Cookbook Giveaway - Chez Panisse Fruit by Alice Waters

Monday, August 17, 2009

Weeks after picking it up, I'm still cooking with Waters' book Chez Panisse Fruit. The pears you see above, once they become ripe in a few days, will be added to a salad of endives and walnuts. Something simple from the pears chapter that didn't involve poaching in wine. (Alice loves her wine. It's almost to a point that it may be prudent for someone to slip a piece of paper with the address of an AA meeting on it into her pocket.)

Booziness aside, I notice how often I reference it. This weekend I purchased far too many Sun Crest peaches. Like Hercules toiling at his labors I strained to figure out how to solve my dilemma (the burdens I bear!). Instinctively I reached for her book; like brushing my teeth in the morning or checking my e-mail it's habit now.

I didn't find a recipe that matched my mood, though I did bookmark the recipe for pickled peaches. Instead I used a recipe in the plums section and adapted it for a rustic crisp with a few drops of almond extract. The book is ripe with inspiration in its juicy prose; so much that makes your mouth and mind water over the possibilities.

When I have fruit that tastes amazing I find myself wanting to share it. Similarly, why not do the same for a book about fruit? In light of this I'll be giving away a copy of Alice Waters', Chez Panisse Fruit.

To play simply leave a comment and tell me what your favorite fruit is. On August 21 I'll reveal the winner. You must be in the United States as I have learned in the past that shipping to Johannesburg or Stokholm will break me. Please only enter once. If you don't have a blogger/gmail account and have to be Annonymous, please sign your name, otherwise how will you claim your fabulous prize if you win?

139 comments:

  1. Blood oranges!

    Unfortunately both they and their juice are difficult to find around here. :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mmmmm peaches for me!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Apples- I love raw apples, apple pie, applesauce, and apple butter.

    ReplyDelete
  4. my obsessions vary by season, but OMIGOSH BLACKBERRIES.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Favorite fruit? That's so hard... avocados for just eating, taste, and versatility. Italian prune plums for baking. And berries in general for snacking.


    P.S. You get the creative blog award just for being fun to read and having great pics. Don't feel you have to acknowledge it, it's just there if you want it.
    http://lianabrooks.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. When I was tiny, I knew the names of fruits, but I when I wanted cantaloupe, I asked for "fruit."

    I still like cantaloupe best.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It may sound like an odd choice but I'm partial to black chokeberries.

    We had several trees in our yard growing up. My uncle would come up once a year to harvest the berries to make wine. As kids, we liked to experiment with ways to take the edge off the bitterness and sweeten them up. We'd squeeze the juice into lemonade, dip rhubarb into sugar and chokeberry juice. (And it became a tradition to give a Dixie cup full of raw chokeberry juice to the new kid in the neighborhood and watch his face explode.)

    It's not something I get to eat a lot of nowadays but I like it mainly for the memories it unlocks.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well, if we are talking fruits in the technical sense, then there is none but the tomato in my eyes. If we are talking sweet, then a nice juicy nectarine will do just fine.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, thank you for such a generous contest!

    There are so many wonderful fruits - cherries, raspberries, even lemons. So hard to choose. But my absolute favorite has to be ... (drum roll) ... peaches!

    I don't live in the US but I can provide you with an US address to send the book to, should I be the lucky one.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Himalayan blackberries. Not the commercial grown ones, they're no good. Ones where you wear nasty old jeans and long sleeves on a hot August day because otherwise the thorns will scratch you all to hell.

    ReplyDelete
  11. brittany.burrows@gmail.comAugust 17, 2009 at 7:50 AM

    Passion fruit, hands down! I only wish I had an easier time finding it around here (anyone have tips for Bay Area sources?). For now I've found a place that sells the frozen pulp, but it's just not the same.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Other than Asian Pears, I'd be hard-pressed to name a fruit I *don't* like. And for general eating out of hand, any berry or any fruit with a pit is tops. But that one fruit with a little something special? Figs.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Blueberries! Especially when you add them to the currant jelly recipe in Chez Panisse Fruit!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Strawberries win hands down for me! I love them so much. We're lucky to have access to very sweet strawberries here.

    Not in the US currently, but do have a US address that you can ship it to. Hoping that's fine with you!

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is so generous of you! My favorite foot are clementines :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Peaches!
    Strawberries!
    Pomegranates.
    Texas Canteloupes (muskmelons, really)

    ReplyDelete
  17. blueberries, peaches, apples .....
    it varies w/ the season.

    jacquieastemborski AT comcast DOT net

    ReplyDelete
  18. love peaches




    jasondonoho@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. Home grown yellow nectarines. With the skin a bit tangy, but the meat is sweet. :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Raspberries ! As a kid, we would eat straight from the neighbor's bush till we were run off or made ourselves sick, whichever came first:)

    ReplyDelete
  21. It is a toss-up between fresh pineapple, mango, and dark cherries. Put those three things in front of me and I'll polish all of them off. YUM!

    allynmc at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  22. Bananas year round, and fresh Georgia peaches in summer!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hard question, but I'd have to say mango.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I have never met a fruit I didn't like, but in these days of fruit being grown for shipping and storage qualities rather than taste (high Brix), it is increasingly difficult to find the juicy kind of fruit you can remember dripping down your arms as you ate them... Some local peaches come close, very close.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I love pomegranates. The word is fun to say. It's the origin of our word for grenade, which is bizarre. We make grenadine from them. Yum. Some people think that pomegranates were the fruit in Garden of Good and Evil that got Adam an Eve kicked out.

    But I love to sit and slowly work my way through one, eating them seed by seed, or tossing the seeds on a salad, or crushing a few into my martinis... Love them!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I love all kinds of fruit, but I can always eat cantaloupe melons (love it with prosciutto!).

    ReplyDelete
  27. the strawberry is one of my oldest favorites. then along came the lemon and the lime. oh my.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Oranges--any kind! As for your abundance of peaches,they make wonderful smoothies, even if they are overripe.

    ReplyDelete
  29. My favorite fruit changes by season, but some of my favorites are: sour cherries, peaches, nectarines, really good strawberries, and a tart, crisp apple.

    ReplyDelete
  30. PLUMS! I adore plums in yogurt with cinnamon, in a delightful clafoutis, or simply snacking on them while watching the day whistle by! Mmm, so delicious.

    I don't like prunes though. How strange.

    ReplyDelete
  31. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Blackberries! Definately my favorite!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Ojai Pixie Tangerines. My grandparents had a tree in their backyard... just smelling orange blossoms reminds me of how my cousins and I would fight over the tangerines and leave the Valencias untouched. Little bursts of seedless flavor, and without the sticky stains of orange juice as they were so easy to peel.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Strawberries, fresh off the vine and still warm... Mmmm..jammy strawberries....

    ReplyDelete
  35. When I was growing up, we had some trees on the border of one of our fields that my grandma called "wild plums". They were about the size of golf balls, and they had a really great yellow skin that took on little bit of a red blush when they were just perfectly ripe. I've never seen them anywhere else, though, which is sad.

    Those little fruits were rockstar.

    ReplyDelete
  36. peaches - freshly picked!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Ooh - hard to choose! Dark cherries like Bings are always great and my family is always happy when I make a cherry pie. My favorite recipe is for a lovely spicy dark cherry chutney that goes great with pork!

    I must admit I LOVE blackberries too - and have a nice small hedge of them in my veggie garden - I'm so lucky!!

    ReplyDelete
  38. blueberries and avocados - on their own or in a salad together with just a light dressing... how can you not be inspired by the smooth, creamy texture of the avocado or the brilliant burst from the blueberry? both are sunshine.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Mango. Sadly, it's hard to find a good mango here. :(

    ReplyDelete
  40. cantaluope yummy!
    superbutterfly12@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  41. I read through everyone's answers, and now I'm just craving every kind of fruit! I noticed pineapples didn't receive so much love, but they top my list along with strawberries.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Asian pears! Juicy, crisp, and sweet...so refreshing and light. I love them.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Strawberries and pears! Good with cheese, paired with wines, with other snack-esque foods or in salads... But best of all when eaten all by themselves. Yum.

    ReplyDelete
  44. oh man. that's a really tough question!

    blackberries are high on the list, as are nectarines, and quince. mmmm.... yums!

    ReplyDelete
  45. I love most fruits, but I'd have to say my favorite is pluots. We had a pluot tree in the yard growing up, and now I am happy to stock up at the farmer's market every week!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Pears!! Especially when they are part of a pear pie with Gruyere cheese on top.

    ReplyDelete
  47. I love persimmons but I'm totally enamored by the cherimoya and wish I didn't have to take out a loan to try one :)

    ReplyDelete
  48. Strawberries!! Especially in strawberry-rhubarb pie. My mom says that when I was a kid, I would take a basket of strawberries under the kitchen table and eat them all, neatly lining up the stems on a ledge underneath. Then, when she (for some obscure reason) looked under the table, voila! Who ate those strawberries? lol

    ReplyDelete
  49. Blueberries..fresh ones ofcourse! I love them in anything and everything - smoothies, sauces, pies, cakes...u name it.

    Siri

    ReplyDelete
  50. I have to pick on favorite? Goodness...peaches in the summer are definitely at the top.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Cherries.
    Katrina Deaton
    katrina.deaton@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  52. peaches.

    or wait, strawberries.

    no, definitely peaches. millions of peaches. peaches for me. millions of peaches. peaches for free.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Pick just one?? You're tough! I guess it would have to be the raspberries grown by the (literally) little old lady down the road!

    ReplyDelete
  54. Love peaches, nectarines, berries--all kinds!

    You are so sweet to be sharing, just like fruit!

    Piegirl aka MissusPie

    ReplyDelete
  55. I'd have to say blueberries or huckleberries. We used to pick them wild when I was younger.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Strawberries! And despite them giving me hives, I can't resist them!

    ReplyDelete
  57. It's hard to pick, but my favorite is a tie between a perfectly ripe cantaloupe and blueberries.

    ReplyDelete
  58. I wish I could name some obscure fruit but I'm a mango girl all the way. However, I will declare that Manila (Ataulfo) mangoes are supreme!

    ReplyDelete
  59. I absolutely love fresh figs, I can get them fresh from the farmers market around June and July, sometimes early August, and thats it. I look forward to it every year!

    ReplyDelete
  60. Have to go with golden raspberries. Haven't had them in years, and I can almost taste them right now...

    ReplyDelete
  61. Kiwi.

    The sad part: I'm terribly allergic to them. Every time I eat a couple pieces of Kiwi my mouth, tongue, and lips swell up (and not the cute "bee sting" swell look). It's quite painful...but god I love Kiwi.

    Usually I'll try to stay away from it, but every once and a while I'll endure the pain just for the taste of the sweet tangy "forbidden fruit."

    ReplyDelete
  62. asking what my favorite fruit is would be like asking who my favorite child is if i was a mother... it's so hard to pick!

    if we're talking sweet fruits, raspberries. if it's all fruits, it's a tie for tomatoes and avocados!

    ReplyDelete
  63. i'm horrified that no one has mentioned mangosteens. sure, they might horrify my wallet, but they're phenomenal.

    ReplyDelete
  64. working in a vineyard one summer i became the beneficiary of the most giant and amazing nectarines i'd ever seen from the orchard next door. the orchardist had spliced branches onto a tree to create his 'own' voluptuous nectarine and to this day, nectarines are my favorite fruit of summer:)

    ReplyDelete
  65. blueberries, preferably picked by your own hands that morning... or that moment. :)

    ReplyDelete
  66. I'm going to have to say apples (gala, to be specific), but I also love Rainier cherries and clementines.

    ReplyDelete
  67. raspberries, raspberries and more raspberries!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  68. This is hard! I'd just die if I had to cut fruit from my diet. Give me dried apricots over a Snickers bar any day.

    But favorite? Cherries. On the stem.

    They make such a satisfying pop as your teeth break the skin, and the pit is perfectly smooth to the tongue.

    But you do have to be careful to not spit the pits down the shirt of nearby unsuspecting boys.

    -Margaret D

    ReplyDelete
  69. Favorite fruit is....grapes, I suppose. Or maybe blackberries. It's definitely a berry of some sort though. Or maybe stone fruit.

    Gah, it's hard to choose.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Berries, always berries. Specifically fresh raspberries from the u-pick on Sauvie Island. And if I'm feeling exotic, goji berries.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Favorite fruit? Hmmm, well Rhubarb is a vegetable, eaten as a fruit so can I pick that? I'm teaching my wife's family to love it too. But I really wish I was living in a place where I could eat figs all the time.

    Thanks for offering the book up. I guess this is a way for you to find all of us lurkers out here.
    cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  72. It used to be pears. Lately, cherries. I'd say rhubarb but it requires the addition of sugar... so... apples!

    I admit it: I can't pick only one.

    Your picture is really beautiful on this post.

    ReplyDelete
  73. favorite fruit...hmmm....hard to pick one...can i pick two?...mangoes and um, can i pick three?...mangoes, blackberries and small red grapes, oh and a perfectly ripe nectarine.

    ReplyDelete
  74. White nectarines. Clean -- no fuzz, crisper than a peach, softer than an apple.

    ERC

    ReplyDelete
  75. Blueberries, no doubt!! I'm eating some right now with toasted pecans... the combo goes so well together for some reason!

    ReplyDelete
  76. Gooseberries!

    I grew up in Vancouver and when we had an especially cold and rainy winter, I knew there would always be some delicious gooseberries to reward me for my patience.

    ReplyDelete
  77. alphonso mangoes. There's simply nothing else like them.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Pomegranates. First, for flavor and texture (I like to think of them as adult Gushers). Second, I strongly associate them with the vineyard in Amador County where my husband and I were married. Lastly, I love interactive food...food that makes you take your time. It can be a social or personal thing, sitting down to seed pomegranates.

    ReplyDelete
  79. I love a perfectly ripe apricot, they are so hard to find on the East Coast.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Limes. Sour, sweet, bitter, a little salty, maybe even a little umami: each ones seems to possess every quality the tongue can detect. The aromatic, floral scent, the snap and brightness that creates an almost painful pleasure. Whether adding zing to savory noodle soups, whipped into thick, mouthwatering curd and served over fresh summer strawberries, or sliced into wedges and sprinkled with salt and hot chili oil, limes possess a snap and brightness that no other fruit can match. Limes taste energetic, vibrant, and alive.

    There are two things in the world that taste like green to me: the grassiness of fresh raw corn and the sunny sparkle of limes.

    ReplyDelete
  81. Figs! How can you go wrong stuffing this fleshy beauties with creamy chevre and wrapping them in prosciutto. Dreamy...

    ReplyDelete
  82. Strawberries, well, pretty much any berry!

    ReplyDelete
  83. my grandmother had this HUGE fig tree in the back yard and for breakfast, we would go pick figs and pour off the fresh cream from our cow's milk.. honey, there is no better...

    ReplyDelete
  84. Blackberries!!!

    Oh man, I eat them by the load.

    Ohhh I want some now.

    ReplyDelete
  85. It really does vary by season.... Two of my newest obsessions that I've discovered in the past year are quinces and figs - both ancient treasures that I really never appreciated before.

    ReplyDelete
  86. How can you pick just one favorite?

    Figs, Raspberries, Rainier Cherries, Persimmon, Lychee, Mangosteen, Rhubarb, Blood Oranges, Cara Cara Oranges, Kumquat, Loquat, and Guava!

    Each are favorites at their peak of season and availability. . . .

    Traveling in Oaxaca, Mexico I had the most incredible tiny bright red juicy cherries - not sure what they were called and haven't seen them since.

    ReplyDelete
  87. I grew up in California (went to UC Davis), and my fave fruit was the Japanese persimmon tree we had in our yard growing up. They are virtually impossible to find in the store (at least ripe ones are), now that I live in Seattle...

    ReplyDelete
  88. A good Texas peach with the juice dribbling down my chin.

    ReplyDelete
  89. My current favorite is blueberries, but this is subject to change on a whim; any stone fruit will make me very happy, but so will apples, melons, pineapple ...

    I think you get the idea; if it's fruit, I'm there!

    ReplyDelete
  90. Raspberries. Good ones always remind me of my childhood when I would eat them right from the bush in our backyard.

    sgp67 at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  91. Strawberries and Avocado's

    ReplyDelete
  92. Blackberries out of NorCal are HEAVEN!!

    ReplyDelete
  93. My favorite fruit? Sweet white peaches! Sometimes I have to eat them hunched over the sink or all my clothes would be stained with dribbles of peach juice.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Having spent 5 years in Fresno, California, I learned to have a whole new appreciation for citrus (being from Seattle, it died quietly) - I wait with baited breath every year for Oro Blanco Grapefruit. The sweetest grapefruit ever. Amazing as a sorbet, ridiculous as a topping raw on creme fraiche cheesecake, and above all - eaten out of hand from the Torey Farms stall at the Vineyard Farmer's Market in Fresno on Saturday mornings!

    ReplyDelete
  95. My cravings rotate with the season but if I had to choose just one, Cherries!!

    nmn3-at-u.washington.edu

    ReplyDelete
  96. Figs - right off the tree. Yum. Watermelon is divine if you're lucky enough to find a good one.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Mangoes, followed very closely by pineapples, kiwis and basically anything but melons!

    ReplyDelete
  98. Hard to pick! But maybe white peaches.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Mangoes! Tasty with sticky rice and coconut cream sauce.


    (Hope's my name, btw:))

    ReplyDelete
  100. blackberries.


    i can use them in dessert, or even as a sauce on a steak, very versatile, love their flavor!

    ReplyDelete
  101. I'm the mother of a 10 year old 'Peach Monster', so peachesit is! What a delicious looking book. I have an address in the US, so please may I be considered for the draw? Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  102. hi...newbie to your site...just reading tartlette blog from january '07 & she mentioned your site...so here i am...
    WHITE PEACHES!!!
    thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  103. Peaches from the tree in my yard. I just had 3 of various sizes with a little homemade granola. The neighbors tell me the former owner planted the tree from the seed of a delicious peach he ate.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Hmm, probably apples. They are so versatile and I love the crunch of a raw one.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Rainier Cherries. Picked from trees in Hood River, Oregon.

    ReplyDelete
  106. love me some fresh blueberries!

    ReplyDelete
  107. Tiny, country strawberries in England during late July and August.They are bright red, thumb-sized gems that taste unlike any strawberry you have had before. They ARE the reason why Strawberries are mentioned so often in classical literature set the UK (all the way back to Shakespeare and beyond!).

    ReplyDelete
  108. Toughie... mango, crunchy red grapes, watermelon probably all tie for first.

    ReplyDelete
  109. I love pretty much all fruits ... but if pressed to pick a favorite I would have to say pomegranates.

    Or maybe mangoes.

    Or fresh raspberries.

    Or peaches.
    Or whatever happens to be in season ... Clearly I have a problem ;)

    ReplyDelete
  110. peaches, mangoes, apricots and strawberries always give me a great time

    ReplyDelete
  111. I love the Packham pear...it's scent is pearier than the peariest pear, and it has a shape that only a mother could love.

    ReplyDelete
  112. Mangos! My parents are Cuban and I was raised in Miami, so this is a natural choice. With peaches in a close second.

    ReplyDelete
  113. Peaches hands down - I have a tree full of them just waiting for the perfect time!
    alexisellis@wildmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  114. Rasberries for sure - when I buy them I always have to get two baskets because I know I'll eat one of them on the way home. I have no will power when it comes to rasberries!

    eding.megan@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  115. I don't think I can choose! Raspberries? Fresh figs? New England apples? Blenheim apricots? Seascape Strawberries from Harry's Berries? Fresh picked blueberries? Or my beloved underused plums?

    ReplyDelete
  116. Pitangas are my favorite. I grew up in Brasil, and studied here and in Israel, and am probably moving to Israel next year so my favorites are by countries.
    US--bing chairies, raspbarries
    Brasil--Pitangas, Starfruit, Mangos fresh off the tree at boarding school
    Israel-- pommagranite, dates, dragonfruit.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Apples, maybe. Or nectarines. But any fruit, really.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Hmm....

    I'd have to say of fresh fruit my favorite is the Mango and dried I like Hunza Raisins the best.

    Thanks for the contest!

    -Andrew (amw246@gmail.com)

    ReplyDelete

Hey, you're leaving a comment! That's pretty darn cool, so thanks. If you have any questions or have found an error on the site or with a recipe, please e-mail me and I will reply as soon as possible.
~Garrett

Vanilla Garlic All rights reserved © Blog Milk Powered by Blogger