Product Description

In this gorgeously photographed title, master plantsman Christopher Lloyd takes us from plant to plate, growing and caring for the plants, selecting varieties and judging for ripeness. He advises on storing, preparing and cooking methods, and provides his favorite recipes as well as a selection from the esteemed Jane Grigson.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1173149 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 255 pages

Amazon.com Review
Christopher Lloyd, the great British garden writer, lives at Great Dixter, which, thanks to him, is something of a gardener's Mount Olympus. Now Lloyd reveals that the kitchen garden at Great Dixter is as much a part of his daily life as the flowerbeds. Gardener Cook is a cookbook for the passionate vegetable gardener, with sturdy, simple recipes, many borrowed from one of British cuisine's luminaries, Jane Grigson. The beautiful photographs are all of vegetables in their natural state, either growing or just-picked; Lloyd says, in an aside, "I hate those books that have glamorously laid out meals in violently coloured illustrations, which entirely put me off the product." There's no putting us off the product in Gardener Cook. Lloyd writes so charmingly even of unpopular vegetables as the beet and parsnip that the reader will feel an intense desire to serve "Beets Baked with Cream and Parmesan Cheese" at dinner parties. The quantities in each recipe are thoroughly Americanized, though some of the ingredients, such as partridges, may seem exotic to those not able to avail themselves of a fairly sophisticated supermarket. The gregarious Lloyd is scrupulous about giving the number of servings for each recipe, and one suspects that he never underestimates how much one person can eat. --Barrie Trinkle

Review
Mr. Lloyd is a well-known gardening authority in Britain. He has learned to cook what he grows. He shares his expertise in both areas. The horticultural advice may not always apply on this side of the Atlantic, but it is clear, simple, often quietly humorous, and no more likely to lead a hopeful amateur to disappointment than the dreams aroused by seed catalogues. Mr. Sooley, an accomplished fashion photographer, presents peaches and parsnips in the highest style. The collaboration pleases the eye and tempts the tongue. -- The Atlantic Monthly, Phoebe-Lou Adams

Customer Reviews

Unhurried ramble through the kitchen, garden and orchard
Gather some insight into what the kitchen is really like at Dixter! Christopher Lloyd shares his secrets on when unusual fruit are ripe to pick from the tree, and how to cook some of those less common garden fruit and vegetables.