Cookbooks for Spring Harvest

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So now you have a copious harvest. What are you going to do with all those vegetables?

One of my greatest sources of inspiration is Alice Waters, the owner, founder and Executive Chef of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse restaurant and an ardent supporter of eating food that is fresh and seasonal, and sustainably and locally grown. Three of Alice’s books, Art of Simple Food, Art of Simple Food II and Chez Panisse Vegetables, provide great ideas as to how to cook these fresh, seasonal vegetables.

Art of Simple Food II gives ideas for preparing loose leaf lettuce, romaine, butterhead, rocket or arugula, mache, cress, dandelion greens and miner’s lettuce. It has another chapter dealing with all types of peas and beans, including green beans, fava beans and shell beans. If you are lucky enough to have pea greens, try Alice’s recipe for Stir-Fried Pea-Vine Shoots in Chez Panisse Vegetables.

One of my favorite greens is sorrel.  It is less well-known than many greens, but it has a wonderful lemony taste. Try it in sauces, soups and with potatoes. The recipe for Potato and Sorrel Gratin in Chez Panisse Vegetables is absolutely terrific.  And try the recipe for Sorrel Soup on the next page. After you taste a well-prepared sorrel dish, you will never be without it in your spring garden.  And it is pretty foolproof to grow!