Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Creative Gardening for the Adventurous Cook

Moosewood, the vegetarian culinary collective (``Eighteen heads are better than one for some tasks'') responsible for the restaurant of the same name in Ithaca, N.Y., offers an excellent third title to follow the popular Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant and New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant . This one, unsurprisingly, concentrates on simple, healthful, easily prepared foods, though they are somewhat lighter in emphasis than were suggestions from the past; most dishes can be readied in half an hour or so, and organically grown ingredients are urged. Flavor is emphatically present, and so is an international bent. An Asian frittata, for instance, incorporates vegetables and adds a sauce including soy, rice wine, sesame oil and other Eastern staples, while baked peaches with Marsala is a dessert with an Italian tint. Broiled tofu may lead some diners to gag. However, the majority of the recipes will please non-purists, as well as the hard-core. An especially strong stew chapter offers entries with African, Caribbean, Hungarian, Greek, East Indian, Spanish, Italian and South American origins; chapters on pastas, salads and grains are similarly broad. Each recipe features menu suggestions and information on nutritional components. Author tour. (Apr.)