Chez Panisse Vegetables

I bought this book right before Thanksgiving. It IS great. The recipes are well written and the drawings add a playful touch. But the best is the pumpkin soup recipe. It's so easy to make. I made it for my family and all you could hear were the spoons clinking against the bottom of the bowl, and everyone asked for seconds. It was more of a hit than the turkey.

If you love to cook, and you love vegetables, you need this cookbook. It includes all of the details that so many other cookbooks leave out -- how to tell the good from the bad with every vegetable out there, when to buy each one for optimal flavor, how to store them before you use them, and exactly how to treat them in your recipes.The recipes themselves range from simple and elegant to involved and indulgent -- there are enough of them that I always find something exciting to cook, regardless of how much effort I want to put into my meal on that particular day.Truly the best thing about this book is that it always inspires me to try new vegetables or to cook old staples in new ways -- since Alice Waters covers all of the details, she completely demystifies any foods that you might not otherwise want to try cooking. If you love to cook, you'll love this book.

Do you find yourself gazing at kale while filling your basket with broccoli and carrots? Then this is the book for you! Be bold in a farmers market, buy the kale or any other unfamiliar vegetable and cook it with confidence! This book tells you all about a vegetable, when it is in season, what to do with it in general and in various stages of "ripeness" and gives you recipies to try it in. A wonderful cooking encyclopedia of vegetables.

Vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike will appreciate Waters' practical approach to learning about, selecting, and cooking with vegetables of all kinds. Chapters are arranged alphabetically by vegetable and include exquisitely colored line-cut illustrations. Recipes in each chapter move from the simple to the more complex, making the book an excellent choice for beginning and advanced cooks alike. And, of course, the dishes are delicious. A "desert island" cookbook for sure.