Sweet Basil, Garlic, Tomatoes and Chives: The Vegetable Dishes of Tuscany and Provence [Hardcover]

Diana Shaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 1992

In Sweet Basil, Garlic, Tomatoes, and Chives, Diana Shaw has created irresistible vegetarian soups and salads, hearty main courses, and delicious desserts inspired by the culinary traditions of two bountiful regions: Tuscany and Provence.

The cuisines of Tuscany and Provence are fresh, fast, and affordable. Historically they are resourceful peasant food, relying heavily on vegetables and grains, which make them an ideal subject for the author of Vegetarian Entertaining. Whether a stew, gratin, pasta, pizza, or pastry, each dish in Sweet Basil, Garlic, Tomatoes, and Chives takes full advantage of the herbs and produce these regions are renowned for, calls for no meat at all.

Divided into seven chapters, from sauces to desserts, this book includes some 130 time-honored recipes, combining herbs, grains, produce, and cheeses. Each dish in this collection is delicious, health-conscious, and easy to prepare, from Potato and Vegetable Soup to Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad with Basil, from Onion Tart to Creme Brulee.

Sprinkled throughout the book are warm and charming recollections from the author's journeys to the two regions. On ever page of Sweet Basil, Garlic, Tomatoes, and Chives, you will relish her tales of Tuscany and Provence, and savor tile vegetable dishes the seasons bring to hand.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

In Sweet Basil, Garlic, Tomatoes, and Chives, Diana Shaw has created irresistible vegetarian soups and salads, hearty main courses, and delicious desserts inspired by the culinary traditions of two bountiful regions: Tuscany and Provence.

The cuisines of Tuscany and Provence are fresh, fast, and affordable. Historically they are resourceful peasant food, relying heavily on vegetables and grains, which make them an ideal subject for the author of Vegetarian Entertaining. Whether a stew, gratin, pasta, pizza, or pastry, each dish in Sweet Basil, Garlic, Tomatoes, and Chives takes full advantage of the herbs and produce these regions are renowned for, calls for no meat at all.

Divided into seven chapters, from sauces to desserts, this book includes some 130 time-honored recipes, combining herbs, grains, produce, and cheeses. Each dish in this collection is delicious, health-conscious, and easy to prepare, from Potato and Vegetable Soup to Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad with Basil, from Onion Tart to Creme Brulee.

Sprinkled throughout the book are warm and charming recollections from the author's journeys to the two regions. On ever page of Sweet Basil, Garlic, Tomatoes, and Chives, you will relish her tales of Tuscany and Provence, and savor tile vegetable dishes the seasons bring to hand.

About the Author

Diana Shaw is the author of Vegetarian Entertaining (Harmony Books, 1991) and a series of children's books. When she isn't traveling, Diana makes her home in Paris.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Harmony; 1 edition (May 5, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517582694
• ISBN-13: 978-0517582695
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 7.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,457,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the cookbook that made me, August 14, 2008

By 

Sarah A. Gilbert "cafemama" (portland, oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sweet Basil, Garlic, Tomatoes and Chives: The Vegetable Dishes of Tuscany and Provence (Hardcover)

there is no cookbook which has ever connected me more to the wide-eyed, wondering discovery of a food culture than Diana Shaw's excellent and readable 'Sweet Basil, Garlic, Tomatoes and Chives.' everything that I know deep down in my heart about authentic cuisine was in some way shaped by Shaw. her methods are both ancient and easily imitated (even in the apartment-above-an-insurance-company kitchen where I first cooked with this book in college), and though it is a vegetarian cookbook it does not try to replace meat with other things, only honors the meatless possibilities in the cuisines of France, Italy and Northern Africa.

this is the cookbook that gets most to the heart of why I cook. as I wrote in Culinate, "She writes about love, and food, and how those are just two ways of saying the same thing. "I love you," and "Here is my baked spinach with eggs and béchamel, my asparagus frittata, my ricotta cheesecake, here, for you" -- these are identical phrases." Shaw's food is love, it is earth-shattering, it is simple, it is delicious.