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The Art of Simple Food II: Recipes, Flavor, and Inspiration from the New Kitchen Garden
Alice Waters, the iconic food luminary, presents 200 new recipes that share her passion for the many delicious varieties of vegetables, fruits, and herbs that you can cultivate in your own kitchen garden or find at your local farmers’ market.
A beautiful vegetable-focused book, The Art of Simple Food II showcases flavor as inspiration and embodies Alice’s vision for eating what grows in the earth all year long. She shares her understanding of the whole plant, demystifying the process of growing and cooking your own food, and reveals the vital links between taste, cooking, gardening, and taking care of the land. Along the way, she inspires you to feed yourself deliciously through the seasons. From Rocket Salad with Babcock Peaches and Basil to Moroccan Asparagus and Spring Vegetable Ragout to Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, Alice shares recipes that celebrate the ingredients she tender leaf lettuces, fresh green beans, stone fruits in the height of summer, and so much more. Advice for growing your own fruits and vegetables abounds in the book—whether you are planting a garden in your backyard or on your front porch or fire escape. It is gleaned from her close relationships with local, sustainable farmers.
A beautiful vegetable-focused book, The Art of Simple Food II showcases flavor as inspiration and embodies Alice’s vision for eating what grows in the earth all year long. She shares her understanding of the whole plant, demystifying the process of growing and cooking your own food, and reveals the vital links between taste, cooking, gardening, and taking care of the land. Along the way, she inspires you to feed yourself deliciously through the seasons. From Rocket Salad with Babcock Peaches and Basil to Moroccan Asparagus and Spring Vegetable Ragout to Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, Alice shares recipes that celebrate the ingredients she tender leaf lettuces, fresh green beans, stone fruits in the height of summer, and so much more. Advice for growing your own fruits and vegetables abounds in the book—whether you are planting a garden in your backyard or on your front porch or fire escape. It is gleaned from her close relationships with local, sustainable farmers.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published October 29, 2013
About the author
Alice Waters
104 books447 followersAlice Waters is a chef, author, food activist, and the founder and owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California. She has been a champion of local sustainable agriculture for over four decades. In 1995 she founded the Edible Schoolyard Project, which advocates for a free school lunch for all children and a sustainable food curriculum in every public school.
She has been Vice President of Slow Food International since 2002. She conceived and helped create the Yale Sustainable Food Project in 2003, and the Rome Sustainable Food Project at the American Academy in Rome in 2007.
Her honors include election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007; the Harvard Medical School’s Global Environmental Citizen Award, which she shared with Kofi Annan in 2008; and her induction into the French Legion of Honor in 2010. In 2015 she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama, proving that eating is a political act, and that the table is a powerful means to social justice and positive change.
Alice is the author of fifteen books, including New York Times bestsellers The Art of Simple Food I & II and The Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea.
She has been Vice President of Slow Food International since 2002. She conceived and helped create the Yale Sustainable Food Project in 2003, and the Rome Sustainable Food Project at the American Academy in Rome in 2007.
Her honors include election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007; the Harvard Medical School’s Global Environmental Citizen Award, which she shared with Kofi Annan in 2008; and her induction into the French Legion of Honor in 2010. In 2015 she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama, proving that eating is a political act, and that the table is a powerful means to social justice and positive change.
Alice is the author of fifteen books, including New York Times bestsellers The Art of Simple Food I & II and The Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 29, 2016
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/10/ho...
my favorites, things that made my eyes widen when I tasted them
Lemon Verbena Ice Cream*
Bing Cherry Roasted with Lemon Verbena
Zucchini Ribbons with Lemon and Basil
Green Rice Pilaf with Cilantro and Onions
Halibut Ceviche w/ lime
Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Parsley and Anchovy Sauce***
Borage Cocktail****
Wild Rocket with Balsamic Vinegar and Speck
Sweet-and-Sour Shallots
*I didn't do a great job of continuously stirring so the eggs did their soft set in the base mixture. I strained it out and I think that contributed to the initial run through the machine not setting. I checked proportions in the booklet that came with the machine and ended up adding additional cream.
**"2T of sugar was a lot...I sprinkled on 1T and didn't think the 2nd was needed.
I rinsed the cherries but being pretty fresh, the water beaded right off and there was nothing for the sugar to stick to. Maybe I should've tried a couple drops of neutral oil? This is why the 1T sugar seemed like enough, too."
***The sauce itself tasted bitter to me, but once I dipped the cauliflower in, I liked it better.
****Don't drink this on an empty stomach after biking on a hot day unless you want to get accidentally drunk. Oops.
my favorites, things that made my eyes widen when I tasted them
Lemon Verbena Ice Cream*
Bing Cherry Roasted with Lemon Verbena
Zucchini Ribbons with Lemon and Basil
Green Rice Pilaf with Cilantro and Onions
Halibut Ceviche w/ lime
Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Parsley and Anchovy Sauce***
Borage Cocktail****
Wild Rocket with Balsamic Vinegar and Speck
Sweet-and-Sour Shallots
*I didn't do a great job of continuously stirring so the eggs did their soft set in the base mixture. I strained it out and I think that contributed to the initial run through the machine not setting. I checked proportions in the booklet that came with the machine and ended up adding additional cream.
**"2T of sugar was a lot...I sprinkled on 1T and didn't think the 2nd was needed.
I rinsed the cherries but being pretty fresh, the water beaded right off and there was nothing for the sugar to stick to. Maybe I should've tried a couple drops of neutral oil? This is why the 1T sugar seemed like enough, too."
***The sauce itself tasted bitter to me, but once I dipped the cauliflower in, I liked it better.
****Don't drink this on an empty stomach after biking on a hot day unless you want to get accidentally drunk. Oops.
August 23, 2017
Not inspiring. This book tries to be too many things: cookbook, garden primer, plant variety describer, compost instructor. The reader's time would be better spent with a book that gave more insight on any one of those topics.
I also found myself laughing out loud at times. Sure, for a "simple" recipe, let's just make our lamb sausage from scratch to eat with our twice-peeled fava beans. (I like both and have cooked both, but they're not simple!) And then there was the recipe that highlighted lovage. Hooray, I thought, a way to use a bunch of my lovage! And then I read the recipe: 2 teaspoons lovage. That won't make a dent in a lovage plant.
I also found myself laughing out loud at times. Sure, for a "simple" recipe, let's just make our lamb sausage from scratch to eat with our twice-peeled fava beans. (I like both and have cooked both, but they're not simple!) And then there was the recipe that highlighted lovage. Hooray, I thought, a way to use a bunch of my lovage! And then I read the recipe: 2 teaspoons lovage. That won't make a dent in a lovage plant.
November 27, 2013
Like with most cookbooks, I mostly skimmed he pages and read only a percentage of the recipes start to finish. I can say that this is going to be one worth coming back to in the kitchen. I love that there is general advice about planting vegetables and the seasons and soil associated with them. Even more, most recipe are simple and don't require a whole lot of special ingredients. I imagine the recipes are like the dishes at her restaurant: simple, but delicious and actually tasting like the vegetables inside.
January 5, 2014
Reading this book has inspired us to start a garden in 2014! Alice Waters makes it sound like we can grow pretty much anything in Berkeley, so it'll be hard to pick what to try first, but herbs are high on the list. Would also love to try worm composting, as well as lacto-fermentation and making homemade yogurt, which have been on my to-try list since reading Sandor Katz's "The Art of Fermentation." Great illustrations in this book, too.
September 5, 2024
The continuation on Alice Waters's Simple Food guide is a good read for people who enjoy gardening, cooking, and learning about healthy diets. The book has information about planting various fruits, veggies, and nuts. There is information about cooking fresh from the garden. This is also a good resource to refresh a healthy dieting pattern, that's how I chose this book. Both volumes are enjoyable.
January 3, 2025
This is an excellent book that I thought was going to be simply a cookbook to expand my use of garden produce. I was wrong! It expanded how I will garden. It will expand how I will increase my garden because of the new information and skills I learned about in this book. It covered everything from cooking to gardening to preserving. It is an excellent reference book to have on your bookshelf.
May 16, 2019
Amazing combo of a vegetable literacy guide and an introduction to simple, effective cooking with those vegetables, with the goal of letting the inherent flavors and special qualities of the plants shine through.
March 10, 2019
#summergoals
March 15, 2020
Lacks focus. This book covers preserving, cooking, planting a garden, composting, pruning and so much more.
September 23, 2021
A great cookbook AND garden book.
December 22, 2021
Tried a few recipes and enjoyed them (ebook from the library). There is not enough interest to purchase the book.
August 17, 2015
Erst einmal möchte ich etwas zu der Aufmachung sagen. Die ist wirklich unschlagbar, was ich bei dem Preis des Buches aber auch erwarten würde. Es wirkt sehr edel. Vor allem der Stoff, der das Buch teilweise einfasst, macht das Buch zu etwas besonderem. Aber auch die Gestaltung innen ist wirklich schön. Fern ab von den Hochglanzbroschüren setzt dieses Buch auf wunderschöne, detailreiche Bleistiftzeichnungen und das gefiel mir unglaublich gut. Alles ist sehr übersichtlich und wirkt nicht überladen. Schaut euch einfach mal die Leseprobe an, dann könnt ihr euch selbst ein Bild davon machen.
Die Aufteilung des Buches fand ich neu und wirklich gut gelungen. Es gibt unterschiedliche Kapitel, die je eine bestimmte Gruppe von Nahrungsmitteln beschreiben, die man aus dem eigenen Garten holen könnte. So gibt es Kapitel zu Kräutern, Salaten, Zwiebelgewächsen, Wurzel- und Knollengewächsen, Stängelgewächse... Also man findet hier alles von Kräutern über Gemüse zu Obst. Zu jedem Obst, Gemüse und Kraut gibt es eine informative Beschreibung, in der die Autorin die verschieden Arten/Sorten erwähnt, die Pflege, die Entwicklung und vielen mehr. Dann folgen immer 2 bis 4 Rezepte in denen das jeweils Obst, Gemüse oder Kraut benutzt wird. Außerdem gibt es noch ein Kapitel in denen direkt über die Haltbarmachung und anderweitige Verarbeitung gesprochen wurde. Also wie man zum Beispiel Sauerkraut herstellt, Gurken einlegt, Tomatenmark herstellt, Marmeladen einkocht und vielen mehr. Überall bringt die Autorin eigene Vorlieben und Erfahrungen mit ein und man hat wirklich das Gefühl hier das umfangreiche Wissen einer sehr erfahrenen Frau in Sachen Kochen und Garten geballt in einem dicken Buch zu Hause zu haben.
Der letzte Teil des Buches befasst sich mit Gartenarbeit an sich. Hier wird Schritt für Schritt die Anlegung eines Küchengartens beschrieben. Es wird auf die Bodenbeschaffenheit eingegangen, Kompostierung wird sehr ausführlich erklärt, Düngung, Bodenbearbeitung und vielen mehr erklärt. Gerade für Anfänger wie mich sind all diese Hinweise und Ratschläge sehr hilfreich und ausführlich beschrieben.
Die Rezepte sind klassische Hausmannskost, was ich bei einem solchen Buch aber auch erwarte. Es sind halt Rezepte, die man sich auch wirklich vorstellen kann direkt mit den eigenen Erzeugnissen aus dem Garten zuzubereiten. Allerdings werden viele verschiedene Gewürze benutzt und es gab Kombinationen auf die ich sonst nicht gekommen wäre. Man findet also definitiv viel neues. Alle Rezepte werden vor den jeweiligen Kapiteln noch einmal extra aufgelistet und so kann man sie super schnell finden, auch wenn man vielleicht nicht den Informationsteil zum Gemüse lesen möchte. Diese Lösung fand ich klasse. Natürlich gibt es am Ende des Buches aber auch ein Register mit dem man nach bestimmten Zutaten oder Rezepten suchen kann. Die Art wie die Rezepte aufgebaut sind, ist auch etwas besonderes. Die Zutaten werden einfach in der Beschreibung der Zubereitung fett hervorgehoben. Das hatte ich bisher auch noch nie gesehen und finde es überraschend platzsparend und trotzdem übersichtlich.
*Fazit:*
5 von 5 Sternen
Das Buch ist wirklich klasse, sowohl von der Aufmachung als auch vom informativen Inhalt. Ich kann es jedem Garten-Fan und jedem Kochliebhaber, der Wert auf natürliche Zutaten legt, sehr ans Herz legen. Ich kenne kein Buch das sowohl Gartenwissen als auch tolle Rezepte zum Kochen, Backen und Einlegen/Einmachen enthält, und dabei so ins Detail geht. Mir gefiel das wirklich sehr.
Die Aufteilung des Buches fand ich neu und wirklich gut gelungen. Es gibt unterschiedliche Kapitel, die je eine bestimmte Gruppe von Nahrungsmitteln beschreiben, die man aus dem eigenen Garten holen könnte. So gibt es Kapitel zu Kräutern, Salaten, Zwiebelgewächsen, Wurzel- und Knollengewächsen, Stängelgewächse... Also man findet hier alles von Kräutern über Gemüse zu Obst. Zu jedem Obst, Gemüse und Kraut gibt es eine informative Beschreibung, in der die Autorin die verschieden Arten/Sorten erwähnt, die Pflege, die Entwicklung und vielen mehr. Dann folgen immer 2 bis 4 Rezepte in denen das jeweils Obst, Gemüse oder Kraut benutzt wird. Außerdem gibt es noch ein Kapitel in denen direkt über die Haltbarmachung und anderweitige Verarbeitung gesprochen wurde. Also wie man zum Beispiel Sauerkraut herstellt, Gurken einlegt, Tomatenmark herstellt, Marmeladen einkocht und vielen mehr. Überall bringt die Autorin eigene Vorlieben und Erfahrungen mit ein und man hat wirklich das Gefühl hier das umfangreiche Wissen einer sehr erfahrenen Frau in Sachen Kochen und Garten geballt in einem dicken Buch zu Hause zu haben.
Der letzte Teil des Buches befasst sich mit Gartenarbeit an sich. Hier wird Schritt für Schritt die Anlegung eines Küchengartens beschrieben. Es wird auf die Bodenbeschaffenheit eingegangen, Kompostierung wird sehr ausführlich erklärt, Düngung, Bodenbearbeitung und vielen mehr erklärt. Gerade für Anfänger wie mich sind all diese Hinweise und Ratschläge sehr hilfreich und ausführlich beschrieben.
Die Rezepte sind klassische Hausmannskost, was ich bei einem solchen Buch aber auch erwarte. Es sind halt Rezepte, die man sich auch wirklich vorstellen kann direkt mit den eigenen Erzeugnissen aus dem Garten zuzubereiten. Allerdings werden viele verschiedene Gewürze benutzt und es gab Kombinationen auf die ich sonst nicht gekommen wäre. Man findet also definitiv viel neues. Alle Rezepte werden vor den jeweiligen Kapiteln noch einmal extra aufgelistet und so kann man sie super schnell finden, auch wenn man vielleicht nicht den Informationsteil zum Gemüse lesen möchte. Diese Lösung fand ich klasse. Natürlich gibt es am Ende des Buches aber auch ein Register mit dem man nach bestimmten Zutaten oder Rezepten suchen kann. Die Art wie die Rezepte aufgebaut sind, ist auch etwas besonderes. Die Zutaten werden einfach in der Beschreibung der Zubereitung fett hervorgehoben. Das hatte ich bisher auch noch nie gesehen und finde es überraschend platzsparend und trotzdem übersichtlich.
*Fazit:*
5 von 5 Sternen
Das Buch ist wirklich klasse, sowohl von der Aufmachung als auch vom informativen Inhalt. Ich kann es jedem Garten-Fan und jedem Kochliebhaber, der Wert auf natürliche Zutaten legt, sehr ans Herz legen. Ich kenne kein Buch das sowohl Gartenwissen als auch tolle Rezepte zum Kochen, Backen und Einlegen/Einmachen enthält, und dabei so ins Detail geht. Mir gefiel das wirklich sehr.
October 24, 2016
I think I reached my saturation point on cookbooks. I have always found them so engaging but it seems more and more that they are all the same to me somehow. This book is a true sequel to its predecessor but I'm not sure that it is a must-read. Being Alice Waters each recipe is simultaneously very simple and also thoroughly esoteric at the same time. I'm sure many dishes taste wonderful cooked directly in wood fire coals, but let's be frank: how many people have access to that? It's totally out of reach and just lends an awkward slant to the book, as one can't help but feel that if you don't have insane amounts of resources such as wood fired ovens you can't possibly cook good things. There are alternatives offered, sure, but always with the patina of "well if you MUST but it won't be GOOD." It's a really off-putting attitude and hurt the book in my estimation.
This also is hard to read if you don't have a garden/won't have a garden. There is lots of good varietal and planting advice in here, but if you don't plan to garden it's not worth reading. I'd definitely suggest this as a good primer for those wanting to learn to cook/garden (say first-time homeowners dipping their toes into the kitchen garden arena), but if you are just looking for a good addition to your kitchen bookshelf, you can skip this.
This also is hard to read if you don't have a garden/won't have a garden. There is lots of good varietal and planting advice in here, but if you don't plan to garden it's not worth reading. I'd definitely suggest this as a good primer for those wanting to learn to cook/garden (say first-time homeowners dipping their toes into the kitchen garden arena), but if you are just looking for a good addition to your kitchen bookshelf, you can skip this.
November 26, 2015
This is part cookbook, part gardening how-to, part wistful trail through the author's favorite plants and their roles in cooking and the garden. It only succeeds in this last goal. The recipes are buried in walls of text and organized around main ingredients with no other uniting themes, which reads well but makes a poor reference if you actually want to cook. The gardening parts are dilute, inexpert, and mostly limited to the author's climate. Any number of permaculture-style food garden books would give much, much better theory & practical instruction. See for example Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community, anything from this listopia...)
Read
February 13, 2017This book came with great reviews. It is definitely a cookbook that actually needs reading and not just skimming. At this point in my life that I didn't have time. Maybe sometime I'll come back to it and actually work through all the information, instruction and recipes she provides.
January 16, 2021
This book works best as ingredient-driven cooking inspiration for veggie gardeners who already have a variety of produce to harvest and prepare. The gardening section is too basic to be of much use to anyone who fits this description. Most of the recipes are not meals, but rather supporting fare like salads, sides or desserts that showcase the flavour of the veggies or fruit. Lots to enjoy, but constrained in scope.
January 5, 2014
Has the qualities of cookbooks that I like: no photographs, hand-drawn pictures, and enough non-recipe text that you can "read" it cover-to-cover...which I did. I like that this book has fairly substantial sections on both gardening and preserving, but given everything that it is trying to squeeze in, it's not a replacement for dedicated books on those topics.
July 28, 2014
Same review as for Version I, but with a star off for not being groundbreaking (dickish system? Possibly): I couldn't finish this before it had to be returned to the library, but that sentence is pretty much all you need to know about how great this is. I've never before felt compelled to "finish" a cookbook. I will be purchasing this (hopefully used) soon to add to my home library.
March 5, 2015
The first Art of Simple Food was fantastic - loads of recipes that were accessible and interesting and delicious. This felt less accessible and less interesting. I guess since I couldn't find a single recipe to strike my fancy I can't comment on the deliciousness of the recipes. I was hoping for some inspiration for the end of winter but most of these are for spring and summer dishes. Oh well.
August 3, 2014
This is the cookbook version of a novel I cannot put down - great characters, thought-provoking ideas, and wonderful imagery. I read it cover to cover before even trying the recipes. As good as Water's first Simple Food book and definitely a permanent part of my kitchen library.
January 24, 2014
As much a gardening book as it is a cookbook.
February 24, 2014
Excellent book! Amazing reference for anyones kitchen shelf! A must for any food lover!
March 31, 2014
B+ Perfect for my level, great overview on a lot of different elements. A bit 80s and typical textbook stuff, but very thorough and useful.
April 23, 2014
This is really excellent - it combines advice about gardening throughout the seasons with delicious and simple recipes.
June 7, 2014
made me want to start a garden.
July 27, 2016
I have a huge amount of respect for Alice Waters. But something about this book feels forced, like it is lacking in the authentic joy for the ingredients that I would have imagined.
Read
August 2, 2017This cookbook isn't as practical as some of her others but it's a lot of fun!
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews