Six Seasons

Most vegetable cookbooks treat the produce aisle like a permanent installation: zucchini in February, tomatoes in November. McFadden refuses. He organizes the whole book around when things actually taste good, and reading it makes you want to start a CSA subscription on page one. The James Beard committee agreed — this won Cookbook of the Year in 2018, and deservedly so. Each "season" opens with the chef's instructions for what to look for at the market and how to prep it, then walks through preparations from raw salads to long roasts. The early-summer chapter alone — fava beans, peas, baby artichokes, the first tomatoes — is some of the best seasonal-cooking writing Jim has ever read. The recipes are ambitious without being unfriendly, and the photography by Laura Dart will make you weep into your kale. Pair this with Ottolenghi Simple and you'll never be at a loss for what to do with vegetables again. Five worms. The book Jim turns to every time the seasons change.