Best, most used book I own
Don't remember how I stumbled onto this book about 10 years ago, but I'm sure lucky I did. Not only is it my favorite cookbook, it's probably my favorite book just because I use it more than any type of book and it's provided consistently amazing results. My parents say I'm a really good cook, I don't really think so. But this book consistently turns out food that I actually WANT TO EAT, tastes like something from a really good restaurant, and is simple enough to produce. For example, I actually used several recipes from Field of Greens on a camping trip where I fed 28 people. Everybody was so quiet while eating, I thought "great, people don't like the food". My anxiety at their silence overwhelmed and I asked "why is everyone so quiet? Is there something wrong with the food, please be honest and tell me." I was shocked when the response was 28 crazy positive responses of everything from "I'm too busy eating this awesome food to talk", "I'm trying to eat fast so I can get more before anyone else finishes", to "this is the best food I've ever had camping, it's like restaurant food". One guy came up afterwards and said it was the best food he'd ever had, not just camping. I am not making this up, people! I need to get a new copy of the book because my copy is so worn out. I don't always follow the recipes exactly like when I don't have fresh herbs or something and substitute, but the recipes always still turn out just fine. My only complaint would be I'd love to see this in a vegan version (still looking for truly humane sources of dairy and eggs).
An indispensable cookbbok!
I'm not vegetarian, though I do have leanings...but I find myself coming back to this book whenever I am stuck for a meal. The recipes are incredibly diverse and delicious -- wonderful salads, soups, curries, stews, pastas, risottos, breakfast goodies, desserts: most of my daughter's favorite meals come straight from Annie Sommerville's well thought out and lucidly written book (it was her favorite birthday present when she turned 21). Along with the recipes are a myriad of helpful tips for various small details encountered in the preparation of these recipes, which are not complicated but are based on the principle of fresh ingredients presented to accentuate that freshness. Nothing canned beyond tomatoes are ever called for; spices are ground and often roasted as part of the prep: the cooking requires only a willingness to submit to the preservation of the ingredients' integrity. The reward is a meal where the love that went into it is as evident as the actual foods used. The follow-up book (Everyday Greens) is also wonderful, though I favor this one slightly. Its predecessor by Deborah Madison (The Greens Cookbook) is also very good but the recipes are heavier -- more butter and cream, for instance. They make a great triumvirate, but I would definitely start with Field of Greens.
Excellent cookbook from cover to cover
It's rare that a cookbook consistently produces excellent results, recipe after recipe. Well, Fields of Greens is one of those rare cookbooks.
The book exudes the author's love for cooking, for vegetables, and for pleasing the palates' of her customers and readers alike. When she cooks, she makes love to her food: one can just picture her going to the farmers' market or her garden picking the most delectable vegetable or fruit and smelling the produce, then cooking up some delicious recipe and then sharing it with her guests, customers or readers. No kidding: go ahead. Read the book and you'll see what I'm talking about.
A vegetarian friend of mine recommended the book. My husband and I are not vegetarians, but the recipes in this cookbook are so good that you forget there isn't a single morsel of meat. Each recipe is concise, well explained, and there are many hints and suggestions that one may find useful. Everything is made from scratch, and therefore some recipes are laborious, but the end result is surely worth the effort.
Whenever I want to impress guests, I cook from this cookbook. I've tried many recipes, and each time they come out very, very good. Try the mushroom risotto (perfection!), the winter squash and leeks turnovers, or the African vegetarian stew. Or maybe one of the soups, pizzas or deserts.
I hope that you too will find this book a wonderful addition to your classic cookbook collection.
Bon Appetit!
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