Sara Forte - The Sprouted Kitchen: A Tastier Take on Whole Foods

Copyright 2012 by Sara Forte
Photographs copyright 2012 by Hugh Forte

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.tenspeed.com

Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

A few of the recipes in this work were originally published on Sara and Hugh Fortes website, sproutedkitchen.com.

The author photographs appearing in the are copyright 2012 by James Moes.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Forte, Sara.
The sprouted kitchen : a tastier take on whole foods / by Sara Forte ; photography by Hugh Forte. 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
Summary: Sara Forte showcases her tasty take on whole foods with 100 easy, produce-rich recipes that take advantage of whole grains, unsaturated fats, natural sugar alternatives, and bright, seasonal flavorsProvided by publisher.
1. Cooking (Natural foods) 2. Cooking (Cereals) 3. Sugar-free dietRecipes. I. Title. II. Title: Tastier take on whole foods.
TX741.F667 2012
641.302dc23
2012008143

eISBN: 978-1-60774-115-2

v3.1

Dedicated to my beloved, Hugh, my constant encouragement, talented photographer, and ceaseless eater.

For without you inspiring me to go after what I love, I would still be sitting in a windowless cubicle from 8 to 5, far away from these pages. I love you.

I still think that one of the pleasantest of all emotions is to know that I, I with my brain and my hands, have nourished my beloved few, that I have concocted a stew or a story, a rarity or a plain dish, to sustain them truly against the hungers of the world.

M. K. FISHER

If you knew my familys culinary history, you would think that the idea of me writing a cookbook is a bit ironic. My dad prefers spaghetti sauce from one of those powder packets, and my mom prepared a lot of frozen taquitos throughout my childhood. We always sat down to meals as a family, and its not that we didnt eat well, but I dont have an heirloom box of family recipes, if you catch my drift.

I became passionate about both the creative process of cooking and the nutritional aspects of food once I left for college and started cooking for myself. I began working at the organic farm on campus, and I taught myself how to use the incredible seasonal produce we grew, much of which was new to me. This was right around the time when Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes began cropping up in most peoples field of view, and the community of people who cared deeply about their food was expanding quickly. (Im still pretty young, so Im not going to say I was on the cutting edge of the food movement by any means, but we can all agree that an interest in healthy, locally grown foods has increased in the past decade.) I tried all sorts of sprouts and mushrooms and was introduced to the strangeness that is kohlrabi. It was exciting to experiment. I made a lot of mistakes. I still make a lot of mistakes, but thats how Ive learned to cookby reading, watching, and trying over and over again.

After school, I took an internship at a cooking school and bed-and-breakfast in Tuscany. It was there, at Villa Lucia, that I learned a plethora of simple, fresh recipe concepts and also participated in an olive oil harvest. Sunrise to sunset, we handpicked dozens of trees. Believe me, it was not a glamorous job. Eventually I was drawn back home to be with friends, family, and Hugh. At the same time, I was anxious to start a career, even though at the time I had no idea what it would be.

I ended up at a few desk jobs, only to figure out that I needed to be around foodto talk about it, to teach people about it, to serve it to people for special occasions, or to use it as a reason to get friends together on a long summer night. I am invested in the emotional connection that comes from cooking and eating. However, it is not just about being fed. Food takes time to plant, grow, transport, and cook, and I always want to be involved with people who value that. I adore the learning, experimenting, sharing, and fulfillment I get from feeding people.

Now here I am, the taquito-eating little girl, sharing seasonal, produce-focused recipes in an attempt to inspire people to eat well.

My husband and I publish Sprouted Kitchen, a whole foodsfocused blog for which I make the food and Hugh takes the pictures. We didnt imagine it would be as successful as its been, but the return on our investment of time has exceeded our expectations. My goal is to share recipes that are simple enough to make after work but interesting enough that you could serve them at a dinner party. I want my recipes to be fresh and light, while always keeping great flavor as the priority.

I am so grateful that my adventures with food include Hugh. I am absolutely enamored with him for a number of reasons, and I am beyond impressed that he has taught himself to take stunning pictures of food. He encourages me to pay closer attention to the aesthetics of a dish while simultaneously convincing me that I know what I am doing even when I burn all the crostini, make cookies that taste like foil, or dump the entire container of salt into the caramelized onions. In those moments, you need someone who loves and believes in you to remind you that you know what youre doing. We make a great team.

My hope is that readers will flip through this book and find a comfortable approach to the kitchen. You may be just learning, or perhaps you have been cooking for sixty-seven years, but I hope that I have included something for everyone. Keep in mind that recipes are often just a starting point, and you may omit or add ingredients according to your preferences. Trust yourself, change things, and make the recipes your own. People who cook well usually use their intuition rather than relying on measurements, so give yourself permission to be creative.

Making fresh food with wholesome seasonal ingredients should help you simplify your time in the kitchen, not complicate it. If I can convince just one reader that making muffins from scratch with whole grains is tastier and more rewarding than buying them from a grocery store, then the value and gratitude that I was shown to feel toward food will have come full circle.