THE VEGETARIAN CHEF

Cohlmeyer, billed as ""probably the most celebrated specialist in vegetarian cuisine in Canada,"" presents a fairly pedestrian collection, containing few recipes unavailable elsewhere. His 250 recipes are assembled into 85 ""nutritionally complete"" meatless meals, geared pretty much to the seasons. Winter dishes are hearty, with a number of vegetable stews and pies plus various assemblages based on dried legumes, rice and pasta. The other seasons stress the Canadian harvest: asparagus, greens, leeks, onions, carrots, kohlrabi, squash and northern fruits and nuts. A few common southern imports such as bananas, avocados and citrus fruits are featured in a limited number of dishes. Apart from a blender-made ""ice cream"" of pre-frozen bananas, honey and lemon juice, Kohlmeyer's desserts are all too familiar. They include brownies, various common layer cakes, indian pudding, baklava and a number of fruit pies and tarts. Precious few main dishes are in any way out of the ordinary. Most notable of these: a cheese pie with a crisp potato latke-like crust; gado gado (an Indonesian salad of greens, potatoes, tofu, tempeh and hard-cooked eggs topped with a spicy peanut sauce) and fondue bruxelloise (breaded and fried triangles of baked cheese omelet topped with a tomato-horseradish sauce). In sum: humdrum.