In his first English-language cookbook, baker and pastry chef Castel, the owner of several bakeries and shops in Paris, shares his expertise and joy in making the most of fresh ingredients year-round. Recipes run the gamut from soup to nuts, appetizers and drinks to desserts. Almost all are plant-based. Instructions for making ahead of time, freezing, jarring, or otherwise storing are useful for incorporating fresh food into busy lives. Pickling and jarring recipes have novel taste combinations, like carrot, orange, cumin, and vanilla pickles. His Zero Waste Vegetable Broth is doable for even a novice cook. Other recipes may be more daunting, like Christophe Adam’s Caramel Nut Tart, but Castel's enthusiastic descriptions, clear instructions, and tempting color photographs of ingredients and finished products will encourage more advanced cooks and bakers to give them a try. An index by ingredients in addition to an alphabetical index of recipes is helpful. Those interested in reducing food waste at home or in making the most of their CSA boxes and garden bounty will especially appreciate this book.

–  Laurie Unger Skinner, Booklist

In his first English-language cookbook, acclaimed Parisian pastry chef Castel moves away from predominantly pastry- and dessert-focused recipes to offer readers a glimpse into how he utilizes raw, seasonal ingredients and reduces waste in his own kitchen. Readers will be inspired to preserve spring and summer produce for year-round use with Castel’s recipes for spreads, jams, dips, ferments, pickles, teas, and even homemade ketchup and barbecue sauce. Guidance for canning and preserving, as well as low- and zero-waste recipes such as vegetable broth, are included, and Castel also provides instructions for longer-term storage for each recipe when applicable. Many of the recipes offer multiple ingredient substitutions to encourage home cooks to use whatever seasonal ingredients are available to them; an ingredient index is also included. While this is not a book on baking, Castel does offer recipes for various pastry doughs and breads.

VERDICT With gorgeous photography and creative recipes, this is an excellent canning and preservation book for reference and inspiration for home cooks of all kinds. Good for public libraries with robust cookbook collections.

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Pastry chef Benoît Castel’s inviting cookbook The Seasonal Pantry combines organic garden produce with a sustainable perspective.

Castel’s garden-to-table ethos involves seasonal eating and capturing the bounty of harvests by drying, pickling, or preserving produce to enjoy at a later date. “That’s the spirit of my pantry,” he explains. “Cooking high-quality ingredients for future use without wasting a crumb.” Making vegetable broth is a good reason to save peelings. Baking croutons and Melba toast extends the life of stale bread. Old loaves can be ground to make the base of new ones; 30 percent of Castel’s unsold bread is thus reused. This approach is “not revolutionary,” he remarks, but rather “a return to common sense.”

The book’s versatile pastry recipes are a foundation for a range of dishes. A similar base could produce a quiche or a roasted apricot “pizza.” Choux dough might be turned into profiteroles or ham-and-greens-stuffed buns topped with Parmesan. The steps are simple and reassuring, and the components and flavors are adaptable. Plant-based alternatives appear, as with a method for making pumpkin seed “milk.”

Close-up shots of alluring plates alternate with photographs of the garden and a table spread for convivial meals. Summer and autumn ripeness is sustained in jam, poached pears, and a rainbow of jarred vegetables. Fascinating combinations include a green tomato, raspberry, and mint jam. Dried hibiscus enlivens drinks and cakes. Sauces balance savory and sweet: an eggplant and hazelnut dip; a prune and almond hummus that contains honey, olive oil, and chickpeas. A pistachio, pumpkin seed, and white chocolate spread is a homemade take on Nutella.

The Seasonal Pantry introduces an appealing repertoire of fresh, colorful, zero-waste homemade dishes.

– Rebecca Foster, Foreword Reviews