Cookbook of the Week: 'Root to Leaf' by Atlanta Chef Steven Satterfield
Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week: Root to Leaf: A Southern Chef Cooks Through the Seasons (Harper Collins), by Atlanta chef Steven Satterfield. At his restaurant Miller Union, which both Bon Appétit and Esquire magazines have called one of the best restaurants in America, Satterfield serves honest, produce-driven food that celebrates the best of the South’s bounty. For that reason, among others, the James Beard Foundation chose Satterfield as a finalist for Best Chef: Southeast in both 2013 and 2014.
Noteworthy: Root to Leaf is broken down by season, and within each of those four seasons, by ingredient. Spring, for example, contains recipes on asparagus, carrots, fennel, lettuces, onions, garlic, radishes, rhubarb, spring greens, spring peas, and strawberries. And while the introduction to each section reads a bit like a new age relaxation video (“Springtime brings renewal. Ephemeral young buds, tender shoots, and pastel green leaves emerge.”) and Satterfield waxes a bit poetic about carrots, he also provides some real service. He tells readers what to look for in carrot tops, what if means if the vegetable is cracked or green (it will be bitter), which carrots you need to peel and which you don’t, and what will happen if you eat too much beta-carotene (you might turn orange). So we’re OK with a little waxing.
“Root to Leaf” cookbook author and Miller Union chef Steven Satterfield. Photo: John Kernick
The Team: Satterfield, who New York Times food writer Sam Sifton called the “Vegetable Shaman.” Photographer John Kernick, who has shot cookbooks for chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Andrea Reusing as well as features for Food & Wine and National Geographic Traveler, among other magazines.
The Cuisine: As the book itself states, “Root to Leaf is not a vegetarian cookbook — it’s a cookbook that celebrates vegetables.” You will find bits of sausage and Spanish mackerel in Satterfield’s recipes, but the focus is on seasonal produce, and the treatment of them is light — there’s only enough seasoning and dressing to make them truly sing. And there’s a subtle Southern accent on the food, of course.
Who Should Buy It: Those who care about getting more vegetables into their diets, and who care about doing so aesthetically. Satterfield’s dishes are so rustically elegant.
Must-Make Recipes: For spring, Spring Onion Pizza, Shrimp and Fava Beans, Spinach and Strawberry Salad, and Feta Dip with Radishes. Other things we’re looking forward to cooking: Collard Green and Turnip Root Kimchi and Slow-Simmered Field Peas.
Check out these other Cookbooks of the Week from Yahoo Food:
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