South of the border REVIEWS BY SYBIL PRATT

When someone says "Mexican cooking," most of us think Tex-Mex and though that's not necessarily a put-down, it can, all too often, conjure up globs of guacamole, nests of gooey nachos, and tasteless tortillas. All that's a far cry from the depth and subtlety of the real "Cocina Mexicana," the Mexican kitchen, with its regional differences and intricate variations.

To chef, caterer, cooking teacher, and former restaurateur Susana Trilling, the "heart" of Mexican cooking is in the beautiful state of Oaxaca (pronounced Wahaka) in south central Mexico where she has lived and cooked for 11 years. Seasons of My Heart, her new cookbook and companion to the 13-part PBS series, is subtitled A Culinary Journey Through Oaxaca, Mexico, but Susana's enticing, exuberant exploration of the state's seven distinct districts makes it more of a culinary serenade, singing the praises of Oaxaca's rich gastronomic legacy. She devotes a separate chapter to each region, from the highlands of the Sierra to the tropical lowlands and the Pacific Coast, celebrating the local produce and unique character of each one. There's a special chapter on mole, an intensely rich, complex sauce that can have well over 25 ingredients and is, in its six variations, the crowning glory of Oaxacan cuisine. Included, too, are some of Susana's own savory experimentations and a chapter on essential ingredients, which is indeed essential for those of us who don't live near a Mexican market, and she's added hints throughout for North-American home cooks.

The sum is a treasure trove of recipes deeply rooted in tradition, gathered from the wonderfully accomplished cooks who have shared their family recipes with Susana, seasoned with Susana's lively, warm descriptions of the county she's grown to be a part of and the people who have welcomed her. If you want to get to the heart of the matter, and the matter is Mexican cooking, Seasons of the Heart is the way to go.


The green scene

Along with some four-star professionals, gardeners who cook and cooks who garden (from every state, Puerto Rico, and a few foreign countries) share their recipes (400 in all), tips, and stories in Smith and Hawken's The Gardeners' Community Cookbook, compiled and written by Victoria Wise. The initial request for garden cooking recipes was sown in the Smith & Hawken catalog, dear to every gardener's heart; the result was a healthy, hearty, heartwarming harvest, a collection that multiplied like zucchini in August. And though gardeners have traditionally exchanged "pass-along" recipes over the fence, these poured in through the mail, over the phone, the fax, and the Internet -- yet that close feeling of community is as strong as it would be if you knew everyone who contributed by sight. There's an abundantly friendly feel to this book; it's as though Ms. Wise were chatting with you as she cooked and couldn't resist adding a crop of culinary asides (scenting a sauce with roses, roasting garlic, making polenta in the microwave), flourishes of notable quotables in the margins, gardening hints galore (preserving nasturtium seeds, growing basil in winter, the low-down on leeks), and delightful disquisitions on "Tools of the Trade" and "Tricks of the Trade." The cookbooks that Workman publishes, such as the ever-popular Silver Palate duo, have set the standard for informal, easy design, and the laid-back layout here follows suit, inviting you to wander comfortably from recipes to green-shaded boxes filled with fabulous information. The recipes range from savory starters, salads, soups, sauces, salsas, a peck of pastas, marvelous main dishes, and vegetable sides that put the garden right on your plate to "pantry perks" for putting by the harvest, a bountiful basket of bakery goods, and dulcet concoctions to satisfy any gardener's sweet tooth.

Victoria Wise's generous cookbook and the generous community of gardener-cooks who participated in its creation give back to another community; a two-percent royalty from the sale of the book will go to Second Harvest, the largest charitable hunger relief organization in the country. It's a great way to get and give at the same time.


Sybil Pratt is an avid cook.

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