Last fall I was driving home from a video shoot with my photographer friend Chris Bohnhoff and I stopped in a town to get some gas and a cup of coffee. While drinking my coffee on a bench, I noticed a sign and a bunch of dirt filled boxes in a ratty looking lawn across…
Garden
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Pickled Chanterelles and Ramp Leaf Oil
I never thought something as simple as making a salad could remind me of why I cook in the first place. I cook for a living, but before I made money doing it, I just lived to cook. Making things in the kitchen was my creative outlet, and made people around me happy. Ever since…
Nasturtium Leaves And Flowers
Lots of chefs like to garnish things with flowers, they’re pretty, but often that’s about it. Nasturtiums though? They’re a completely different story. They’re not only beautiful, but have a great flavor-candy sweet and peppery like watercress, all at the same time. With how good they taste, It’s surprising to me that more people…
Lemon Balm
What incredible tasting herb needs to be on your to bucket list? Lemon balm. There’s only one problem, I find it’s hard to come across wild, compared to the ubiquitous bergamot and elusive peppermints in the areas I hunt in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I know of only one place where it grows, and it’s pretty…
Celtuce
With it’s beautiful emerald green color, crisp and refreshing texture, with delicious, mild, and faintly nutty taste and smell, Celtuce is the best vegetable you’re not eating. What the heck is it? Well, besides from resembling a strange green wand, often with runty little lettuce leaves on top, celtuce is what I’d describe as a…
Peas With Porcini, Proscuitto, And Radish Snaps
This recipe came about after I talked to my friend Jess Flemming, food writer for the St. Paul Pioneer press. Jess and I met last year when she did a piece on the restaurant I was working at. Jess recently dedicated a piece of flesh to pork: she agreed to get a tattoo of the…
Romanesco Broccoli
My old chef Andy put me in charge of making a risotto special that constantly changed with whatever his crazy connections would provide us. That was the first time I cooked with romanesco, or ate it for that matter. Sure you can put romanesco in risotto, and that’s how I first cooked it, but it’s…