Cookbookmarked! is our new series where we review the latest cookbooks from the foodie influencers you follow. Check back often to find out which new releases are worth your hard-earned cash and the recipes you should try first from each.
If residing in wine country and living off seasonal produce are dreams of yours, Season: A Year of Wine Country Food, Farming, Family, & Friends ($50) is the guide you'll need to bring those goals into fruition (or at least in your kitchen!). This massive, nearly 300-page book breaks up produce by season, includes gardening and growing tips, and provides simple but elegant recipes to make use of that bounty (even if it's farmers' market-bought). Plus, wine pairings accompany each recipe. That's because Jackson Family Wines produced the book, and they are as serious about food as they are about wine.
The estate of its flagship brand, Kendall-Jackson, is located in Sonoma County and is home to one of the most incredible edible gardens in the world. The lush, pristine acreage contains common produce like kale and tomatoes and strange wonders like oysterleaf (a type of borage that tastes like oysters) and cucamelon (teensy cucumbers that look like baby watermelons).
Though the garden is open to visitors, it's a working farm. Culinary gardener Tucker Taylor sells produce to Michelin-starred restaurants around wine country and the San Francisco Bay Area. The winery's chefs, Justin Wangler and Tracey Shepos Cenami, transform the produce into delightful wine and food pairings ($55) for guests. Almost all (if not all) of the produce featured in the five-course experience comes from the garden. And those dishes, along with others from various winery events, are what you'll feast your eyes on in the cookbook.
Many of the book's recipes are intended for entertaining (Cheesecake Soufflé, for instance), but some will become staples in your weekly rotation like Pumpkin Grits, Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Toasted Quinoa, and this Winter Greens salad topped with Tahini-Ginger Dressing. The Japanese dressing is so intoxicatingly good that you'll want to drizzle it on all your veg — sauteéd kale, steamed broccoli, and more.
One note from us regarding the citrus: Use a microplane to grate the orange zest before cutting the fruit into segments, and reserve any excess juices. Sprinkle the zest and juice over the salad along with the dressing. It'll sweeten and thus soften any bitterness from the greens and make the salad even more crave-worthy.
Winter Greens & Citrus Salad with Tahini-Ginger Dressing
(Serves 4 to 6)
Tucker's winter salad mix is light on lettuce and long on greens and brassicas that he grows in the shelter of our hoop houses. They're often young versions of hardier greens, like baby chard, baby mustard, baby broccoli, baby bok choy, and pea shoots—still small, sweet, and tender enough to eat raw in salads. They call for substantial dressings with more creaminess and cling. This one, thickened and sweetened with fresh apple, is our tahini-based take on the classic miso-ginger dressing often served in Japanese restaurants.
A Supreme Technique: Citrus is at its peak in the colder months, and it's ideal for brightening a salad of winter greens. When you take the extra time to make “supremes," by paring away the pith and membrane as directed in this recipe, you'll find that grapefruit, orange, and even lemon are sweeter and more delicate. —Tracey
Wine Pairing:Nielson Viognier ($25): Floral notes, ripe stone fruit, and citrus give Viognier unique pairing powers, even with challenging flavor combos like orange, peppery radishes, and a creamy dressing.
Ingredients:
Tahini-Ginger Dressing:
- 1 small Fuji apple, peeled, halved, cored, and chopped
- 2 teaspoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
- 1⁄2 shallot, chopped
- 1 teaspoon pickled ginger
- 1 tablespoon pickled ginger juice
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon white or regular soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons mirin
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons rice oil or other neutral-flavored oil
Salad:
- 2 Cara cara oranges
- 1 small watermelon radish
- 10 ounces winter lettuce mix
- Maldon sea salt
Directions:
1. To Make the Tahini-Ginger Dressing: Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. You should have about 1 cup, but you will need only 1/2 cup for this recipe. The leftover dressing will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
2. To assemble the salad: Cut a thin slice off the top and bottom of 1 orange to reveal the flesh. Stand the orange upright and, using a sharp knife and following the contour of the fruit, slice downward, cutting off the peel, pith, and membrane in wide strips. Then, cut along each side of the membrane between the segments to release the segments. Repeat with the second orange. Cut the segments in half crosswise.
3. Using a mandoline, shave the radish into paper-thin circles. Cut each circle in half.
4. In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, orange segments, and radish. Drizzle with 1/2 cup of the dressing, season to taste with Maldon salt, and toss to coat evenly. Serve immediately.
Pin now, make later by following Brit + Co on Pinterestand check out our Easter side dishes for more inspo!
(Recipes via Season: A Year of Wine Country Food, Farming, Family, & Friends by Steve Siegelman; photos via Alan Campbell)
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