Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables (Six Seasons)

Celebrated chef Joshua McFadden puts his culinary ingenuity on display in 225 revelatory recipes that celebrate flavor at its peak.

McFadden, chef and owner of renowned trattoria Ava Gene’s in Portland, Oregon, is a vegetable whisperer. After years racking up culinary cred at New York City restaurants like Lupa, Momofuku, and Blue Hill, he managed the trailblazing Four Season Farm in coastal Maine, where he developed an appreciation for every part of the plant and learned to coax the best from vegetables at each stage of their lives.

In Six Seasons, his first book, McFadden channels both farmer and chef, highlighting the evolving attributes of vegetables throughout their growing seasons—an arc from spring to early summer to midsummer to the bursting harvest of late summer, then ebbing into autumn and, finally, the earthy, mellow sweetness of winter. Each chapter begins with recipes featuring raw vegetables at the start of their season. As weeks progress, McFadden turns up the heat—grilling and steaming, then moving on to sautés, pan roasts, braises, and stews.

Winner, James Beard Award for Best Book in Vegetable-Focused Cooking Named a Best Cookbook of the Year by the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Bon Appétit, Food Network Magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray, USA Today, Seattle Times, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Library Journal, Eater, and more  

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“Of the many vegetable-focused cookbooks on the market, few espouse the dual goals of starting from square one and of deploying minimal ingredients for maximum enjoyment. Joshua McFadden’s guide excels at both. These are recipes that every last relative around your holiday table would use because they’re umami-rich and can be made on a weeknight.” —USA Today, 8 Cookbooks for People Who Don’t Know How to Cook

“If you’re finding pantry cooking to mean too many uninspired pots of beans, might I suggest Six Seasons? [It] both highlights a perfectly ripe plant ... and shows you how to transform slightly less peak-season produce (yes, the cabbage lurking in the back of your fridge right now counts) with heat, spice, acid, and fat.” —Epicurious  

“Never before have I seen so many fascinating, delicious, easy recipes in one book ... [Six Seasons is] about as close to a perfect cookbook as I have seen ... a book beginner and seasoned cooks alike will reach for repeatedly.”—Lucky Peach