After a long career in magazine editing and professional cooking, Susie Middleton returned to her first love--writing--in January of 2008. The former Editor (and current Editor at Large) for Fine Cooking magazine, Susie is the author of Fast, Fresh, & Green (Chronicle Books, April 2010) and the host of her website, www.sixburnersue.com, where she blogs about cooking and growing vegetables.
Way back when, Susie graduated from Peter Kump's New York Cooking School (now called The Institute of Culinary Eductation, or ICE), and later on was inducted into their inaugural Alumni Hall of Achievement. Along the way, she had the fabulous experience of cooking at Al Forno restaurant in Providence, R.I., with chefs Johanne Kileen and George Germon, and then worked for a busy caterer and market in Newport, Rhode Island, where she first started developing her own recipes. In 1996, Susie joined up with what was then a new magazine from The Taunton Press in Newtown, Connecticut--Fine Cooking. During her years at the magazine, in addition to overseeing the development of the magazine, the special issues program, and the website, Susie wrote dozens of recipe features, many on her specialty--vegetable cooking.
These days, Susie lives, writes, cooks, and grows vegetables on the island of Martha's Vineyard. She was consulting editor for the startup of Edible Vineyard magazine in 2009, and consults for Edible Communities Publications, which now includes 62 Edible magazines nationwide. In addition to blogging on her own site, Susie also occasionally blogs about sustainable food on the Green Page of the Huffington Post (www.huffingtonpost.com/susie-middleton).
Susie organized her first cookbook, Fast, Fresh & Green, by cooking technique--rather than by ingredient or dish--so that she could help people add new ways to cook vegetables to their every day repertoires. The book has 9 great ways to cook vegetables. Eight of those techniques--from quick-roasting and quick-braising to stir-frying and even no-cooking--are perfect for weeknights. The ninth technique--baking gratins--is a slower-but-worth-it idea for weekends. The recipes, which use more than 50 vegetables, are designed to be side dishes, though many can move to the center of the plate. Sample recipes include: Quick-Roasted Cauliflower with Zesty Orange-Olive Dressing; Sweet Potato "Mini-Fries" with Limey Dipping Sauce; Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas with Salami Crisps, and Stir Fried Swiss Chard with Pine Nuts and Balsamic Butter.
