Vegetable Love

Kafka is opinionated and I don't always agree with her. (For instance, she hates dilly beans, thinks lambs quarters are far inferior to spinach, and loves ramps). But, I don't mind that - the world would be boring if we all agreed all the time. This is a fun cookbook with imaginative, good, and easy to prepare recipes, and I use it regularly.

Barbara Kafka's _Vegetable Love_ is one of the best cookbooks that I have ever purchased. I have made some twenty recipes (of the 700+), and every single one has turned out delicious. As many other reviewers have covered the book in detail, I'll stick to some key features that I love: 1. The organization Kafka has organized her book first by regions of the world from which each of the vegetables that she covers is from, and then by vegetable. This is perfect for those of us who prefer to buy fresh produce daily. With this cookbook, i can go tot the grocery store, see what looks good, and then go home and cook it, easily - and there are plenty of options. 2. The quantity of recipes I cook for myself only most nights, and so when I buy veggies, I'm often left with some left over that aren't cooked. I bought a head of cabbage the other night for one of her recipes and ended up with nearly a whole head of cabbage left over. It didn't mattter though, I had a ton of other cabbage recipes to try - and it didn't require searching through the book for them (see item 1). By the way - the Curried Cabbage (microwave version), Hot Cabbage and Shrimp Slaw, and Cabbage Risotto were all excellent. [The risotto, in particular, was amazing.] 3. Cooking times None of the recipes that I made from this cookbook took more than thirty minutes. Excellent for weeknight meals. Most 'quick' cookbooks require pre-prepared ingredients, or seem sloppy and thrown together. Not here. 4. The Cook's Guide Essential. No other word for it. Want to know how to buy, store, cook any vegetable you could possibly find at the grocery store? Want to know how many of them you'll need to feed your family/friends? It's right there, in plain, easy to understand text. The only downside to this cookbook is that the servings per recipe is slightly off on some of them. A gazpacho recipe that I made that said that it fed four people was probably enough to feed 12. But still, it was delicious. I simply ended up eating it for a week straight instead of two days like planned. This cookbook is essential for any home cook. The recipes are easy to make, take no time at all, and are delicious. Highly recommended.

Vegetable Love: Vegetables Delicious, Alone or With Pasta, Seafood, Poultry, Mead and More is co-authored by culinary expert Barbara Kafka and professional chef, teacher, culinary producer Christopher Styler. This cornucopia of delicious and nutritious dishes is enhanced with tops on serving, side dishes, presentation, and two appendices devoted to basic recipes and techniques ranging from mayonnaise and Asian dipping sauces to pizza dough and souffles. From Tomato Avocado Salad; Rich Lamb and Hominy Soup; Swiss Potato Pancakes; and Cranberry Tapioca Parfait; to Roast Turkey with Sauerkraut Stuffing; Roasted Burdock and Onions; Green Shrimp Curry; and Glazed Chestnuts, Vegetable Love offers 720 pages of recipes, instructions and advice that will prove to be a core addition for any family or community library cookbook collection.

`Vegetable Love' is by Barbara Kafka (assisted by chef and culinary show producer, Christopher Styler), one of the two premier `special subject' cookbook authors, along with James Peterson, writing in the U.S. today. Her credentials go all the way back to early collaborations with James Beard as an instructor at his school, although she was not, strictly speaking, a student or apostle of Beard's. She was more of a Beard employee who brought her expertise with her. Kafka has already done excellent books on soups, roasting, and microwave cookery. With fellow Beard alum, Marion Cunningham and Jean Anderson, she is one of the leading `old school' American cookbook authors. This book enters a very crowded field. Good modern books on vegetable cookery are pretty common, by both vegetarian and mainstream culinary writers. Leading the vegetarian camp is Deborah Madison, whose `Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone', `The Greens Cookbook', and `The Savory Way' are masterpieces on cooking techniques with vegetables and on cooking in general. She is joined in the veggie camp by Mollie Katzen / Moosewood Café clan, Peter Berley (`The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen'), and Jack Bishop (`Vegetables Every Day', `A Year in the Vegetarian Kitchen', and `The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook'). Among mainstream writers, Peterson has the book `Vegetables' and there is the indispensable reference by Elizabeth Schneider, `Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini'. Not to be forgotten should be Alice Waters' books `Chez Panisse Fruits' and `Chez Panisse Vegetables'. Aside from the Moosewood efforts, I have reviewed all these books and found them all to be very good to excellent. So where does Madame Kafka's book fit in? My first thought is that this is much more a book for the library armchair or the bedtime reading than it is a kitchen reference for quick recipes. That is not to say that it does not have excellent recipes. It's just that it's main aim is to educate us as a good friend (rather than a scholar like Schneider) on the mysteries of vegetables common to European and American cooking. The first clue to the way to best use the book is in the organization of material. First, information on all vegetables is divided up into two main sections. The first is divided into four chapters covering three major geographical vegetable terroirs (the New World, the Mediterranean, Europe, and the Arab World, and Asia and Africa) plus `Citizens of the World' covering alliums (onions, leeks, scallions, and ramps), mushrooms, `odd roots', lettuces, and `weeds and odd leaves'. The second is the 140 page `Cook's Guide' which contains articles or references for all the plants cited in the previous chapters, but approaches each subject from a general and somewhat more technical point of view. It is here that you will find rules on how long to cook foodstuffs by various cooking methods and equivalencies between vegetable weights and approximate volumes of diced material. This organization

Winner of the Julia Child Cookbook Award and columnist for Gourmet, Family Circle, and Vogue magazines, Barbara Kafka is a passionate chef who has always conveyed her enthusiasm in her writing. This book is no exception. Collaborating here with chef Christopher Styler, a writer and producer of PBS cooking shows, she has now produced the definitive guide to vegetables from all over the world, and she has done so with such style and panache that people will be reading this cookbook and enjoying its recipes for generations. It is, first of all, a beautifully organized cookbook. Instead of simply presenting the vegetables in sterile, alphabetical order, Kafka (with Styler) has organized them according to the area of the world in which they originated, arranging them alphabetically within sections--Vegetables of the New World; of the Mediterranean Basin, Europe, and the Arab World; of Asia and Africa; and (for onions, scallions, herbs, and vegetables used everywhere) as Citizens of the World. This gives a refreshing unity to the sections based on the fact that the vegetables within each section are related to each other culturally and often blend naturally in recipes. As she introduces each vegetable within these sections, she discusses their histories, and since she is also a gardener, as well as a chef, often gives suggestions for planting and growing. Fascinating and unique recipes teach home chefs to think outside the box, expanding the thinking of even experienced cooks by suggesting new ways of preparing or of combining ingredients. Eleven pages of recipes using artichokes, thirteen for beets, and twenty for tomatoes, for example, show the depth with which each vegetable is treated, and the creativity of the recipes is reflected in the Ruby Chard Tart, Beet and Apple Strudel, Carrot Sorbet, and Parsnip Flan with Smoked Salmon. A 150-page Cook's Guide, with green-edged pages for quick reference, presents all vegetables alphabetically, allowing the authors an opportunity to give additional basic, practical information for each vegetable--buying and storing, washing/ways of cutting, yields and equivalents, methods of preparation, possible substitutes, distinctions within each vegetable group, and anecdotes. The entries on beans and peppers are particularly helpful. Written with humor and filled with friendly advice, this is a book for everyone, not just the gourmet chef. The suggestions are practical, and the writing is fun to read. Best of all, Kafka TRIES to connect with her reader--she doesn't just refer to an ingredient from the Cook's Guide--she provides the exact page number. Her beautifully organized, 35-page Index coordinates the various sections so you can look up recipes by ingredient. (If you have fish on hand and want to know something interesting you can do with it, there are ten vegetable sauces listed, and if you have tons of zucchini, there are thirteen recipes, from pickles to custard.) Released in time for the