Eating Local

The Cookbook Inspired by America’s Farmers

by Sur La Table, Janet Fletcher

Price: $35.00
ISBN-13: 978-0-7407-9144-4
ISBN-10: 0-7407-9144-3
Format: Hardcover
Size: 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.
Page Count: 320 pages

“The text is lavish with color photos of surprisingly good looking young farmers, both male and female, and expectedly handsome produce. All these glamor shots amuse, but it is the simple but ingenious recipes that are so valuable. … Every recipe works.” ––San Francisco Examiner http://bit.ly/fchgaO

““Eating Local” might just as easily be named “Eating Well.”” ––Madison.com http://bit.ly/c5EjLM

” Janet Fletcher is the author of “Eating Local: The Cookbook Inspired by America’s Farmers.” The book was written for people who might not know what to do with lesser-known produce sold at farmers markets. It’s also geared towards members of community-supported agriculture programs. CSAs pay a farmer early in the year and get boxes of the farm’s yield during the growing season.” ––The Leader (Corning, NY) http://tinyurl.com/2eushwu

“Eating Local is a superb book that gives its readers a deeper understanding and commitment to local food and a necessary appreciation for the passionate people who make it possible for us to have the best edibles on the table at all times.” ––San Francisco Book Review http://www.sanfranciscobookreview.com/cooking-food-wine/eating-local-150-recipes-from-the-farm-to-your-table/

“Eating Local tells the stories of people whose lives are as vital as the food they produce, and gives recipes that extend that vitality to the consumer.   The message within the book is to love the land, eat well, be vital in your own life.  It is dedicated to “America’s hardworking farmers who make eating locally possible. … Janet Fletcher, formerly of the celebrated Chez Panisse, has created recipes that allow ingredients to star.  There are such wonderful recipes as Sicilian Spring Vegetable Stew; Pickled Yellow Wax Beans with Fresh Dill; Broccoli Rabe and Turnip Greens with Hot Pepper Vinegar; Grilled Eggplant Cannelloni with Ricotta and Prosciutto; Braised Chicken with Apple Cider, Tarragon, and Cream; Grilled Flank Steak with Old-Fashioned Creamed Spinach; Polenta with Chopped Broccoli and Pecorino; Carrot-Zucchini Bread with Candied Ginger; Heirloom Apple Tart with Almond Filling and Calvados Cream; Grilled Nectarines with Mascarpone Ice Cream and Crushed Amaretti.” ––Ukiah Blog http://ukiahcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/cookbook-review-eating-local/

“This book is truly a love letter to the eating local movement.” ––Project Foodie

“The meat of the book is its vegetable chapter. Recipes are of the minimalist kind but with twists — whole okra, grilled and kissed with smoked paprika — that may surprise. Recipes do double-duty. Trim the ribs from floppy leaves of Swiss chard to make packets of mozzarella and anchovies for the grill, but don’t think of tossing those ribs. They star in another dish with yogurt, walnuts and dill.” ––Chicago Sun-Times http://bit.ly/dv2ntx

“Instead of meal courses, Fletcher has divided the book into fruits and vegetables (with a small section on dairy and meats), so readers can flip to the ingredient they’re looking for - arugula, eggplant, sweet corn, for example - and related recipes. If the gorgeous photos don’t send you to your nearest farm stand, the recipes will: Creamy Red Onion Soup, Braised Peas and Fennel With Pecorino, and Peach and Boysenberry Cobbler.” ––The Columbus Dispatch http://bit.ly/bOVk4A

“Organized by vegetable, Eating Local shares the wisdom of farmers to guide you in eating smartly and creatively from whatever bounty comes your way.” ––KidoInfo http://bit.ly/dBBp1x

“As you can see the cover is beautiful, but I promise you that all of the 150+ photographs in this book are amazing. It features wonderful pictures of different types of produce that are just so bright and colorful. I have to warn you that this cookbook will make you want to visit your local farmer’s market! As lovely as the pictures are, Eating Local also is filled with so many delicious recipes. As you can see the cover is beautiful, but I promise you that all of the 150+ photographs in this book are amazing. It features wonderful pictures of different types of produce that are just so bright and colorful. I have to warn you that this cookbook will make you want to visit your local farmer’s market! As lovely as the pictures are, Eating Local also is filled with so many delicious recipes.” ––Booking Mama http://bit.ly/9UrQJB

“CSAs and farmers markets are a wonderful way to buy your produce, but figuring out how to get the produce home and then what to do with all that bounty is an ongoing issue, says Bay Area food writer Janet Fletcher. Her new book, “Eating Local, The Cookbook Inspired by America’s Farmers,” is a joint venture with Sur La Table. The cookware boutique’s corporate headquarters in Seattle is a drop-off point for CSA boxes in a pilot program the company hopes may eventually expand. The idea, Fletcher says, is “to make it easier for people to buy local, support local farms and get fresh food on their own table.”" ––Fresh Produce Talk http://bit.ly/bkMHDA

“In “Eating Local,” … cookbook author Janet Fletcher has partnered with Sur La Table to create a useful reference for anyone who’s ever wondered what to do with the parsnips at the bottom of their Community Supported Agriculture box; or for those who look longingly at a perfect bunch of squash blossoms at the farmers’ market, but pass them over for a more recognizable vegetable.” ––SFGate http://bit.ly/cU0JH3

“Eating Local is a gorgeous hardcover cookbook that is worth getting just to look at the photographs. But if you’re a Localvore or someone who tries to eat from the bounty of their garden, you’ll want to get Eating Local for the amazing recipes it offers.” ––Confessions of an Overworked Mom http://bit.ly/cd4FsP

“”Eating Local, the Cookbook Inspired by America’s Farmers,” by Sur la Table and Janet Fletcher. You can’t help but be hungry as you page through this volume of delight, with color photos of farmers and their crops and of stunning food from around the country. These recipes are all doable, and make the most of local produce, often as simple twists on favorites (Grilled Tomatoes With Pesto, anyone?).” ––Star Tribune http://bit.ly/a1uUKw

“The cookbook contains 150 recipes focused on ingredients that may be new to you or are in abundance during certain times of the year.  Do you know how to prepare the eggplant and arugula in your box?  No problem!  Just look up a recipe.  Do you need some fresh and interesting ways to prepare all that zucchini that florishes in August?  The answer is here.” ––Examiner.com http://bit.ly/aG8GSN

“Hot off the presses, “Eating Local” just crossed our desk, and already we can tell that it’s a keeper – one whose recipes will bring us back time and again, especially as farmers’ markets in our area share their bounty. Written by food journalist Janet Fletcher in conjunction with Sur La Table, a retailer of gourmet cooking utensils and related merchandise, this book instructs home cooks on how to make the most of the “localvoire” movement, that is, using foods of the immediate area sourced not too far from home.” ––Lake County Journal http://www.lakecountyjournals.com/articles/2010/06/14/39000451/index.xml

“The book is organized by ingredient, so as each fruit or vegetable comes into season, you can turn to that section to find several recipes highlighting the fresh ingredients.  Or, if you’re like me, you’ll pick your favorite vegetable (eggplant) and cook everything in that section. … Every recipe I’ve tried is surprisingly simple and delightfully fresh.” ––Alexandra Hedin http://alexandrahedin.blogspot.com/2010/06/read-it-eating-local.html

“This lovely cookbook is a farmers markets dream because the every single recipe had a fruit or vegetable included in it and perusing through it is like walking the stalls of our local farmers markets. Each page is bursting with fabulous produce and it’s like visiting a stand from a favorite farmer. The color, freshness and appeal of every recipe is a proud reminder of why so many of us try to eat local and support our farmers.” ––White on Rice Couple http://bit.ly/cknoE5

“Eating Local: The Cookbook Inspired by America’s Farmers is the latest issue from Sur La Table.  It is written by Janet Fletcher, a food writer with excellent credentials.  She was trained as a cook at the Culinary Institute of America and Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley.  She won three James Beards awards for her food writing for the San Francisco Chronicle and she’s authored or co-authored 20 cookbooks.  She’s a Master Gardener, too. So you can expect great recipes to help you make the most of your deliveries from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, your local farmer’s market, or your own veggie plots. The book also includes techniques for preserving seasonal food so none of your precious crop need go to waste. It also takes you behind the scenes so you can learn what a CSA farmer’s life is like, through photos and interviews.” ––Fresh Dirt, Sunset.com http://freshdirt.sunset.com/2010/05/opportunities-to-meet-your-local-farmers-at-sur-la-table.html

“James Beard Award-winning writer Janet Fletcher is garnering considerable buzz for her newest cookbook, “Eating Local: The Cookbook Inspired by America’s Farmers“, with its glorious photographs and 150 tempting recipes. Stories and images from 10 small family farms are interspersed among recipes” ––Mercury News http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15063075?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

“This one is the book you give as a gift to your locavore friends when they invite you to the beach house for a week. Like most Sur La Table books, it’s a feast for the eyes: lushly photographed, and somehow both elegant and earthy. Haven’t got any friends with a beach house? Yeah, me neither, actually. Fortunately, Eating Local cooks as good as it looks.” ––NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127062738

“Thousands of Americans purchase their groceries from supermarkets, fully aware that their groceries have probably been imported from halfway around the world. But what few realize is that meats, cheese, fruits and vegetables from local sources are not only fresher, but they’re often also cheaper and taste better. Sur La Table and Janet Fletcher’s new cookbook celebrates this, and teaches Americans how to cook with more local, fresh ingredients so they can enjoy food that much more.” ––KansasCity.com http://bit.ly/dtYprI

“This newest collection from Sur La Table (The Art and Soul of Baking; Things Cooks Love) is perfect for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscribers and farmers’ market fans looking for ideas on how to use their produce. James Beard Award–winning food writer Fletcher profiles ten American farms with CSA programs. Since the book focuses on fresh, seasonal produce, recipes are organized by primary ingredient rather than course.” ––Library Journal http://bit.ly/cgM5H7

“Best sweets Bon Appétit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful by Barbara Fairchild (Andrews McMeel). Fairchild’s parting gift (though Bon Appétit is moving to New York, she’s staying in L.A) is beautiful, and I’ve only just scratched the surface. If you were stranded on a desert island with one dessert book… you get my drift.”

Contents

Foreword    iv
Introduction    vii

Vegetables  19
Dancing Roots Farm, Troutdale, Oregon   68
Genesis Growers, St. Anne, Illinois   88
Golden Earthworm Organic Farm, Jamesport, New York   94
Red Fire Farm, Granby, Massachusetts   124

Fruit  131
Amy’s Garden, Quinton, Virginia   142
Full Belly Farm, Guinda, California   158
Morning Song Farm, Rainbow, California   178

Poultry, Meat & Eggs  233
DeLaney Community Farm, Aurora, Colorado   235
Green Gate Farms, Austin, Texas   242
Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm, Harris, Minnesota   254

Your Urban Homestead   288
Acknowledgments   294
Recipe Index by Category   295
Main Recipe Index   297

The big green gate is open at Skip Connett and Erin Flynn’s Austin farm, although perhaps you can’t see it. Until Erin finds time to build it, welding the scrap metal she has been slowly amassing, the gate remains just a vision, like so many of the ambitious plans the couple have for Green Gate Farms. “Skip and I talk about our dreams for the farm so often that sometimes we see things that aren’t there yet,” Erin admits.

In the meantime, the farm’s name helps convey their intentions—to operate a sustainable, open-door venture that embraces the community, involving anyone who cares to participate in farm life. Local artists will come here to sketch, Erin imagines. Children will come to study the bugs or learn about seed saving. Austin’s high-tech engineers, who spend their workdays in cubicles, will come to decompress in a rural setting only eight miles east of downtown.

The five acres that the couple leases are remnants of a once-thriving agricultural corridor—a “green gateway” from rural growers to city markets. Their petite farm nourishes about seventy-five local families who participate in its CSA, and many more people who shop at its weekend farm stand.

On a morning in early June, plumes of amaranth, like burgundy feather dusters, dance in the breeze near rows of lemon basil, Hungarian hot wax peppers, and Honey Bear acorn squash. On bushy okra plants, mature pods stand stiffly upright like rockets ready to launch. Eaten raw, they are nutty and sweet, like young green beans, their blossoms enchanting yellow cups with maroon hearts.

But on this steamy June morning, garlic dominates the farm stage. Every gentle wind carries its scent, and the weathered red barn is filled to the rafters with dangling clusters of drying elephant garlic. In the cool of the barn, Rosie, a tubby Hampshire sow, sprawls on a thick pile of matted leaves, breathing rapidly. Eight-year-old Avery kneels down beside her and strokes her as tenderly as a city youngster would pet a cat.

“Their entertainment is nature,” says Erin of her two children, whose playmates include pigs, rare-breed chickens, and goats. The farm also serves as a sort of orphanage for abandoned creatures. “People say, ‘If you don’t take my duck, it’s going to be pâté,’” laughs Erin, who views animals as key to efficient farm management. The chickens fertilize the fields; the pigs grow to market weight on produce unsuitable for sale. And all the animals enhance the experience for the youngsters who visit Green Gate Farms.

At a Glance

Farm motto: “Cultivating healthy food and communities”

Favorite crops: Cherokee Purple tomatoes, Suyo Long cucumbers, Zephyr zucchini

Chief worry: Water. Getting enough and pay-ing for it. Because of the farm’s location, the couple pays city rates for agricultural water.

Peak moment: “When the fields are weeded and the windmill is turning and we can stop and enjoy a fiery sunset,” says Erin.

Handiest farm skill: Repurposing stuff . . . from Goodwill, customers, and friends. “Once you get into that mindset, it becomes a game,” says Erin. “Skip can make a penny scream.”

Inspirations: Author, poet, and farmer Wendell Berry; Virginia farmer Joel Salatin, advocate for pasture-raised meat; organic farmer, author, and CSA pioneer Elizabeth Henderson

Insight: “People have to take their enthusiasm for local food to the next step,” says Erin. “They have to do more than just buy it; they have to become activists.”

Summer lunch on the farm: Just-picked tomatoes, cucumbers, hot peppers, and basil, local goat feta, and a fresh baguette

When summer delivers too many zucchini, many people reach for a zucchini bread recipe. Here’s one with a difference: wisps of grated carrot for color, and nuggets of moist candied ginger for spice. The idea comes from Annie Baker, a respected pastry chef in California’s Napa Valley. Makes two 8-inch loaves

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1⁄2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1⁄2 cup minced candied ginger
3 large eggs
1 cup canola oil
1 3⁄4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely grated carrots
1 cup coarsely grated zucchini

1 Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Coat two 8-inch loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray.

2 In a large bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir in the salt and candied ginger.

3 In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs until light and foamy. Add the oil, sugar, and vanilla, whisking vigorously until the sugar dissolves. Whisk in the carrots and zucchini.

4 Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture all at once and stir with a wooden spoon until blended. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared loaf pans.

5 Bake until the bread is well risen and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert and finish cooling right side up on a cooling rack.

Grilling intensifies the flavor of peaches by caramelizing their natural sugars. Baste the peaches with butter, honey, and bourbon as they grill to give them a sheen. Serve them with juicy pork chops that have been brined to season them all the way through. Serves 4

Ingredients

BRINE
1 1⁄2 quarts water
6 tablespoons kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper
Handful of fresh thyme sprigs
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

4 bone-in pork loin chops, about 3⁄4 inch thick
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons bourbon
2 teaspoons honey
2 large freestone peaches, such as O’Henry or Elberta, halved and pitted

1 Make the brine: In a medium saucepan, combine the water, salt, pepper, thyme, and garlic. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the salt. Set aside until completely cool.

2 Put the pork chops in a nonreactive container that holds them snugly in a single layer. Add the brine, which should cover them. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

3 About 1 hour before cooking, remove the pork chops from the brine and set them on a wire cooling rack at room temperature to dry. Discard the brine. Prepare a moderate charcoal fire for indirect grilling (page 102) or prehat a gas grill to moderate (375˚F), leaving one burner unlit for indirect grilling.

4 In a small saucepan, combine the butter, bourbon, and honey. Cook over moderately low heat, stirring until the butter melts and the honey dissolves. Keep warm.

5 Pat the pork chops with paper towels to remove any remaining surface moisture. Set the chops directly over the coals or flame and brown both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Then transfer to indirect heat, cover the grill, and cook until the pork chops offer some resistance to the touch but are still springy, not firm, about 4 minutes longer. On an instant-read thermometer, the internal temperature should measure about 150˚F for medium.

6 Once the pork chops have been moved to indirect heat, grill the peaches. Brush them all over with the butter-honey mixture and place cut side down directly over the coals or flame. Cook until the peaches are lightly charred, then turn, baste again, and cook just until they are tender and juicy. The pork chops and peaches should be done at roughly the same time, but if not, move whichever is done first to a cooler area of the grill. Serve each pork chop alongside half a grilled peach.