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Food Ventures

Heritage and Heirloom Flavor

By Ann Hattes
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The ingredients list for his Any-Vegetable Salad recipe calls for "12 ounces each of the 6 best-looking vegetables at the market." Because the most reliable way to ensure flavor, he reminds us is to "listen to your tongue; it's smart."

In Heritage (Artisan Books), James Beard Award-winning chef Sean Brock shares both the stories that inform his passion for preserving heritage foods and the recipes in which he reinterprets them for the modern palate. The book is organized by place (the Garden focuses on vegetables; the Yard on poultry; the Creek and the Sea on seafood). Every chapter opens with a profile of a farmer or purveyor who has contributed to his understanding of how to restore the purity and intensity of flavor. Brock encourages us to use excellent, non-local ingredients where it makes sense with his Resource chapter offering advice on where to procure them. For one's own region's culinary treasures, the ingredients list for his Any-Vegetable Salad recipe calls for "12 ounces each of the 6 best-looking vegetables at the market." Because the most reliable way to ensure flavor, he reminds us is to "listen to your tongue; it's smart."

He also advises: "Cook with soul, but first, get to know your soul,” and" "Cook as if you were cooking for your grandmother. If your grandmother is still alive, cook with her as much as possible, and write everything down." Also, "Buy the best you can afford," and "Do as little as possible to an ingredient when it's perfect and at its peak."

Heirloom Flavor: Yesterday's Best-tasting Vegetables, Fruits and Herbs for Today's Cook (Cool Springs Press) introduces the rich flavors of long-forgotten heirloom varieties. Author Doreen Howard is one of the nation's leading experts in heirloom varieties. She knows the intense nuances of flavoring that have "flown the coop" from the American food experience. In this book she offers heirloom-specific recipes, concise growing tips, and doses of heirloom history.

Howard lists 5 heirlooms that everyone should taste in a lifetime:

  • All Blue potato, nutty and moist, excellent in salads and roasted.
  • Klari Baby Cheese sweet pepper, cheese type pepper, sweet and crunchy right off the bush.
  • Vietnamese Mint to add to hot or cold tea, lemonade or seltzer, and to Thai cuisine.
  • Pineapple tomato, a huge beefsteak with big tomato perfume, favorite for BLTs.
  • Ashmead's Kernel apple with its strong, sugary-sharp cider taste with undertones of spice and honey.

 

Pasta with Radishes and Pine Nuts

(Courtesy of Heirloom Flavor, Cool Springs Press). Makes 6 servings.

 

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

25 - 30 radishes, trimmed, sliced thinly

1 garlic clove, minced

½ cup pine nuts, toasted

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

12 ounces penne pasta, cooked according to package directions, drained, 2 tablespoons of cooking water reserved

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus additional for serving

½ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

 

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute‚ until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the radishes and cook about 2 minutes longer. Add the garlic and pine nuts and cook about 1-2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, and season with the salt and pepper. Combine the pasta, the reserved cooking water, and the radish mixture in a serving bowl, add the Parmesan cheese and parsley, and toss lightly. Serve with extra Parmesan cheese, if desired.


 

Yellow Squash with Hazelnuts and Pecorino Cheese

(Courtesy of Heirloom Flavor, Cool Springs Press). Makes 4 servings.

 

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

3 medium yellow squash, cut into 3-inch wedges

½ cup raw blanched hazelnuts or natural almonds

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons fresh marjoram or oregano leaves

½ ounce pecorino cheese, shaved

 

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the squash and nuts and cook, stirring frequently, until the squash is tender but not soft and the hazelnuts are toasted, about 7 minutes. Add the lemon juice and marjoram or oregano and toss to combine. Transfer to a platter and top with the pecorino cheese.


 

Carrots Braised and Glazed in Carrot Juice

(Courtesy of Heritage, Artisan Books). Serves 6.

 

42 baby carrots with tops

Juice of 1 orange

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon chopped tarragon

1 tablespoon chopped chervil

Equipment: Juice extractor

 

Remove the tops from the carrots. Pick the 24 nicest-looking tops and reserve in ice water to use as garnish.

Peel and rinse the carrots. Run 12 of the carrots through a juice extractor. Remove the pulp and run it through the extractor 3 or 4 more times to extract all the juice.

Place the remaining carrots, the orange juice, and carrot juice in a large saucepan set over medium-high heat, cover, bring to a simmer, and cook until the carrots are fork-tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Increase the heat to high to begin reducing the liquid. When the liquid is reduced to a glaze, after about 3 minutes, remove from the stove, add the butter, and stir to emulsify it with the reduced juices. Add the chopped herbs and stir to coat the carrots.

To complete: Divide the carrots among six warm plates. Drizzle with the remaining glaze and garnish each plate with 4 carrot tops.

 

Ann Hattes has over 25 years experience writing about both travel and food for publications both in the US and internationally. A senior living in Wisconsin, she’s a member of the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Association and the Midwest Travel Writers Association.

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