In chef Sarah Grueneberg's world, Mushrooms are laid-back Dead Heads, Asparagus is an elegant diva, Roots & Bulbs party underground, and Beans + Legumes are “peas corps” and feed many, among others.

The JBFA-winning chef of Chicago's Monteverde's first cookbook, Listen To Your Vegetables (Harper Collins), is co-written with Kate Heddings with photography by Stephen Hamilton and the most amazing illustrations by Andrew Jesernig.

Listen To Your Vegetables is an incredible exploration of seasonal produce, offering insights, techniques, and more than 180 Italian-inspired recipes to truly get the best out of your vegetables. Sarah teaches readers how shop for, cook, season, and seamlessly prepare artichokes, squash, eggplant, greens, mushrooms, peppers, and more, so they become the centerpiece of every meal.

Each chapter focuses on a vegetable (or fruit, depending on your definition), plus one devoted entirely to pastas with essential dough + shapes with step-by-step photos and recipes (she is known as “Auntie Pasta” by nieces / nephews), drawing on Sarah’s long love affair with Italian cooking and the methods that she uses at Monteverde. It’s fun, engaging and a real feast for the eyes and senses.

All recipes were tested in a home kitchen and every chapter has a table scape so that all dishes in the book have at least one photo.

Order your copy here, or from your local independent bookseller