Also by Clotilde Dusoulier Chocolate & Zucchini Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris Copyright © 2013 by Clotilde Dusoulier Recipe photographs copyright © 2013 by Françoise Nicol Paris and market photographs copyright © 2013 by Emilie Guelpa All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. www.crownpublishing.com www.clarksonpotter.com CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request. eISBN: 978-0-30798483-8 Paperback ISBN: 978-0-307-98482-1 Book design by Rae Ann Spitzenberger Front cover photography © Maridav (background) and ingwervanille (food) Food styling by Virginie Michelin v3.1 For Milan, who came along for the ride Contents ABOUT THIS BOOK SPRING SUMMER FALL WINTER ESSENTIALS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS RECIPE INDEX INDEX ABOUT THIS BOOK à propos de ce livre I am a resolutely vegetable-oriented cook. I grew up in a family in which the seasonality of produce was such a cause for celebration that we made a wish every time we ate the first cherry, or the first pear or grape, of the season. To this day, the ebb and flow of the seasons moves me, and nothing makes my heart flutter like the first, and the last, of any fruit or vegetable. Ever since I started to cook in my early twenties, having freshly moved out of my parents’ house in Paris to work in California, meal planning has always begun with the question, “What’s in the vegetable bin?” or “What looks good at the farmers’ market?” Gradually, over the past few years, meat and fish have become a smaller part of the equation as my combined interests in food, health, and the environment have led me to adopt a flexitarian diet: one that is predominantly vegetarian, with limited use of dairy products, and only occasional consumption of meat and fish. It is not an easy stance to assume in France. In classic French cuisine, as for most French home cooks, animal protein re-mains the foundation on which a meal is constructed; take it away and everything collapses. But there is a lot more to French food than classic French cuisine; there is regional cooking, too, as developed over the centuries in each of France’s provinces. These diverse cuisines reflect the typical peasant diet, high in plant-based foods and resourceful about using the local bounty, which varies widely, a function of different climates and geographical constraints. Fortunately, a new generation of French chefs is devoting an increasing amount of attention to the vegetables they cook with; some of them care so much they’ve started their own vegetable gardens to follow their produce from seed to plate. And as other cooks and eaters are choosing to distance themselves from the domination of animal protein and explore alternatives, we are all coming to the same realization: This way of eating is not a limitation but rather a broadening of our food horizon, prompting us to discover new flavors and techniques. In this book I offer my take on the love affair between French cuisine and vegetables. The colorful seasonal dishes I feature draw upon the regional French repertoire, borrow ideas from restaurant meals I’ve enjoyed, and combine them with my own inspirations, sparked by appetite or opportunity. Whatever your food philosophy, whether you’re an omnivore, a “lessmeatarian” (a term coined by writer Mark Bittman), a flexitarian, a vegetarian, or a vegan, I hope you’ll grab an apron, join me by the stove, and help me chop some herbs as I tell you about these dishes.