veggie tales

if you like to talk to tomatoes or if a squash can make you smile

for the best reading experience click the post’s title above to open in a new page which allows you to hover over the numbered footnotes to read them alongside the text. its one click. JUST DO IT.

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My mother instilled a deep love of food into all of her five children, but a special love for all things green and growing. Every family dinner¹ included a large salad and multiple vegetables and these meals were the envy of all our fellow missionaries. So much so that eventually Tuesday Dinner at the Cerqs was instated and the sign up sheet in the teacher’s lounge² filled up quickly. Though there were many ‘healthy’ foods on our table that I loathed as a kid³, most of them I’ve grown to adore⁴ and crave. I don’t like being too long without vegetables/greens. Like an entire day while traveling maybe but definitely not two. While driving from Chicago to Seattle on our cross country move, I was so tired of beige road trip eats that I⁵ teared up a bit when my Yelp⁶ search for ‘kale’ in the middle of Idaho yielded a ‘No Results Found’ message.

For many years I was a vegetarian/pescatarian of sorts⁷ and though I eat meat now, vegetables + produce are still the highlight of any meal I create and consume. Vegetables are what I start with when I brainstorm meals to cook, what I revolve my plate around and what I sometimes cry⁸ about when I finish that last perfect bite⁹. So with rhubarb, fava beans and asparagus peeking out from the farmer’s market stalls I thought to share a few veg focused cookbooks. Not all of these books are vegetarian, but all three focus on vegetables and are organized around them. This makes it quite easy to skip over the chapters that star the specific vegetable you do not enjoy.¹⁰ Each author has their own particular approach to vegetables and style that highlights them, so they all provide a cornucopia of inspiration for what to do with every season’s bounty so you cannot go wrong with any of them. Speaking of seasons, Six Seasons from the ‘what’s for dinner?’ shelf fits perfectly here which means I probably should have saved it for this shelf but, whatever.

Stock up on stalks, roots and leaves from your farmer’s market or local grocer and get cooking with one of these.

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RUFFAGE by Abra Berens

a practical guide to vegetables. 100+ recipes and 230+ variations

This guide/love letter to vegetables written by a former farmer and chef is incredibly detailed and thoughtful. It includes a few pages on ‘How to use this book’, a ‘Glossary’ and an extensive ‘Pantry’ section. Divided alphabetically by vegetable from asparagus to turnips, each chapter has tips on How to Buy, How to Store and Notes that explain how to identify ripeness or not, tips for serving, seasonal insights and more.¹¹ The chapter then goes through various preparation methods (raw, steamed, roasted, puréed, braised, grilled, blistered etc ) with recipes and then many variations on that recipe to take you through different seasons and flavor preferences. Some black and white line illustrations add whimsy and the homey, rustic photography is colorful and feels attainable.

some recipes of note

• asparagus stalks w/anchovy-caper butter and fresh herbs

• broccoli w/melty cheese and chili oil

• shaved cauliflower w/dates, chili oil + parsley

• braised fennel

• garlic marinated white beans w/celery and parsley salad

• chicken thighs w/delicata squash + brown butter vinaigrette

• vinegar-braised onions w/cheddar, apples + greens

• peperonata w/poached eggs and paprika potatoes

• curry braised potatoes w/cauliflower, yogurt, parsley + mint

• delicata squash w/dukkah, ricotta and dried cherries¹²

• tomato panzanella w/corn, cucumbers, and herb salad

• oven roasted tomatoes

  Farming changed the way that I cook, beyond cultivating a love and desire for vegetables. … Even the most rudimentary understanding of what a plant does has made me a better cook because I am playing to the strengths of the vegetable instead of trying to conform it to my desires. … by playing to the inherent strengths of a particular ingredient you can coax out the most delight with the least amount of fight.

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PLENTY by Yotam Ottolenghi

Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi

This is an old classic, and though contains fairly elevated recipes, it showed my burgeoning vegetarian self what a fantastically flavorful canvas vegetables could be. Published in the US in 2011¹³, this was written by like THE vegetable influencer Yotam Ottolenghi whose Israeli/Palestinian roots peek through most of the dishes. Many of the recipes come from his (ongoing) Guardian column and are on the fancier side for the typical home cook. But even if they look intimidating, keep the flavor combinations in mind as inspiration! The book is divided by sections like Roots, Funny Onions, Zucchini and Other Squashes, Brassicas, The Mighty Eggplant¹⁴, Leaves Cooked and Raw, Green Things, Pulses, Grains, Fruit with Cheese and each recipe has a little personal anecdote and tips for serving in the headnote. It fascinating to see how far food photography has come — this one looks quite un-styled and amateur now.

some recipes of note

• Sweet potato cakes

• Caramelized garlic tart

• Black pepper tofu

• Roasted butternut squash with sweet spices, lime and green chili

• Shakshuka

• Broccoli and Gorgonzola Pie

• Broccolini and sweet sesame salad

• Savoy cabbage and Parmesan rind soup

• Green pancakes with lime butter

• Caramelized fennel with goat cheese

• Mixed beans with many spice and lovage

• Cardamom rice with poached eggs and yogurt

At the center of every dish, at the beginning of the thought process, is an ingredient, one ingredient - not just any ingredient but one of my favorite ingredients. I tend to set it off with this central element and then try to elaborate on it, enhance it, bring it out in a new way, while still keeping it at the center, at the heart of the final dish.

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Did you know I do more than read and tell you what to read? I also edit podcasts AND fiction. If you’ve got an audio project that needs a skilled ear or a fiction manuscript that needs a judgy eye, send me a message!

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TENDERHEART by Hetty McKinnon

a cookbook about vegetables and unbreakable family bonds

Hetty McKinnon is an absolutely prolific food writer and recipe developer¹⁵ and this ‘vegetable manifesto’ is personal and informative — she even did the photography! A tome at over 500 pages, Tenderheart is dedicated to McKinnon’s father who passed away when she was fifteen and whose jobs at a large fruit and vegetable market and a Chinese restaurant meant that her memories of him often co-star food. This is filled with beautiful stories, personal memories and family photos and I especially loved the inclusion at the end of ‘Ching Ming and the Culinary Rituals of Loss’ about ‘culinary canons of grieving.’

McKinnon has a reverence and respect for vegetables which comes across in her dishes; they are inventive fusions of flavor that are always approachable and focused on the home cook. There is a pantry section, a few notes on her approach and the rest is divided by vegetable from Asian Greens to Zucchini. Each recipe has informative headnotes, uses for leftovers, substitution ideas and includes amounts in grams along with a bright, textured photo of the finished dish. Her flavor combinations are layered, punchy and eye catching. I’ve got a fair few bookmarked to make asap!

some recipes of note

• Umami Crisp

• Charred Gai Lan and Farro with Soy Tahini

• Grilled Baby Bok Choy with Miso-Gochujang Butter and Crispy Chickpeas

• Tumeric-Yogurt Roasted Broccoli

• Brussel Sprouts and Green Onion Oil Noodles

• Napa Cabbage and Pomelo Salad with Coconut-Peanut Crunch

• Hoisin-Glazed Cauliflower with Mixed Grains and Peanuts

• Fennel, Orange and Halloumi Grain Salad

• Ginger and Cilantro Noodle Pancake

• Tingly ‘Cacio e Pepe” Snow Peas with Rice Noodles

• Roasted Delicata and Radicchio with Date Vinaigrette

• Seaweed Brown Butter Pasta

• Spiced Tomato Jam

  Every day, vegetables and fruit are a tangible force, shaping the way I think about food, how I cook for my family, the recipes I share with the world and, indeed, the recipes in this book. Today, my endless love for vegetables is one of the ways I honor my dad’s legacy, by cooking them every day, with detail and care.

  Be sure to follow Hetty’s newsletter here

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hungry girl

faerie land

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have you used any of these?

what vegetable focused cookbooks do you enjoy?

which veg is your least favorite?

leave us a comment then!

1. of course, only made by mom never dad. though they both often worked full time… -_-

2. recap: i grew up as a missionary kid in budapest where my parents and fellow missionaries ran an international school

3. i was particularly offended by seeded bread

4. yes mom, you were right. there’s your mother’s day gift.

5. quite understandably

6. this was in 2013. what a time.

7. saving meat for pizza toppings and international travel cuisine

8. why does this vegetable shelf feature more crying than any other?!

9. i seem to remember a few tearful sighs over a fantastic broccoli dish at the now closed tasty & sons in portland, or.

10. eggplant and mushrooms, i’m looking at you

11. from the beet chapter ‘After eating beets, remember that you have eaten beets, and remind your guests. The color stains all things passing out of your body, not just your hands.’

12. i made this for thanksgivings past

13. wow what a time

14. blegh

15. with a lovely voice. see her podcast The House Specials and her guest appearance on the show i produce, spilled milk podcast, where she talked about congee