The Kitchen Garden Cookbook

As every gardener knows, there’s no stalk of asparagus as wonderful as one you raised yourself, and you want to make the most of it. From all over the globe, here are just the recipes the home gardener’s been waiting for: the ones that showcase the harvest (wrap that asparagus in ribbons of chives with chive flowers.) There are recipes for elegant occasions, like artichoke hearts with caviar, as well as quick supper ideas in simple one-line recipes. Thompson uses every edible part of a plant, from broccoli’s delectable leaves to carrot tops, which make an intriguing soup. There are great ideas for end-of-season vegetables as well as information on what to do with the plants that inevitably get away from you – the ones you forgot to harvest at the right time.

Almost everyone who gardens or has access to a farmer’s market has been intrigued by the proliferation of Asian greens and vegetables, but there’s scant information available on how to cook them (yard-long beans with cashews, for instance.) For these and the other exotic produce coming onto the market, Thompson explains their nature and how to deal with them in the kitchen to bring out their best. Her salads are marvelous tangles of little leaves like miner’s lettuce, purslane or tatsoi, sometimes sparked with edible blossoms like the stunning scarlet of runner bean flowers.

To keep the harvest, there are complete instructions for making everything from sauerkraut to preserves to your own hominy to milling your own corn flour.

Each vegetable, herb and fruit has nutritional notes, as well as information on its affinities in the kitchen. For Thompson these living things have definite personalities, and that’s thesource of her extraordinary inspiration. Even cooks whose garden is the farmer’s market will want to explore this extraordinary collection of over 200 recipes.