Fresh from the Garden: Food to Share with Family and Friends [Hardcover]

Sarah Raven (Author), Jonathan Buckley (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 2011

Sarah Raven’s new book focuses on dishes to share, based on in-season fruits and vegetables. Fresh from the Garden is full of tempting recipes—both with and without meat—that are centered around seasonal produce. This sumptuous collection, illustrated with specially commissioned photography, features more than 400 recipes that are timed to highlight what is at its peak freshness, to inspire gatherings of family and friends for any occasion throughout the year—weekend brunches, spring picnics, summer barbecues, Mother’s Day, or Thanksgiving. Sarah Raven’s recipes are sure to appeal to locavores and the growing numbers of foodies interested in healthy food, organic living, being closer to the land, and reducing their carbon footprint. Among the mouthwatering recipes are sesame salmon with pea pesto, barbecued corn with chili and garlic butter, duck and red cabbage salad with plum sauce, pumpkin and kale salad, and upside-down raspberry cake. Due to her extensive horticultural background, Raven has a special way with fruits and vegetables. Smart new ideas abound, such as making basil ice cubes for cold soups, smoothing out hummus with roasted squash, or dressing potatoes instead of pasta with puttanesca sauce. This book will inspire you to plant a kitchen garden, visit your local farmers market, and transform produce into a luscious bounty of party-ready dishes. "Sarah Raven may teach us a thing or two about cooking, but the real lesson is learning how to eat." —Dan Barber

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sarah Raven conducts cooking, flower arranging, and gardening courses at the school she set up in 1999 at her farm in East Sussex, England. She also is a columnist for the Daily Telegraph and the author of In Season.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Universe (March 8, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789322307
• ISBN-13: 978-0789322302
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 1.4 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #445,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Such a Gorgeous Cookbook!, April 5, 2011

By 

Jen Wiehl (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fresh from the Garden: Food to Share with Family and Friends (Hardcover)

I received this cookbook yesterday as a gift for my mother. She got it to partner with my organic veggie delivery and the new food blog I recently started. She let me know ahead of time what it was, and I was a bit hesitant after I checked it out on Amazon and saw no reviews.

What a beautiful book! From the cover, to the full color pictures, to the ribbons for bookmarks (in green & orange to match the color scheme of bright, cheerful colors), it is just so fun to just look at!

The cookbook is divided into four sections with each season separated by a bright color. At the beginning of each season (section) is a table of contents so you can see what recipes are included. The recipes are laid out very well and are easy to read as you cook along with it.

So far, I've found the recipes to be, as I put it, "not un-do-able." Leafing through them, I haven't found anything I can't do, aside from grilling recipes because I have a "one butt kitchen" in a small apartment and no outdoor grill. Even then, I'm sure I could find a work-around. Love the use of FRESH ingredients in the recipes.

Honestly, the first recipe that I saw when I opened the book was for a Cream of Tomato soup and that's what we had for dinner last night. It was easy to do and really good.

If the first recipe and the beauty of this book are any indication, I'm going to have lots of fun with it.

I held back on 5 stars only because I've done one recipe and have the book in my possession about 36 hours. :)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For Beginners to Experience Culinary Entertainers, June 22, 2011

By 

June Nho - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fresh from the Garden: Food to Share with Family and Friends (Hardcover)

NOTE : First off, I am not a cook. I never professed to having cooking skills, and I always boasted my lack of culinary prowess. My husband, on the hand, spent his formative years in the kitchen.

We received this book as a wedding present. We have only made four recipes from the book, but we have definitely taken our time with it. The book is sectioned off by seasons. Seasons brings us access to locally grown food, and reminds of certain foods we crave. Plus, there is a focus on entertaining foods versus foods for the family. The variety of recipes run the gamut from French to Malaysian to Mexican. Normally, I find certain ethnic foods to bold to conquer, but the author makes it quite accessible.

Sarah Raven writes in a articulate and effortless manner. She guides the reader through a various recipes with an ease of language and a bit of name-dropping. Yet, in a manner that is not pretentious at all. She tells the story of the dish and why it made it into this collection. The accompanying photographs by Jonathan Buckley makes one salivate.

The recipes inspire one to cook and entertain. It is a well-written, beautifully organized, and extremely thoughtful. It would make a great gift for novice chefs and ones who need a little shake up in their cooking.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Same Book, Different Title, July 2, 2011

By 

Leah Stansbury "Kitchen Adventures" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fresh from the Garden: Food to Share with Family and Friends (Hardcover)

Once again, this author has published the same book under two different titles. "Fresh from the Garden: Food to Share with Family & Friends" and "Food for Friends & Family" are the same books, just one is an English publication and one is American. Do not buy both. As always, I am impressed with Ms. Raven's interesting use of produce, I just wish she'd stop confusing the public by giving the same book two different titles.