home,” says Lawrence. And as such, they are taking dishes that are in their regular rotation — be it weekly, monthly, or only for special occasions.
“We want to help people cook at home more,” she says. “To take a little break to cook and share a meal. There’s nothing like it.”
For the cover, there’s a butternut squash steak with Montreal seasoning and chimichurri. There will be tacos and sushi and, perhaps, even a dish called Smushrooms.
Butternut Squash Steaks with Mushrooms and Chimichurri
Cauliflower Wings
An incident from last summer also influenced the book. A faulty dishwasher had ruined the floors and other sections of TCV’s kitchen. The repairs took months, and meanwhile, they were without use of the kitchen. This turn of events made them think of cooking in a new way.
As a result, Burks says the recipes are both simpler and with better results.
Past books from Susan Schadt Press have included the lush coffee table books Wild Abundance and Memphis: Sweet, Spicy and a Little Greasy. Burks assures that The Chubby Vegetarian will be a cookbook in every way.
“It’s going to be soft cover, matte pages,” Burks says. “Break the binding, get some red wine on it. Use the book.”
