crescent dragonwagon's famed tofu-broccoli enchiladas

passionate vegetarian (2002)

This recipe was born some years ago when Ned and I had a desperate yen for Mexican food, our beloved Center Street South of the Border was closed, and we wanted to eat right away. Well, we were eating, and eating well, within 25 minutes. The ingredients are all pretty much out-of-the-cupboard stuff, except the broccoli, which we happened to have. The explanation may sound elaborate, but make them once and they’re an absolute no-brainer. So good, so fast, and reasonably healthy, too. — Crescent Dragonwagon

If you go to Crescent Dragonwagon’s current website, there’s a link to a section called “Is that your real name?” It is, and it isn’t. She was born Ellen Zolotow in 1952, but she changed it when becoming a teenage bride in the late ‘60s. She became Crescent, the husband became Crispin, and they both became Dragonwagons (you had to be there.) The name stuck even though the husband didn’t. She opened Dairy Hollow House, an inn and restaurant in rural Arkansas, with her second husband, Ned Shank. After she was widowed by a freak bike accident, she wrote her magnum opus, a 1,000-plus recipe doorstop called Passionate Vegetarian. Grief takes many forms.