The Bottom Line
Simple, tempting recipes are organized by main ingredients and the seasons when they're available, making it a great go-to book when you return from the farmers' market wondering what to do with the bounty you found.
Pros
- Appetizing, healthful recipes
- Seasonal menus
- Clear, thorough kitchen information for less experienced cooks
- A good read
Cons
- Ingredients embedded in recipe instructions
- Narrow range of flavors and techniques
Description
- Delightfully simple recipes for seasonal fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, and grains.
- Extensive explanations of general cooking techniques (such as poaching fruit and braising meat).
- Engaging style will inspire reluctant cooks to head to the kitchen with confidence.
Guide Review - The Art of Simple Food
Anyone learning to cook seasonally and with local foods will benefit from the notes, explanations, and cheering tone of Alice Waters's latest cookbook. Her deeply held belief that everyone can (and should) eat locally and with the seasons comes across on every page. Just when you find yourself thinking, But what am I supposed to eat in January? She responds, How about winter squash soup, duck legs with wilted greens, and fruit compote?
The cooking style in the book is as well-defined as Waters's philosophy, however. Rustic French, a bit of Italian, and the combination of the two that makes up most Northern Californian cooking is the "simple food" the book covers. For tastes beyond that profile, readers need go elsewhere.
And that's fine. With the solid base and encouragement to experiment this book offers, a cook could venture out, beyond its confines, and cook up a storm.
