The Vegetarian Hearth: Recipes and Reflections for the Cold Season

For vegetarians, wintertime's short supply of fresh produce can be a particular hardship. To offset any sense of deprivation, the author of A Taste of Russia has collected recipes for such warming comfort foods as soups, stews and casseroles. Many recipes originate in countries where the mercury dips low and stays there: Russia's famous Blini, Finland's Cabbage Pie Soup (pieces of two-crust cabbage pie served in a bowl with Roasted Vegetable Broth) and Switzerland's melting Raclette cheese served with boiled potatoes and gherkins and pickled onions. A chapter on drinks includes a warm Cranberry Quaff as well as the Dutch Hot Spiced Milk with saffron and tea known as ""Slemp."" Soups range from a hearty Mushroom and Barley Soup to Spanish Almond Soup and an unusual Parsnip, Potato and Spinach Chowder. A few novelty items are winter-themed, like a 19th-century New England recipe for Snow Griddle Cakes that calls for a cup of powdery snow or Hot Potato Snow, in which boiled russet potatoes are sieved and arranged in the shape of a mountain. Goldstein also contributes well-researched texts (academic at heart, but chatty in tone) on such subjects as the under-appreciated rutabaga and Russian vegetarianism. The latter discusses, among others, Leo Tolstoy and the egalitarian Natalia Nordman-Severova, whose playful ways-and serious vegetarian proselytizing-included placing mashed banana in her guests' butter dishes. (Dec.)