Parsnips and pears

I have been obsessed with Patricia Well's "Vegetable Harvest" lately. The latest cookbook from the queen of Provencal cooking, it places vegetables at the center of the plate. With the bounty of farmer's markets and seasonal produce here in the heart of one of California's most fertile regions, it has served as inspiration for some memorable meals.

The other night I had J Zac and Archie over for dinner and decided NOT to serve a big hunk of meat (nothing against big hunks of meat) but simply what I was craving and not a thing more. I began by finishing off my bottle of Antica Formula, an Italian vermouth served over the rocks with an orange slice as an apéritif. I started drinking vermouth in France and have become a convert - what's not to like? For dinner, I chopped carrots, parsnips, and turnips (a mistake I was nudged into by the recipe and shall not repeat) into thin rounds and cooked them into a sort of pistou with some crushed tomatoes and chicken stock. Well's recipe calls for this spicy and slightly sweet soup to be served with a watercress pesto. I was out of watercress so I substituted arugula, which packed a different, but delicious, peppery punch. We also had Parmigiano-Reggiano to garnish as well as a loaf of crusty bread (de riguer) and some paté de campagne (no goose liver, no worries).

And that was dinner! I wanted everyone to have room for dessert, which was particularly delicious. I made Well's pear cake, reminiscent of the cakes my French sister would make during my year abroad in Rennes, France. Pears are thinly sliced then barely swathed in a light, pear brandy-infused batter and baked in a springform pan. For the last 10 minutes of baking, you mix eggs with more pear brandy (woohoo!) and pour the mixture over the top, then sprinkle on a mixture of toasted almonds ground with sugar into a fine powder. The result is a crunchy, light, and delicately sweet cake that tastes like pear, improved. I had also made a buttermilk-almond sorbet, which sounds odd but is both light and addictive (my roommate Trey has been "jibbing" off it surreptitiously ever since).

I think it went over well. Plus, there was plenty of pear brandy left over for some post-prandial drinking. Ahem.