by Nicole Perry
I'm an unabashed lover of all meaty treats. Succulent duck confit, planks of unctuous bone marrow, quivering pork belly: I greedily devour them all. That said, I think of these deeply savory foods as the punctuation to my everyday diet rather than the staples. An average day finds me spooning up oatmeal, munching on nuts, and supping on salads of zesty tomatoes and burrata cheese.
Some might describe my predilection to limit my meat consumption as flexitarianism; I prefer to think of it as practical, because, as tempting as it is, a diet based on meat is far from environmentally sound (or nutritionally balanced for that matter). It came as no surprise that I was drawn to Arthur Potts Dawson's new cookbook, Eat Your Vegetables
, a beautifully photographed tome bolstering the movement to eat less meat.
While many of the recipes contained within its pages are vegetarian-friendly, others are liberally garnished with beef, bacon, or salty anchovies. Dawson may be an outspoken ambassador for the oft-forgotten fruits of the garden, but is quick to mention that he too enjoys the occasional steak. Rather than focus on the asceticism of a vegetable-based diet, his cookbook celebrates the vast variety of foods spouting forth from the garden, and many dishes would appeal to all but the most staunch carnivore.
Keep reading for one of my favorite recipes from Eat Your Vegetables.
print recipe
We're suckers for a clever wine label and are occasionally swayed to try a new bottle purely based on its aesthetic appeal. Luckily, in this case, the packaging belies the contents within. The 
We'll be cooling off with a bottle or two of this reasonably priced supermarket favorite (we found ours at Safeway) all Summer, and we suggest you follow suit. We enjoy sipping it solo, but its clean flavors make it versatile. We wager it'd play nicely with the delicate flavors of the sea (flaky sole or steamed mussels, anyone?), particularly when accented with zesty citrus.
Are baked beans a warm comforting dish for a blustery day, or are they the perfect side dish to serve at your Summer BBQ?
