Exciting recipes for seasonal produce by Chef Hugh Acheson
I received Chef Hugh Acheson’s latest book, The Broad Fork: Recipes for the Wide World of Vegetables and Fruits
Layout and design:
The book is organized by season (in North America), featuring recipes for fruits and vegetables commonly in season where the author lives: Athens, Georgia. Each type of produce has 2-3 quick recipes and one that’s more involved; the four sections have the produce in alphabetical order.
Photography:
Gorgeous full-color photography by Rinne Allen is on every page, from ingredient shots to two-page spreads.
Recipes:
Recipes include celery root salad with buttermilk dressing, chicken of the woods meets chicken of the sea: tuna and mushrooms, lettuce with pomegranate tangerine and cider vinaigrette, tatsoi salad with citrus-soy vinaigrette and pickled radishes, New York strip with onion soubise and sugarloaf endive, gnocchi with braised lamb butternut squash and tomato confit, savory asparagus custard, and warm lobster salad with pancetta arugula and potato.
What I liked about the book:
Great layout and organization. Good variety of recipes, from simple dressings to more complex ones, like crisped pork belly with kimchi rice grits and radishes. Easy to read. Tons of recipes. Photography that captures not only the food but the author’s life and love of fresh produce.
I wasn’t so keen on:
Recipes were not coded for special diets; nutritional analysis is not provided, which would be helpful for low-sodium eaters.
Recommended for:
paleo and vegetarian diets; people who have CSAs; people who love cooking and want to do more with vegetables. If you’re very familiar with your special diet (gluten-free, migraine, low-sodium) you could make this book work.
Not recommended for:
Vegan, gluten-free/celiac, migraine, or low-sodium diets
A note about my cookbook reviews: In the past, I tested at least three recipes from each book, took photos, and described my experience. Due to my dietary limitations (extremely-low-sodium for my Meniere’s Disease and trigger-free foods for migraine relief), it is no longer possible for me to test the recipes and do them justice.
Required FTC disclosure: I received one copy of this book from the publisher for the giveaway on September 24th, 2015.
Here’s the book if you want to see more:
Great review. I am a cookbook fanatic and this one sound good. I like the way he organized it by season. I am always trying to figure out ways to use the less common things that show up in the produce isle throughout the year.