Mr Wilkinson's Vegetables

"Matt Wilkinson makes you look at vegetables differently! This book. . . will leave you eager to prepare one of his many delicious recipes."
Eric Ripert chef of Le Bernardin

"I love how my fellow Aussie Matt Wilkinson gives homegrown, seasonal vegetables the spotlight in his dishes. Whether you're eating in his beautiful market-driven Melbourne cafe or lazily reading through his cookbook Mr. Wilkinson's Vegetables, you can taste the admiration he has for all Mother Nature has to offer."
Curtis Stone chef and host of Top Chef Masters and Around the World in 80 Plates

"Matt Wilkinson takes vegetables to a whole new level with his recipes that are simple, yet intricate at the same time. Vegetables have never been as tasty."
David Chang chef/founder of Momofuku

"This book is packed with inventive recipes, gardening advice, and snippets of fun vegetable lore, and it's one I'll revisit often."
Lukas Volger author of Vegetarian Entrees that Won't Leave You Hungry

"I woke up in Melbourne and was whisked away to a studio where there was a make-shift kitchen with a couple guys putting together a meal of the most wonderful vegetables I had ever seen. There was no restaurant, no name. And that is where I met Matt and that chance meal in a warehouse behind a back alley is where one of my most special food memories remain. And now you can all see what I saw that night and maybe cook your own chance meal by Mr. Wilkinson."
Roy Choi chef Kogi Taco, Food & Wine Best New Chef 2010

"This book hits home for me! The way it's organized makes it so easy for people to celebrate each vegetable during its season and even inspires us to grow them with instructions on how-to!"
Ana Sortun Oleana & Sofra bakery, Best Chef: Northeast 2005 James Beard Foundation

"I build my dish around what vegetables are in season because this is when they will be the cheapest, most readily available, and, most importantly, taste the best?and surely this has to be the most important factor when cooking. ? This is where I'm a little different with my veg-first approach."

With that, and only that, Matt Wilkinson, author of Mr. Wilkinson's Vegetables, encourages readers to think about a protein to add (meat or seafood), considering how the flavors will marry together with the chosen vegetables. Revelatory!

What follows are twenty-four chapters devoted respectively to asparagus, beans & peas, beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, peppers, carrot, cauliflower, corn, cucumber, eggplant, fennel, garlic, horseradish, leaves from the garden, nettle, onion, parsnip, potato, pumpkin and squash, radish, tomato, and zucchini?each accompanied by gardening and preparation know-how and three or more recipes.

Mr. Wilkinson's beautifully photographed and illustrated vegetables cookbook is simply a must acquisition for anyone who reads, cooks, and eats. "I build my dish around what vegetables are in season because this is when they will be the cheapest, most readily available, and, most importantly, taste the best and surely this has to be the most important factor when cooking. This is where I'm a little different with my veg-first approach."With that, and only that, Matt Wilkinson, author of Mr. Wilkinson's Vegetables, encourages readers to think about a protein to add (meat or seafood), considering how the flavors will marry together with the chosen vegetables. Revelatory! What follows are twenty-four chapters devoted respectively to asparagus, beans & peas, beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, peppers, carrot, cauliflower, corn, cucumber, eggplant, fennel, garlic, horseradish, leaves from the garden, nettle, onion, parsnip, potato, pumpkin and squash, radish, tomato, and zucchini each accompanied by gardening and preparation know-how and three or more recipes.

Mr. Wilkinson's beautifully photographed and illustrated vegetables cookbook is simply a must acquisition for anyone who reads, cooks, and eats." Matt WIlkinson, the author of MR. WILKINSON'S VEGETABLES: A Cookbook to Celebrate the Garden (Black Dog & Leventhal, $27.95), claims to be a "veg" first sort of chef at the cafes and bars he operates in Melbourne, Australia. Only after scouting the local markets for produce does he formulate his menus for the day. He even goes so far as to pooh-pooh protein. "Vegetables are so much more diverse in flavor, type and availability than any old piece of meat," he writes, although meat and fish do appear in his recipes.

His enthusiasm for vegetables extends even to nettles, the basis for a sorrel souffle omelet with feta cheese. It does not extend to peppers, which he calls "the world's worst food." He isn't restrained on this topic. "I am going to go straight ahead and say for thte record I hate peppers, raw or cooked," he writes. "Hell to me would be a final meal of roaster peppers."