Sweet Onions and Sour Cherries: A Cookbook for Market Day - Hardcover

Ferrary, Jeannette

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671700847 ISBN 13: 9780671700843

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1992

Synopsis

Showcasing today's varieties of fresh produce, this cookbook features information on selecting, storing, and cooking thirty-five vegetables and twenty-six fruits and provides history, folklore, and anecdotes. 20,000 first printing.

About this title

Reviews

Ferrary and Fiszer's book is a boon for anyone who can't tell a Crenshaw from a honeydew. Just when you've become totally overwhelmed by the varieties of produce available at the local grocer's, these two Californians have pooled their knowledge to provide instruction in how to select, and what to do with, the perfect artichoke or avocado. They limit themselves to items found in the average supermarket and farm stand; the book is divided between vegetables and fruits. Each chapter contains a brief history of the food in question, whether persimmons or fennel; an account of how it became popular; and notes on some of the more interesting varieties. The crucial information comes in the consumer and cooking guide, which is where Ferrary and Fiszer tell us exactly what to look for when choosing a vegetable or fruit, when it can be found for sale, how to store it and how to enhance its flavor. The few recipes are very simple, intended to show off favorites. Even the most inexperienced cook can whip up some tasty dishes, such as baked apples in white zinfandel and potato and asparagus salad with smoked salmon. Recipes for homemade stocks, pesto and mayonnaise to accompany other recipes are included.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Fennel-and-carrot bisque; poached sole with chanterelle sauce; leek, red-pepper, and goat-cheese frittata; spaghetti squash with turkey meatballs--or with olives and sun-dried tomatoes: These are typical of the recipes contrived by Ferrary (Between Friends, 1991) and Fiszer (Season to Taste, coauthored by Ferrary, 1988) and presented here in alphabetically arranged chapters, from artichokes to tomatoes, as suggestions for what to do with the produce you might pick up at greenmarkets. If you see many new cookbooks, the general drift of these combinations can seem numbingly familiar and arbitrary. Then there's a fruit section, from apple to ``stone fruits,'' that seems to stretch for novelty--if not oddity--with such dishes as halibut with apple-curry salsa, grape-and-garlic risotto, and curried turkey-salad with mango and cashews. To this marginal collection, the authors have added, for each featured fruit and vegetable, a page or so of text that is more chatty than enlightening. The concept of a cookbook for market day could bear a substantial treatment, but this is capricious, ephemeral stuff. (Line drawings throughout.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ferrary and Fiszer collaborated on several previous cookbooks; Ferrary is also author of the delightful Between Friends: M.F.K. Fisher and Me ( LJ 4/1/91). Their new book is about produce--not the exotic and esoteric but the best of the more familiar fruits and vegetables. Chatty introductions include myths and folklore along with selection and preparation information; recipes are generally fine, but some just seem ordinary. On the subject of fruit only, Rolco Payne and Dorrit Senior's Cooking with Fruit ( LJ 3/15/92) is more informative. BOMC Homestyle Book Club alternate. Schlesinger, author of The Low-Cholesterol Oat Plan Cookbook ( LJ 8/88), emphasizes the health benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables, with the new basic food groups plan in mind. Many of her recipes are blueprints rather than completed dishes; a basic recipe for a pureed soup or a mixed salad, for example, is followed by possible vegetable or fruit combinations and suggested seasonings. There are also pages of "Quick Takes" and some recipes designed to be prepared "At Your Leisure," though at times the distinction seems blurred. Some of the combinations seem doubtful, and other dishes might have been better without the numerous nutritious additions (Dijon Rosemary Pork with Apple Tomato Sauce?). However, there are so many ideas here that health-conscious cooks should find some to their liking.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671700847
• ISBN 13: 9780671700843
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368