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V Is for Vegetables: Inspired Recipes & Techniques for Home Cooks — from Artichokes to Zucchini

Michael Anthony, with Dorothy Kalins

By Jesse Kornbluth
Published: Dec 18, 2019
Category: Food and Wine

The last time I saw Michael Anthony was in a private dining room at Gramercy Tavern. The occasion was a press lunch for his first cookbook. But it didn’t feel like lunch, and Gramercy Tavern didn’t seem like a restaurant — unless at the 4-star level, a restaurant is defined as a spiritual experience that serves food. I swooned, went home and started cooking from his book. I still do. It’s that good.

Michael Anthony apparently wasn’t busy enough at Gramercy Tavern, for he has also become the Executive Chef at Untitled, the restaurant at the new Whitney museum. And as if that’s not enough to fill a day, he and Dorothy Kalins, godmother of all that is good in cookbooks, have created “V Is for Vegetables: Inspired Recipes & Techniques for Home Cooks — from Artichokes to Zucchini.”

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Kale. Quinoa. Not one bit of animal protein on the plate.

Rest easy. This is a vegetable cookbook like no other.

First, in its format — as the subtitle suggests, it’s organized like an encyclopedia, with lovely illustrations and helpful pictures.

Second, in its simplicity. These are recipes that require no esoteric ingredients or elaborate preparation — this is gourmet home cooking.

Most original of all is the point-of-view. A great many cooks have adopted the vegetables-at-the-center-of-the-plate religion, with animal protein as a side dish, garnish, afterthought — or non-presence. (They ignore what the Zen master Shunryu Suzuki noted: “You have to kill vegetables too.”) Michael Anthony hasn’t surrendered to the Meme of Vegetables. He includes fish and meat recipes “because that’s the way I eat.” He just happens to like to eat vegetables more: “I am a cheerleader saying, ‘Hey, you can do this. Give it a try.’ I tell readers, ‘Set yourself up like this in the kitchen and you’ll be able to cook this quicker.’”

So the emphasis is on great taste. Which begins with vegetables in season: “We try not to be overbearing when it comes to our excitement about serving seasonal foods. But for me it’s a nonnegotiable. If I can’t do it, then I won’t be cooking it.” [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.]

As I read the book — inhaled it, really; I fight the impulse to say that I gobbled it up — I found myself earmarking the pages. In months to come, I’ll be making:

whole stuffed artichokes
asparagus with ginger relish
avocado yogurt with lime mash
beet tartare
stir-fried bok choy
roasted Brussels sprouts with maple syrup
carrot soup with coconut milk
chicken soup with celery and dill
grilled iceberg lettuce with marinated tomatoes
cornmeal-fried okra
onion puree (as a substitute for butter)
fresh peas with braised morels
warm salad of snow peas, cherries and baby chard
steamed clams with scallion and tarragon sauce
garlic and spinach puree with scallions
tomato sashimi
roasted spaghetti squash with country ham
olive oil-braised vegetables
baked sweet potato fries

That’s a lot! Which recipes to share? Tough call. These are almost random.

String Beans with Sesame Sauce

I discovered this way of cooking string beans in a friend’s home kitchen outside Tokyo. In Japan, sesame sauce is often served with beans and other fresh vegetables at room temperature. This simple preparation appears often in bento boxes as well as on the menus of small, casual neighborhood restaurants in Japan.

2 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
2 teaspoons white soy sauce or shiro dashi
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pound string beans, tips trimmed and blanched until crisp-tender
3 scallions (green parts), thinly sliced

Crush the sesame seeds in a mortar and pestle. (Don’t worry about grinding every last seed.) Add the mirin, white soy sauce or shiro dashi, sesame oil, lemon juice, sugar and a teaspoon of water. Stir until combined. The sauce should be the consistency of loose peanut butter. thin with a little water if needed. Put the string beans in a bowl, drizzle with the sauce, and top with the scallions.

Braised Radishes with Honey & Black Pepper

Braising is a great way to soften radish roots and remove their spicy rawness. Without losing the character of the radish, this braise enhances it with the sweetness of honey, the aromatic quality of the black pepper, and the browned edges of the radish itself. This is an entirely different way to love radishes.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound radishes, halved
1 clove garlic, smashed
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Salt

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add half the radishes and all the garlic and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the honey and pepper and let the honey caramelize, about a minute. Add the vinegar, the remaining radishes, and salt and cook until all the radishes are just warmed but not cooked soft.

Kale (you knew there’d be kale) Soup With Potatoes & Leeks

I think of this as a vibrant green vichyssoise. It has the requisite leek and potato and is great hot or cold. Kale adds color and a pleasant earthy flavor.

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
salt and pepper
½ bunch kale, center ribs removed and leaves sliced crosswise
handful fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 baby turnips, peeped and sliced paper-thin

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, leeks and garlic, and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the potatoes, 5 cups water, salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Add the kale and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Stir in the parsley and the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, then process in a blender until smooth. Serve hot or cold, topped with the sliced turnips.