`Good food comes from a good source and is made from scratch at home with love.'Nina's recipes are always vegetarian and often vegan. Her food philosophy is all about balance and fun. This is wholesome vegetarian food at its best, inspired by cooking from around the world. It captures many of the ongoing culinary trends today - home-cooked comfort meals, plant-based recipes, power bowls, sharing dishes, salads, smoothies and porridges - foods that can all be served in a bowl. The chapters include Morning Bowls, Comforting and Energising Soups, Fresh and Delicious Salads, Grain Bowls, Noodles, Zoodles and Pasta, Hearty Bowls, Gatherings and Sweets. With recipes including a Cosmic Green Smoothie; a Buddha Bowl; Creamy Avocado and Crispy Kale Soba Noodles; a Laksa Luxe Bowl; and Chai Poached Pears with Coconut Ice Cream, this book gives you easy recipes brimming with vitality and health.
I never really considered bowl food or bowl eating very much until one day while I was watching the cookbook mail being opened at Food52 during a Facebook Live session (if you’re not familiar, someone sits and opens the mail and presents all the upcoming/new titles from publishers). A couple titles were related to bowl cooking and the person opening the envelopes and showing the books made a comment about how bowl-foods were trending/having a moment. But these comments really got me thinking — is this really a trend or a bigger shift in our collective food mindset?
I think that this is what Nina Olsson really taps into in her book Bowls of Goodness. Early in the introduction she talks about being a child in the 70s when she ate home-cooked meals and how when the ’80s arrived so did the convenience food and microwave dinners. She talks about moving into her first home and feeling the need to move back towards home-cooked and home-baked foods. Olsson does point out that there is an ancient “human tradition of eating from bowls” so while this movement seems very modern it’s rooted in history.
It’s hard not to love her recipes. If you’ve ever visited her website, Nourish Atelier, you’ll find beautifully styled photos of the most gorgeous looking food. I’ve always found that her recipes look to create a moment with the eater in which they become more connected with the wholefood way of cooking and eating. Life is complex but this cookbook is not — I’ve found it to be full of easy, satisfying recipes that anyone can enjoy.
Case in point, on a recent family road trip we spent a couple weeks with my mother-in-law who isn’t into cooking but is really adventurous when it comes to trying different foods. It was during this trip that I brought Bowls of Goodness with me — my MIL kindly let me take over her kitchen so I could try out some recipes. It was her first time eating Farro or Burrata and she discovered that she enjoyed them! So while it may be that you’ll pick up a cookbook and feel that the ingredients are too different remember that you might find food you really enjoy. I even got to try out a recipe that takes my husband’s favourite meal (roasted tomatoes on spaghetti) and completely elevates it — the Slutty Pasta! combines roasted tomato puttanesca with wholegrain pasta which I served topped with crushed fresh nuts and herbs. The whole bowl was bright, lively, and delicious.
Her book is organized by chapters — Good Morning Sunshine, Soups, Salads, Grain Bowls, Noodles, Zoodles, and Pasta, Hearty Meals, Sharing and Sides, It’s Sweet — there are recipes to suit any time of day or occasion. Her book is vegetarian — eggs and dairy are used but in a way so that if they were omitted the integrity of the recipe would remain intact (there are a few exceptions — like her beetroot pasta which requires eggs for the dough). All of the recipes are inspired by ingredients from around the world. If you’re living in a bigger city you should have no problem sourcing ingredients — I live in a city of less than half a million and I successfully procured all components of the recipes I tried.
One of the biggest food experiences when I was younger was when my sister and I got invited to a “grown-up dinner” at the house of friends of my parents. It was really special because it was the first time I had ever eaten fondue! At the time, this woman didn’t have any children but I’m sure when she’d invited us she tried to think of the most kid-friendly but dinner party acceptable food. It was a big success so when I saw the recipe for Butternut Squash “Cheese” Fondue I was so excited to make it for my daughter. She loved being able to choose her own crudites and what child wouldn’t love skewering their food and dunking it in sauce?? And, I might add, while having fondue seems very special-occasiony this version is very simple and took no time to make. Aside from roasting the squash, plating the raw veg was easy like Sunday morning (and clean-up was almost nil!!).
While all of Olsson’s food is extremely nourishing and comforting she makes sure to include some sweet treats at the end. Doesn’t this Nice Cream and Caramel Sauce w/ Coconut & Peanut Shred look utterly decadent? Not only is this dessert bowl super decadent and lush but it’s also full of wholefood ingredients. The ice cream is really blended frozen bananas which is a perfect stand-in for the dairy-based variety and at only one ingredient makes those multi-ingredient, store-bought kinds look very unappealing.
After trying many of her recipes, I think that what any type of bowl-foods offer is a change in mindset rather than just a passing trend. Slowly what I think of as being a “proper” dinner (on a plate!) is being replaced by these amazing combinations of raw and cooked vegetables, fruits, and grains served in a bowl. Funny enough the feeling is still there when a meal is home-cooked — nourishment, comfort, love, connectedness. So while the meal of my childhood looks different than my daughter’s childhood meals the feelings remained the same. What Bowls of Goodness offers is a way to enjoy the simple art of vegetarian cooking while using the very best whole-ingredients.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kyle Books and Nina Olsson for providing me with a free, review copy of this book. I did not receive monetary compensation for my post, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
This cookbook is really really gorgeous. Like veggie food bowl porn. And a picture with every recipe! I recently bought some large wide bowls that are perfect for a dinner where a plate is unsuitable and a smaller cereal bowl is too small. Last night I used them for the first time for Pad Thai and can't wait to get them in regular rotation. I'm pretty much skipped the dessert and salad section, but marked quite a few recipes from other areas including one for Golden Shakshuka, Gado Gado, and Slutty Pasta, a take on Pasta Puttanseca with roasted tomatoes which is perfect for drawing all the flavor out of store bought winter tomatoes.
I really don't know if this is my favorite cookbook or if it's Anna Jones' A Modern Way to Eat. Either way, that's a huge compliment. This has been the only cookbook that I've been using lately. All recipes look appetizing, are inspiring and from what I've made (I've made a lot), they are almost all fantastic! I wouldn't get a vegetarian book normally, but this book is also really accessible to vegans, with great vegan alternatives listed for every recipe.
Beautiful photographs, unique recipes and delicious meals. I would HIGHLY recommend this.
Fabulous way to add to cooking repertoire through the specific recipes and by varying those same recipes. Many uncommon ingredients so planning is often needed. It’s beautifully set up with photos for every dish and room for your own notes with each recipe. Many cooking tips placed through the book. I’m working through recipes slowly as some are quite complicated. Worth glancing through to see if it’s for you.
It came at me like a dark horse because a book about bowl food didn't really tempt me the first time I heard about it. But I kept seeing wonderful pictures on Nina Olsson's Instagram feed (which I started to follow after discovering her blog, Nourish Atelier) and decided to take a chance on it. I'm so glad I did! This little gem ended up being a go-to book in my growing cookbook collection.
It's a vegetarian cookbook and I'm a long-term vegetarian who recently turned vegan but this poses absolutely no problem. Quite a few recipes are vegan from the get-go and the others are super easy to veganize, thanks to Nina's helpful tips. She also mentions gluten-free alternatives whenever possible.
From its stunning photography to the delicious recipes, this book is a delight. Nina Olsson has a genius way with combinations of flavors and textures and the seasoning is always on point. It's very rare to see so many «accomplished», fully-rounded recipes in a blogger's cookbook. Sometimes you might raise an eyebrow at the number of ingredients in a recipe but rest assured that they're here for a reason and that you'll be glad of each and everyone of them when it's time to eat. And most ingredients that are required you will probably already have in your kitchen. For those you don't have, I highly recommend that you track them down for they're will be a truly amazing addition to your pantry in the future. For me, it was items such as jackfruit, tamarind paste or curry leaves. Now I always have several cans of jackfruit ready to be used for some delicious dishes.
I made quite a few recipes from this book and I can't wait to make even more. So I'm writing this review in the hope that it will convince skeptical people to take a chance on this book as I did myself a few months ago.
In no particular order...
Key Lime Cream → Hide your spoons! This stuff is addictive and you'll want to eat more than your share. The recipes says it's for 2 people but that makes for a very generous portion. I'd serve it to 4 people to round up a nice meal. The creaminess from the cashews and coconut is a perfect foil to the tang of the lime. It's a very rich dessert but it doesn't sit heavily on your stomach. Bonus: it's 100% vegan.
Moroccan Harissa Salad → So good. The dressing alone is pure delight and can be used elsewhere if you feel so inclined. The freshness of the mint, sweetness of the raisins and carrots, the crunch of the almonds, the comforting chew of the roasted cauliflower... Just writing about it makes me want to eat some.
Neatballs → So versatile! I've made them several times. The first time I followed the recipe exactly as it was written and other times I adjusted it to work with whatever ingredients I had on hand. They turn out delicious whatever you add to them as long as you roughly keep to the proportions given. Don't skip the breading part. I did that once out of sheer laziness and that batch was my least favorite of them all. The bread crumb coating truly gives them a little something extra.
Rendang → My only failure from the book. But it's not the recipe's fault. There was a typo saying «200g of coconut» instead of «200ml of coconut» so that was way too much coconut. And some fresh lemongrass is required for the curry paste. I had never cooked with fresh lemongrass before and didn't know I was supposed to only use the tender, white part inside of the herb. So I ended up with a very stringy paste because it couldn't blend smoothly. But the flavors were awesome and I will make it again now that I know what went wrong. And it wasn' a complete loss because I repurposed some of it into neatballs with an Asian kick and it worked like a charm. I love how you can mix and match and play with everything in this book. And the typo will probably be removed from more recent printings of the book.
Sunchoke Soup → Divine! The seasoning is so on point that I didn't have to adjust anything, which hardly ever happens. Don't skimp on the wine. It gives the soup quite a depth of flavor. One of the best soups I've ever eaten. Creamy and flavorful. Comforting and very elegant at the same time.
Leek Soup → Not quite as flavorful as the Sunchoke Soup. It's a very good Vichyssoise recipe but, coming from my Suchoke Soup high, it tasted a bit bland initially. And it should be mentioned that Vichyssoise has never been a favorite soup of mine anyway. But a bright splash of a citrusy sauce (the dressing from the Moroccan salad) brought it to the next level.
Fish-Free Bouillabesse → So good! It even passed the «carnivore test» when I shared some with my partner. It's highly customizable depending on what vegetables you have on hand. The broth is delicious and I recommend not skipping the Rouille sauce. It rounds up everything very nicely. It's delicious with a piece of crusty bread spread with (vegan) butter. Bonus: it's a super light recipe which would be ideal after you've over-indulged.
Pear & Spicy Seitan Salad → Nice combination of flavors. I found it truly shone with the addition of some crunchy toppings ( I used the seroendeng from the Ramen Wonder. A mix od roasted peanuts and coconut) and a dollop of creamy sauce on the side. I suspect you could make this salad year-round by swapping another fruit for the pear (which is cleverly grated into a light slaw).
Butternut Squash & Avocado Salad → I would never have thought to pair the ingredients for this salad but what a great combo in the end! Roasted butternut squash, Puy lentils, baby spinach, walnuts, red onion & avocado? It works so well. I loved it best when eaten fresh, with the squash and lentils still a bit warm.
Ramen Wonder → Another winner. The broth is truly delicious and a bit on the spicy side (but not too much ! It's perfect) and it beats anything you can buy at an Asian restaurant. The ramen itself is optional I found. I added some the first day I made it but did without when I ate the leftovers as there were plenty enough vegetables to keep me satisfied. I love that it is fully customizable. You can have a table-full of different add-ins and toppings and everyone can choose what to put into their bowls. Or you can make it super simple with only a few add-ins and it will still be extra delicious.
Miso Happy → Ramen's Wonder's little cousin. It's very good and reminded me of the miso soup served at Japanese restaurants. There's beauty in its simplicity and purity. Very light and perfect for those days you want something warm but not overly heavy on the calories front. I like it a lot but I have to say I prefer the broth from the Ramen Wonder.
Pulled Jackfruit → My first experience with jackfruit and it certainly won't be the last! The pieces are simmered in a homemade BBQ sauce and then served alongside a light cabbage/apple slaw and some sweet potatoes fries. I liked the sauce but I'll use my regular BBQ sauce recipe next time I make it since I found it a bit on the thin side. But then I'm a thick, sweet & smoky BBQ sauce lover so I'm biased.
Tempeh Steaks → Delicious! Triangles of tempeh spend some quality time in a nice marinade before being coated in a coconut/sesame crust. Will definitely make again and again. Highly customizable by using other seeds or nuts for the crust.
Cabbage & Seaweed Pickle → My first experience with pickling. I had a bit of this at each meal until I ran out.
This was a long review but I feel I've only barely scratched the surface of what this book still has to offer. It's always a pleasure to choose a new recipe to make and to know you're in very good hands.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Buy it. You will not regret it.