P. Allen Smith's Seasonal Recipes from the Garden

In his cookbook debut, P. Allen Smith, America’s best-known gardener and garden designer, celebrates the bounty of each season with recipes of flavorful fruits, vegetables, and herbs at their garden-fresh best.

P. Allen Smith’s Seasonal Recipes from the Garden features 120 recipes: 30 for each season. These are dishes that everyone loves to eat. Taking delicious advantage of ingredients as accessible as bell peppers and carrots and as beloved as fresh peaches and tomatoes, the recipes are Allen’s favorites, most from his own kitchen and some adapted from family and friends. They are perfect for those who garden as well as anyone who simply enjoys fresh food. They include:

SPRING: Chilled Pea Soup with Bacon and Whipped Cream; Grilled Salmon Sandwich with Lemon-Dill Mayo; Salad of Asparagus, Edamame, Arugula, and Cheese; Radish Top Pasta; Speckled Strawberry Ice Cream

SUMMER: Savory Grit Cakes with Oven-Smoked Tomatoes; Zucchini and Lemon Salad; Aunt Martha’s Corn Pudding; Rosemary-Garlic Smoked Pork Tenderloin; Peach Moon Tart

FALL: Parmesan Pecan Crisps; Roasted Red Pepper Soup; Citrus-Glazed Turkey Breast; Goat Cheese and Leek Tart; Allen’s Favorite Sweet Potato Pie

WINTER: Cranberry Spice Cocktail; Slow-Cooker Lamb Stew; Savory Rosemary Butternut Squash; Tiny Orange Muffins; Old-Fashioned Blackberry Jam Cake

The recipes, many of which are Southern-inflected, include delightful personal stories, full of Allen’s much-loved wit and charm. All-American Blueberry Muffins evoke memories of him and his siblings roaming the woods searching for wild berries; Lady Peas with Red Tomato Relish reminds him of shelling peas with Ma Smith in his grandparents’ kitchen after supper; and Blue Cheese and Onion Cornbread conjures up the great sweet-versus-unsweet Southern cornbread debate.

Allen offers cooking tips as well as advice on selecting fresh vegetables. There is also a how-to guide with basic gardening suggestions for growing the best varieties of produce. If you are new to gardening edibles, you’ll learn that you should consider starting with zucchini (the most “overachieving” of vegetables) and herbs (a windowsill gives you all the space you need).

So, as Allen says of gardening and eating, those well-matched passions, “Dig in!”

Customer Reviews:

Food for the seasons

By wogan - March 15, 2011

Seasonal Recipes is of course divided into the seasons, each section containing; starters, soups and sandwiches, salads, main dishes, vegetables and sides, bread and such, and desserts. There is also a section on how to grow your own ingredients.
The purpose is to prepare food to match the season. There are black and white pictures of Smith's family and most of the recipes have colour pictures. There is also an introduction to each recipe and many of them are ones that even picky eaters might find palatable.

This is not strictly a vegetarian book. There are plenty of recipes for vegetables, but also ones that have chicken, pork, seafood and beef. The recipes are not that hard, but are different and fresh. Two of our family favorites are the Sweet Potato Bread and Kent's Killer Fresh Apple Cake.
This book is definitely for those who wish to cook some diverse recipes and stay in tune with the four seasons.

fantastic

By Carl - January 18, 2011

This book has a great variety of recepies with easily obtained ingredients...and they are not expensive. The recepies are well orgainzed and Allen's directions and hints are great.

Excellent, accessible recipes that focus on the vegetables

By The Local Cook - January 29, 2011

Apparently P. is a "Well-known personality and respected garden authority." And you know what? It definitely shows. There are 120 recipes divided into spring, summer, fall, and winter, and the vegetables take center stage (yes!). He doesn't have lots of seafood and expensive cuts of meat such as duck or foie gras, it's just good ingredients you can imagine him picking from his garden and making into a delicious, simple meal. OK there is one duck recipe, but it's a stew.

I made the Golden Couscous with Pine Nuts the other day, and have bookmarked several recipes I'd like to try, including white cheddar parsnips and potatoes, carrot ginger soup, and tiny orange muffins.

The book includes a good index and tips on growing your own food. Although the gardening section is only a few pages, it packs a lot of info. I especially like how he shows how to do succession planting in 8?8 beds.

So even if you've never heard of P, definitely give P. Allen Smith's... read more