Peter Servold - Paleo by Season : a Chefs Approach to Paleo Cooking

First published in 2014 by Victory Belt Publishing Inc.

Copyright Pete Servold

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 13: 978-1-628600-06-3

This book is for entertainment purposes. The publisher and author of this cookbook are not responsible in any manner whatsoever for any adverse effects arising directly or indirectly as a result of the information provided in this book.

RRD 0114

To Grandma and Tom

BY DIANE SANFILIPPO

New York Times bestselling author of Practical Paleo and The 21-Day Sugar Detox

Its become easier and easier to step away from the kitchen and grab ready-made food on the way home from work, or pop a frozen, boxed meal into the microwave and call it dinner. Our lives are busier than ever, and yet theres something missing from our ever-Internet-connected days: connectionto our friends, to our families, and, yes, to our food. See, while weve made it so effortless to get food on the table, were missing out on far more than the process of shopping for and preparing food. Were missing out on the connection that comes from gathering around a table to enjoy the food weve made with those we love.

Why am I talking about our connection to one another in the foreword to a cookbook? Well, if theres one thing Ive learned in my years of friendship with Peter and Sarah Servold, its that the connections we make around the tablewhether at a post-Thanksgiving Saturday brunch of remixed leftovers or over breakfast at a rental home on vacationnothing brings people together like food.

But a take-out pizza or cartons of Chinese food arent going to do what a richly layered, flavorful soup or your home-cooked braised pork shoulder will. Something happens when a personor group of peoplespends time chopping, seasoning, and preparing a home-cooked meal that literally puts love into the food.

Now, I know what you may be thinking: But Im not that good of a cook! Who wants to gather around a table for my food?! Well, in Paleo By Season, Chef Pete has you covered. He walks you through the concepts behind the cooking, with details on how to prepare yourself and your kitchen and tips for making it all just a little bit easier. We avoid being in the kitchen simply out of fear of what may result from the time spent therethat it may, perhaps, even be (gasp!) inedible. Weve all been there, even Chef Pete, and our mistakes are part of the journey to becoming sufficient, efficient, and confident in the kitchen.

photo by Michelle Lange

If theres one thing Ive learned about Pete and Sarah, its that they care very, very deeply about putting the freshest local and sustainably grown food on your table as often as humanly possible. Their passion for making the highest quality food more accessibleand for supporting the hard work of local farmersshines in everything they do. From their impeccably sourced meal business, Petes Paleo, to the lessons in this book about how to use everything from carrots and onions to romanesco and black trumpet mushrooms, Petes motivation to get you comfortable with every ingredient in your kitchen shines through.

What Paleo By Season will teach you, beyond how to gain kitchen confidence, is one of the topics Im asked about most: what the heck to do with the new-to-you seasonal veggies that arrive once youve bitten the bullet and signed up for your local organic farmers CSA (community supported agriculture) box. With recipes organized by season and seasonal produce charts broken down by region, this book lets you know what to expect in the months ahead from your own CSA box (or local farmers market, farm stand, or grocery store). And, with Chef Petes advice, youll soon know how to prepare those less-familiar vegetables and fruits (and even cuts or types of meat) based on what you may already know quite well about similar foods. Even if youre not venturing into the world of community supported agriculture, youll be enlightened on your regular trips to the grocery store and able to bring home something new and in-season and whip up a fantastic meal, thanks to what Chef Pete has served up in Paleo By Season.

This book is about learning how to use seasonal ingredients while following a Paleo diet. To do this, though, you need a solid knowledge base of techniques.

As a chef, I dont really think too much about recipes. From day one in culinary school, it was drilled into me to use cooking methods, flavor profiles, and techniques to handle any and all ingredients, in any kitchen, anywhere in the world.

That being said, recipes are a really good starting point for learning techniques. Its often easiest to learn by doing, and theres no faster way to pick up a new technique than by cooking a recipe that uses it. The recipes in this book include instructions for some basic and many advanced techniques, so youll be able to use those techniques again and again moving forward.

When your approach to cooking is driven by technique, you can go to your farmers market or open up that CSA box without trepidation or fear, knowing that whatever that box or market may hold, youve got the skills to turn it into something delicious. And whether youre a home cook or restaurant chef, letting whats on sale at the farmers market decide what youre making for dinner means youre always working with fresh, local, in-season ingredients, which make for the best meals.

And at the end of the day, that is the definition of Paleo: using whats available, when its available, from the closest source possible. Driving to three different stores to find golden beets when the first store had parsnips, rutabaga, and turnips is just not Paleo. As a chef, I dont have time for it, and my guess is neither do you.

This book offers many recipes that you can follow to a T to make beautiful, flavorful food, but my goal is get you shopping and cooking like a Paleo chef. There are tons of maps and infographics to help you find what is in season in your area, and what substitutions you can make when something isnt in season or available.

My hope is that over time, you will become more and more comfortable with the techniques explained in the recipes, which will let you become less dependent on particular ingredients, so you can cook with whatever looks fresh and delicious at your farmers market. In short, you will learn to think like a Paleo chef.

AS YOU GO THROUGH THIS BOOK, FOLLOW THESE RULES

Have fun. Taking time to cook for yourself and your family is one of the best returns on investment Ive ever found. So enjoy the process.

Make mistakes. Cooking is a process, and you will undoubtedly make mistakes. This, my friends, is a good thingthats how you learn. I remember every scallop I oversalted and every pan of vegetables I forgot about in the oven until they were only good for charcoal. Its how I keep from doing it again.