• Eat Your Books

  See Susie's review of this cookbook at The Boston Globe and in her summer 2007 round-up at NPR Kitchen

  See Lisa Is Cooking's take on Eggplant, tomato, basil, and cheese timbales, Winter kaleidoscope: carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, turnips, and radishes, Creamy lemon-chive dressing, and Basil oil from this book.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Le Kaiku's tuna, chive, and shallot tartare

  • sfcarole on July 08, 2012

    I thought this tuna tartare needed a little something extra, so I added 1/4 tsp. of sesame oil. Half this recipe easily serves 4 people unless it's your main course.

• Creamy polenta with a poached egg

  • sfcarole on July 13, 2012

    This is vastly improved using regular polenta rather than instant polenta.

  • spharo00 on April 18, 2012

    This is one of my go-to meals. The polenta is so creamy and delicious, and the poached egg really takes it to the next level. I will gladly eat this year-round, but it really is special on those cold winter nights when you need a little extra warmth to fight the chill.

• Tomato-quinoa bread

  • sfcarole on July 13, 2012

    The V-8 juice gives this bread an unbelievable color. It would be a nice addition to a mixed bread basket.

  • nicolepellegrini on November 03, 2020

    This was a total fail for me, and I'm not sure why. I thought my yeast was old, perhaps, because I just didn't get a good rise - but I also just made some regular white bread with the same batch of yeast that rose perfectly fine. Maybe there wasn't enough called for in this recipe? I basically ended up with an inedible brick.

• Steamed leeks in mustard and caper vinaigrette

  • lorloff on October 04, 2014

    Really delicious easy to make and great this will become a weeknight regular

• Sea scallops on a bed of leeks

  • karenmunca on October 31, 2010

    No leeks at the market. So, I substituted fennel and sweet onion - both sliced very thin and cooked for 30 minutes with white wine, sherry vinegar and the herbs. Worked well.

• Cherry tomato and black olive salad

  • nicolepellegrini on October 30, 2020

    This was outstanding. I'm not always a fan of raw cherry tomatoes, but I had some beautiful end-of-the-season heirloom ones from my local farmers market. I let them sit seasoned by the salt and lemon juice used here for about a half hour before tossing in the other ingredients and serving. I could have eaten the entire bowl all by myself.

• Basil oil

  • adrienneyoung on March 18, 2019

    Yum!

• Potato-chive waffles with smoked salmon, capers, and crème fraîche

  • MVitek on June 03, 2011

    Nice presentation and very tasty.

  • twoyolks on November 12, 2018

    A nice variation on the idea of bagels and lox. I liked the potato waffle but, as written, the instructions would overflow my waffle maker.

• The red and the gold: grated beet salad

  • MVitek on June 03, 2011

    Very good. I usually don't bother using 2 colors of beets.

• Tomato gazpacho

  • Maura on July 26, 2014

    You can really throw anything in and takes no time, one of my favorites

• Tuna strips with Espelette pepper

  • twoyolks on January 26, 2014

    The pepper completely overwhelmed the the tuna.

• Steamed, creamy cabbage

  • twoyolks on November 18, 2015

    This has a nice, mild flavor. The cream and lemon juice dressing compliment the cabbage well. I got a lot less grated cabbage than called for based on the weight of the cabbage I used.

• Zucchini purée

  • twoyolks on July 16, 2014

    This has the taste and appearance of baby food. It's not terrible but I would've preferred the zucchini, after it was cooked, before it was pureed.

• Potato gratin from the Savoy

  • twoyolks on November 13, 2014

    This gratin has the richness and depth of flavor of a gratin while being much lighter and healthier.

  • Rinshin on January 10, 2015

    I like the idea of using chicken stock in place of milk or cream. However, the timing was about 10-15 min off with half the recipe. By 50 min at 450F, it was almost crunchy on the top. The taste is very good and actually brought out the real taste of potatoes without smothering with dairy. The use of nutmeg was perfect for this recipe.

• Swiss chard leaf purée with bacon La Beaugravière

  • twoyolks on May 11, 2015

    I made a quarter recipe with one bunch of Swiss chard. I needed to add quite a bit more cream and chicken stock to turn the Swiss chard into a puree. The flavor of the puree was strongly vegetal but the bacon helped to cut that a bit.

• Asparagus braised with fresh rosemary and bay leaves

  • twoyolks on May 16, 2016

    This was simply alright. The rosemary and bay leaves don't really add any flavor to the asparagus. The cooking technique doesn't brown the asparagus enough to make them particularly good.

• Creamy lemon-chive dressing

  • twoyolks on June 11, 2020

    Both the texture and flavor of this dressing was just weird to me.

• Avocado and crab "ravioli"

  • BlytheSpirit on November 28, 2013

    I made this as a first course for company. I needed something light, sophisticated and flavorful and this fit the bill perfectly. Was able to prepare the chopped chives and citrus zest/juice ahead of time and with cooked prepared crab from the butcher, this was assembled in minutes. Did not have almond oil so used a drizzle of the suggested alternative, EVOO. I think a scant teaspoon of mayo would also work well. Next time, I'd like to try with the called-for almond oil as the olive oil was not quite right with the other flavors. Nevertheless, a great first course. The crab from my butcher was not entirely shell-free - I will remember to check it for myself in future. This recipe is available online in a number of places.

• Broccoli purée with a hint of mint

  • Bloominanglophile on November 05, 2013

    I didn't like this at all. It is possible that my broccoli wasn't the freshest and didn't steam down enough to result in a puree--I ended up with a hache instead. I also felt that cream was missing from this recipe, IMHO.

• Spaghetti with green olives, garlic, and fresh mint

  • bching on July 07, 2020

    Edible although not good enough to repeat.

• Cumin-scented chickpeas with roasted eggplant and rustic tomato sauce

  • br22 on July 26, 2014

    Though I used organic tomatoes and eggplant from the Farmer's Market, this should have been more flavorful. The flavors, though subtle, blended very nicely. Adding one more herb such as fresh basil or mint would likely do the trick.

• Chunky fresh tomato sauce

  • br22 on September 06, 2014

    This was a waste of beautiful tomatoes. Prepared per the recipe it ended up tasting like very salty, thin tomato soup. Can't imagine saucing anything with this salty, soupy liquid.

• Curried chickpea, lentil, and Swiss chard stew

  • katiesue28 on October 01, 2024

    This was a very easy stew to make, but a bit bland on flavoring. The toasted cumin seeds and yogurt are a MUST, but I recommend adding even more seasoning.

• Zucchini carpaccio with avocado, lemon thyme, and pistachio oil

  • FlowerGold on September 04, 2024

    Very good, summer side. Dependent on fresh and quality ingredients. Definitely a go to side!

• Zucchini La Ponche

  • FlowerGold on September 09, 2024

    A summer salad option. Easy and fresh. Simple straightforward flavors and composition.

• New York Times

  While there are recipes for fish and meat, including a garlic-rich seven-hour leg of lamb so tender I ate mine with a spoon, the reason for buying this book - and buy it you should - is the vegetables

  Full review