Chez Panisse Vegetables

Starred review from May 6, 1996
The same deep regard for ingredients and their flavors that first drew national attention to Waters's Berkeley, Calif., restaurant in the mid-1970s informs this comprehensive disquisition on vegetables. From Amaranth Greens through Zucchini, Waters (Chez Panisse Cooking) examines the qualities and characteristics that distinguish vegetables at their best and offers recipes that show them off. The 250-plus recipes highlight the main ingredient of each dish, sometimes conferring star status (Mediterranean Lentil Soup; Spicy Broccoli Vegetable Saute) and sometimes orchestrating a felicitous concert (Whole-wheat Pasta with Cauliflower, Walnuts, and Ricotta Salata; Braised Cabbage with Halibut). While the majority of recipes are presented in standard form, some of the most valuable bypass details of quantity and sequence to focus on method (Oven-braised Leeks with Cream; Spinach Roman Style with Raisins and Pine Nuts; Aigo Bouido, a garlic broth; Parsley Salad). Waters promotes a collaborative culinary process, not just among the cooks she credits as fellow authors but between the individual cook and the ingredients of the dish being prepared. Her generous, authoritative approach to vegetables commands the same respect she offers to her subject matter and is exemplified in the concluding bibliography of cookbooks. 60,000 first printing; major ad/promp; author tour.

June 15, 1996
Waters is in large part responsible for the tremendous improvement in the quality and range of the produce available to us today, so it's only fitting that the latest cookbook from her well-known restaurant in Berkeley, California, is about vegetables. Since she opened Chez Panisse more than two decades ago, her emphasis has always been on using the best and the freshest ingredients local growers can provide. She includes more than 40 vegetables in this beautifully illustrated book, describing them and how to prepare them in detail, and offering more than 250 recipes. Not everyone will be able to find white asparagus or cardoons, but mostly these are our familiar, everyday vegetables, treated exquisitely: French Cream of Cauliflower Soup, Artichoke Ragout with New Potatoes. Some of the recipes, what Waters compares to "out-of-focus snapshots," are guidelines more than conventional recipes (e.g., Polentina Soup, "Stew some diced white onion in duck fat or butter") and assume some culinary background, but they should also inspire even beginning cooks. An invaluable resource, this is an essential purchase.

April 1, 1996
From a well-known California restaurateur and coauthor of "Chez Panisse Cooking" (1988), another splendid assemblage of more than 250 tempting recipes, which are, however, not for the novice or nonadventurous cook. Waters' focus here is on vegetables and legumes, and she stresses the importance of good ingredients, which in her view consist of freshly harvested, preferably organic produce at its peak. Chapters center on a vegetable or legume (amaranth greens, artichokes, asparagus, turnips, watercress, zucchini), each beginning with a lovely full-color linocut and an introductory note that includes anecdotes and practical advice on selecting, using, and growing. The clearly stated recipes include such delicacies as grilled young artichokes, cabbage with duck foie gras, fennel-infused broth with halibut, sauteed fresh morels, and roasted winter vegetables. Those with a passion for reading cookbooks as well as for cooking will be entranced by both the content and the format of this attractive book, which the publisher is promoting heavily. ((Reviewed April 1, 1996))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1996, American Library Association.)