COOKBOOK REVIEWS
Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells, Vegetables at the Center of the Plate
By Mark Isaac Thyss
Garden of Healing®
William Morrow Cookbooks-Harper Collins (2007)
352 pages Hardcover Color Photographs $43.95
ISBN-10: 0060752440
ISBN-13: 9780060752446
Abandon the old boil-and-saute routine and find out what a master of vegetables can teach you in her new book, “Vegetable Harvest” by Patricia Wells.
Wells, the author of several cookbooks including “The Provence Cookbook”, puts vegetables center stage in this appetizing and innovative collection.
From arugula to zucchini, Patricia offers up a wealth of dishes that incorporate vegetables, herbs, nuts, legumes, and fruits fresh from the garden. And her recipes aren’t limited to summer’s bounty—there are plenty for fall squash and winter potatoes, too.
Patricia Wells lives in Provence and she has written a cookbook based on the produce of her garden. This book is not vegetarian, but the focus is entirely on vegetables.
Well known in food circles, Wells is the restaurant critic for the French weekly, L’Express, and is the food critic for The International Herald Tribune, a post she’s held for more than 25 years.
Vegetable Harvest is her tenth book and follows her passion for French cooking. She lives in Paris and runs a cooking school from her hilltop farmhouse in Provence.
One of the many things you will love about her cookbook is that it covers more than luscious summer vegetables. She also has included many recipes for the less flashy winter vegetables such as beets, Brussels sprouts and cabbage.
Written in a straightforward manner, the recipes are without a lot of fussy preparations and using easy-to-find ingredients. Reading through the recipes you can see that they are manageable even for the novice cook. Wells divides Vegetable Harvest into 12 sections, covering everything from starters to desserts and the pantry.
After surveying the bounty of her backyard garden, Wells became inspired to build meals around vegetables rather than starting with meat, fish or poultry. She tripled the number she served at each meal and tried different cooking methods, looking for the best-tasting, most wholesome ways of cooking each type. She includes nutritional information and an equipment list for each recipe too.
Also included are occasional wine suggestions, menu plans, French sayings involving food, and little bits of history about vegetables.
The potager, or French vegetable garden, represents the very best of French cuisine: fresh, flavorful, and easily accessible for home cooks everywhere. In Vegetable Harvest, Patricia Wells presents this latest collection of recipes inspired by the very garden she tends. Open to any page and find something well worth trying out.
© 1996-2009 Mark Isaac Thyss/Garden of Healing®. All rights reserved.
For more articles about natural health and healing, please visit:
http://www.thegardenofhealing.com/
Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells, Vegetables at the Center of the Plate
By Mark Isaac Thyss
Garden of Healing®
William Morrow Cookbooks-Harper Collins (2007)
352 pages Hardcover Color Photographs $43.95
ISBN-10: 0060752440
ISBN-13: 9780060752446
Abandon the old boil-and-saute routine and find out what a master of vegetables can teach you in her new book, “Vegetable Harvest” by Patricia Wells.
Wells, the author of several cookbooks including “The Provence Cookbook”, puts vegetables center stage in this appetizing and innovative collection.
From arugula to zucchini, Patricia offers up a wealth of dishes that incorporate vegetables, herbs, nuts, legumes, and fruits fresh from the garden. And her recipes aren’t limited to summer’s bounty—there are plenty for fall squash and winter potatoes, too.
Patricia Wells lives in Provence and she has written a cookbook based on the produce of her garden. This book is not vegetarian, but the focus is entirely on vegetables.
Well known in food circles, Wells is the restaurant critic for the French weekly, L’Express, and is the food critic for The International Herald Tribune, a post she’s held for more than 25 years.
Vegetable Harvest is her tenth book and follows her passion for French cooking. She lives in Paris and runs a cooking school from her hilltop farmhouse in Provence.
One of the many things you will love about her cookbook is that it covers more than luscious summer vegetables. She also has included many recipes for the less flashy winter vegetables such as beets, Brussels sprouts and cabbage.
Written in a straightforward manner, the recipes are without a lot of fussy preparations and using easy-to-find ingredients. Reading through the recipes you can see that they are manageable even for the novice cook. Wells divides Vegetable Harvest into 12 sections, covering everything from starters to desserts and the pantry.
After surveying the bounty of her backyard garden, Wells became inspired to build meals around vegetables rather than starting with meat, fish or poultry. She tripled the number she served at each meal and tried different cooking methods, looking for the best-tasting, most wholesome ways of cooking each type. She includes nutritional information and an equipment list for each recipe too.
Also included are occasional wine suggestions, menu plans, French sayings involving food, and little bits of history about vegetables.
The potager, or French vegetable garden, represents the very best of French cuisine: fresh, flavorful, and easily accessible for home cooks everywhere. In Vegetable Harvest, Patricia Wells presents this latest collection of recipes inspired by the very garden she tends. Open to any page and find something well worth trying out.
© 1996-2009 Mark Isaac Thyss/Garden of Healing®. All rights reserved.
For more articles about natural health and healing, please visit:
http://www.thegardenofhealing.com/
