Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables

Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables

—is truly that, practical. It demystifies thirty different vegetables with shopping and storing notes, different preparation techniques, and variations for each recipe to show how one vegetable and technique can unlock several different meals.

I wrote this book because I couldn’t find it when I needed it as a young chef cooking exclusively from my farm’s garden. Over the years I read and practiced and cooked some more, honing a style of cooking that is tied to the land and the best produce it produces but is also flexible enough to make a tantalizing meal of what is already on hand in the kitchen.

I regularly hear friends bemoan that they know they need to eat more vegetables, but feel intimidated or uninspired at the prospect of actually working veg into their daily meals. Hopefully the tools and techniques that I’ve developed over the years from garden to restaurants to cooking in my own home will help make vegetables the easiest and most exciting stars on your table.