Chez Panisse Vegetables Notecards | 
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| Author: Chronicle Books Llc Staff
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $11.31
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Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 1272843
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Cards
Edition: Notecards
Pages: 12
Number Of Items: 12
ASIN: B000IOEUN6
Publication Date: February 28, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
By now just about everybody whose interest in eating runs deeper than fast food knows about Alice Waters. The creator of Chez Panisse, the legendary restaurant in Berkeley, California, that helped create a modern American cuisine based on fresh ingredients, she is also equally well-known as a teacher and cookbook author. Chez Panisse Vegetables is one of the best new cookbooks of the season; it's as useful for its information about vegetables and how to use and handle them as it is for its irresistible recipes, which lead to complex and interesting dishes built from simple ingredients and simple techniques.
Product Description
For twenty-five years, Alice Waters and her friends at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California have dedicated themselves to the ideal of serving the finest, freshest foods with simplicity and style. From tender baby asparagus in early spring, to the colorful spectrum of peppers at the height of summer; crisp, leafy chicories in autumn, to sweet butternut squash in the dark of winter, much of the inspiration about what to put on the menu comes from the high quality produce Waters and her chefs seek out year-round. Using the treasures from the earth, Chez Panisse Vegetables offers endless possibilities for any occasion. Try Grilled Radicchio Risotto with Balsamic Vinegar at your next dinner party, or Pizza with Red and Yellow Peppers for a summer evening at home. Why not forgo green-leaf lettuce, and opt for Artichoke and Grapefruit Salad drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil? Or serve Corn Cakes with fresh berries for breakfast instead of cereal? Throughout Vegetables, Waters shares her energy and enthusiasm for what she describes as "living foods." When she first began in the restaurant business, the selection of good-quality vegetables was so limited that she found herself searching out farmers with whom she might do business. Luckily, today's explosion of markets and organic farms across the country ensures that any home cook can find freshly harvested produce to put on the table. And with the increased popularity of home gardening, more and more people are taking their vegetables straight from the earth and into the kitchen. Cooks, gardeners, vegetarians and everyone who appreciates good food will find Chez Panisse Vegetables to be not only a cookbook, but a valuable resource for selecting and serving fine produce. From popular vegetables like corn, tomatoes and carrots, to more unusual selections like chard, amaranth greens and sorrel, Vegetables offers detailed information about the seasonal availability, proper look, flavor and preparation of each selection. Arranged alphabetically by vegetable, and filled with colorful linocut images, Chez Panisse Vegetables makes it easy for a cook to find a tempting recipe for whatever he or she has brought home from the market.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...
 Not just a recipe book December 13, 2008
Paul Peoples
Best as a source of general information, rather than a recipe book. Beautifully illustrated, each vegetable chapter gets a concise discussion on buying, storing, varieties, and even growing your own, followed by a few pages of recipes. Most of the recipes are fairly simple and a bit "sketchy", as in not a lot of detailed step-by-step instructions. If this style appeals to you, you will probably like this book. If you're expecting a traditional cookbook, maybe not. There is a companion book, Chez Panisse Fruit, in a similar format.
 Great for gardens and farmer's markets December 4, 2008
Jessica Roberts (Portland, OR)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
We belong to a farm co-op, so every week we get a fresh batch of surprise produce I have to figure out how to use up. This book has been very helpful for simple, delicious preparations of one or just a few veggies. There are more complicated recipes as well that I generally don't use, but even just for the basics it's very useful.
One caveat, though: the book assumes you are quite proficient in the kitchen. There's very little information about what level of heat, what kind of pan to use, or defining basic terms. If you need a little more hand-holding in the kitchen, this book probably isn't for you.
From the Garden to the Kitchen December 3, 2008
Stephen Albert (Sonoma Valley)
Cook by the season has been Alice's Water's modus operandi for three decades. It's a simple concept. Prepare food that is fresh and seasonal: the sweet mellow taste of a spring onion, and the sweet-tart flavor of an early fall apple. If you are going to spend time in the kitchen, why not work with the best "tools"-- the freshest, tastiest vegetables and fruits. Vegetables always taste best when prepared fresh from the garden or farm market. Here's a quick list:
* Spring: artichokes, arugula, asian greens, asparagus, beets, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbages, cardoon, carrots, cauliflower, chard, collards, endive, fennel, green garlic, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuces, onions, parsnips, peas, radishes, scallions, spinach, turnips.
* Summer: arugula, asian greens, avocadoes, basil, beans, cactus pads, celery, corn, cucumbers, eggplants, fava beans, kohlrabi, leeks, melons, mustard, onions, peppers, pumpkins, radicchio, rhubarb, shallots, squashes, tomatoes.
* Fall: arugula, beets, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cauliflowr, chard, cress, endive, fennel, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuces, olives, peas, potatoes, radishes, salsify, scallions, spinach, sunchokes, tomatillos, turnips.
* Winter: artichokes, asian greens, avocades, cabbage, collards, cress, kale, onions, parnsips, potatoes, salsify, turnips.
CHEZ PANISSE VEGETABLES is Alice's roundup of vegetables matched with great seasonal recipes. There's an introductory essay in which Alice gives us her years-in-the-kitchen wisdom followed by 4 or 5 recipes for 43 commonly used vegetables. This is a companion to Water's own Chez Panisse Fruit. Once you own this book, you'll no doubt want Jane Grigson's seminal collection from 1978 Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book (At Table) written when Alice Waters was just a pup. To get started growing all of these and more in your own garden try The Kitchen Garden Grower's Guide: A practical vegetable and herb garden encyclopedia.
Elegant Veggie Recipes I Always Wanted to Know... September 17, 2008
smy (San Francisco)
I love this cookbook. It's organized alphabetically by vegetable and for each there's an introduction that gives some history and general information like how to select a ripe tomato. There are recipes for vegetables you may not have heard of like cardoons, chicories, and sorrel. It is great for anyone participating in a CSA (getting veggie boxes from a farm) or shopping at farmers markets because it's so extensive and creative -- eleven cabbage recipes for instance.
Alice Water's cooking style is easy and elegant though some recipes might appear challenging to the novice cook as she doesn't always specify quantities of ingredients. Most of the recipes are vegetarian but there are several that include meat such as Artichokes with Baked Anchovy Stuffing or Wilted Mustard Greens and Proscuitto.
I made the Whole Wheat Pasta with Cauliflower, Walnuts, and Ricotta Salata the other night and it was delicious. Even my fiance, who's generally anti vegetarian and anti cauliflower couldn't get enough of it. There really shouldn't be any vegetarian stigma (if you're inclined to have one) attached to this book as it's simply European and California inspired recipes for lovely dishes.
Beautiful Cards July 17, 2008
Laura Caughlin (Seattle, WA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Aside from the box being gorgeous itself, these cards are exquisite!! You will not be disappointed.
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