Joshua McFadden - Six seasons: a new way with vegetables

Six Seasons

a new way with vegetables

Joshua McFadden

with Martha Holmberg

Foreword by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman

Artisan | New York

Contents

by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman

by Martha Holmberg

Foreword

In fall 2008, our farm stole Joshua McFadden away from a really good job at Dan Barbers New York City restaurant, Blue Hill. Dans loss, for which he has forgiven us, was certainly our gainthe following February we turned the running of the farm over to Joshua and a fellow enthusiast for most of the growing season so that we could take time to build a barn. They brought in two young cooks as farmworkers, and it was like turning over your garage to a budding John, Paul, Ringo, and George. This was before we had a real commercial kitchen, and soon the concrete floor at one end of our main greenhouse had more small cooking appliances than Broadway Panhandler. On weekends, our farm stand in the adjacent orchard was transformed into a restaurant. Strands of little white lights, strung through the apple trees, made it look like a festive gypsy camp.

Farmers and chefs are natural collaborators. Both work insane hours, although at different times of day. During that stretch of time when both are awake, they salute what the earth has to offer. Chefs are thankful when we give them great produce, and we love them when they enhance it with their arteven the picky ones. Especially the picky ones.

Put a chef in the garden and amazing things can happen. Joshua and the crew grew everything from celtuce to saltwort that summer, and he was even bolder as a cook, grilling outside in the dark and throwing fistfuls of whole herbs into exquisitely dressed salads. People flocked to eat his food, and still do, though now the ingredients that inspire him are from West Coast fields and waters. Weve had the good fortune to taste some of his current fare and are overjoyed that we now have his wonderful book to show us how its done. Were happy that a chance to play in the dirt at Four Season Farm gave him the deep understanding of seasonality that imbues so many of the recipes in Six Seasons. We like to say that there are 365 seasons of the year, when each day finds certain ingredients in their absolute prime state, but even going from four to six is a sign of enlightenment.

Lots of cookbooks these days celebrate vegetables, were glad to say, but Joshua has an extraordinary gift for preparing them, and for making it easy for any cook to do the same. His directions are absolutely clear, and he is, above all, realistic. Even as he pours all his inventive ideas from the cornucopia of his brain into yours, he seems to know that we are all busy and need ways to make meals wonderful without going crazy. Its desirable to have a larder full of quality itemssuch as simple homemade breadcrumbsthat you can grab in a hurry. Its even okay to start your mayonnaise with a glob of Hellmans, whisk in an egg yolk, and keep going from there. Its pleasure were after, not purity. Life, like Joshuas excellent croutons, should never be rock hard, but should have a little chew in the center.

Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman

How Getting Dirty Helped Me Become a Cook

I grew up in Wisconsin in farm country, among rural beauty, large farms, but not a lot of terrific foodat my house anyway. Oh, my family cooked: big Sunday dinners and holiday parties, with spreads of vegetable salads, mountains of corn with butter and cheese, the grill going all day with burgers, steaks, and sausages. Some of my relatives even put up the end-of-the-year produce as pickles and preserves. But in our kitchen, you could still find the box of mac and cheese, processed foods, and out-of-season vegetables and fruits.

Prowling around my neighbors gardens gave me a hint that there was more to food than what was in the cupboards. Some early moments are etched on my palate, maybe even on my soul: Biting into a sun-warmed, plucked-from-the-vine tomato with a saltshaker in my hand. Pulling a stalk of rhubarb from the ground, blowing off the dirt, and dipping it into a sugar jar. The elemental pleasures of those close-to-the-earth foods have stuck with me.

In the same way everyone finds a path through school and work, I wandered a bit, starting out studying film in Chicago, but deciding that rather than stories on film, I connected to the stories told every night at restaurants. I knew thats where I should be, so I ended up at Le Cordon Bleu in Portland, Oregon, in 2001. After months of reading, eating, and absorbing as much as I could from instructors (which wasnt as much as I needed, I knew), I headed into the pro world.

My skills werent great, but my energy and passion were obvious, and I worked my way into some of the big kitchens in the big cities: Lark Creek Inn and Roxannes in the Bay Area; North Pond in Chicago; Frannys, Momofuku, Lupa, and Blue Hill in New York.

After those stints, I was adept at working in kitchens, but I also knew that the magic didnt start in restaurants, it started on the farm. In the orchards. Off the coast. In the mossy soils of the forest. It started with nature.

And so, in the way that life unfolds for you when youre truly passionate about your pursuits, I found a job working for Eliot Coleman on Four Season Farm in coastal Maine. Eliot and his wife, Barbara Damrosch, are legendary. Shes an amazing gardener and writer, hes a pioneer in both organic farming and farming throughout the whole yearwhich in the harsh climate of Maine is quite something.

Eliot writes too, and they both love to nurture people who choose a life in food, hosting interns on the farm, teaching, sharing. I was farm manager for a stretch, during which time Eliot let me integrate good cooking into the farm operations. I conducted weekly farm dinners inside the candlelit produce stand. Wed welcome guests at sunset with seasonal cocktails in a greenhouse, conversing among the cucumbers, tomatoes, and herbs, mingling with each other and the makings of their dinner.

It was an experience that marked me indelibly. The sign on the dirt road that leads to the farm reads, Real farming, real food. When I took that dirt road on my first day, it was a big step toward understanding food in a whole new way, truly understanding the process of transforming a tiny seed into food that not only nourishes but delights, a process about the cycle of life that was life changing for me.

From Maine I went to Rome to work at the American Academy, an Alice Waters project. Cooking in Italy with Italian producewell, that pretty much sealed my fate. I needed to work with real food, simple food, in season. Which is how I ended up as the chef and now owner of Ava Genes, in Portland. A nice full circle, right?

How This Book Can Help You Become a Better Cook

Writing a book is hard and time-consuming, so I didnt do it for fun (though plenty of fun was had along the way). My goal in writing this book was to encourage and energize cooks of all skill levelsthat means youin your efforts at seasonal and local eating. I want to show you how to eat tomatoes in August, peas in April, butternut squash only when theres frost on your car windshield. Cherish the vegetables when theyre at their best, and then wait until their season rolls around again. The impact will be profound, in your own kitchen and in the community at large.