The Book of Greens: A Cook’s Compendium of 40 Varieties, from Arugula to Water- cress, with More Than 150 Recipes

Louis, a Food & Wine Best New Chef and chef and owner of restaurants in Portland, Ore., and Los Angeles, and Squires, a winner of the M.F.K. Fisher Award for food writing, have written a comprehensive guide to over 40 varieties of leafy greens. The authors include helpful tips on how to choose, clean, and store the greens, along with often surprising nutritional information (for example, chrysanthemum leaves have more potassium per serving than a banana). The inspiring and unusual recipes make this book a great addition to anyone’s cookbook library. There are simple salads with complex flavors, such as mustard greens, aged gouda, and cashews, and carnivore-friendly main dishes that include chicken and pork belly paella with watercress and Yemeni braised beef short ribs with nettles. Cultures are mashed together in some of the recipes, with promising results: miso straciatella soup and an Italian-style kimchi made with Swiss chard both marry the flavors of Asia and Italy in a way that would make Marco Polo proud. Even a straightforward-sounding recipe such as Swiss chard frittata is bumped up to the next level with the addition of crème fraîche, pancetta, and kimchi. For the CSA-produce subscribers and enthusiastic farmers market shoppers who find themselves staring cluelessly at piles of unknown greens each week, Louis and Squires’s book is a boon. (Apr.)