A Girl and Her Greens: Hearty Meals from the Garden

Description

April Bloomfield - co-owner of the lauded Spotted Pig restaurant in New York - is a chef renowned for her nose-to-tail ethos. But her reverence for perfectly sweet peas and bright bunches of radishes matches her passion for the perfect cut of meat. In A Girl and Her Greens, April proves that vegetables can be as juicy, inviting and indulgent as the most succulent steak. From Swiss Chard Cannelloni to Roasted Onions with Sage Pesto, from Kale Polenta to Fennel Salad with Blood Orange, from Braised Peas and Little Gem Lettuce to Roasted Leeks with Walnut Breadcrumbs A Girl and Her Greens is packed with tantalising and flavoursome recipes for hearty food where vegetables truly take centre stage.

April Bloomfield was born in Birmingham. She is the executive chef and co-owner of the Michelin-starred the Spotted Pig, the Breslin, the John Dory and Salvation Taco restaurants in New York and Tosca in San Francisco. She has worked at the River Cafe in London and Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA among other celebrated restaurants. She won the 2014 James Beard Award for Best Chef in New York and was nominated for an Emmy for co-hosting the second season of the PBS show Mind of a Chef. She is also the author of A Girl and Her Pig.

* There are chefs whose restaurants I rush to, chefs I have been honoured to cook with, chefs whose recipes I want to use over and over again. April is all of these to me. Read this book, and you will understand why -- Ruth Rogers * Seasonal vegetables should be at the heart of every good kitchen - and it's great to see they are the life and soul of April's. Her lovely new book finds her revelling in veg, and all its gloriously colourful, mouth-watering, tummy-filling potential. I defy any curious cook to flick through these delicious pages and not want to get busy immediately -- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall * Thrilling ... There is much to learn from her Independent * She is renowned for her hearty, meat-based dishes ... here, she shows how you do equally indulgent things with vegetables Women's Health * This is veg with attitude GQ * Hearty doesn't have to mean meaty, thanks to Bloomfield's understanding of what makes good grub ... Bloomfield's reputation means this isn't a book that will be automatically pigeonholed into the 'vegetarian' category, despite it's veg-centric credentials, and rightly so. A hard trick to pull off, but one she does in trademark style Restaurant * Accessible and inspiring ... Her approach is relaxed and easy as she looks around the world for culinary ideas and somehow simultaneously simplifies and elevates the foods ... Her steamed daikon and raw radish salad with kimchi and sesame really got me feeling enthused about her cooking Kitchen Counter Culture * [April is] one of my favourite cooks, one of the most humble, genius chefs on the planet. This chick cooks like a ninja -- Jamie Oliver * Believe me when I tell you that [April's] food is extraordinary. I don't mean extraordinary in a Michelin-starred look-at-these-truffled-potatoes kind of way. Nor do I mean extraordinary in a Heston Blumenthal this-mackerel-pops-like-Space-Dust kind of way. I mean only that it is extraordinarily delicious -- Rachel Cooke Observer * It's official: New York's best chef is British The Times * What a chef! Delicious, brilliant, inspiring -- Fergus Henderson * April Bloomfield is already someone I admire enormously, and whose food I adore, one terrific restaurant after another. But with her book, she's done yet another extraordinary thing: it's a beast - and it's going right up there on the special shelf next to the classics. Whenever I eat April's food, read her menus or cook from her recipes, I feel like she's reading my mind. It's always exactly what I wanted and needed, but better. I want to be just like her when I grow up -- Anthony Bourdain on A GIRL AND HER PIG * April Bloomfield's beautiful book is one of only a handful that make me want to go straight into my kitchen and start to cook. A triumph -- Russell Norman on A GIRL AND HER PIG * To read, and to cook from, her new book is to meet a girl who brings the warmth of her unprepossessing youth into her food, combined with a fastidious attention to detail Irish Times * Hearty, tantalising dishes Crumbs * Indulge in Swiss chard cannelloni, roasted onions with sage pesto, kale polenta and roast leek crumble for veggie-centric entertaining ideas, as well as an array of more carnivorous treats Vantage