Tofu and kale burger and a tangy broccoli and cranberry salad
plus, an exclusive look at my Tenderheart book trailer...and its finally launch week
As I send this, Tenderheart is poised for its lonnnnng-awaited US and International release. People often ask how it feels when a book has launched. My answer is perhaps not what they expect. It is surreal, yes, but mostly it’s relief. When I create a book, it is the home cooks that are always front of mind, and because a book takes so long to get to market, I am always antsy until the book lands into the hands of the most important people in this process: you. I always love to see what you pick as your first recipe, what recipes become part of your weekly repertoire, and how you adapt these recipes to your preferences, lifestyle and tastes.
Contrary to what some might think, a cookbook does not just belong to the name on the cover, but it is an exchange between author and home cook, a conversation played out in flavour and taste. In time, if authors are lucky enough, our books take on lives of their own, becoming a part of another’s family, the recipes infused with the stories of those who cook it. I am always moved by this, how a cookbook can affect someone’s life and can mean different things to different people. As an author, it is a reminder that the work we do is important, and that we shouldn’t settle for anything less than a cookbook that deserves to be a part of another’s life.
a cookbook does not just belong to the name on the cover, but it is an exchange between author and home cook
With that, I will give my dear subscribers my final reminder to PREORDER Tenderheart. It’s not too late, and if you preorder now, you will receive it on or close to launch date AND help me make this book a huge success. All preorders are included in my first week sales and this (for some reason) is an important factor in book selling world.
Your best bet for receiving it on launch day is from here. Pre-order from Bookshop or from the following Indies: Now Serving LA (with signed bookplate), Book Larder, Books are Magic, Omnivore Books (SF), Bold Fork Books and more.
For Canadian friends, click this link, and for UK, here. For those in other parts of the world where stockists are less clear, Amazon USA should send to everywhere, except Australia and NZ, of course.
The Tenderheart Book Tour
I kick off my book tour this week. We start in New York, with a very meaning event at Yu+Me Books in Chinatown (note, the event starts at 6.30pm and not 7.30pm as it has been stated online!). The Books Are Magic event in Brooklyn is sold out, but you can still join the waitlist. Next Saturday June 3, I’ll be signing books at Union Square Greenmarket and sharing a bite from the book. Come say hi.
There will be events in Boston, DC, SF, LA, Seattle, Portland and Connecticut, so check out all the details here. I can’t wait to meet you.
New This Week
Bon Appétit shared my Salt and Pepper Tater Tot recipe from Tenderheart. In Australia, we call them Potato Gems, and this is a way to make them even more special than they already are!
The great Lukas Volger (see more about Lukas below) shared a Q&A with me plus his own riff on my cabbage carbonara-ish from Tenderheart over at his excellent newsletter
.I shared my beloved tomato and cucumber salad with halloumi and tzatziki over at Eater, in Ali Slagle’s cool column Dinner is Served. Some of you may know this recipe from Community.
I had a super spirited convo with the lovely David Tamarkin who writes the newsletter The Occasional Tamarkin about potatoes for dinner, eating carbs-on-carbs and more.
My 10-week Plant Powered II newsletter series with Voraciously (The Washington Post) surges into Week 3 this week. You can sign up at any time, and you will still get the newsletters from Week 1, so you won’t miss a thing! Sign up here. We have some SUPER FUN weeks coming up including potatoes for dinner, dumpling week, new takes on fried rice and of course, BIG SALADS, so sign up to make sure you don’t miss a thing. The Plant Powered II newsletters go out on Tuesday.
This week’s recipe…well two recipes, actually
This week, since it’s Memorial Weekend in America and all sorts of grilled foods are front of mind, I am sharing an excellent vegan burger recipe inspired by Lukas Volger’s soon-to-be re-released Veggie Burgers Every Which Way. You could eat this in a traditional way, as a burger in a bun, but you know me, I’ve chosen to eat it with a tangy broccoli salad. Both recipes are below.
It takes a special book to qualify for re-release status, so this already tells you a lot about Veggie Burgers Every Which Way. Lukas first released this book in 2010. He then went on to start a retail veggie burger business called Made by Lukas, which is how I initially learnt about him. It’s funny to think that even though Lukas is now a good friend, I actually came across his burgers and tasted his flavours, before I met him in real life.
This new edition of Veggie Burgers features revised and new recipes, updated methods and all new photography. It is released on June 6 but is available for pre-order now (this link is for USA but look up your local retailers to place your order).
I don’t make veggie burgers often. Many may have heard me obnoxiously say, “I’m not a veggie burger person”. It’s true, I rarely make veg burgers at home and will only order it at a restaurant if it’s the only veg option on the menu - which it often is! And sadly, nowadays, these veggie burger offerings are often fake meat (not for me). But I think this book will change my dismissive burger attitude. Lukas’s recipes, which, in this new edition, are mainly vegan and gluten-free, are packed with all the things I love - flavour, texture, vegetables and….moisture. I say moisture because to me, dryness is the death knell of a veggie burger. I have no time for dry, parched patties. But because he is a curious, ingenious cook and recipe developer, Lukas has clever ways of keeping his burgers moist. For example, in this recipe, he tells us to puree half the tofu mixture, which effectively creates a glue which binds everything together. In his book Start Simple, he has a carrot and white bean burger which is cooked in one skillet and the ingredients are mashed slightly, just enough to bind everything together to form a patty. I love this technique and I realize it is similar to my method of creating dumpling fillings with veggies.
If you haven’t already, you should follow Lukas at
where he shares vegetable forward, weeknight friendly meals.