The Best Cookbooks of Summer 2013

We know the French have a way with butter, cheese and wine, but they're also supertalented with preparing green beans, eggplant and cabbage. And while "healthy French food" may sound like an oxymoron, Clotilde Dusoulier, who lives in Paris and writes the blog Chocolate and Zucchini, promises veggies don't have to be doused in cream or mixed with a pile of pasta to taste delicious. She spices carrots with star anise and vanilla, then purees them into a soup with almond milk; and, she stuffs portobello mushroom caps with a marvelous mix of chopped onions, garlic, mushrooms and plums. Faced with a glut of summer zucchini and apricots? Pile them onto a chickpea flour "pizza." If you've got a few bell peppers lying around, stew them with tomatoes, herbs and a glug of wine, and then ladle cold spoonfuls onto toasted slices of sourdough for a refreshing supper. You will not miss the steak frites, we swear.