Best vegetarian cookbooks?

[Westy]

Thniking about expanding cooking a vegetarian dinner 2x a week. I have (and like) Sundays at Mossewood.
Dairy is fine.
What else is great?
Matt

[mbCrispyBits]

My go-to vegetarian book is The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi. If you follow the recipes to the letter, you will always have a great meal.

[Abby0105]

The two I use most often are A Year in the Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop and Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson. I have Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi, and I admit that it's a great cookbook, but most of the recipes I've tried have been a bit of an undertaking so I use it less often.

[IndyGirl]

Love Heidi;s blog--I really need to get her book!

[ninrn]

Another vote for Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. Also have really enjoyed recipes from this website: http://www.tastypalettes.com . To my taste, the seasoning is just right in her recipes.

[pikawicca]

I just bought Cooking Light's new "Way to Cook Vegetarian" today. It has lost of recipes that look great, including many international recipes.

[Roxanne Webber]

I'm a big fan of Martha Rose Shulman's "Mediterranean Harvest." This has been a go-to book for me for years. Whenever I have a vegetable I need to cook and am stuck for ideas it seems to have something inspiring to offer. In particular, I love the savory pie and gratin recipes in it.

[ellabee]

The original version of Vegetarian Epicure (1972?) and Book Two (1978), by Anna Thomas.

[Also agree w/ recommendations for Deborah Madison and Ottolenghi's Plenty.]

[NCVeggie]

Hurray! The Vegetarian Epicure= My favorite cookbook (although more for nostalgia at this point than recipes). I'm glad some people are still enjoying it.
I honestly don't understand why Mark Bittman has become so popular among the veg crowd! I mean, I have to commend him for winning over people with his "flexitarian" approach (or whatever he calls it, "vegan before 6 pm?") but I am not at all impressed by his cookbook. It just seems like a poorly executed attempt at a vegetarian cookbook.
Deborah Madison's books are wonderful, and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is very comprehensive. However, unless you are new to cooking in general, I would strongly recommend checking out some books that are more specific to the type of cuisine you would like to make, or better yet, find some recipes online to see if there are certain chefs whose style you enjoy, then commit to buying the books. Although, if you are a novice cook, then by all means go with Madison's book.

[IndyGirl]

Definitely agree with Deborah Madison. Also Mark Bittman How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

[topbanana]

Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian" is really diverse and comprehensive.

[hungryjoanne]

+ 1 for "How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian". Lots of great basic recipes, plus tons of ideas for playing with the flavors.

[bitchincook]

1000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles. I bought it when my daughter decided to become a vegetarian in college. She has long since given that up, but I've kept the book around, as it has lots of ideas for cooking vegetables.

[Gio]

Here are the vegetarian focused cookbooks I have in my kitchen library:

1. Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
2. The Vegetarian Option by Simon Hopkinson
3. The Flexitarian Table: Inspired, Flexible Meals for Vegetarians, Meat Lovers, and Everyone in Between by Peter Berley
4. Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone by Deborah Madison
5. The Savory Way: High Spirited Down-To-Earth Recipes for Savory Vegetable Dishes by Deborah Madison
6. Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian: More Than 650 Meatless Recipes from Around the World by Madhur Jaffrey

#s 1,3,4,6 are former COTMs and each has it's own special appeal. The one I usually go to is the Madhur Jaffrey book for it's wide diversity, easily prepared and cooked recipes, and very tasty results.

[biggreenmatt]

The Veganomicon's good, but then again I like anything with a Bruce Campbell reference.

[debbiel]

I usually recommend Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone as a great foundational vegetarian cookbook. But, since you're not actually going veg, perhaps you don't need a foundational cookbook. So here are some other ideas:

Plenty is indeed a lovely cookbook.
Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen--there are some mushroom recipes in this one that I absolutely love.
Books by Peter Berley. The Flexitarian Kitchen might be good for you, but I like his other books as well.
A Year in the Veg Kitchen, Jack Bishop
Classic Veg Cooking from the Middle East and North Africa, Salloum
World Vegetarian, Jaffrey

Those are some starter ideas, but there are so many options out there. There are also lots of veg friendly cookbooks that are not actually vegetarian.

[rasputina]

Vegetarian Cooking For everyone by Deborah Madison.

[harryharry]

Plenty by Yottam Ottolegnhi - Beautiful book with great recipes.

[chefathome]

I second this. This is one of my new favourite books - I have used it often and absolutely love it.