READING NOOK

“What in the heck do I do with [ insert name of unfamiliar vegetable]?”

That was the question that sparked two Southern chefs to come out with vegetable- focused cookbooks this year: Root to Leaf: A Southern Chef Cooks

Through the Seasons by Steven Satterfield ( Harper Wave, $ 45) of Miller Union in Atlanta, and The Broad

Fork by Hugh Acheson ( Clarkson Potter, $ 35), who co- owns four restaurants in Athens, Ga., and is well known as the snarky judge on Bravo’s Top Chef.

Add to those the recent title Mastering the Art of Southern Vegetables, by the grand dame of Southern food writing, Nathalie Dupree, and her longtime collaborator, Cynthia Graubert ( Gibbs Smith, 2015, $ 25), and you have a new crop of Southern vegetable- focused cookbooks.

That doesn’t surprise Dupree despite the South’s reputation for its unhealthy attention- getting foods, such as fried chicken and barbecue.

“Vegetables are the essence of Southern cooking. We were an agrarian society,” said Dupree, noting the region’s longer growing seasons. “We were a poor society. We used meat in our vegetables because they didn’t have meat otherwise in the meal.”

Despite that history, today’s Southern home cooks were often asking Satterfield and Acheson how to cook vegetables. Satterfield said he would be doing a cooking demonstration with carrots at Atlanta- area farmers markets and people would ask him about kohlrabi and rutabagas. Acheson found himself fielding questions from neighbors on Tuesdays when they picked up their CSA ( communitysupported agriculture) boxes, or shares of produce from a local farm at a drop- off spot in his neighborhood.

Acheson and Satterfield’s books are similarly organized: divided by season, then ingredient.

Acheson’s 200- page book dives right into the 200 recipes, from the simple ( Slow Cooker Chicken Stock, Smoky Eggplant Puree) to those worthy of his restaurants’ tables ( Duck Breast with Indian Eggplant Pickle; Griddled Asparagus, Piperade, Poached Eggs and Grits). The headnotes are packed with good cooking advice and offer glimpses of the

wit that makes him a perfect Top Chef judge.

Satterfield’s almost 500- page Root to Leaf offers more on the agricultural and cultural history of each ingredient. Its title is a play on “nose- to- tail” cooking of whole animals and shares recipes for fennel fronds and radish greens. “Who thinks about eating radish greens? And they’re really good,” he said.

Its 200 recipes also range from easy ( Fig, Country Ham and Goat Cheese Sandwich; Grilled Peach Salsa) to complicated ( Quail with Muscadines, Grits and Redeye Gravy). It is a beautiful book that allows cooks to be inspired by whatever enticing ingredient they see at the market, knowing they can find a worthy recipe in Satterfield’s tome.

Dupree and Graubert’s book is in some ways the opposite of these chefs’ books: The recipes are simple and accessible for most beginner cooks. They are not concerned with plating and rarely feature a recipe with more than 10 ingredients.

The 200- page book is full of helpful advice; each chapter opens with an introduction to the vegetables, explanation of varieties and particular advice for each ingredient, such as freezing peas, trimming and preparing artichokes and caramelizing onions. The 120 recipes include Mashed Potatoes, Summer Succotash and Wilted Coleslaw for a Crowd.

“It’s really good, tasty food that people will remember when they lie in bed at night,” Dupree said. “Don’t you think that’s the trick?”

Yes, it is.