My first book is now available to order. The first in a three-part series, Flora is the vegetable portion of my life, covering wild plants, herbs, spices, garden vegetables, nuts and starches. It will be followed in time by Fungi (mushrooms) and Fauna (meat). UPDATE 6/21: THE ENTIRE FIRST PRINTING OF FLORA SOLD OUT BEFORE…
Wild Fennel Cakes
Wild fennel is one of the most invasive plants I’ve ever seen, growing in massive stands on the West Coast. It’s similar to your garden variety fennel, looking near identical, but with one big difference: there’s not really a bulb. Wild fennel cakes are one of the best things I’ve made with them, and, unlike…
Vintage Map: Scotland, New Universal Encyclopedia, Double-sided, 1949
The Original Borscht
Ukraine has been on everyone’s mind lately, so I thought it would be appropriate to dive into their national dish: Borscht (or maybe it’s Borshch?). As random as it might sound, borscht is something I’ve read about a fair amount about, as the famous tart stew of beets (and all its variations) are inextricably connected…
Georgian Walnut Spread / Phkali
The foods of the Caucuses are fascinating. One of the most interesting things I’ve found is Phkali–a sort of spread that might remind you of pesto made from nuts, herbs and spices. I think I found my first version of the recipe in Dara Goldstein’s book on Georgian food, and from there I made some…
Wild Rice Cornbread
A few years ago I set out on a mission to make wild rice cornbread to serve 200 people for the Wild Harvest Festival. I tested out a batch using the last of my wild rice flour that I’d bought from the White Earth Reservation, and it came out good, but I needed to test…
Korean Acorn Jelly / Dotorimuk
Have you ever seen packages of acorn starch in your local Asian market and wondered what it’s used to make? Acorn starch is used to make dotorimuk (doh-tohree-mook) a sort of traditional Korean jelly, and, as far as I can tell, it’s probably the most widely consumed acorn recipe in the world. Acorn starch vs…
Hickory Nut Milk / Kanuchi
Hickory nut milk (hick milk for short) is the best nut milk I’ve ever tasted, and, unfortunately for non-foragers, I doubt it will ever be on a store shelf. It’s hard to put into words how fascinating it is, and, to be honest, to me, the name nut milk undersells the product, as well as…
MS-DOS Programmer's Reference by Microsoft (1984)
Wild vanilla extract. Yes, you read that right. Everyone knows how indispensable vanilla is, especially chefs who buy the whole beans. It’s also no secret that the price has been rising, and a pound of vanilla beans can now run over 300$ a pound, which, depending on what year you compare it to, along with…
Golpar / Cow Parsnip Seed
The moment I smelled the aroma of cow parsnip seeds, I knew there was great potential to use the seeds as an herb. Indeed, the seeds of the plant are an ancient seasoning from the Middle East, but there was a lot more to them than I first thought before I’d looked at the plant…
Fermented Lemons
Do you like preserved lemons? I do. If you do too, you’ll want to read on, especially if you’re the type of person who likes an easy fermentation project. I always seem to crave preserved/salted lemons when I don’t have any around, and, it can be hard to find them if you don’t live in…
Maple-Acorn Torte
When I sat down to write the nut chapter on my book, I knew I had to do some fun things with acorns, and I really wanted to make a dessert to illustrate how acorn flour can be used as a substitute for chestnut flour. I don’t know how much precious acorn flour I used…
Giant Shaggy Parasols
“Hey do you know what these mushrooms are?” Is one of my favorite messages. My friends, family and acquaintances around North America regularly send me images of mushrooms they’re curious about, and it’s like having multiple pairs of eyes. The best messages though, come from local people at locations I can travel to quickly in…
Black Trumpet Potato Puree
Black trumpet potato puree (think dried-mushrooms pureed into mashed potatoes) came from a dish I’d heard about when I was moonlighting as the stylist on Lenny Russo’s cookbook. Over the course of the eight month project, photographer Tom Thulen and I would work off a list of dishes from different sections each week, chosen by…
Sweetfern
Of all the smells I know that conjure up beautiful landscapes, sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina) is right near the top. Cracking open a jar of the seeds and crushing them transports me to the peak of summer, walking out into open pine barrens, mini-berry rake in hand, scanning the ground for flushes of blueberries, the…