Roger Vergé's Vegetables in the French Style

Roger VergT's first memories were of the tiny spring vegetables grown by his father. Former proprietor of the world famous Moulin de Mougins in the south of France near Cannes, a restaurant with two stars in the Michelin guide, he was not content to leave vegetables where they are so often consigned by classical French cuisine--as a garnish to accompany meats or fish--but explored all their culinary possibilities.

The result is Roger VergT's Vegetables in the French Style, a tribute to his love affair with vegetables. It contains 150 recipes for sauces, soups, salads, gratins, terrines, and other ways of bringing out the natural goodness of high-quality produce. Recipe headnotes and sidebars add scores of exciting cooking and serving ideas, encouraging improvisation. Section introductions provide important advice on how to choose the best vegetables in the market. An extensive appendix details the classic methods of vegetable cookery--poaching, sweating, braising, frying, and baking--as well as today's favored methods--steaming, stir-frying, and grilling. One hundred color photographs show elegant and simple finished dishes as well as succulent fresh vegetables.