The Book of Greens

Outpatient life is the shiz, you guys. Granted, I’m still working 6 days a week because I have call days every weekend for 3 weeks straight, but my senior resident let me leave early yesterday when she found out I wanted to go see my friend perform with the Princeton Symphony for the last concert of the season. (I guess it helped that I finished all the notes by 10:30am. :D…)

This schedule has been letting me have a life and to kindasorta catch up on life, so I had some time to check out a new book! (Granted, I still actually haven’t fully unpacked from/started writing up a single post from my trip to Europe, but…I’m working on it? :P )

The Book of Greens

By Jenn Louis with Kathleen Squires

I really like the author’s food philosophy–I’m totally an opportunivore as well! :P She starts off with a section on the “basics” of fixing up greens. I’m pretty darn sure the troubleshooting section is going to come into handy (if you’ve ever had dehydrated greens, greens that are too bitter, overcooked, or taste “too green,” you’ll know where I’m coming from…).

The types of greens featured in this book include robust, tender, delicate, and sturdy greens! She also goes into different commonly used ingredients and includes a seasonal chart (thank you! <3) + a how-to on putting together an awesome salad bowl!

I love how this book is formatted–I think it’s definitely going to help with my cooking (which, if I’m to be honest, I’ve been super lazy with lately–I haven’t been able to meet up with my meal prep buddy in a while! :[ ).

It goes through 40 different greens and includes:

• An intro on what it is
• Available varieties
• Season
• How to clean
• How to store
• How to refresh
• Cooking methods
• Suggested pairings

Then come the recipes! :] There isn’t a photo for every recipe, but I believe there is one for every green, so I think that’ll definitely be helpful if you’re trying to figure out what the hecks to do with different veggies/greens! The recipes also include suggestions on other greens you could try instead of the featured green!

There’s also a section onnnn all the sauces/toppings/dressings you could possibly wanna try to make! (Okay fine, maybe not all, but there are a ton of options!)

For instance, kimchi butter, shiso butter, cream cheese pastry dough, carrot greens salsa verde, dukkah, mustard green furikake, citrus-tangerine vinaigrette, white balsamic vinaigrette…

The final verdict? I love this book. :D I’ve been wanting to shop more seasonally partially to branch out of my current partial-rut (I’m just being lazy) so I can be creative and also save some money! There are over 175 recipes in here, and while there are definitely some greens in here that I’ve never heard of/seen, there are definitely enough common and not-so-common ones that I’ve seen that I’m going to have a lot to work with. :]!

• What’s your favorite vegetable?
• What’s a vegetable/green you’ve wanted to try cooking with but haven’t gotten around to yet?

Check out my other book reviews!