By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine
Photographs © Gregor Torrence
In autumn, every food gardener, CSA subscriber, and farmers-market shopper faces the same dilemma: more root crops than they know what to do with. How do you prepare all those earthy-looking potatoes, celeriac roots, crispy carrots, and frost-sweetened parsnips?
Portland chef Ivy Manning knows—wrote a book about it, in fact. Called The Farm to Table Cookbook (Sasquatch Books, Seattle, 2008; $29.95), its recipes take you through the harvest year, making the most of everything from the first greens of spring to the last persimmons of autumn. By organizing recipes seasonally, Manning writes that she can “help you get a feel for an intuitive way of cooking that uses ingredients when they’re at their peak.” And that’s exactly the right starting point for anybody who wants to relearn the pleasures (and good sense) of using local, seasonal, vine-ripened produce.
More than just a compendium of recipes, all beautifully photographed by her husband Gregor Torrence, The Farm to Table Cookbook has how-to-choose-it sidebars, backgrounders on major ingredients (I love the pear and tomato primers), and meet-the-producer sections that introduce you to some of the growers responsible for local bounty.
Most of the recipes are Manning's, but she's also included some from several renowned Northwest chefs, from Maria Hines at Tilth in Seattle, to Fearn Smith at The Farm Café in Portland.
Ivy (her photograph here is © John Valls, 2009) is a food writer, chef, cooking instructor, and omnivore married to a vegetarian. This combination definitely informs Ivy's blog, and inspired Manning's next book, just published, called The Adaptable Feast (Sasquatch Books, Seattle, 2009; $23.95). It's filled with flexible recipes, each of which is adjusted during preparation so that part will delight a vegetarian or vegan, and part will appeal to an omnivore. The book guides you in preparation of full-on meals, quick fixes, cocktail snacks, and advice on how to maintain a mixed pantry and handle the ethical intricacies of food preparation.
