Sample Recipes

Easy Seasonal

by Deborah Schneider

I know, I know - we are unbelievably spoiled at Rancho La Puerta, where just a few steps from the cooking school we're knee-deep in 5 flourishing acres of organic vegetables and herbs. The change of the garden from day to day, week to week, season to season is profoundly slow, but it compels us to change with it. Like every other living thing, human beings are aware of the seasons changing and affected by the daily shift of light, whether or not we notice consciously, or have a garden to watch. Our needs and desires change as well.

One of the key principles of Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta is laid out early on by founder Deborah Szekely, who observes that nature gives you exactly what you need, when you need it. Eating seasonally is the best nutritionally; it is what we instinctively crave. And it tastes great. Summer brings light, cooling, juicy foods, like watermelon. Fall is the season of nuts and spices, foods to be gathered and preserved. Winter foods are cozy and comforting, sweet and starchy. (And winter fruits and veggies are packed with vitamin C.) Then spring's tart-bitter-tender sprouts and buds appear, survival food for our vitamin-starved bodies.

This seems perfectly logical until you walk into the bizarre, season-less world of the modern supermarket where, like a magician, you can conjure any food from anywhere in the world, anytime, with a flick of the wallet. Your best intentions go blank and drain away under the florescent lights. The tendency is grab the first thing that looks easy and edible and run for the checkout.

If you want to change how you eat, start by re-establishing your sense of what's really in season. The best way to do this is invest in a rolling cart (like Gran used) and start making regular visits to your local farmers' market. Just walking through heaps of gorgeous fruits and vegetables, a riot of color and texture and smell and taste, will educate and inspire you. And here's the idea: no matter what season you're in, buy a variety of colors- green, orange, red, yellow, and some purple and brown. Fill up the cart with whatever appeals to you. Lug it home.

Now what?

There are no tricks. You merely have to be willing - to scrub and rinse a little, maybe peel something, pick up your knife and try a cut or two, to turn on the oven or boil water. Cooking seasonally from scratch is silly-easy. Natural flavors beg to be revealed in all their simple glory. Fresh food doesn't demand any advanced technique or fancy ingredients.

I start by mentally dividing the market loot into two piles: things that are best raw, steamed, boiled or sautéed (usually greens) and things that can be cooked in the oven, or grilled, if you have a grill. (A note here that electric or stovetop grills are great for apartment dwellers, and can change your culinary life.) The first thing I do when I come home is turn on the oven so it's ready when I am. Next, I usually get a grain going. Then I turn my attention to washing and (if necessary) peeling vegetables.

I compose a meal around colors. I'll choose something green and leafy, that can be boiled or quickly sautéed with sliced garlic and olive oil. I'll choose a color or two that can be roasted until crusty and delicious, and I always pick something to enjoy raw. I'm also a sucker for roasted peppers, charred right in the gas burner, rubbed clean with a paper towel and seeded.

A trip to the market might yield a dinner of collard greens sautéed with a couple of shiitake mushrooms, lots of garlic and a diced red pepper. Squash and yams and purple potatoes (or any root vegetable) could be peeled, cut into large chunks, tossed with olive oil and rosemary and roasted in a hot oven - or could as easily be simmered and mashed, while Brussels sprouts and apples roast with onions.  I'll snack on raw snow peas or broccoli rabe and carrots while I cook, or slice up fresh fennel or an orange.

Sometimes I thinly slice all kinds of vegetables and make a stir-fry with a little ginger and tamari. Or turn the whole thing into a vegetable slaw. Or fire up the grill and have half a dozen kinds of grilled vegetables, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. (Ever have a grilled potato? With fresh pesto?)  In season, fresh tomatoes and fruit can be turned into an infinite number of fresh salsas, compotes, antipastos and sauces.

Get the idea?

Vegetables won't make up the whole meal. At the Ranch, we always have a whole grain; sometimes brown rice, but more often other grains like quinoa (cooks in 10 minutes,) whole wheat, buckwheat groats, millet, or chewy and delicious barley, all of which are far more nutritious than pasta, white rice or couscous. Grains are ridiculously easy and fast to cook (assuming that you can measure accurately, and that you have that boiling-water thing down). To the whole grains we'll often add a few cooked beans or legumes such as black beans, lentils, red beans, mung or soy beans. Buy canned, or cook a batch once a week and freeze in small amounts. These can be mixed into the cooked grains.

The grains and legumes form a quarter of your plate. Fill the other three-quarters with green, yellow, red, purple and brown, steamed, roasted, sautéed or raw; the bounty of summer, fall, winter or spring. Add seasonal fruit for dessert and in less than an hour you have a simple meal, healthy and fresh, that will bring the seasons to your table.

Shrimp and Red Peppers on Rosemary Sprigs

From Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta by Deborah Szekely and Deborah M. Schneider, with Jesús González (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2008)

Serves 6

Deborah remembers . . . When I was a little girl, our family lived for several years on a beach in Tahiti. We'd fish in the lagoon from our dugout outrigger canoe, and more than once I'd wake before dawn to hunt shrimp in the freshwater creek that came down from the mountains. We'd fashion torches from dead palm fronds and walk the shallows looking for deeper holes where we could scoop up shrimp trapped by the lower water level. Then at dawn we'd catch the bus into town and sell our buckets of shrimp at the local market. Of course the shrimp from the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) are very different from Tahitian shrimp, but I love their curled pinkness hot off the grill just the same.

Choose slim but sturdy rosemary sprigs just strong enough to pierce the seafood, or substitute small bamboo skewers. Other herbs such as basil shine in this simple, lovely dish that brings the garden to your plate.

Cooking delicate seafood can be a tricky process. Always marinate the seafood to add flavor and moisture, cook over moderate heat, and most important, don't overcook it!

• 18 sprigs fresh rosemary (preferably in flower), about 4 inches long
• 18 large shrimp
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium shallot, chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and minced (about 2 teaspoons)
• 1 sprig fresh oregano, chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
• 8 large leaves fresh basil, chopped (about 3 tablespoons)
• 1 sprig fresh thyme leaves, chopped (about 1 teaspoon)
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch squares
• 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

1. Strip the rosemary leaves from the sprigs, leaving one inch on top with leaves and flowers. Soak briefly in cold water.

2. Peel and devein the shrimp, leaving the tails on if you like, and pat dry. Combine the oil, shallot, garlic, herbs, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a glass bowl. Add the shrimp and toss thoroughly with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

3. Carefully thread a red pepper square onto each rosemary skewer, and follow with a shrimp. Finish with another piece of red pepper. (Use a bamboo skewer to make the holes, then slide onto the rosemary sprigs.) Sprinkle the skewers very lightly with a little paprika.

4. Preheat a gas grill or heat a grill pan over medium heat for 5 minutes. Lightly oil the cooking surface, then cook the skewers for about 3 minutes on each side, or until the shrimp are opaque but still springy to the touch.

5. Serve the shrimp on sautéed spinach with Butternut Squash Gnocchi (page 22) on the side.

Variation: Substitute any firm fish, tempeh, or tofu for shrimp.

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