Description:
It started with a line of jams and a card table at a New England farmers' market. Stonewall Kitchen today has grown to be a giant in the fancy food market, producing more that 170 types of preserves and condiments. If you don't bake your own bread or scones, you would buy the artisanal variety to live according to the Stonewall style. The catalog--in print and online--reaches out beyond jam to kitchen tools, dining room accoutrements, gardening tools, and more. Everywhere is the stamp of the two primary tastemakers, Jonathan King and Jim Stott. And the cookbook they have now produced to underscore the Stonewall life is no exception. Everything about Stonewall Kitchen is tasteful and Stonewall Kitchen Harvest, written with Kathy Gunst, is no exception. Like the beginnings of the company Stonewall Kitchen Harvest follows a simple line and familiar raison d'etre. It's all about the seasons, the locale, the harvest, about what's truly fresh--whether fruit, vegetable, tuber, fish, shellfish, or meat. What is closest at hand? What is the best of the best? The seasons and the locale in this case are New England, specifically Maine. When critical ingredients aren’t right at hand, there are suggestions about where to shop for them online. The chapters break out not according to specific dish or kind of meal, but place of origin: "From the Garden," "From the Sea," "From the Root Cellar," "Fruits of the Earth," "Harvest Basics." So in "From the Garden" you'll find recipes to carry you from breakfast to dinner. Corn Fritters with Herb Butter. Warm Spring Artichoke Salad with Fava Beans. Lamb Chops with Rosemary-Chive Butter. There are appetizers, soups, side dishes, main courses, and sauces, and this is true for each chapter. The seafood chapter is particularly invigorating, the fruits of the earth chapter mouth watering from beginning to end. Roasted Carrots with Fresh Pomegranate Glaze. Maple Crepes with Summer Berries. This is a cookbook about letting ingredients speak for themselves, and that calls for the best ingredients possible. Seasonal is nice. Local is nice. Having access to a good garden would be nice. Or a farmers' market. Maybe you'll find a jam maker selling off a card table. --Schuyler Ingle
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