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Monday, December 5, 2011

Cooking When cookbooks and farmers markets collide

Posted by Brad Kaplan on Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 10:20 AM

Carrots, Watermelon Radish, Japanese Turnips

Brad Kaplan
Carrots, watermelon radish, and Japanese turnips

Just last week I received an early holiday gift of a few cookbooks, including an astoundingly awesome one with the lengthy but apropos title, The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts. This is the kind of book that hits you over the head with the idea that food and place, food and culture, are inherently intertwined. It's a book about a restaurant - Joe Beef - in a place - Montreal, Canada - with a certain culture - heavily influenced by French settlers. The history of the restaurant's neighborhood and its people, the bounty of the local fields and waters, the love of living life - all these things spill out from the pages. I was eager to jump in and do some cooking, and, fortunately, found a good match between Atlanta's local fall produce and many of the recipes in the book.

It's always a joy to shop at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market, and my trip this past weekend was particularly nice. The air was a bit crisper than it has been for the past few months. The crowds were a bit smaller. And the local produce on display was simply beautiful. Deep dark greens, dirt-flecked root vegetables ranging from bright white Japanese turnips to brilliantly vibrant (on the inside) watermelon radishes, mounds of wild mushrooms. I loaded up. I visited Tim at Star Provisions for some fresh Georgia goat cheese, but also a cheese we can't quite replicate here - a strong French Epoisses. I then hit up Buford Highway Farmers Market for the rest of my required ingredients, a lamb shoulder, dates, mint, shallots. Armed with my ingredients, I headed home to spend the rest of the day in the kitchen, consulting the cookbook, washing and peeling the fall vegetables, trying to make magic happen. And the meal was pretty magical.

Simplicity to start - not from the cookbook - just those local watermelon radishes and a dish of lavender salt, showing off the season. The Epoisses simmered in a red wine reduction with herbs and shallots, set aflame with some apple brandy just before being served, smeared over toasted slices of pain au levain from H&F Bread Company. Heavenly. The Georgia goat cheese made its way into some savory profiteroles, mixed with mashed celery root, topped with a parsley puree. Then, at the table, the carrots roasted with a bit of honey and thyme, mushrooms baked with garlic and smoked paprika, slow roasted lamb over apple cider Japanese turnips and their greens. Oh, and maybe the best taste of the night, an inspired jam of dates, mint, and horseradish spread over the lamb. A brilliant bit of madness from Joe Beef in Montreal.

Speaking of madness, our after-dinner drink came courtesy of the cookbook's small and fairly insane selection of cocktail recipes. We skipped the martini garnished with Vienna sausage, passed on the "Raw Beef" cocktail, and settled on some "Gin 'n Jews" - a surprisingly delightful mix of gin, Manischewitz Concord grape wine, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and egg white. Holla! I doubt this cocktail had anything to do with the French Canadian culture, nor did it include any local ingredients, but it was somehow an appropriately fun way to cap off a meal with friends that was inspired by a Montreal cookbook and an Atlanta farmers market.