Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Photo: Simon Wheeler

Homesteading advocate, prolific author, and British television star Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall knows that few of his many dedicated fans would expect him to get excited about eggplant. Or about bean and spelt soup, kale and onion pizza, stir-fried sesame cauliflower, or potato-and-tomato kebabs, to name just a few of the recipes in his eighth and latest book, River Cottage Veg: 200 Inspired Vegetable Recipes. After all, Fearnley-Whittingstall, who made his name with the River Cottage series of down-to-earth, dirt-on-your-wellies guides to the homegrown good life, is best known for his unabashed nose-to-tail love of meat and fish, coupled with an outspoken dedication to humane, sustainable ranching and animal husbandry. The River Cottage Meat Book and its companion, The River Cottage Fish Book, are must-have how-tos for every hands-on ethical omnivore from Notting Hill to Bernal Heights.

But on a recent visit to San Francisco, Fearnley-Whittingstall acknowledged the difference that climate change and the world’s unbridled appetite for animal protein has made in his outlook. Addressing a standing-room-only crowd at Omnivore Books in Noe Valley, the scarf-wearing author, while still a confirmed omnivore, encouraged all of us to start eating our fruit and veg “with gay abandon.” Doing this book, he told the crowd, was “really a life-changing experience, and now, as a cook, I’m in a different place than I was before I did this. The transformation for me was just, you have to put meat and fish on one side, for a bit…and give some full attention to the veg. And then we will realize that all the things that we do in reverence to meat and fish–the spices we use, the herbs, the techniques of cooking that we bring to these ingredients–we can do all that with veg, and when we do, we have an even richer palette to play with.”

So we can roast veg, we can barbecue it, we can grill it, we can deep-fry it, and of course we can eat it raw, but that doesn’t mean only one way. We can slice it very very thinly and muddle it up with other ingredients, we can mix the raw and the cooked, we can mix the roots and the leaves, we can sprinkle over the top spices whole and toasted. And then we can really start to play with this extraordinary range of ingredients.

So, even if you came here this evening hoping to talk about pork bellies and roasted bones and smoked fish of one kind or another: Hey, I love those conversations! Let’s have them, let’s do that. But please also have a think about what is actually a major issue. I don’t want to be preachy about it; what I want to do is just tempt you, and tell you that vegetables are delicious and here are some lovely recipes and I hope you enjoy them.”

This isn’t quite 24/7 vegetarian food; many of the dishes, especially the pastas, salads, and soups, are light and simple, the food of someone taking a break from heavier meat-based dishes. Sometimes, taking out the meat allows for creative revitalization of comfort food standards, as in the Vegeree, a veggized version of the Anglo-Indian breakfast dish kedgeree, in which curried roasted eggplant and zucchini replace the typical smoked haddock to make an entirely new and appetite-whetting dish. Some dishes, though, just feel reduced, like the Fish-free Salade Nicoise, which sorely misses its tuna; without it, this toss of lettuce, green beans, potatoes, and too many wedges of egg evokes no sweltering afternoon in Provence.

But for the omnivores on your list looking to eat more veg, or expand their repertoire of intriguing, appetite-whetting vegetable sides or Meatless Monday offerings, River Cottage Veg should do the trick. It’s hard not to love a book with a recipe for DIY Pot Noodles, made healthy with quick-cooking egg noodles, lots of shredded fresh vegetables and a hot-water broth seasoned with soy sauce, lime juice, curry powder, garlic and ginger instead of the desiccated carrot cubes, MSG, salt, and sugar of your typical office-lunch Cup o’ Noodles. True to his word, Fearley-Whittingstall isn’t afraid to give his vegetables the same reverence–and big-flavor treatments and techniques–as his meats and fish. Plus, who wouldn’t park themselves next to the appetizer table when it’s loaded with Beet and Walnut Hummus, Carrot Hummus, and a ridiculously delicious-sounding (and mostly pantry-based) mixture called Cambodian Wedding Dip? Made from sauteed mushrooms, chiles, garlic, curry powder, peanut butter, and coconut milk, it should replace the plastic tubs of Trader Joe’s anything at every barbecue you go to this summer. And watch out: those Spicy Merguez Oven Fries with Yogurt Dip will knock even the best potato chips into the shade.

Recipe: River Cottage Summer Garden Soup
We often prepare this recipe to showcase some of our early summer produce from the River Cottage garden. You may not have access to the same range of just-picked veg, but gather some good, fresh stuff from a farm stand, farmers’ market, or greengrocer, and you will get a similar result. Vary the veg according to what is available. Just chop it all into small, similar-sized pieces and “build” the soup, cooking the harder, denser vegetables for slightly longer, and you’ll end up with a vibrant, fresh-tasting bowlful.

Reprinted with permission from River Cottage Veg by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, copyright © 2011. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc. Photography © 2011 by Simon Wheeler.

River Cottage Summer Garden Soup. Photo: Simon Wheeler

Serves 6

Ingredients:
2 small fennel bulbs, trimmed (any feathery fronds chopped and reserved)
2 celery stalks
A small bunch of green onions, trimmed
About 1 pound / 500g small zucchini
A bunch of ruby or rainbow Swiss chard
2 tablespoons / 30g butter
1 tablespoon canola or olive oil
1 quart / liter vegetable stock
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 to 5 ounces / 100 to 150g fresh shelled peas
3 to 5 ounces / 100 to 150g fresh shelled fava beans, blanched and peeled if large
2 small lettuces, such as Little Gem, shredded
2 tablespoons finely chopped mixed herbs, such as mint, lemon balm, parsley, basil, fennel fronds, and/or chives
A few fresh pea shoots (optional)

Instructions:
1. Chop the fennel, celery, green onions, and zucchini into small dice, keeping them separate. Tear the leaves from the chard stalks and shred them; cut the stalks into small pieces.
2. Heat a saucepan over medium heat and add the butter and oil. Add the fennel, celery, green onions, and chard stalks and cook gently for about 10 minutes, until soft but not colored. Add the stock and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Make sure your broth is simmering well and add the zucchini. Once returned to a simmer, cook for 1 minute, then add the peas and fava beans. Simmer for another 2 minutes. Check that the peas and beans are just tender, then add the lettuce and the shredded chard leaves. Simmer for another minute.
4. Add the chopped herbs along with any feathery fennel fronds and, if you have them, the pea shoots, then immediately remove from the heat. Check the seasoning, then ladle into warmed bowls and serve.

Yigit Pura of Tout Sweet Patisserie doing a cooking demonstration at the Sunset's Celebration Weekend

Rolling through Redwood City on a slow-crawling weekend Caltrain, you can’t help but notice the archway proclaiming “Climate Best by Government Test,” a slogan dating back to the 1920s, when the U.S. government determined that the Peninsula was at the epicenter of one of the world’s three best year-round climates. While San Francisco is shuddering in fog, the suburban towns strung along the southern end of San Francisco Bay–shielded from the marine chill by the high-shrugged spine of the Santa Cruz mountains–bask in humidity-free sunshine, day after day. So it seems only fitting that Sunset would have built its “Laboratory for Western Living” in Menlo Park, its climate just as perfect as its bragging neighbor just a few whistle-stops to the north.

Sunset’s spacious ranch-style digs–and its extensive surrounding gardens–really are a laboratory, where everything gets field-tested: new tomato varieties, outdoor kitchen designs, tasty taco recipes, and a whole lot of cacti and lavender. Plants are planted to see how they fare in a prototypical (if ideal) Western climate; garden layouts are arranged; and the test kitchen is always cooking. While the campus looks like more like a spa-hotel than an office, it’s a workplace nonetheless, and the public gets to wander in and around it only once a year, during its annual Sunset’s Celebration Weekend, held this year on June 1-2. It’s a two-day festival of cooking, gardening, and outdoor living demonstrations, with seminars and tastings of local wines and beers, tours of the test kitchen, brand promotions, talks with travel writers and professionals, and lots of how-to by local chefs and TV cooking-show celebrities, along with cookbook authors and Sunset editors.

Lea & Perrins offers Bloody Mary shots made with its Worcestershire sauce

And since you can’t talk about food all day long without wanting to eat some, and this being the Bay Area in 2013, much of the food for sale came from a long double row of Off the Grid trucks, with many popular local mobile (and sit-down) eateries representing.

John Fink and The Whole Beast

John Fink of The Whole Beast was on hand, selling massive, fabulous-looking barbecued ribs, potato salad and slaw, while the staff of Marianne Despres’s El Sur dished out empanadas from her signature Citroen van.

El Sur Food Truck

After Nopalito ran out of gorditas and chips, they turned into a popsicle stand, selling strawberry, lime sherbet, and dark chocolate-cinnamon pops, while the roving bartenders at Rye on the Road stirred up some cooling Pimm’s Cups. Despres, who grew up in Menlo Park, was particularly excited to be on the roster of chef-demonstrators in the outdoor kitchen, showing off the technique behind her popular Parisien empanada, made with proscuitto, ham, scallions, and a mixture of cheeses.

The menu at Nopalito’s booth

But back to that test kitchen: As a city renter who’s written four cookbooks plus countless food columns, I’ve gotten used to doing my recipe development and testing in studio-apartment kitchens the size of a tissue box–or in shared kitchens already crammed full of other people’s cereal boxes and leftover pad Thai. And while my experiences may be more scrappy than most, your typical cookbook author can only dream of having have a workspace like the Sunset test kitchen. This is no industrial, fluorescent-lit restaurant kitchen, all roaring burners, stainless-steel tables and cavernous sinks; instead, with its wood-paneled cabinets and comfortable counters, it’s most like an extremely well-organized and well-stocked home kitchen, if your kitchen at home was twice the size of your living room.

(It’s an interesting open secret in the industry that magazine recipes–at least at the handful of magazines that still maintain in-house, professionally staffed test kitchens, as Sunset does–are often much more rigorously tested than recipes published in cookbooks. For books, the author assumes the responsibility of recipe-testing. Maybe they’re incredibly diligent about it; maybe they’re not. An equally diligent editor (or editorial assistant) might spot-test a handful of recipes, but certainly no one at a publishing house is being paid to cook every recipe in an entire book, as they are at a food-focused magazine.)

While Sunset spends at least as many of its pages devoted to travel, home design, and gardening as it does to food, the recipes and entertaining spreads are a crucial part of its appeal. In our local edition, the recipes invariably capture our particular kind of breeziness at the table (or at least the no-fuss, casually elegant breeziness to which we’ve learned to aspire). On Sunday, I caught Yigit Pura, of San Francisco’s Tout Sweet Patisserie, schooling a rapt audience in the ways of a Thai food-inspired coconut tapioca pudding.

Yigit Pura of Tout Sweet Patisserie doing a cooking demonstration at the Sunset's Celebration Weekend

Running a bakery, Pura tells us, means he works 16 hour days and never cooks real food. When he’s not eating sweets, he lives on takeout from the Thai Food Express near his apartment. The citrusy bite of crushed lemongrass, coconut, and fresh kaffir lime leaves (used like “the Asian version of bay leaf”) in a recent order of tom kha gai soup found their way, via a gentle infusion in warmed milk, into the dessert course. As he made the pudding, he interspersed his snappy patter with useful hints: infusions should always be covered while steeping, to prevent the flavor-packed essential oils from evaporating; things like tea, coffee, and citrus rinds shouldn’t stay in an infusion for more than 7 or 8 minutes, lest they reveal their overly tannic, astringent qualities; smashing lemongrass with a mallet is the best way to release the juices and fragrant oils (not to mention tension); and it’s stupid to buy spices in a supermarket (the massive Safeway branding on display at the event notwithstanding) when you can get better, fresher, and much cheaper spices in bulk at places like Rainbow Grocery and the San Francisco Herb Co.

Most important, he stressed, was soaking your tapioca pearls in very cold water overnight, and gently stirring them throughout the cooking process, all to avoid their clinging together into gummy sludge, something that’s definitely “not sexy!”, his biggest put-down for bad desserts (or bad behavior). The Turkish-born Pura, who calls Hawaii his most favorite place on the planet (his dog is named Maui), suggests topping the finished coconut pudding (well, almost finished–just as he started to spoon it into the tall glass display dish, he realized he’d left out the sugar–”Awkward!”) with a mixture of diced mango, papaya and roasted coconut shards. Cool, sweet, easy, with a hint of down-home nostalgia dressed with contemporary Pacific Rim touches–it’s a perfect dish for Sunset-style summer living here in California.

Coconut Tapioca Pudding with Papaya and Mango
Recipe courtesy of Yigit Pura. Used by permission.

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup tapioca pearls
• 2 1/2 cups plus 1/2 cup milk
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• Fresh ginger root, about a 3-inch piece
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• One 14-ounce can coconut milk
Fruit For Garnish:
• 1/8 cup ripe mango cubes
• 1/8 cup ripe papaya cubes
• Toasted large-flaked coconut

Preparation:
1. Cover small tapioca pearls with 4 cups cold water and soak overnight. Don’t stir or disturb.
2. Bring the 2 1/2 cups milk to a boil. Meanwhile, scrape the vanilla seeds from the pod. Crush the lemongrass stalk to release the natural flavors. Peel the fresh ginger and cut into 2 tablespoons of rings. Place all of this into the hot milk and leave covered for half hour to steep, off the heat.
3. Strain the milk infusion, discarding solids, and add the remaining 1/2 cup of milk. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil.
4. Strain the tapioca pearls, discarding water. Gently place pearls into the hot milk. Gently stir with a rubber spatula and cook on medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid lumps. The tapioca is cooked once it looks translucent.
5. Gently warm up the coconut milk separately and stir in at the end of cooking. Transfer to a container, place plastic on the top to prevent a skin forming and refrigerate until cool, ideally overnight.
6. Once the pudding is cooled it will naturally set, thanks to the tapioca starch. Spoon into serving bowls and garnish with the fruits and the toasted coconut.

However, there are a LOT of cheeses out there and to address that issue there are plenty of books to help you gain a better understanding of them. Below are a few good places to start when it comes to getting your learn on.

The most innovative cheese catalogue you’ve ever read.

Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese: A Guide to Wedges, Recipes, and Pairings

You may know Tenaya Darlington from her blog, Madame Fromage, where she looks at all things cheese. Darlington’s secret identity is that of a writing professor at Saint Joseph’s University and seasoned journalist. This highly literate skill set is demonstrated through Darlington’s eloquent and quirky descriptions of cheese that are as endearing as they are apropos.

Take Harbison, for example. It’s a cow’s milk cheese from Vermont made in a Brie-style and wrapped in tree bark. It’s extremely gooey inside and tastes like butter, vanilla, and perhaps a bit of pine. Darlington describe this cheese’s personality as, “A sexy librarian’s cheese — all horns rims and whispers.” Spanish Leonora, a fine goat cheese with a citrus tang, is considered as, “A head-turning blonde on a lemon cake bender.”

Imaginative to say the least, but she goes on to describe the history, culture, and flavor profiles of the cheeses with surprising breadth in brevity. She then offers various matches for a possible cheese plate that go far beyond jam and nuts to options like kiwis, boiled potatoes and cumin seeds, and biscotti.

The book is peppered with clever and engaging recipes that are easy to put together. Some recipes utilize the cheeses in the book such as the Swiss Fondue and the Grilled Peaches with Quadrello Di Bufala. Others are designed to be paired with cheeses like the sweet and sour rhubarb refrigerator jam. (Can I get a, “Hell, yes!” up in here?)

Each entry is wrapped up with various wine, beer, and spirit pairings that you should truly take to heart. They’re rather clever and sometimes unexpected, which leads to rather jaunty discoveries you’ll be eager to share with friends.

The book was written in tandem with the historical and celebrated Di Bruno Brothers, whose cheese selection is both glorious and varied.

Get in the kitchen and start cooking your cheese!

The Cheesemonger’s Kitchen: Celebrating Cheese in 90 Recipes

Chester Hastings’ book came out a year or two ago amid little fanfare or notice, which makes me sad. For any cheese enthusiast this book is a must have. Forget fondue and grilled cheese (though, fear not, there is an excellent Castelmagno and Hazelnut Fondue that doesn’t so much taste like sex, but tastes like great sex where you and your partner both orgasm simultaneously).

This book isn’t too in-depth with the cheese education, a few history or tasting lessons here and there but don’t expect a lot of help with your thesis. Instead, Hasting urges you to go out and topple the pillar that cheese so vaingloriously sits on as instructed by hardcore cheese purists. Cheese — great, artisanal cheese — can and should be used in the kitchen.

Recipes such as zucchini with goat Gouda fritters, golden eggplant with creamy feta and croutons, and lasagna with asparagus and burrata are just some of the awe-inspiring dishes that grace the pages. Salads, fruit, meat, fish, and dessert are all given a fair address in the pages to ensure you do not leave wanting.

Joseph De Leo provides the photography in the book. The images are macro and moody, and tell a country tale of cheeses and dinners both crafted with care. It makes for a rather romantic tale.

Michael Pollan. Photo: Alia Malley/michaelpollan.com

Listen to the Story from KQED’s Forum:
Original Broadcast: Thursday, May 16, 2013 — 10:00 AM

Host: Michael Krasny

Guest:

• Michael Pollan, professor of journalism at UC Berkeley and author of “Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation”

More info:

• MichaelPollan.com
• Some of My Best Friends Are Germs : NYTimes.com
• Fire, Water, Air, Earth: Michael Pollan Gets Elemental In ‘Cooked’ : NPRFood via BAB
• ‘Cooked’ by Michael Pollan : BostonGlobe.com
• Senate Agriculture Panel Approves Farm Bill : TheHill.com

Excerpted from COOKED by Michael Pollan. Reprinted by arrangement with The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Michael Pollan, 2013.

Vegetables. Photo: Getty Images

Six years ago, Mark Bittman was a full-time omnivore. But then a doctor told him to turn vegan for health reasons, and suddenly Mark found himself facing a world void of meat, dairy, or processed foods. So the New York Times food writer decided to personalize his vegan diet and allow for some cheating. He called it “Vegan Before 6,” or “VB6,” and says it helped him improve his health and focus on cooking at home. Mark Bittman talks about his new book, and how a full-time meat lover adapted to part-time veganism.

Host: Michael Krasny

Guest:

• Mark Bittman, food writer, columnist for The New York Times, and author of books including “VB6: Eating Vegan Before 6,” “Food Matters” and “How to Cook Everything.”

More info:
• Next Meal: Engineering Food : A half-hour documentary from KQED Science
• VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good : amazon.com

Caitlin Freeman. Photo: Charles Villyard

Andy Warhol as Jell-O, Jeff Koons as a gilded white hot chocolate, and Cindy Sherman as a pink ice cream float dusted with glitter are just a few of the edible art concepts cooked up by Caitlin Freeman, an artist who creates confections and fancy snacks based on special exhibitions at SFMOMA. Her new book, “Modern Art Desserts,” details recipes and stories from her self-made dream job: responding to art through food.

Freeman co-owned Miette pastry shops before opening the Blue Bottle Coffee bar at SFMOMA’s rooftop garden with her husband James. From Miette, she brought along artist and pastry chef Leah Rosenberg, and assistant Tess Wilson. The team’s desserts are innovative, creative and sometimes controversial. A cookie plate inspired by Richard Serra’s massive steel sculptures is likely the first dessert to have ever received a cease and desist letter.

Click on any photo to view full-sized images and activate the slideshow

Freeman credits painter Wayne Thiebaud with inspiring her to become a baker, and says the book is a love letter to him. Her favorite cakes to bake are buttercream party cakes, and that’s exactly what Thiebaud is known for painting. The two cake-loving artists haven’t met yet, but Freeman throws a birthday party for him every year at the cafe. Besides her most popular cakes modeled after works by Thiebaud and Piet Mondrian, 70 modern art desserts have been created over the past four years. Textile artist Ruth Laskey’s two-color weavings became conceptual sodas where flavors were assigned to each color, creating combinations like lemon soda with bay ice cubes, and bubblegum soda (made from Dubble Bubble gum concentrate) with violet ice cubes. Freeman was interested in the overlap between colors and flavors, a concept that went through some trial and error when she focused on Andy Warhol’s self portrait in green, blue, red, and yellow. She tried to make a Bloody Mary gelée and explains, “I didn’t want to use food coloring but I figured we could use blue curacao. We made Campbell’s tomato soup Jell-O, celery, horseradish and Worcester Jell-O, and it was revolting. It shouldn’t be a surprise, but that was the one recipe that didn’t really work out.” Her aversion to food coloring had to be overcome for her Mondrian cake, a chocolate ganache grid with primary-colored cake blocks, but she’s not the only one who is wary of unnatural-looking cake dye. She says, “People easily gobble up the yellow and red, but often they’ll leave the blue square on the plate.”

Dessert is based on Garry Winogrand’s “Kerrville, Texas” (1977). Photo: Willa Koerner.

Freeman’s latest concoction, inspired by a Gary Winogrand photograph, is an ambitious multimedia project. As she describes it, “The piece we chose is these two people dancing on a platform that looks just like an ice cream cake. So we’re making this ridiculous multimedia cake that involves Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” playing from an MP3 player inside the plate, which happened to be the number seventeen song the year the photo was taken, and looks exactly like the song they would’ve been dancing to. We’ll have two images laser-cut as cake toppers that will be dancing on the cake.” The desserts are often conceptual, and sometimes literal, like the Jasper Johns-inspired grilled cheese that looks like his piece, Bread. As Freeman describes the project, “The piece is a lead panel with a piece of bread on it, so we made a grilled cheese and served it on a to-scale board painted to look like lead. It was a giant, oversized board people would have to carry back to their table.” She likes that her creations can help make the art more accessible, and says that when she walks into a gallery of California painters, “especially Diebenkorn and Thiebaud,” she often wants to take the paintings home, and says:

“Making desserts is my way of owning something, of really pretending that I’m stealing it, and making it my own.”

“Modern Art Desserts” was released this month by Ten Speed Press. Freeman’s Mondrian cakes will soon be available for purchase online (available for delivery, packed in dry ice). Keep up with her projects at modernartdesserts.com.

Photos of desserts reprinted with permission from Modern Art Desserts: Recipes for Cakes, Cookies, Confections, and Frozen Treats Based on Iconic Works of Art, by Caitlin Freeman, copyright (c) 2013. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc. Photo credit: Clay McLachlan (c) 2013

Post by NPR Staff, NPR Books – Author Interviews (4/21/13)

Listen to the Story on Weekend Edition Sunday

In his systematic scrutiny of the modern American food chain, Michael Pollan has explored everything from the evolution of edible plants to the industrial agricultural complex. In his newest book, he charts territory closer to home — or rather, at home, in his kitchen.

Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation surveys how the four classical elements — fire, water, air and earth — transform plants and animals into food. Pollan joins NPR’s Rachel Martin to discuss the merits of slow home cooking and his adventures in fermentation.

Interview Highlights

Michael Pollan is the author of five books, including The Botany of Desire, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. A longtime contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, Pollan is also the Knight Professor of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.
Photo: Fran Collin/Penguin Press

On the central transformations in cooking

“I discovered that there are four central transformations that all cooking can be divided into. One is fire, the most elemental; the other is water, cooking in pots; then you’ve got air, which is baking, and other ways we aerate our food — very significant; and then there’s earth, and earth is really fermentation, because it’s cooking without the use of heat and strictly with microbes, many of which come from the earth. And I basically apprenticed myself to a master in each of those transformations.”

On how cooking left the kitchen

“We kind of assume that women went back to work and there was no time to make a family meal. But it isn’t that simple and it’s a lot more interesting. The corporations were knocking on that door for almost 100 years. And after World War II, when they had invented all these technologies for processing food and making it shelf stable and simulating real foods with fake foods, they really pushed. And they found their opportunity with the feminist revolution beginning in the ’70s. There was this really uncomfortable conversation taking place at kitchen tables all across America. Men and women were trying to renegotiate the division of labor in the household. And then the food industry recognized they had an opportunity. And they said ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ve got you covered. We’ll do the cooking.’ And KFC even took out a billboard with a big bucket of fried chicken and the slogan, ‘Women’s Liberation.’

“So I really think we need to go back and finish that difficult conversation. And I’ve had it, you know, with my wife, over who does what in the house, and bring men back into the kitchen. And children, which I think is really, really important … I think the most important thing we can teach our kids for their long-term health and happiness is how to cook.”

On the fallacy of convenience

“Some of the foods that hold themselves out to you as supremely convenient, like those microwaveable single-portion entrees in the supermarket? I did an experiment with those. We had what we called ‘Microwave Night,’ where we all got to buy one of those, you know, fast-food-in-a-frozen-bag things that they now have in the supermarket. And guess what? It took 40 minutes to get that meal on the table. Because the microwave is individualistic. You can only microwave one person’s entrée at a time. And you’re not sharing. And there’s something magical that happens when people eat from the same pot. The family meal is really the nursery of democracy. It’s where we learn to share, it’s where we learn to argue without offending. It’s just too critical to let go, as we’ve been so blithely doing.”

On bonding with your kids over cooking

“[My teenage son] loved doing his homework at the island in the middle of the kitchen. And he would work while I was cooking, and he took in the smells, and he’d come over every now and then and taste what was in the pot and offer some unsolicited seasoning advice … And the best time to connect with a teenager is when other things are going on, when you’re not trying to have a face-to-face, when you’re not making eye contact, basically. And so while he was doing homework and I was cooking, we had some of our sweetest times together. And then of course there was the meal.”

On the resurgence and process of fermentation

“Fermentation is hot. Who would’ve thought that kimchi and sauerkraut would be trendy? [Fermentation] is essentially rot that we’re kind of guiding. We can’t totally control it, but we can guide it. And this, I found, was the most fascinating work I did. I mean, here you cut up a cabbage, and you salt it, and you just, you know, bruise it with your hands and you put it in a crock. And then it automatically cooks. There are already just the right bacteria living on the leaves of those cabbages, that they will, without any heat, transform that food into something more flavorful, more nutritious, more beautiful in every way.”

On an unexpected ‘transformation’

“I definitely spend more time cooking. I just make time for it. You know, we live in a very mediated life right now. We spend our lives in front of screens, and cooking is one of the best antidotes. And it’s a democratic pleasure — all of us can do it … This is a book about transformations, and I thought it was all about transformations of nature, but in the end it became a transformation of me, too.”

Copyright 2013 NPR.

Matt Lee (left) and Ted Lee (right) grew up in Charleston, S.C. After leaving the South as young adults, they founded a mail-order food company, The Lee Bros. Boiled Peanut Catalogue. They have written two previous cookbooks of Southern cuisine. Photo: Squire Fox/Clarkson Potter

Listen to the Story on All Things Considered

Post by NPR Staff, NPR Food (4/18/13)

A new cookbook by the Lee brothers just might inspire daydreams of a food-centric vacation to South Carolina. It’s called The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen, and in it, Matt and Ted Lee feature recipes and stories from the Southern port city they grew up in. The brothers joined NPR’s Melissa Block to talk about Charleston’s distinctive food culture, starting with the dishes that they’d put on a typical Charleston menu.

“I would start with kumquat sparklers, with the flavor of backyard kumquats, which are like tangerines,” Matt says. “Also, classic Charleston cheese biscuits with a single pecan pressed into it, and savory benne wafers — sesame seed wafers.”

For the second course, Ted says, “we’d do a she-crab soup, and then we’d do a shrimp and grits,” he says. “For vegetables, I think this is the perfect time to do chainey briar; it’s growing really well out on Sullivan’s Island. We’d do some Grilled Chainey Briar.”

“Chainey briar is a native weed or vine,” Ted explains. “It’s Smilax botanically. It’s something that grows on fence lines, it grows on sand dunes at the beaches and it has, in the spring right about now, a tender tip, a shoot that is delicious.”

It looks, quite frankly, like a weed, and might be a bit of an acquired taste — but the brothers say it’s worth acquiring. “It’s pretty rangy, and that’s the appeal, in terms of flavor,” Matt says. It tastes like asparagus but with this extra sort of reckless green thing. Sometimes we describe it as tasting like asparagus with olive oil already on it.”

For dessert, the brothers would serve Huguenot Torte, an iconic Charleston dish. “Hugeonot torte has this nice meringue-like crisp top, but then a sludgy caramel and apple and pecan bottom to it,” Matt says. “It’s got flour but tons of leavening — so it just puffs up in the oven, then collapses and creates this very interesting and uniquely Charleston dessert.”

Southern Food With Less Pork And More Loquats

The Lee brothers, who were born in New York but grew up in Charleston, have written two previous cookbooks highlighting Southern cuisine. This is their first to focus just on the city of their youth, and their choice is more than just hometown favoritism: Charleston’s culinary tradition is unusual, with dishes and traditions you won’t find in other parts of the South.

“It’s naturally about the seafood and also about the poultry,” Matt explains. “The much-heralded, like, ‘porkopolis’ of the South doesn’t really exist so much in Charleston, because it was never a place to raise cattle or pigs, being so marshy.”

It’s not just the meat that makes Charleston stand out; there’s also a rich variety of local produce. “I think another thing that visitors to Charleston are surprised by is just how close the farms are — the rural part of Charleston — to the city,” Ted says.

You might not even need to find a farmer to get fresh food. “Even downtown — we grew up downtown in the historic district — we’re surrounded by fruits of all kinds, like kumquats, loquats, mulberries, figs, pomegranates, bananas, citrus,” Ted says. “They all grow downtown, and you grow up sort of knowing where the trees are and which ones taste best.”

Call it “foraging” or call it “stealing,” snagging fruit off someone else’s tree is certainly possible in Charleston. “There are a lot of secrets in back alleys in Charleston that yield great fruits and herbs.” The trick to harvesting that bounty without ruining your neighborly relations? “Be very polite,” Ted says — and, Matt adds, be sure to smile. “That’s awfully disarming,” he says.

Taking Cues From The Past

In addition to highlighting Charleston’s current food culture, Matt and Ted Lee also looked to Charleston’s history to find old recipes that might have been forgotten. Cookbooks from the 19th century were particularly inspiring, Ted says. “They tell a story so diverse and varied about the different types of vegetables that were grown in the low country, some of which are rarely found, like salsify, tania — it’s a root vegetable,” he says. “It’s nice to be able to draw from the past to inform your kitchen in the present.”

One recipe in the new cookbook comes from an even more distant past — a dessert from the 1700s called Syllabub. “Despite the fact that it appears in all the old cookbooks, Matt and I have never been served it — either in a Charleston restaurant or a Charleston home,” Ted says. “So we just tried it ourselves. It’s basically very simple — it’s fortified wine that’s been seasoned with lemon juice and lemon peel, a little bit of sugar, sometimes spices, and whipped with cream until it’s sort of this airy, fluffy, alcoholic whipped cream that goes really well with fruit.”

If you want to follow Matt and Ted and take a stab at Syllabub, a recipe is below, as well as recipes for Huguenot Torte and Grilled Chainey Briar. But be warned: You might need to plan a trip to Charleston to enjoy that chainey briar. You won’t find it in grocery stores or farmers markets, and will have better luck harvesting it yourself. Like fresh kumquats off the tree or oysters from the ocean, it’s a location-bound delicacy. As Matt Lee, who lives in Charleston today, puts it, “it’s just one of those things that you have to live here to really appreciate.”

Recipe: Grilled Chainey Briar

Chainey briar grows wild around Charleston, S.C. Photo: Matt Lee and Ted Lee/Clarkson Potter

Most chainey briar found among the dunes or in metropolitan Charleston are thin, curly tendrils, although our friend Tom, who gentleman-farms on Johns Island, recently introduced us to “bull briar,” the thicker sprouts of mature smilax vines that grow in the forested areas of the sea islands. Bull briar, which truly resembles large asparagus, would seem to represent more vegetable for one’s effort, but it is found so high in the trees that a pole pruner is usually required to harvest it. We’re just as happy to spend the afternoon on a path to the beach, eating every third tendril we pick, until the basket is full.

Chainey briar almost never appears in the farmer’s markets, so you must forage for it yourself (or ingratiate yourself to farmer Sidi Limehouse [see page 94 of The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen], who will occasionally indulge good friends with a basketful). Its flavor is robust enough that it grills well, wilting and charring in places. Dressed with oil and lemon, it makes for an exciting side dish with pre-colonial roots.

1 pound chainey briar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the pan
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1. Thoroughly wash the chainey briar, removing any ants or foreign matter and pinching off the stem ends (which will toughen as they age) so only the tender parts remain. Toss the chainey briar in a large bowl with the olive oil to coat, scatter 1/2 teaspoon salt over the bowl, and toss again.

2. Lightly oil a grill pan, and place it over high heat. When a drop of water sizzles when dropped on the pan, spread the chainey briar in an even layer about 1/2 inch high (you may have to grill multiple batches, depending on the size of your pan). Allow the chainey briar to sizzle and pop for a minute or two, until the tips of some begin to blacken. Use tongs to shuffle the chainey briar on the grill pan and allow them to cook a minute or two more, until almost all the fronds show signs of wilting. Reserve the chainey briar in a large covered bowl as you move on to grill another batch.

3. When all the chainey briar is wilted and charred, dress it with the lemon juice, toss lightly, and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe: Huguenot Torte

Huguenot torte has gooey caramel beneath a crackly top Photo: Squire Fox/Clarkson Potter

Imagine that a blondie and an apple-pecan pie got into a crusty-gooey, sticky-delicious accident in a baking dish, and you’ll approximate the ultra-decadence of this dessert. Until relatively recently, Charlestonians believed that this confection, as the title might suggest, came to Charleston with the French Huguenots, who settled in the city in the eighteenth century, and that it was a rustic cousin of elegant pâtisseries. But in the 1990s, the culinary historian and Lowcountry native John Martin Taylor tracked down the woman to whom the recipe is attributed in Charleston Receipts, and learned that she’d encountered the dish as “Ozark Pudding” while visiting relatives in Arkansas in the 1940s. She had brought the recipe back to Charleston, and put the dessert on the menu of the Huguenot Tavern, where she was a cook.

The fact that this dessert has become as much an icon of Charleston home cooking as Charleston Okra Soup [see page 74 of The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen] and She-Crab Soup [page 77] seems odd — but it’s all part of “Charleston’s food pattern,” as May A. Pyatt wrote in a 1950 review of Charleston Receipts in the News and Courier. Another interesting note: not many Charleston restaurants these days offer the torte — or even variants upon it — but it is almost always offered on menus at the tea rooms [see page 79] that open in the spring throughout the area. You should master it yourself; it’s easy to make and easy to eat, and nice to have in your repertoire.

When we’re serving this dish for guests, we often temper its sweetness by whipping a small amount of buttermilk or sour cream into the whipped cream garnish.

unsalted butter for greasing the dish
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Granny Smith or other tart apple, cored, peeled, and diced (1 cup)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons whole buttermilk or sour cream

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 2-quart baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk until they’re creamy and frothy. Add the sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, apple, pecans, and vanilla, whisking to combine after each addition.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 45 minutes, or until the top of the torte is crusty. Remove the torte from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes.

4. Whip the cream with the buttermilk until stiff peaks form. Cut into individual portions — they will be lumpen and misshapen, with shards of crust and spoonfuls of ooze, but no matter — and serve with dollops of the whipped cream.

Recipe: Syllabub With Rosemary-Glazed Figs

Syllabub is a traditional dessert featuring sherry, cream and sugar. Photo: Squire Fox/Clarkson Potter

Serves: 4
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes, including chilling

Syllabub

1/2 cup Sercial Madeira or Amontillado sherry
Peel of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of kosher salt
1 cup heavy cream, cold

Rosemary-glazed figs

1/2 cup sugar
2 (3-inch) long sprigs rosemary
Pinch of kosher salt
4 ounces fresh figs (about 4 large), stemmed and quartered

1. Make the syllabub: Put all syllabub ingredients except for the cream into a large bowl, and whisk until the sugar has dissolved, about a minute. Let stand in the fridge, about 1 hour.

2. Make the rosemary-glazed figs: Heat the sugar and 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the rosemary and the salt, stir for about 30 seconds to dissolve the salt and bruise the rosemary, and turn off the heat. Cover and let cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.

3. Put the figs in a small bowl, drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons of the rosemary syrup over them, and toss gently to coat. (If the figs are less than ripe, let them stand in the syrup for 30 minutes to sweeten.) Reserve the remaining syrup for another use, such as sweetening lemonade.

4. Remove the lemon peel from the wine mixture. Pour the cream into the wine and whisk by hand until the cream is thick and holds its shape, about 2 minutes. Divide the syllabub among four wine glasses or sundae cups and spoon the rosemary-glazed figs over each serving.

Syllabub with Strawberries and Black Pepper

For a springtime variation on Syllabub with Rosemary-Glazed Figs, make Syllabub with Strawberries and Black Pepper. Simply substitute for the rosemary-glazed figs 4 ounces strawberries that have been quartered and tossed a few times with sugar to taste (a teaspoon or two) until the sugar has dissolved. (Add a few drops water, if needed, to dissolve). Spoon the strawberries over each serving of Syllabub, then grind a bit of black pepper over the top of each and serve.

Recipes from The Lee Bros. Charleston Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee. Copyright 2013 by Matt Lee and Ted Lee. Excerpted by permission of Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House.

More on the Lee Bros.
• Classic Southern Food Gets A Makeover (NPR Food)
• Recipes That Passed a Cookbook Critic’s Test (Kitchen Window, NPR Food)

Copyright 2013 NPR.

Mary Roach. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

How does saliva work? Why doesn’t your stomach digest itself? And did constipation really kill Elvis? In her new book “Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal,” Mary Roach chronicles the surprisingly exciting journey that food undertakes in the human body. Roach joins KQED’s Forum to talk about everything you ever wanted to know — or might be disgusted to know — about the digestive process.

Host: Michael Krasny

Guest:

• Mary Roach, author of “Gulp” and other books including “Stiff,” “Spook,” “Bonk” and “Packing for Mars”

More info:
• About Mary Roach (MaryRoach.net)
• Mary Roach on NPR’s “Fresh Air”

A precociously independent toddler packs a healthy homemade lunch and heads off to snack in Bernal Height’s Holly Park in San Francisco.

This seriously cute video is the promo for author and BAB blogger Kim Laidlaw‘s new book Baby & Toddler On The Go: fresh, homemade foods for a busy life.

The book will be available April 30 and offers up 75 simple-to-prepare and easy-to-transport recipes made with fresh ingredients for the busy 4-month to 3-year-old child.

Kim Laidlaw took some time out to share information about her new book.

The toddler in the video is your daughter. How have you introduced her to your world of cooking and food?
Laidlaw: She has been watching me cook and bake since she was born, and now that she’s a bit older she is starting to “help” me cook and bake, which is a lot of fun. I also take her to the farmers’ market every Saturday morning and we talk about all the seasonal fruits and veggies and we try lots of samples. Oh, and we set up a little play kitchen in the kitchen so we can cook together.

What motivated you to write this book?
Laidlaw: I had just started to feed her solid food when I started writing the book, so I “learned” how to feed her by doing all the research and writing all the recipes for the book. Plus lots and lots of input from my mom and friends.

The book is designed to feed 4-month to 3-year-old children. How did you tailor your recipes nutritionally and tastewise to this age group?
Laidlaw: I did quite a lot of research, and also used the sister book Baby & Toddler Cookbook as my starting point. Then I just tried to get as many age-appropriate veggies, fruits, meats and dairy into the recipes to keep them healthy but friendly.

Author Kim Laidlaw and her daughter

Economically speaking, how do costs compare preparing fresh foods for kids versus buying healthy store bought alternatives?
Laidlaw: Well, I think if you can buy seasonal fruits and veggies you will save a lot of money, and many of the purees and minis can be made in bulk and frozen. Making your own food is definitely cheaper than buying individually-sized pre-packaged foods.

Sometimes kids are picky about eating diverse types of healthy food. What are 3 tips you can share with parents about teaching kids to be food-curious.

Laidlaw:
• Take your kids to the farmers’ market or the grocery store and let them help you pick things out that look good to them.
• Then, let them help you cook so they can see you making the things you picked out together.
• Finally, eat together at the table as much as you can (my daughter always wants to eat what I’m eating).

Take a Sneak Peek and Get Recipes

Disclosure: In addition to Kim Laidlaw being a BAB blogger she and her daughter are personal friends.