Amazon.com Review
Colin Spencer's
The Vegetable Book will make even hard-core meat eaters gobble up their veggies in record time. This hefty collection abounds with more than 300 vegetable dishes from around the world, conveniently grouped together by horticultural family.
More than just a series of recipes, Spencer provides detailed historical information, preparation and storage tips, and nutritional values for each vegetable. The majority of the recipes call for more traditional vegetables--tomatoes, potatoes, celery, mushrooms, artichokes. But exotic veggies also get their share of the limelight--including Chinese bitter melon, black radish, and glasswort, a member of the beet family.
Salads shine in The Vegetable Book, and stars include a Wilted Chard Salad rich with garlic and spices, and a succulent Warm Salad of Radicchio, Frisée, and Glazed Squash. Pies also stand out from the crowd--particularly a Swiss Chard Pie wrapped in a delicious, buttery crust.
Recipes run the gamut from simple braised vegetables to complex soups and sauces, sure to appeal to cooks of all abilities. The book would have benefited from an index listing dishes by type (soups, entrées, appetizers, etc.), and several recipes call for fish stock, dairy products, or gelatin--definite no-nos for strict vegetarians. However, the detailed cooking instructions, full-color photographs, and Spencer's chatty and informative text make greens simply gorgeous. --Naomi Gesinger
Review
Colin Spencer's The Vegetable Book is a treasury of over one hundred vegetables arranged by their horticultural families, grouping the usual and the obscure in the most comprehensive and authoritative survey to date. Fresh vegetable recipes from around the world are brought together by Spencer's witty and anecdotal description, backed by superb full-color illustrations. Smooth and Angled Loofahs, Bottle Gourd, and Scorzonera take their place beside the common onion. >From traditional Sicilian caponata to Kohlrabi salad, The Vegetable Book features the global garden's most unusual preparations and raw materials, giving readers the opportunity to expand their culinary horizons and reap the manifest health benefits of vegetables. Much of The Vegetable Book is devoted to traditional fare such as tomatoes, potatoes, and beans, giving detailed and amusing accounts of their history, cultivation, popularity, and nutritional wealth accompanied by handy tips on storage, preparations, and usage of the variety of vegetables. Two hundred irresistible recipes for main or side dishes have been assembled, from the simplest "Leek and Potato Soup" to "Stir-Fried Taro with Prawns" and "Fiery Yam Fritters". Classic favorites, such as the centuries-old King's Soup, are preserved here and made accessible to today's cooks, while fresh, intriguing combinations like "Fennel Tempura with Home-Dried Tomatoes" abound as well. The Vegetable Book is a once a valuable sourcebook, a comprehensive cookbook, and a fascinating book to simple read and browse through. Highly recommended for all culinary reference shelves! --
Midwest Book Review
