Book Review -- Garden-Fresh Vegetable Cookbook

Andrea Chesman Offers a Harvest of Home-Grown Recipes

Feb 8, 2009

Andrea Chesman's Garden-Fresh Vegetable Cookbook is the perfect companion for those who love to garden but are overwhelmed with vegetables at harvest time.

Garden-Fresh Vegetable Cookbook: Andrea Chesman’s Harvest of Home-Grown Recipes (Storey Publishing, 2005) has a very simple message – it is possible to cook, eat and love any vegetable by coaxing the most flavor out of it using recipes that cater to each vegetable’s unique nature. It’s a book whose time has come as many people plan gardens to supplement their food budgets during the down economy.

More Than Vegetable Recipes

Chesman's vegetable cookbook is more than a collection of 175 recipes. It is a collection of information about home-grown vegetables, broken down by harvest season. Each vegetable then has its own introduction and instruction page. Guidelines are included on how to sow and reap the vegetable. Kitchen notes explain how to prepare each item for cooking and times are given for the most popular cooking methods. Chesman – who is a cook, gardener and author – even gives conversion tables for how much of each item is needed to make a pound or a cup of fresh or prepared vegetables for the recipes.

Throughout each section are sprinkled anecdotes, history stories, tips and information about varieties of each vegetable. Since not all vegetable dishes are vegetarian choices, Chesman gives tips on how to make dishes vegetarian. She also notes how to bulk up recipes by adding meat.

Using Garden-Fresh Vegetables

While every recipe is carefully selected to bring out the best in each vegetable, Chesman often notes when substitutions are possible. Recipes range from ultra-simple and super-tasty broiling instructions to more sophisticated Chinese recipes adapted to American tastes. Each vegetable has its own collection of recipes to bring out its best flavors.

Vegetables included in Garden-Fresh Vegetable Cookbook, broken down by season, include:

Each section also includes a “Height of the Season” section that offers recipes for when the garden’s harvest is at its peak and there is a bounty of all the different vegetables. Chesman is a master at formulating recipes that fit the “waste not, want not,” mantra. When she recommends making a double batch because of the popularity of a dish, it is best to believe her.

Master Recipes Use All Vegetables

At the beginning of the Garden-Fresh Vegetable Cookbook, basic cooking methods are presented. A collection of recipes are presented that can work with any inexpensive vegetables. From crepes and quiche to basic lo mien, the master recipes are completely customizable.

Chesman’s “master recipes” are a master stroke of genius. Readers could spend an entire year cooking nothing but the master recipes with whatever vegetables are on hand. The basic cooking methods and master recipes Chesman presents make handling and cooking vegetables accessible for everyone, even the most novice cook.

One thing to note: There are no photos in this book but this is not a problem. Chesman’s directions are straightforward and easy to follow. Her anecdotes and other side information need no pictures to make them more interesting and the prepared vegetable dishes taste fantastic but are rarely glamorous.