New books help turn market bounty into meals

Radishes, spring peas, rhubarb and greens of all shades soon will be coming to a farmers market near you - if they're not there already. In a few weeks eggplant, cherries, garlic and potatoes will start appearing.

If you're looking for new ways to prepare your favorite market-fresh produce, a new crop of books offers some ideas.

Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse got his hands dirty writing his new book, "Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh" (Wiley).

In his introduction to the book, Lagasse encourages cooks to connect with the land and the food we eat. Plant herbs in pots on the window sill, till a small vegetable plot in the backyard, start an urban farm with neighbors or support local farmers by shopping at local farmers markets.

Then he gives us 300 pages of recipes for using local bounty. The 15 chapters are organized by category with headings including the herb garden, nightshades (eggplant, peppers), cole crops (broccoli, cabbage), out on the range (meats).

The majority of the recipes (Braised Blended Greens, Roasted Tomato Tapenade) are pretty simple, just three to five steps, but a few others get a bit intimidating (Tomato, Zucchini and Leek Galette with Roasted Garlic Goat Cheese).

"Edible: A Celebration of Local Foods," celebrates the farmers and purveyors as much as, or more than, the food itself. The book grew out of newsletters and magazines published by Edible Communities, a grass-roots group that promotes the joys of eating locally.

The bulk of the book takes readers through various regions, introducing us to people like rice grower Campbell Coxe of Darlington, S.C., and artisan baker Leif Bjelland of Missoula, Mont., and places like the Calder Dairy Farm in Monroe County, Mich., and Tilth restaurant in Seattle, Wash.

And then we get to the recipes, arranged by season: Asparagus with Morels and Tarragon, for example, for spring; Berry Ricotta Pie for summer; Bay-Scented Chicken with Figs for fall; Squash, Mushroom and Sage Strata for winter. Within each season recipes are categorized by course so you could plan a seasonal menu.

The folks at Melissa's/World Variety Produce, a distributor of specialty fruits and vegetables, in May released "Everyday Cooking with Organic Produce," a hard-bound and colorful extension of the information on the Los Angeles-based company's website, meslissas.com.

The book is arranged by ingredient, starting alphabetically from apple through turnip (zucchini is included in the squash section).

Yes, the pages overflow with recipes (including some really nice ones like Crumble-Topped Cranberry Jumbles and Tex Mex Salad with radishes and black beans), but the cookbook also works as a buying guide. Each chapter starts with oodles of helpful information on buying and storing produce, availability, general prep and use and quickie serving suggestions (roast nectarines about 18 minutes, sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve with a dollop of sour cream).

So before you hit the farmers market, stop at the bookstore. Here are recipes from each book to whet your appetite.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>Recipes</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> </div> <div class="recipeLink"> <ul class="moreLinks"> <li><a href="/story/?id=384338" class="mediaItem">Tex-Mex Green Salad</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=384337" class="mediaItem">Asparagus with Morels and Tarragon</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=384335" class="mediaItem">Crostini with Ricotta and Spring Peas</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>