Ricardo Larrivee - Vegetables First: 120 Vibrant Vegetable-Forward Recipes

Even now, the thought of it nourishes me. Season after season, she taught me how to seed, transplant, weed, water, and tend to the vegetable patch and six rows of raspberry bushes. I loved sitting side by side with her on her porch steps in Marieville, Quebec, eating slices of cucumber sprinkled with a little coarse salt, fresh tomato sandwiches, and yellow wax beans dripping with butter. As soon as my parents got a house of their own, they planted their own vegetable garden. I remember coming home from summer holidays in late July and being amazed to find that, within just a few weeks, our backyard had literally exploded with life. It was the peak of the growing season, and the neighbours competed to see who had the biggest backyard bounty and who could make the best salads in the world.

And then, one day, it was my turn. My wife, Brigitte, and I planted our first plot and harvested our first tomatoes. We were tenants at the time, but our landlord loaned us some land that we made our own. Since then, our garden has grown a lotalong with our children, our happiness, and also our family business. Even at the end of her life, when she was very ill, my mother continued to nurture our family garden and, by extension, to nurture us. After she passed away, the grief struck me hardest when I was on my knees in the yard, with my hands deep in the soil.

Throughout my career of promoting the importance of cooking together and eating together, the taste of those first summer vegetables and the joy of planting and harvesting food for the table have inspired me. My television and magazine work has evolved into a brand built on a modern vision for the art of family living. So, when we set up our new office headquarters, flagship boutique, and caf on Montreals South Shore, I made sure the roof was reinforced so that it could support a thriving garden of eighty planters and two beehives. I enjoy seeing the plants grow, be shared among colleagues and used in our test kitchen. For me, the power of vegetables is linked with memories and family stories. And thats what I want to share with you: how fantastic vegetables can taste and how they can connect us to our roots.

Finding it tough to get your kids to eat cauliflower or peas? It happens to the best of us. The important thing is to plant a seed for the future, by serving vegetables in smart, well-prepared dishes. Some life lessons take time, but in the end, we reap what we sow. Like a vegetable garden, I hope this book becomes part of your daily life and grows with you and your family as you create your own memories.

Youll find meat and seafood in these pages, and recipes calling for chicken stock or bacon garnish, but for a change animal proteins are really just the supporting players. I wanted to do things a little differently with this book. The 120 original, bright, and easy-to-make recipesall triple-tested by our test kitchenarent presented according to courses, themes, chapters, or types of vegetable. Instead, they go from simple to more complex. We start off with just a few ingredients and steps, move on to preparations that are a little more involved, and then to elaborate dishes that are ideal for entertaining. The final pages show you ways to make the most of plentiful produce all year round.

The recipes cover a wide range of vegetables. Some are easy to love at first bite, while others can be a little more challengingmaybe thats eggplant, kohlrabi, endives, parsnips, or celeriac, depending on your tastes and cultural references. But theyre all worth celebrating with our celery fizz cocktail! From cover to cover, I wanted to showcase simply cooked vegetables, to highlight their vibrant textures, colours, and shapes. And, thanks to my team (kitchen, photography, styling, and artistic direction), they pop off every page. In recipe after recipe, youll discover that eating more vegetables just means more of a good thingand you can never get enough of a good thing.