Books Recipes from the Root Cellar

With this collection of more than 250 recipes, veteran cookbook author and gardening enthusiast Andrea Chesman deliciously demonstrates how locavores in all parts of North America can eat seasonal produce year round. Whether they’re eaten in soups or salads, side dishes or entrees, root-cellar vegetables can be a delicious and nutritious part of every cook’s winter kitchen. Sweet winter squashes, robust hardy greens, jewel-toned root vegetables, and potatoes of every variety are the staples that make eating locally so delicious and satisfying during the cold months of late autumn and winter.

Nothing tastes better than the seasonal bounty of local farms. Everyone loves the spring-is-here excitement of peas and asparagus and the summer sweetness of tomatoes and corn. Sweet winter squashes, robust hardy greens, jewel-toned root vegetables, and potatoes of every variety are the staples that make eating locally so delicious and satisfying during the cold months of late autumn and winter.

These cold-weather treasures work wonderfully well in soups (Celery Root Bisque, Creamy Leek and Root Vegetable Soup, Portuguese Kale Soup) and baked entrees (White Lasagna with Winter Squash, Chicken Pot Pie with Root Vegetables, Winter Vegetable Pot Roast), but they also shine in winter salads. Warm Goat Cheese and Beet Salad; Endive, Pear, and Walnut Salad; and Thai Cabbage Salad can be the centerpieces of light winter dinners or delicious preludes to the main event.