Author: Ruth Lively
ISBN: 978-160-085-2473
Cooking from the Garden is a collection of the best recipes that were featured in the Kitchen Gardener, a magazine dedicated to edible gardening that was published between 1996 and 2001.
Throughout the collection there are handy little tips to give you a bit of insight into an ingredient or a method which I thought was fantastic, a great little companion for those who are learning their way around a kitchen.
Contributors to Cooking from the Garden came from many different directions. There are recipes collected here from bakers, cookbook authors and chefs as well as people who are great home cooks and gardeners writing about what they grow. The one thing all of these people have in common is the knowledge and belief that it’s the fresh ingredients that make the dish a success.
This is an American recipe collection so the measurements are in pounds and ounces, but there is a conversion chart at the back of the book. There were also some ingredients that I wasn’t 100% sure of but are relatively easy to get clarification on.
Cooking from the Garden prides itself on being a collection of recipes that are simple to source ingredients for, inexpensive and flavoursome. These recipes become a cut above the rest because of the fresh, ripe fruit and vegetables they contain.
The basis of the book is ingredients that come straight from your garden. At times you will have an abundance of something in season and be at a loss how to utilise it all without wastage. This is where Cook from the Garden comes in and offers simple and tasty recipes to make the most of all you’ve got.
Don’t be deterred if you don’t have a garden, just make the effort to buy from local farmer’s markets or the best fresh produce stores you can find to ensure your ingredients are fresh and flavourful.
Set out in sumptuous sections that showcase the selection by course there is something for every occasion within these pages. A wide array of sauces and condiments which is always a great thing, especially if you do have a garden and find yourself with a fruitful yield one season. There is everything from Breakfast to Dessert as well as Preserves.
There is sure to be something to tempt and tantalise every taste bud within these covers and I am looking forward to cracking it open and trying out a couple myself.
A menu is more than just picking a couple of courses and throwing them together, it’s about choosing flavours and ingredients that will complement each other so to help with this there is even a page dedicated to seasonal menus, ensuring you choose a menu utilising fresh and in season ingredients.
Emphasis largely on vegetables and herbs, as is to be expected, until you get to mains and the meat dishes become more prevalent.
Some of the recipes that I am looking forward to trying out are: Spicy Carrot Fritter with fresh Salsa, Savoury Corn Pancakes with Pepper Relish, Strawberry and Rhubarb Muffins, Sweet Potato Sugar Bread, Garlic Lime Soup, Zucchini with Roasted Peppers, Corn and Cream, Quick Chicken Breasts with Chervil, Chocolate Mint Truffles, Peach Crisp with Lavender, Country Apple Pie and many more.
Do you grow your own vegies and take pride in cooking with your own home grown produce?
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!