I’m Joining a 9-Step Program!

And it could change my life! Yep…that’s right a 9-step program…not a 12-step…not even a 2-step. And it all started when Joan told me to read Alice Waters’ new cookbook, The Art of Simple Food.

Ms. Waters is probably best known for her San Francisco restaurant, Chez Panisse as well as her visionary almost revolutionary ideas about the importance of using fresh local produce. “When you have the best and tastiest ingredients”, she writes, “you can cook very simply and the food will be extraordinary because it tastes like what it is”. This book not only offers simple recipes but is also simply inspiring. Alice Waters truly has a personal relationship with food and makes the reader want to have one too.

“In The Art of Simple Food, Waters has done nothing less than write the basic cookbook you need to get started on a lifetime of good eating from your own kitchen.” The Boston Globe

So…what about the 9 steps? They are actually principles that Ms. Waters has distilled from all of her years of cooking. Here they are:

1. Eat locally and sustainably.

2. Eat seasonally.

3. Shop at farmers’ markets.

4. Plant a garden.

5. Conserve, compost and recycle.

6. Cook simply, engaging all your senses.

7. Cook together.

8. Eat together.

9. Remember food is precious.

Most of these principles seem self-explanatory and pretty doable but what about no. 2.? Eating seasonally in this part of the country? Right now? What if you forgot to buy that extra dozen ears of butter & sugar corn for freezing? What if you didn’t have time to make salsa or sauce out of those gorgeous tomatoes?

Don’t despair…there are still wonderful local seasonal vegetables just waiting to “give it up” for you. Sure…they’re not as pretty as those summer veggies — some are even so ugly you can’t believe they could possibly taste good. I’d like to suggest one particularly tasty and incredibly unattractive alternative to those summer cuties. The humble Celery Root (aka Celeriac)

I saw one at Peck’s a couple weeks ago and was inspired by it’s shear, unashamed and dirty gnarliness. I bought it thinking I could maybe make a celery root soup. I hadn’t read Alice Waters’ book yet (which happens to have a great recipe for celery root and potato soup) so I do what I usually do. Go to my favorite cookbooks and the internet…take what I like from all of them and come up with a hybrid recipe. Here it is:

Auntie M’s Celery Root, Potato & Fennel Soup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter (optional)

2 med-large celery roots (washed, peeled & chopped into small cubes — the smaller the better to keep soup from getting stringy)

2 medium-sized organic potatoes, any type (cubed)

1 medium onion (coarsely chopped)

1 leek, white and pale green parts only, sliced

4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 bulb fennel - save the fronds for garnish later

1 bay leaf

2 large sprigs of fresh thyme (chopped finely)

1/4 cup of fresh parsley (chopped)

6 cups of organic chicken broth

1/2 cup white wine

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Low fat sour cream (garnish)

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot over low heat, slowly sweat half of the chopped onions and cubed celery root in olive oil (and optional butter) stirring often to allow juices to come forth (about 10 minutes).

2. Add fennel bulb, the rest of onion and leeks. Cook another 10 minutes and then add all of the other ingredients (except sour cream) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until vegetables are soft (about 45 minutes). Discard bay leaf.

3. Remove from heat and puree in small batches in a food processor or blender and return to the pot to reheat. Serve in bowls with a small dollop of sour cream and garnish with the fennel fronds.

This soup is a meal in itself. Add an organic salad, a hot crusty baguette and a nice moderately priced bottle of Campo Viejo Crianza 2004 (a Tempranillo from Rioja, Spain) and you’ve got a great meal for a chilly night.
FYI - This soup is low in calories and fat and high in nutritional value. Celery Root is loaded with Vitamin C, potassium, and phosphorus and Fennel contains the antioxidant flavonoid quercetin. This herb is anticarcinogenic and can be useful for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiation. It’s also great for indigestion.

Alice Waters’, The Art of Simple Food — Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution makes a great Christmas gift. If you receive this cookbook you’ll be learning how to COOK locally. If you buy it at Hammertown, you’ll be BUYING locally. What better gift for your loved ones and the planet!!!