Haddad Laura Holmes - Pure flavor: 125 fresh all-American recipes from the Pacific Northwest

PURE FLAVOR IS THE ESSENCE OF EVERYTHING WE EAT food that tastes like it's supposed to and reflects the natural rhythm of the seasons. This is especially true in the Pacific Northwest, where we are surrounded by an endless bounty from our farms, mountains, rivers, and the Pacific Ocean. Nowadays, with food often packed, shipped, ripened in a warehouse, or flown in from abroad, the true, pure flavor of food can get lost somewhere along the way.

Living in the Pacific Northwest makes you pay attention to your food. Whether it's a rich, crunchy hazelnut from Oregon, a plump blueberry from the mountains of Washington, or fresh salmon from Puget Sound, our fantastic local foods make shopping, cooking, and eating more a joy than a chore. My culinary approach is to source great raw material and then prepare it in a way that lets the ingredients shine through. This is something anyone can do in almost any region of the country. In local markets and farmer's markets, you can find food that has traveled from the field to the farm to the consumer, with just a brief stop in between.

Searching out pure flavor in farm-fresh foods is not only a healthy way to eat but also an easier way to prepare a meal. When you buy fantastic, natural ingredients, it takes less effort to make their flavors sing. A pinch of salt, a dash of pepper, and most meat, fish, and vegetables come to life.

If we're lucky, we experienced pure flavor when we were young, grabbing a handful of berries from a wild blackberry bush or sneaking an apple from a low-hanging branch in the neighbor's yard. For me, it was cheese that brought me to pure flavor. My father's parents always had a cheese board in the kitchen piled high with local cheeses, which we devoured on Sunday afternoons. There wasn't a holiday at Grandma's house that didn't feature big blocks of local Cheddar. My mother's mother used to tell me about the wheels of Stilton my Scottish great-grandfather Beecher would bring home. If I close my eyes, I can still taste those amazing flavors. It's no wonder I'm now a cheese guy.

This obsessionI would say passionfor pure flavor has driven me to live out what was once just a dream. After graduating from college, all I wanted to do was work in food, but I joined my family's printing business instead. Years later we sold the business, and I was free to pursue my passionwhich started, as it has for many people in this business, in Mom's kitchen. My mother, Janet, cooked for us every night in my hometown of Tacoma, Washington. She entertained her friends on the weekends, and I often sat in the kitchen watching her slice onions, peel potatoes, or saut pork chops.

Where my style diverges from my mother's is that while she followed recipes to the letter, I am always looking for ways to change them. Food is like music to me. It's rare that I hear a song and don't want to fine-tune it by bringing up the guitar or repeating the refrain one more time. To me, food isn't static, and even though these recipes are favorites with our customers, have been tested by home cooks, and will bring fresh flavors to your dinner table, I encourage you to add your own touches. Find what looks best in your region and tweak these recipes a little. I even give you suggestions for other flavor combinations that might work. In fact, many of the recipes have elements that can be used interchangeably, and many can be made ahead to make mealtimes a little easier and a lot more enjoyable.

Eating seasonally is an important element to this approach. Cherries just taste better in the summer, apples are crisp and delicious in the fall, and no matter where you live and what food you have access to, you can still eat seasonally. I often provide substitution suggestions for ingredients, but the best ingredient will always be the one that was grown down the road from your house.