The Cook’s Garden: A Gardener’s Guide to Selecting, Growing, and Savoring the Tastiest Vegetables of Each Season: A Cookbook

“Cooking with homegrown food is a shortcut to becoming a more creative and more instinctive home cook,” promises West (Saving the Season) in this stunning how-to. West draws from boyhood memories and lessons learned from his grandparents and their community of East Tennessean farmers: “I grew up with my ears full of the old-timey phrase ‘cooking from a garden’.... There was nothing so good as what had just been picked.” Part one offers a comprehensive overview of “gardening basics.” West advises starting small, offers tips on seed selection, and goes over climate and seasonal considerations, soil management, and upkeep. He also discusses which vegetables and herbs to grow according to cuisine preference and cooking needs. Part two provides more than 125 recipes organized according to vegetable families alongside growing charts and tips for harvesting, preparing, and storage. There’s green bean gratin topped with parmesan and bread crumbs, roasted carrots with chimichurri and lemon yogurt sauce, and a pan-roasted tomato sauce that comes together in just 10 minutes. West’s lively prose contains bites of food history, agricultural science, and food politics and the garden fresh recipes are mouthwatering. This essential guide will enable anyone to have a farm-to-table experience. (Aug.)

Correction: An earlier version of this review misidentified the location of the author’s grandparents’ farm.