The Connecticut Farm Table Cookbook: 150 Home-Grown Recipes from the Nutmeg State
The Connecticut Farm Table Cookbook brings home cooks a stellar collection of 150 delicious recipes from the Nutmeg State’s celebrated chefs and the dedicated farmers, fishers, ranchers, foragers, and cheese makers they partner with to create dynamic New American and New England fare. This is the best of regional and farm-to-table cuisine from food producers and purveyors whose commitment to sustainability and quality is evident in everything they do.
Cooks&Books&Recipes Editors {Dee}:
After two years, I still haven’t made it to Vermont! I hear you thinking, “Um, yeah, but this cookbook is about Connecticut.” Allow me to explain…
In 2013, I received The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook: 150 Home-Grown Recipes from the Green Mountain State. As I started flipping the pages to see if it might be a cookbook for us to feature on Cooks&Books&Recipes, I was immediately intrigued: all the “rustic-yet-refined” recipes came from the Vermont farmers, food producers, and chefs highlighted in the book. Then I tried some recipes, including the Caramelized Onion and Bayley Hazen Blue Galette, which is now a go-to for me: crazy-simple but looks gourmet — that’s my ideal recipe.
So I was super excited to hear from author Tracey Medeiros that she has published a new cookbook (with co-author Christy Colasurdo), this one highlighting the foods — and the food producers and chefs — from Connecticut. Once I started reading, I was quickly transported across the country. The title, The Connecticut Farm Table Cookbook, is slightly misleading because this is so much more than a cookbook: it is also a very comprehensive travel guide. I started to note which restaurants I want to visit when I get to the state — the River Tavern (a locavore before the term was coined), the Wharf Restaurant at Madison Beach Hotel (what a view!), Truck (previously a truck stop) — but then I had to stop. Because I need to try them all. Seriously. The additional good news is that the authors mention plenty of inns and cottages too, so I’ll know where to spend the night after all those good meals. And they talk about other activities that I certainly don’t want to miss: wine festivals, farm dinners (often raising funds for agricultural causes), beer trails (sign me up!).
This cookbook is as much about the people behind the food as it is about the food. Medeiros and Colasurdo tell the stories of the family farms, farmstands, bakeries, butcheries, vineyards, cheesemakers, and other food sources across the state. What I like best about the cookbook is that every recipe comes from one of the food sources, restaurants, or chefs highlighted here. And let’s not forget the recipes! If you, like me, are getting just a bit tired of hearing the phrase “farm-to-table,” The Connecticut Farm Table Cookbook will restore your faith in its original meaning. Starlight Farm’s Kale Salad with Sour Cherry Vinaigrette; Chilled Pea and Leak Soup with Salmon Gravlax and Pickled Shallots; Autumn Pasta Sauce of Cauliflower and Apples; Skirt Steak over Roasted Butternut Squash, Rainbow Swiss Chard, Topped with Caramelized Onions; Macerated Summer Fruit Tart — the common denominator? Fresh-from-the-producer ingredients. The authors add other tidbits too: for example, what burrata is and where to get it (oh my, I LOVE that stuff!); soup tips (from Claire’s Corner Copia); whether to buy cod loin, fillet, or steak. No, I can’t procure ingredients from the producers listed in this cookbook, but I can find locally sourced equivalents in my area, and I’m guessing that you can too. As this cookbook shows, doing so is worth the effort.
For me, The Connecticut Farm Table is a model to which other cookbook/travelogue hybrids should aspire. I still haven’t traveled to Vermont, and now I’m planning to add Connecticut to that road-trip back East. I may or may not get there. In the meantime, as the best travelogues do, The Connecticut Farm Table Cookbook made me feel as if I’d been to Connecticut even though I never left my own reading chair, and perhaps better still, it had me tasting the food from around the state — even though I never left my own kitchen way out West.
If you’re lucky enough to live in or nearby Connecticut, what can I say? I’m jealous! Get this cookbook, get travelling, and get cooking…
The Cookbook Basics:
Paperback (8 x 10 inches)
328 pages, 100+ color photos, 150 recipes
About the Authors:
Tracey Medeiros is a food writer, food stylist, and recipe developer and tester. She writes “The Farmhouse Kitchen: A Guide To Eating Local” column for Edible Green Mountains Magazine. Medeiros is also the author of The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook (The Countryman Press) and Dishing Up Vermont (Storey Publishing), honored as the 2010 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist and 2009 Best Books Award Finalist (USA Book News). She lives in Essex Junction, Vermont, with her family and travels regionally as a guest cooking instructor, sharing her commitment to the sustainable food movement while providing skillful cooking demonstrations. For more information, recipes, and events, visit her website, Tracey Medeiros Cooks.
Christy Colasurdo is the former Special Sections Editor at New York Magazine, an award-winning writer, and co-founder of a company delivering wholesome foods from small Vermont farms to customers’ front doors. Colasurdo writes regular features for Westport, Fairfield Living, and other regional magazines and is a contributor to CTbites.com, the definitive guide to the Connecticut food scene. She is also the author of Restaurant 2000 and Bar Excellence (Rizzoli). She lives in Westport, Connecticut, with her family and serves on the Board at Wakeman Town Farm and Sustainability Center.
Originally published at www.cooksandbooksandrecipes.com on June 3, 2015.
