As a person in love with seasonal food, it’s always a delight to get a book by a kindred spirit.  Brit Sophie Dahl (granddaughter of the venerated American actress Patricia Neal) presents Very Fond of Food - a year in recipes, from the good folks at Ten Speed Press who sent me a copy.

Surprisingly, she begins her year in the fall, which makes great sense because that’s when the bounty drives us to cookbooks for ideas on how to use it all.

She serves up breakfast, lunch and supper, with a roundup of desserts at the end.  We’ll never go hungry, and the recipes are elegantly simple but with a punch of flavor, like cumin dressing on baked pumpkin .  I know I’ll be cooking from this one.

Since my radish seeds went into the garden lately, I know this will be one of the first I try from my own bounty.

Radishes with truffle salt, mint and olive oil

edited slightly from Very Fond of Food

A basket of radishes

Pinch of truffle salt

1 tablespoon light olive oil

Small handful of chopped fresh ming

Wash the radishes and finely shave them into a bowl.  Sprinkle with truffle salt, drizzle with olive oil and add the mint.

PS. My own book Farmers’ Markets of the Heartland, will be out soon.  You can follow the launch on Facebook.

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