The Great Book of Vegetables

Great means big, in this case, and impressively intercontinental as Italian-born, globe-trotting Palazzi gathers all sorts of vegetables together for a summertime sortie, aptly illustrated with color photographs. There are good introductory advisories on preparing vegetables for cookery: photos and text tell how, for example, to carve out a flower from a radish, and how to ready a tomato for stuffing. The author also surveys, helpfully, sauces and bases (e.g., vinaigrette and ghee) and common techniques of cooking (deep-frying; steaming). Her recipes are worldly-wise and organized in chapters by vegetable type, with a sweeping range: under spinach, you'll find nettle soup, spinach and rice Indian style, and spinach souffle, among others. Gatefold sections list recipes with prep and cooking time, difficulty rating and course. And finally, there are themed menus for an Indian dinner, an English afternoon tea, a Russian New Year's supper and more; as pictured, all look lovely. The enormous book makes a claim to vegetarian authority, and it's convincing. (Aug.)