Simple recipes, spectacular results

The only problem with "Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes," the new cookbook from Jeanne Kelley, is that you won't want to spill anything on it. That's because this beautifully designed compilation, replete with mouthwatering color photographs, looks and feels more like a coffee-table book than a recipe collection. Still, if you lug Ms. Kelley's offering into the kitchen, you won't be disappointed.

Kelley, who trained at LaVarenne cooking school in Paris, and whose work has appeared in Bon Appetit and Cooking Light magazines, offers more than 150 recipes – from breakfast to dessert – that rely on fresh, locally grown ingredients.

In Kelley's case, "locally grown" means her own backyard, where she also keeps a goat and a flock of Araucana chickens. But while backyard gardens are an emerging trend among the ecoconscious, don't worry if you're not mother hen to your own flock of chickens. "Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes" is more a celebration of the local-foods trend than it is a manifesto. And Kelley's inventive flavor pairings allow ingredients to come together (or stand out) in delicious ways that reward the effort.

Adventurous (though not necessarily highly experienced) cooks will love the way Kelley reimagines everything from the spring roll (made with mango and mint) to oven-roasted frites (sprinkled with herbes de Provence). And they'll find plenty to keep their interest; Kelley's recipes, organized into chapters by meals, have the whole day covered – and then some.

All of which makes this a book you'll love to look at, but love to cook from even more.