Book excerpt: One of America's most highly acclaimed chefs gives us more than 150 simple recipes and techniques for imaginative vegetable cooking at home. Gramercy Tavern's Executive Chef Michael Anthony believes a cook's job is to create delicious flavors and healthy meals. Written for the home cook, and featuring both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, V is for Vegetables celebrates the act of cooking vegetables he loves. Anthony shows how unlocking the secrets of vegetables can be as simple as roasting a beet, de-knobbing a Jerusalem artichoke, peeling a gnarly celery root, slicing a bright radish, washing a handful of just-picked greens. V is for Vegetables is personal, accessible, and beautiful. Its charming A to Z format celebrates vegetables in richly detailed illustrations, glorious food photographs, and lots of helpful how to do it techniques. Recipes include crispy composed salads, fresh herb sauces, satisfying warm gratins, vibrant stews, simple sautéed greens over a bowl of grains, and veggies with meat and fish, too. V is for Vegetables delivers the tools to transform and conquer the vegetables in a CSA basket, from the farmers market, and even the grocery store. It is an eye-opening book for vegetarians and omnivores alike.