Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice L. Waters, Patricia Curtan (Illustrator), Patricia Curtan (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

For twenty-five years, Alice Waters and her friends at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California have dedicated themselves to the ideal of serving the finest, freshest foods with simplicity and style. From tender baby asparagus in early spring, to the colorful spectrum of peppers at the height of summer; crisp, leafy chicories in autumn, to sweet butternut squash in the dark of winter, much of the inspiration about what to put on the menu comes from the high quality produce Waters and her chefs seek out year-round.

Using the treasures from the earth, Chez Panisse Vegetables offers endless possibilities for any occasion. Try Grilled Radicchio Risotto with Balsamic Vinegar at your next dinner party, or Pizza with Red and Yellow Peppers for a summer evening at home. Why not forgo green-leaf lettuce, and opt for Artichoke and Grapefruit Salad drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil? Or serve Corn Cakes with fresh berries for breakfast instead of cereal?

Throughout Vegetables, Waters shares her energy and enthusiasm for what she describes as "living foods." When she first began in the restaurant business, the selection of good-quality vegetables was so limited that she found herself searching out farmers with whom she might do business. Luckily, today's explosion of markets and organic farms across the country ensures that any home cook can find freshly harvested produce to put on the table. And with the increased popularity of home gardening, more and more people are taking their vegetables straight from the earth and into the kitchen.

Cooks, gardeners, vegetarians and everyone who appreciates good food will find Chez Panisse Vegetables to be not only acookbook, but a valuable resource for selecting and serving fine produce. From popular vegetables like corn, tomatoes and carrots, to more unusual selections like chard, amaranth greens and sorrel, Vegetables offers detailed information about the seasonal availability, proper look, flavor and preparation of each selection. Arranged alphabetically by vegetable, and filled with colorful linocut images, Chez Panisse Vegetables makes it easy for a cook to find a tempting recipe for whatever he or she has brought home from the market.

Richard Olney

A marvel of a book. An encyclopedic monument of common sense, dedicated to honest produce, natural, uncontaminated and fresh. The food is simple, inventive, often surprising-dishes that one creates daily by fiddling around in the kitchen, but rarely finds in cookbooks. And such a pleasure to discover that mushrooms are presumed to be wild and anchovies salt-packed (when not fresh.... Patricia Curtan's illustrations are exquisite.

Paula Wolfert

Alice Waters has done more than anyone else to change the way we eat. This book is a triumph.

Patricia Wells

Say 'vegetables' in America and you think of Alice Waters. Few cooks have so clearly instilled in us the concept of 'superfresh.' And like no one else, she has truly championed the pure, whole flavors of foods fresh from the garden and market, prepared with respect, integrity and simplicity.

Wendell Berry

What Alice Waters has taught us is to be interested not just in food but in the history of food: Where does it come from? Who grew it? How was it grown? What happened to it on the way from the ground to the kitchen? What then happens to it in her kitchen is understood both as cooking and as appreciation for all that has happened before. This makes a difference. At Chez Panisse, the difference is tastable.

Wes Jackson

You will break this book's binding from long and loving use, I'll wager. You will soil its pages. You might even cut out a favorite linocut and frame it over the kitchen counter, for this book is about quality-food quality from ground to mouth. Here is Alice Waters going against the grain again, this time featuring vegetables. —founder of The Land Institute

Publishers Weekly

The same deep regard for ingredients and their flavors that first drew national attention to Waters's Berkeley, Calif., restaurant in the mid-1970s informs this comprehensive disquisition on vegetables. From Amaranth Greens through Zucchini, Waters (Chez Panisse Cooking) examines the qualities and characteristics that distinguish vegetables at their best and offers recipes that show them off. The 250-plus recipes highlight the main ingredient of each dish, sometimes conferring star status (Mediterranean Lentil Soup; Spicy Broccoli Vegetable Saut) and sometimes orchestrating a felicitous concert (Whole-wheat Pasta with Cauliflower, Walnuts, and Ricotta Salata; Braised Cabbage with Halibut). While the majority of recipes are presented in standard form, some of the most valuable bypass details of quantity and sequence to focus on method (Oven-braised Leeks with Cream; Spinach Roman Style with Raisins and Pine Nuts; Ago Bouido, a garlic broth; Parsley Salad). Waters promotes a collaborative culinary process, not just among the cooks she credits as fellow authors but between the individual cook and the ingredients of the dish being prepared. Her generous, authoritative approach to vegetables commands the same respect she offers to her subject matter and is exemplified in the concluding bibliography of cookbooks. 60,000 first printing; major ad/promp; author tour. (May)

Library Journal

Waters is in large part responsible for the tremendous improvement in the quality and range of the produce available to us today, so it's only fitting that the latest cookbook from her well-known restaurant in Berkeley, California, is about vegetables. Since she opened Chez Panisse more than two decades ago, her emphasis has always been on using the best and the freshest ingredients local growers can provide. She includes more than 40 vegetables in this beautifully illustrated book, describing them and how to prepare them in detail, and offering more than 250 recipes. Not everyone will be able to find white asparagus or cardoons, but mostly these are our familiar, everyday vegetables, treated exquisitely: French Cream of Cauliflower Soup, Artichoke Ragout with New Potatoes. Some of the recipes, what Waters compares to "out-of-focus snapshots," are guidelines more than conventional recipes (e.g., Polentina Soup, "Stew some diced white onion in duck fat or butter") and assume some culinary background, but they should also inspire even beginning cooks. An invaluable resource, this is an essential purchase.

BookList

From a well-known California restaurateur and coauthor of "Chez Panisse Cooking" (1988), another splendid assemblage of more than 250 tempting recipes, which are, however, not for the novice or nonadventurous cook. Waters' focus here is on vegetables and legumes, and she stresses the importance of good ingredients, which in her view consist of freshly harvested, preferably organic produce at its peak. Chapters center on a vegetable or legume (amaranth greens, artichokes, asparagus, turnips, watercress, zucchini), each beginning with a lovely full-color linocut and an introductory note that includes anecdotes and practical advice on selecting, using, and growing. The clearly stated recipes include such delicacies as grilled young artichokes, cabbage with duck foie gras, fennel-infused broth with halibut, sauteed fresh morels, and roasted winter vegetables. Those with a passion for reading cookbooks as well as for cooking will be entranced by both the content and the format of this attractive book, which the publisher is promoting heavily.

Product Details

• Read an Excerpt

Read an Excerpt

Red and Golden Beets with Blood Orange, Endive, and Walnuts

Serves 4 to 6

2 pounds red and golden beets
1/2 cup shelled walnuts
2 blood oranges
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons orange juice
Zest of 1/2 orange
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/4 pound Belgian endive

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Trim and wash the beets and roast them, tightly covered, with a splash of water. While the oven is on, put the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven for about 5 minutes. With a sharp paring knife, trim off the top and bottom of each orange. Pare off the rest of the peel, making sure to remove all of the pith. Slice the oranges into 1/4-inch rounds.

Make a vinaigrette by mixing together the vinegar, orange juice, and the zest, finely chopped, and stirring in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel them and slice into rounds. Toss them gently with the vinaigrette, and arrange the beets on a plate with the orange slices and Belgian endive leaves. Drizzle over any vinaigrette remaining in the bowl, and garnish with the toasted walnuts.

Zucchini Fritters

Serves 4

1 pound small green zucchini
Salt and pepper
1 clove garlic
1 small bunch chives
Zest of 4 lemons
1 tablespoon potato starch
1 egg
2 tablespoons olive oil

Grate the zucchini and salt them. Let stand for 30 minutes in a colander. Squeeze the zucchini dry with your hands or wring it out in a towel.

Peel and chop the garlic fine, chop fine about 1 tablespoonful of the chives, and grate the zest from the lemons.

In a large bowl, combine thezucchini with the garlic, chives, lemon zest, the potato starch, and the egg, lightly beaten. Heat the olive oil in a nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. For each fritter, pour a generous tablespoonful of the zucchini batter into the pan. They will look like little pancakes. Turn them over after about 3 minutes, or when golden. Cook 2. minutes more on the other side. Drain on paper towels.