When walking around the supermarket, it’s easy to lose track of where things are. Most produce is now available year-round. That being said, I get excited every time my local farmers market opens, remembering the unparalleled tastes and aromas of ephemeral ingredients that only local soil can provide.
As co-host of the James Beard-nominated video series “Kitchen Annecessary,” Certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide, Ashley Rodriguez invites us to step further into the great outdoors to enjoy all that nature has to offer. Any time of the year.
Rodriguez calls her third cookbook, Rooted Kitchen: Seasonal Recipes, Stories, and Ways to Connect to the Natural World (Potter, $35), “a guided seasonal meditation on the movement of the earth.” Masu. If her ethereal prose doesn’t inspire you to put on your hiking boots or pitch a tent, her recipes will inspire you to shop and cook more consciously. It will come.
Organized by season, the chapters include recipes, photos, essays, and guides to foraging, fermenting, preserving edible flowers, cooking over fire, and more, all based on the philosophy that “what grows together grows together.” reflected on the page.
Rodriguez, who lives in the Pacific Northwest, uses the nettles and maple flowers he harvests while walking in the forest to quickly cook. However, most of her recipes can be recreated anywhere.
I jumped on the summer chapter and couldn’t resist trying the braised chicken peperonata. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs were sliced and smothered with an intoxicating aroma. A melange of bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, garlic and onions roasted until charred. It was delicious as I expected.
I’m curious about the smoked trout dip with potato chips and radish. Spring nicoise salad with oil-poached cod; green garlic and dandelion pancakes. Once you find the ingredients you need at your local farm stand, you’re ready to take action.
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.follow her susanpaquette.com.
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