Ready for Your Close-Up, Miss Carrot?

Louise Pickford ate only meat, plus the occasional overcooked pea or carrot, until she was 22. Now she’s into vegetables with a vengeance.

Pickford (a London-based food stylist) and photographer Gus Filgate have produced a vegetarian cookbook so stunning that you’d snap it up even if you hated to cook. The photos are that alluring.

Pickford was only 25 when she and Filgate started work on “The Inspired Vegetarian” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang: $24.95). At the time, Filgate wasn’t even a full-fledged photographer, just an assistant. But the two talked food and photography on the same creative wavelength and sold their book idea with only six recipes and photographs in hand.

Pickford would come up with a dish, take a Polaroid shot and hand the photo to Filgate to design the presentation. One of those first pictures shows a chocolate mousse terrine placed on a cloth that floats down the page like a ghostly apparition. The cloth looks opaque, but somehow you can see through it.

In another, pumpkin soup sits on a sandy base composed of powdered paint mixed with cornstarch. A thin line of bright orange paint powder frames the soup, and a partially buried pumpkin creates an illusion of unexpected depth. A parsnip-Gorgonzola souffle and a wedge of cheese stand in two interlocking squares--but how did Filgate arrange the squares so they seem to lie flat and stand vertically?

Not only the photographs are innovative. Pickford breached the English tradition of dull, boiled vegetables to create such highly edible dishes as mixed vegetable soup with fresh coriander pistou , ricotta mousse stuffed with fresh figs, spiced vegetable pakoras with mango relish and celeriac-white Stilton mousse with tomato sauce.

Hardly a crusading vegetarian, she says: “I absolutely adore the taste of meat.” But concern for animals made her give it up. Pickford still tastes meat in her line of work because she won’t produce a recipe that she hasn’t sampled and approved. “I’m not terribly squeamish about it,” she says, “but I would rather not do it.”

Pickford grew up on a farm, and her early distaste for vegetables was affected by the way her mother prepared them. In the English tradition, she boiled them to death. Once Pickford began to experiment on her own, the possibilities became exciting. And the growing variety of produce available in England gave her plenty to work with.

Pickford spent a year in art school before moving on to food styling. A three-month Cordon Bleu course gave her the fundamentals, and her work taught her more. “I can’t think of a country whose cuisine I haven’t cooked,” she says.

That wide-ranging experience is behind such recipes as curried parsnip and coconut soup with pear coulis , saffron risotto with wild mushrooms and arugula, vegetable cassoulet, Moroccan vegetable stew with roasted buckwheat, and stir-fried sesame cabbage with ginger.

Pickford and Filgate, both now 28, have taken giant steps professionally since they began working together. Pickford is writing for two English magazines; Filgate is “extremely successful,” she says, and they’ve collaborated on plans for five future cookbooks.

“The Inspired Vegetarian” was published in the United States rather than England because Pickford’s only publishing contact was with Stewart, Tabori & Chang in New York. The book will be released in England this month.

“Miff” is Pickford’s aunt, who served this soup at Guy Fawkes night celebrations every Nov. 5. It’s also perfect for Halloween.

MIFF’S SPICY PUMPKIN SOUP

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 shallots, chopped

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped

2 medium potatoes, diced

1 tablespoon ground coriander

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Dash freshly grated nutmeg

2 pounds pumpkin, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped

5 cups Vegetable Stock

Plain yogurt

Cilantro leaves

Heat oil in 3-quart saucepan. Add shallots and celery and saute 5 minutes. Add carrots and potatoes and saute 5 minutes longer. Add coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Stir-fry 2 minutes. Add pumpkin and Vegetable Stock, bring to boil, cover and simmer gently 20 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.

Blend soup in food processor or blender until smooth. Return to pan, adjust seasonings to taste and heat through. Serve hot, garnished with swirl of yogurt and cilantro leaves. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Each serving, without garnish, contains about:

216 calories; 834 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams protein; 3.77 grams fiber.

Vegetable Stock

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium onions, sliced

2 large leeks, trimmed and sliced

4 medium carrots, chopped

2 medium potatoes, chopped

6 celery stalks, sliced

8 tomatoes, quartered

1/2 pound mushrooms, wiped and quartered

2/3 cup red lentils

6 sprigs parsley

4 sprigs thyme

4 sprigs basil

4 bay leaves

2 quarts water

2 teaspoons salt

12 black peppercorns

Heat oil in 3-quart saucepan. Add garlic, onions and leeks and saute 10 minutes, until browned. Add carrots, potatoes and celery and saute 10 minutes longer. Add tomatoes, mushrooms, lentils, parsley, thyme, basil, bay leaves, water, salt and peppercorns.

Bring to boil, cover and simmer over low heat 30 minutes. Strain through fine sieve. Cool and store until needed. Makes 1 1/2 quarts.