The Flexitarian Cookbook

Book excerpt: Less of a rigid regime, and more of an organic attempt to eat a mainly vegetarian diet, The Flexitarian Cookbook features delicious plant-centric recipes, with options for incorporating meat or fish as needed. Many of us are looking to eat less meat and/or fish, as the host of environmental, ethical and health-related reasons for doing so stacks up. The concept of not centring every meal around an animal-based protein is well on its way to settling into mainstream society. But out there, there is a whole middle-ground of home-cooks, placed somewhere between carnivore and vegan, who are doing their best to reduce meat consumption, but enjoying it on occasion when the urge strikes; the flexitarians. The Flexitarian Cookbook is a collection of delicious, modern vegetarian recipes, with simple options for switching in meat or fish, as the mood takes you. No longer will flexitarians have to juggle between multiple cookbooks or haphazardly hash together a meaty ending to a recipe depending on their cravings. Recipes include a warm curried lentil salad with crispy paneer and spiced dressing, but the paneer can be swapped for crispy prawns if preferred. A winter vegetable stew with herbed dumplings is substantial enough on its own, but this cookbook gives the option to add slow-cooked beef cheeks, if you like. A best-ever recipe for vegetable and lentil moussaka offers the option to swap the lentils for regular mince meat, while the Moroccan spiced vegetable tagine gives an option for cooking with chicken, if the mood so takes you.