I was in our local Ten Thousand Villages store (carries beautiful handicrafts from developing countires) and was thrilled to see another book put out by the Mennonite Communtity that published one of my all time fav cookbooks
The More with Less Cookbook . My copy of this book is battered, stained and scribbled in-I cherish it.
Anyway this new book looks even better. It is called
Simply in Season -recipes that celebrate fresh,local foods .
I have not cooked out of it yet but I know it is going to be fabulous! I love how it is put together-each season has its own chapters. On the side of each page is a list of the fruits in vegetables in season then and the ones used in a recipe are highlighted.
I have looked at every single recipe and there is not one I don't want to try (I probably won't make the beef ones but they look great).
Honestly, this is just one great book.
I haven't been this excited in a cookbook in oh at least a week!
A great cookbook for a great cause (world hunger- what could be better?) It would make a great Xmas gift.
Here is a review from Amazon:
Simply in Season" is the third "World Community Cookbook" produced by the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). The others were "The More-with-Less Cookbook" (emphasis on economical recipes) and "Extending the Table" (recipes from around the world). "Simply in Season", as you will guess from the title, is wholly about cooking and eating seasonal - and therefore at least potentially local - foods.
After an initial 'Fruit and Vegetable Guide', the book is arranged by season, and each season has recipes for:
* Breads and Breakfast
* Soups
* Salads
* Sides
* Main Dishes
* Desserts
* Extras
After the spring, summer, autumn and winter sections, there's an "all seasons" section with some useful all-year recipes (pie crusts and the like).
This is not a vegetarian cookbook as it includes seasonal meat (lamb in spring) and other meats, but many of the recipes do not call for meat. Basically, it's how to use the fruits of your garden or other local and seasonal foods (maybe bought from a farmstand, farmers market, or CSA). It's the best cookbook of this type that I have ever read - and they've got the seasons right. I hate it when I read an ostensibly seasonal recipe that includes, for example, fresh peas plus fresh tomatoes. At least in my neck of the woods, the two are definitely not happening at once. But 'Simply in Season' is actually accurate about what foods are in season when.
The recipes emphasize healthful cooking and healthful foods. Recipes were sent in by contributors, then each recipe was tested at least two (and usually more) times by testers. The authors spent nearly two years collecting 1600 recipes from more than 450 contributors, then winnowed the recipes down to the best 307 - and those are included in this cookbook. Contributor(s) for each recipe are identified by name and location.
"Simply in Season" is particularly strong in having recipes for unusual seasonal foods: ground cherries, persimmons, rhubarb, and the like. Lots of zucchini recipes, of course. The recipes almost all sound very good to me, and the level of difficulty is about right: I'm not willing to spend an awful lot of time cooking these days. Many of the recipes enable you to make the main dish from/with your garden's bounty - this is always helpful to me. And it has some splendid sounding desserts too!
Like the preceding two cookbooks from MCC, the book also includes little homilies and 'stories' which - in this case - are mainly about the virtues of growing and eating local food. A few of the 'stories' are explicitly religious, but the majority are not. If you object to anything even vaguely spiritual, this may not be the cookbook for you - although really: you could just ignore those parts. For myself, I'm glad to see anything published that may help to inform people about the reasons to support local farmers and sustainable farming. Eat local food, change the world!
I recommend 'Simply in Season' most highly - especially to gardeners, but also to everyone who wants good, healthy, and delicious food.
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