Synopses & Reviews
When Ian Knauer was a cook in the
Gourmet test kitchen, he quickly became known for recipes so stupendously good that they turned the heads of the countryand#8217;s top food editorsand#8212;effortless combinations that made the best of seasonal produce or treats from the Pennsylvania farm that has been in his family since the eighteenth century.
In The Farm, Knauer brings his creations to your kitchen. From Cold-Spring-Night Asparagus Soup to Brick Chicken with Corn and Basil Salad, the 150 recipes in this book will help you make the most of your market, garden, or CSA. They are fresh, modern spins on American classics, with ingredients anyone can obtain. Each one is simple, distinctive, and satisfying, getting the best food to the table in the least amount of time. They are both homey and sophisticated.
Youand#8217;ll find recipes that incorporate all parts of the vegetable, like Pasta with Radishes and Blue Cheese, which incorporates the radish leaves as well as the root, and spritely Swiss Chard Salad. Youand#8217;ll learn how to make great food from simple ingredients you have on hand, like Potato Nachos. Youand#8217;ll discover recipes for less-familiar produce from your market or your backyard, such as Chicken with Garlic Scape Pesto and Dandelion Green Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing.
Many of these recipes have been in Knauerand#8217;s family for generations, like Pennsylvania Dutch-Style Green Beans or Cloud Biscuits. You wonand#8217;t want to miss his expertly tweaked renditions of his mother and grandmotherand#8217;s desserts: Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie, Blueberry Belle Crunch, and Maryand#8217;s Lemon Sponge Pie.
Whether you want to learn how to roast a pig, make your own hot sauce, or brew hard cider, The Farm brings artisanal cooking home, even as Knauerand#8217;s vivid stories trace a year in the seasons of the farm.
Synopsis
One hundred and fifty recipes revolving around the author's life onand#160;the family farm.
Synopsis
During the week, Ian Knauer lives the life of an urban freelancer, developing recipes for the Food Network by day and writing articles for magazines like
Bon Appétit and
Men's Health in his small Brooklyn apartment by night
. But on the weekends, he morphs into something very different: an amateur farmer. Whenever he can, Ian returns for inspiration to the rural Pennsylvania farm that his family has owned for generations, where he raises chickens, keeps bees, hunts, gardens extensively, and — most importantly — cooks. The 150 recipes of
The Farm are grounded in the rhythms of the seasons. From Spring Chickens with Potatoes and Spaghetti with Arugula Carbonara, through Pennsylvania Dutch Green Beans and Corn with Chili Butter, to Cowboy Steaks with Guiness Sauce and Crispy Potato Cake with Garlic and Herbs, they are designed to help cooks get the most out of their local gardens and markets. Knauer has also mined (and expertly tweaked) the recipe files of his mother and grandmother, for spectacular classics like Lemon Pudding Cake and Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie. The food of
The Farm is arrestingly simple, highlighting produce at its peak. There are no esoteric ingredients from faraway lands and no wasted steps, just the frank and unadorned cooking of an expert cook — weekend and weekday cooking at their best. With full-color photographs of the food and the farm throughout,
The Farm is tonic to rural and urban cooks alike.
Foreward by Ruth Reichl
Synopsis
During the week, Ian Knauer leads the life of a New York food writer, developing recipes for the Food Network and writing articles for magazines like
Bon Appétit and
Mens Health. But on weekends, he repairs to the farm in rural Pennsylvania that his family has owned for generations, where he tends a huge garden, raises chickens, keeps bees, forages, hunts, and most importantly, creates deliciously easy meals for friends and family from the fruits of his labor.
From Spaghetti with Arugula Carbonara to Chicken with Garlic Scape Pesto, the 150 recipes of The Farm inspire cooks to make the most of their market, garden, or CSA. Knauer is inventive and thrifty, wasting nothing: after spreading radishes with bacon butter for a spring hors doeuvre, he puts the tops in Pasta with Blue Cheese and Radish Greens. In other recipes, he teaches the craft of small-batch canning, from Tomato Jam to Peaches in Honey Syrup. Knauer also expertly tweaks the recipes of his Pennsylvania Dutch mother and grandmother in homey but spectacular-tasting desserts like Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream and Blueberry Belle Crunch.
Whether its Spinach and Walnut Lasagna or Cowboy Steaks with Guinness Sauce, this is weekday and weekend cooking at its best.
Foreward by Ruth Reichl
Synopsis
“When Ian was one of
Gourmet's cooks, he was unique. He’d show up with the honey from his own hives, an animal he’d hunted, some exotic herb he’d foraged in the field and then weave it all into a dish that was both wonderful and completely personal. He was wedded to the land in a way that seemed both deep and nurturing, and I used to sneak into the kitchen to listen to his tales from the farm. A whole book of Ian recipes—and stories to boot? Pure heaven.” —Ruth Reichl
“The Farm perfectly illustrates how cooking from the garden inspires the menu and excites our appetite. Not only will you want to cook these recipes, you’ll want to buy a farm, or at least start a garden!” — Deborah Madison, author of Local Flavors and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
“This guy can really write and he can really cook; he does both well enough to make you want to share it all with him. You need to own this book.” — John Willoughby, America’s Test Kitchen
About the Author
A former food editor at Gourmet, Ian Knauer wrote extensively for the magazine and its website and also co-hosted the magazines awarding winning television series, Diary of a Foodie, and Adventures with Ruth. He now develops recipes for the Food Network, including for the show The Next Food Network Star
Table of Contents
Foreword and#174; Ruth Reichl x
The Recipes by Category xii
Introduction xvii
Spring Planting 1
Recipes for produce peaking from late winter to early spring
A Single Spear of Asparagus 25
Recipes for spring produce
A New Link in the Chain 47
Recipes for early summer produce
and#8220;I Got a Pigand#8221; 69
Recipes for midsummer produce
Eating Between the Rows 88
Recipes for foraged produce
The Unstoppable Bounty of the Garden 105
Recipes for peak summer produce
A Jar Full of Sunshine, a Bottle Full of Sin 137
Recipes for canning, pickling, and preserving
A Cool Change in the Breeze 161
Recipes for late fall produce
Loving, Learning, and a Ton of Hard Work 179
Recipes for game
Fifty Heads of Garlic 207
Recipes for late fall and winter produce
Index 227