On Vegetables: Modern Recipes for the Home Kitchen is the long-awaited cookbook from Chef Jeremy Fox. He is the chef’s chef who has a reputation for having a winning way with veggies, and now he brings his passion to domestic kitchens across the globe.
In 2008 Jeremy opened Ubuntu in Napa, a restaurant which celebrated all things vegetable. He won the title of Food & Wine’s “Best New Chef” and the restaurant came a creditable second on The New York Times’ list of the country’s best restaurants.
Today he is one of America’s most noteworthy chefs, now working at the Los Angeles restaurant, Rustic Canyon Wine Bar and Seasonal Kitchen. In his first book Jeremy offers 160 vibrant recipes written with the home cook in mind.
On Vegetables is imaginative with a fresh approach to vegetarian cooking. It’s a book that will likely appeal to both vegetarians and carnivores. It will inspire professional chefs and fascinate home chefs, and encourage everybody away from the mundane and predictable.
Cheffy but it’s simple
The recipes here work as main dishes, but also as side dishes to meat if one happens not to be vegetarian. They take advantage of the changing seasons and the vegetables at their freshest. Charred Whole Broccoli with Miso Bagna Cauda: yes, it sounds cheffy but it’s simple and very impressive. That is my preferred style of recipe. Crispy Sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes), Burrata, Grapefruit and Fennel is a colourful stunner with just a little frying and even less assembly. Peas and Pecorino will be a regular on the table of many a veg grower. This recipe uses both the peas and those flavourful pea shoots.
On Vegetables: Modern Recipes for the Home Kitchen might seem, at first glance, to be a cookbook for experienced culinary professionals rather than the amateur. But take a longer look and actually read those recipes and discover that there are striking plates that can be made with little effort and no advanced kitchen skills. This is a unique cookbook and one of the most interesting I have seen for a while.
On Vegetables: Modern Recipes for the Home Kitchen
Author: Jeremy Fox
Published by: Phaidon Press
Price: £29.95
ISBN-13: 978-0714873909