The Broad Fork by Hugh Acheson

I don't know if you have ever watched Top Chef, but if so the name Hugh Acheson will probably be familiar to you. Honestly, based only on his TV persona, I probably wouldn't have bought this book... He comes across as sort of a snarky know-it-all. BUT I do not see any of that in this cookbook. Instead you see Hugh, the down-to-earth dad. I actually really enjoyed reading the book and the introduction especially. Hugh describes the book best himself,

"The recipes here are all about vegetables-- what to do with them, ideas to  get you excited to cook and eat them. It's not a manual to a vegetarian lifestyle, but rather a compendium of seasonal recipes to help your bring vegetables to the center of your plate-- from quick things you can do right away with what you just picked up to longer, more involved dinners."  

The book is broken down into the four seasons, Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. Then it is further broken down by specific ingredients. In the fall you will find a section of apple, chanterelles and fall mushrooms, eggplants, figs, kohlrabi and many more! Each ingredient has four or five recipes. These recipes vary in difficulty- some are for full dinners while others are quick preparations. He also included a lot of recipes for preserving the ingredients.

When I first started reading through the recipes, I was still really feeling my morning sickness. Food was really not sounding good. We had been eating pretty simple. Whatever I could whip up really quickly that didn't have a strong odor. This book really gave me a lot of inspiration and got me excited about being in the kitchen again. Now that my sickness has worn off a bit, I am excited to try these recipes out.

I received a copy of the book from Blogging for Books, but all opinions are my own.