Garden Variety: Plant-Focused Recipes Inspired by My Garden

Timothy Pakron cooks seasonal, vegan food shaped by what's growing in his own New Orleans garden. The range of what he makes with it is strikingly original. Okra hoe cakes come topped with shiitake mushrooms and maple syrup. Sauerkraut mustard salad features rye croutons. Black-eyed pea hummus gets depth from cumin and nutmeg, and savory pistachio shortbread pairs with miso and sesame. There's beluga lentil nachos finished with tahini cheese sauce, and cauliflower au poivre.

Pakron isn't cooking for speed. He wants to eat well. He makes his own pantry sauces and condiments as a matter of course, which means many of his recipes come together from several components rather than one. 

There's also an extensive chapter on sourdough, including ways to put starter to work beyond bread: pancakes, gnocchi, cornbread.

Despite all that ambition, the book doesn't leave beginners behind. A chapter called The Basics covers real fundamentals: how to sauté vegetables, two ways to roast them, how to cook beans, bake rice, braise tofu, and put together a simple, informal salad.

It's an unusual pairing, a book built around a cook's personal, garden-driven ambition that still makes room to teach someone starting from nothing. This is a book of substance.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.