Dandelion and Quince: Exploring the Wide World of Unusual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs

(Hardback)

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Dandelion and Quince features plant profiles-from dandelion to quince-for over 35 uncommon vegetables, fruits, and herbs available in today's markets-with over 150 recipes that explore their flavors. Dandelion and Quince is an illustrated cookbook that celebrates the less familiar and more unique produce available to all of us. There is so much at the farmers' market and local grocery store yet to be discovered by the everyday cook- mustard, kumquats, spigarello, nettles, fava leaves, sunchokes. Professional chefs have embraced these blossoms, berries, leaves, and roots, and we-their approving patrons with our increasingly curious palates-are ready to prepare them in our own homes. Whereas arugula and kale once seemed exotic, now they're as everyday as peas and potatoes. The same can be true for the ingredients in this book. They belong in our home kitchens. These are simple foods that satisfy our need for a diversity of plant life in our diets, grown with care and prepared by our own hands for our families and communities. Through 150 simple but distinct recipes, Michelle encourages each of us to learn from her recipes so that we can find our own compass in the kitchen. By following recipes, tasting constantly, and making mistakes, the reader will be able to eventually close this book and approach an unknown vegetable with newly skilled hands and a knowing palate.

Reviews

This is a beautiful tribute to so many of my favorite vegetables, fruits, and herbs; and Michelle McKenzie knows exactly how to treat to themwith curiosity, love, and respect. We should all learn from her inspired example by reading and cooking from this book."Alice Waters

Thorny thistles, overlooked leaves, weeds, and seeds have found an ardent champion in Michelle McKenzie.Dandelion & Quinceis a loving paean of the unsung and unexpected, showing us that in the kitchen, as in life, astonishing beauty and flavor are often hidden in plain sight. Samin Nosrat, author ofSalt, Fat, Acid, Heat

Buddhas hand. Dandelion. Gooseberry. Purslane. The food writer Michelle McKenzie demystifies oft-overlooked offerings at farmers markets like those in San Francisco, where she is the program director and chef at the nonprofit community cooking school 18 Reasons. After a quick, one-page run-down about each foreign piece of produce, she offers hearty and nutritious recipes for preparing them at home. From a nettle soup with chive blossoms to short ribs with kumquat and kombuor her secret formula for chewy granola bars that wont fall apartthe books beautifully photographed pages offer a chance to learn a lot, and luxuriate in the soothing act of preparing a wholesome dish.New York Times

An exceedingly pretty book also happily pragmatic, a very good thing in a farmers market handbook. There are suggestions for using frequently overlooked ingredients (a chapter on fava leaves), pantry essentials (kombu stock), tips (build a smoker) and sidebars that read like short stories (a refugee breakfast of delicious spent vegetables). And then there are the recipes themselves, vibrant and seasonal and creative. Amy Scattergood, Los Angeles Times

I cant remember the last time a cookbook culinarily colonized me the way Dandelion & Quince has. Quinces were in season when I received the book, and I rushed, per Michelle McKenzies direction, to fill a bowl with them. At first spring Ill make her recipe for Whole Roasted Fish Stuffed with Green Garlic, Rosemary, and Lemon, and her Eggs Baked with Dandelion and Cream. Im in love or at least infatuated.Tamar Adler and author of An Everlasting Meal

To introduce a new ingredient into your kitchen you need information on where and how it is grown, instruction on how best to cook with it, and inspiration to make you want to take the plunge, put it in your shopping basket, and bring it home. Whether it be fava leaves, sun chokes, nettles, dandelion, purslane, or pomegranates, under Michelle McKenzies superb guidance you can now add them to your larder and enhance your recipe repertoire.Joyce Goldstein, author of The New Mediterranean Jewish Table and Inside the California Food Revolution

Finally! A collection of delicious recipes and useful tips that celebrates so many of my favorite, less appreciated vegetables. Michelle gives us reason to experiment, to explore, and to engageexactly what you need to discover interesting ingredients, cook great food, and meet diverse people, creating a stronger community along the way.SamMogannam, Founder, The Bi-Rite Family of Businesses and co-author ofBi-Rite Markets Eat Good Food

Author Bio

MICHELLE MCKENZIE is the program director and an instructor at 18 Reasons, a cooking school, event venue, and community gathering place in San Francisco's Mission District, founded by the well-known Bi-Rite Market. A chemistry major turned culinary school graduate, Michelle cut her teeth at Blue Hill at Stone Barns before opening her first restaurant in Atlanta. After introducing thousands of Southerners to amaranth with pickled ramps and walnuts and the like, she became a private chef for high-profile clients, including Ted Turner and Jane Fonda. Her desire to teach drew her westward, where she lives today a few blocks from 18 Reasons, melding home, work, and community.