Stop panicking. You will be fine. You just need to dash to your local bookstore and track down a copy of Vegetable Harvest. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and you need a side dish or a vegetable dish. Somewhere in this grand book there will be a recipe for you. Now, if you can’t get your copy today, you can do it later in the week. Have it ready for NEXT year! Or, have it ready for later this year. Having turkey, again, for Christmas or New Years? Then one of these recipes can work wonders for you.
Patricia Wells published Vegetable Harvest in 2007. For almost a decade, this book’s very French, and quite Provence, focus has pleased countless thousands. It’s a grand tour of vegetable cuisine, whether they are the centerpiece of the dish or serve to supplement to other elements. Chapters here are devoted to:
- Appetizers, Starter and First Courses
- Salads
- Soups
- Fish and Shellfish
- Poultry and Meat
- Pasta, Rice, Beans and Grains
- Vegetables
- Potatoes
- Eggs, Cheese, and Friend
- Bread
- Desserts
Somehow, someway those veggies on your kitchen island have a role in the recipes Patricia shares. Here is a selection of recipes that caught my eye and have testing away again. You’ll see old friends here, like mint, employed in sparkling new fashion:
Artichoke and Parmesan Soup
Asparagus with Gruyere and Smoked Ham
Chicken Breasts with Mint, Capers, and White Wine
Chilled Beet Gazpacho
Chunky Eggplant Cumin Spread
Potato and Chive Waffles with Smoked Salmon, Capers and Crème Fraiche
Potatoes in Chicken Stock with Mint and Butter
Pumpkin and Sage Risotto
Roast Leg of Lamb with Honey and Mint Crust
Roasted Orange Pepper Soup
Savory Mixed Herb and Goat Cheese Sorbet
Steamed Leeks in Mustard and Caper Vinaigrette
Tomato and Strawberry Gazpacho
There are some ideas here that you may need to shelve until next spring, like that Roast Leg of Lamb. But there are surely ideas here to consider now and into the fall. Chilled Beet Gazpacho is a dish for this moment. The Pumpkin and Sage Risotto and the Roasted Orange Pepper Soup are destined for our long Thanksgiving weekend — but we may cheat and do that soup before November.
These recipes carry the charm of Patricia Wells, those little adornments of flavor that make her recipes not just distinctive but happily delicious. If you walk past your farmers market this weekend, you might want this book under your arm. See what is fresh and ready for your kitchen. Then enjoy Vegetable Harvest.