Verdure: Vegetable Recipes from the Kitchen of the American Academy in Rome

By Christopher Boswell with Elena Goldblatt, Photographs Annie Schlechter

http://amazon.com/dp/1936941031

Verdure is the ideal collaboration among the Academy kitchen and garden, the artisan producers, and the organic farmers who provide the impeccable raw ingredients used in each dish. (Some are even foraged by the academy’s fellows in field trips to local meadows and forests.) Its 92 recipes are arranged seasonally; week by week, it can be used to navigate the harvest of the farmer’s market. Frugality is a consideration: the RSFP kitchen feeds a group, and cost is a consideration (beans, grains, and greens take a starring role). Maximizing flavor is paramount (consider the lowly onion, risen to new heights in a sweet and sour sauce). Every recipe appears simple and is easy to execute, but rises far, far above the fundamental.