Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables by Joshua McFadden is a substantial guide for chefs looking to make the most of seasonal vegetables. The book emphasizes simple, seasonal recipes that let the ingredients shine, with a focus on quality produce and gentle seasoning. It's a valuable resource for those aiming to boost the seasonality of their menus.
Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables by Joshua McFadden is a comprehensive guide for chefs who want to highlight seasonal vegetables in their cooking. The book is based on McFadden's experience at Four Seasons Farm in Maine, where he transformed a farm stand into a restaurant serving the farm's produce. He now owns Ava Gene's, an Italian restaurant in Portland, known for its locally sourced and aggressively seasonal menu. The book is divided into six microseasons: spring, early summer, midsummer, late summer, fall, and winter. Each season's produce is detailed with several pages devoted to each vegetable and the ways to use them. The recipes are simple and not overcomplicated, focusing on letting the ingredients speak for themselves with gentle seasoning, oil, and vinegar. McFadden shares his knowledge of how chefs can make the most of seasonal vegetables, making this book a good starting point for anyone looking to boost the seasonality of their menus. The first few chapters cover McFadden's larder, with tips, suggestions, and recipes for sauces, vinaigrettes, and pickles. Simple dishes like pumpkin bolognese, crispy mushrooms with green herb mayonnaise, and kale and mushroom lasagne are included, showcasing hearty vegetable-based options that would appeal to both vegetarian and carnivorous customers.
Quick quotes
Six Seasons is all about letting that great produce speak for itself.
The recipes aren't fussy or overcomplicated and rarely involve too many instructions or a lot of prep, but rather they leave the ingredients to do the talking with a bit of gentle seasoning, oil and vinegar.
For any chef looking to boost the seasonality of their menus (and who isn't?), this is a good place to start.