The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food [Hardcover]

Ian Knauer (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 17, 2012

When Ian Knauer was a cook in the Gourmet test kitchen, he quickly became known for recipes so stupendously good that they turned the heads of the country’s top food editors—effortless combinations that made the best of seasonal produce or treats from the Pennsylvania farm that has been in his family since the eighteenth century.

In The Farm, Knauer brings his creations to your kitchen. From Cold-Spring-Night Asparagus Soup to Brick Chicken with Corn and Basil Salad, the 150 recipes in this book will help you make the most of your market, garden, or CSA. They are fresh, modern spins on American classics, with ingredients anyone can obtain. Each one is simple, distinctive, and satisfying, getting the best food to the table in the least amount of time. They are both homey and sophisticated.

You’ll find recipes that incorporate all parts of the vegetable, like Pasta with Radishes and Blue Cheese, which incorporates the radish leaves as well as the root, and spritely Swiss Chard Salad. You’ll learn how to make great food from simple ingredients you have on hand, like Potato Nachos. You’ll discover recipes for less-familiar produce from your market or your backyard, such as Chicken with Garlic Scape Pesto and Dandelion Green Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing.

Many of these recipes have been in Knauer’s family for generations, like Pennsylvania Dutch-Style Green Beans or Cloud Biscuits. You won’t want to miss his expertly tweaked renditions of his mother and grandmother’s desserts: Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie, Blueberry Belle Crunch, and Mary’s Lemon Sponge Pie.

Whether you want to learn how to roast a pig, make your own hot sauce, or brew hard cider, The Farm brings artisanal cooking home, even as Knauer’s vivid stories trace a year in the seasons of the farm.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sample Recipe from The Farm: Spicy Cilantro Chicken Wings

Serves 4 to 6

Everyone loves chicken wings, that fiery and buttery all-American snack that pairs perfectly with lots and lots of beer. I love adding unexpected flavors to familiar foods, and these wings are a perfect example of why it’s fun to think outside the bottle of Frank’s hot sauce. The chile, lime, garlic, cilantro, and Worcestershire provide a savory-acidic base for the sauce and add many new and wonderful layers of flavor, while the butter coats the wings with a luscious richness.

1/3 cup chopped cilantro stems
1-1/2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 hot green chile, such as habanero, serrano, or Thai, chopped
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1-3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
3 pounds chicken wings
About 4 cups vegetable oil for frying
Cilantro leaves

Puree the cilantro stems, lime zest, juice, Worcestershire, chile, garlic, 3/4 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper in a blender until smooth. With the motor running, add the butter, blending until it is incorporated. Transfer the sauce to a large bowl.

Pat the wings dry, then halve them at the joint and season them with the remaining 1 teaspoon salt.

Heat 1 inch of oil in a pot or deep heavy skillet to 400°F. Fry the wings in 2 or 3 batches, turning occasionally, until they are golden and cooked through, about 8 minutes per batch (return the oil to 400°F between batches). As they are cooked, transfer the wings to the bowl with the sauce, tossing them to coat, or serve the sauce on the side for dipping. With tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the wings to a serving plate and sprinkle with the cilantro leaves. Serve the wings with the remaining sauce on the side.

About the Author

A former food editor at Gourmet, Ian Knauer wrote extensively for the magazine and its website and also co-hosted the magazines awarding winning television series, Diary of a Foodie, and Adventures with Ruth. He now develops recipes for the Food Network, including for the show The Next Food Network Star, and the Cooking Channel. He contributes articles and recipes to Men's Health, Men's Journal, theAtlantic.com, Bon Appétit, Fine Cooking, AOL Food, Salon.com., and Gillt.com. He blogs at http://bigcitycountryboy.blogspot.com.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1 edition (April 17, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547516916
• ISBN-13: 978-0547516912
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #55 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Occasions > Seasonal
  • #73 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Entertaining

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

92 of 93 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Demonstrates love of family, the land, and food April 4, 2012

By I Do The Speed Limit TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

This cookbook was not quite what I had hoped for, but it's still a lovely book and has value:

I saw the title on this cook book and it called to me: Even though I commute into Houston for work Monday through Friday, we live an hour away in the country. We grow our own veggies and herbs, raise chickens for eggs, pick our own fruit, visit the processing plant for sides of pork, catch our own fish, pick up shrimp and oysters at the boat dock and patronize an old-time butcher. I augment our own food with stops at an Asian market and a "regular" well-stocked food store on my route home from work. Eating fresh and cooking from scratch is an every day event for us. So I figured this was a great book for my cook book library. I pictured dog-eared, well-worn pages within a few months' time.

So, of course, I was looking forward to seeing what this cook book had to offer. Even my husband was excited and anxiously awaited its arrival. Specifically, what I was looking for (always looking for...): NEW, intriguing and interesting recipes for tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, Japanese eggplant, fresh beans and string beans, peaches, figs, pecans, eggs and ice cream. I didn't find them. Well, I found a few good recipes, even a few great recipes, but there weren't enough to make it the outstanding, inspiring book that I had hoped it would be. And for tomatoes, zukes and cukes there were only a token few recipes and they were kind of mediocre.

Don't get me wrong: This is not a poor cook book, nor is it an average cook book. It's a nice read, filled with decent recipes using fresh ingredients and many great accompanying sauces and slaws.... But I was expecting (and aching for) a cook book that I could rate an over-the-top six stars, but--as you can see--after nearly a month of working with this book, and thinking hard on it, I've ended up giving it (a low) four stars.

Not recipe-related:

From the stories the author tells as an introduction to each chapter, I find I like this guy and his family and friends. I envy him and his group of helpers and the way they pitch in and get the work done; the way the older members coach and encourage the younger ones; the way they respect the land and the old farm and its heritage. And this last point might well be the most important about the book, for this cook book surely is a beautiful tribute to the Knauer Family Farm in Knauertown, Pennsylvania, (in Warwick Township, Chester County).

What I liked:

--The radish butter is "to die for", (if you make it with top quality bacon) and we've been chomping our way through our radishes as quickly as they pop above the ground (but this is not a healthy recipe...)
--The idea for "Master Fat" is one of those ideas where you smack your forehead and say to yourself "Why didn't I think of this?!" It's a keeper idea.
--This book encouraged me to use more scallions, and I have, and I'm hooked. We are onion lovers and use Texas 1015 Sweet onions daily, but scallions are now pre-empting the onions in our Spring-time dishes.
--There are some beautiful old recipes that the author has graciously passed down to all of us from his grandmother. Being a collector of old recipe cards and old recipes in general, I know that these are not easy to part with and are hard to come by.
--There is a tangy Pennsylvania Dutch-style sauce for green beans, golden in color, and made with milk, vinegar, brown sugar and onions. It is luscious (and almost too good for green beans).
--The strawberry and sour cream ice cream recipe is different from any I've found online or in a book. I am tweaking the recipe a bit, but it's great as is. (We love to make ice cream.)
--The Rhubarb-Sour Cream Crostata Pie is superb.
--There are plenty of swiss chard, corn and radish recipes.

I have mixed feelings about:

--The claim that these are "recipes for a year of incredible food" since it implies more recipes than there are, and because I'm already struggling to find recipes in the book for things I can make from what I have at hand (in our gardens or in our freezers).
--There are substitutions offered for some hard-to-find ingredients--and they don't always work well. For instance: In the Mustard Garlic Chicken Paillards with Spring Peas and Lemon, I substituted (as suggested) frozen peas for fresh. It was a mistake. I should have gone with another green veggie because the frozen peas brought the whole dish down. I will use this recipe again, because it was otherwise very good, and I'll try it with baby limas or just go with sugar snap peas.
--There is a good representation of all kinds of greens, maybe too many?
--Grilling instructions will be inadequate for beginning grillers: "Preheat the grill." Is about the extent of the directions you'll receive. This doesn't bother me because I've been grilling for more years than I'd like to say, but many inexperienced grillers will be left in a quandary.
--There seems to be an abundance of what I would call "blah" recipes: Green beans with garlic chips, garlic pesto roast chicken, a BLT sandwich, a Lebanon baloney sandwich (more a tribute to his Grandfather than a real recipe), chilled corn soup, simple white bread recipes, braised lamb shanks, grilled romaine, a green goddess dressing, chicken with a ton of garlic. I could add many more. Maybe I feel that way because I am a very experienced home cook. Other cooks may be very happy with these simpler recipes: They are perfectly fine recipes, just simple and somewhat basic.
--There are other recipes that lack depth: For instance there is a chicken stew and dumplings, and the chicken is cooked in water--not broth--and I found that the resulting flavor was not what it could be. There are others.

What I didn't like, (but maybe you will):

--I will never make an all-parsley salad. Never.
--I will never cook a 2 ˝" thick rib eye steak in a pan on the stovetop.
--I will never have the opportunity to roast a whole pig. (Maybe I should never say never...but...) Between pictures, story and recipe, there are eight pages dedicated to this activity. In this particular book, I think that's a few too many pages.
--Same with the canning section: I don't need another recipe for canned tomatoes, tomato sauce or ketchup. Plus I don't can now; I do refrigerator and freezer pickles because it keeps the kitchen cooler.
--Definitely not enough tomato, zucchini and cuke recipes. I said it above and feel it necessary to say it again. There are only a minimum, only a token few.
--I will never find garlic scapes or ramps in my neck of the woods.*

*The potential buyer of this cook book should take into consideration that while most recipes contain ingredients readily available across the country, the veggie recipes feature plants and herbs that grow on this particular Pennsylvanian farm. So, you won't find a recipe for okra or one for watermelon. You'll find walnuts and apples, not pecans and peaches. And the foraging chapter is geared to the north and foraging in the south will be different. And while there's meat from the local butcher or from the fields surrounding the farm, you won't find a single recipe that includes fish or other seafood--well, anchovies are in there somewhere. You will find a few recipes for ramps, garlic scapes, wild mushrooms and critters that you won't find down south. Substitutions are provided for regional items you might not be able to find (except ramps and garlic scapes, for which there are no suitable subs). Read more ›

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Crisco and Chanterelles May 4, 2012

By M. Feldman TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

It does seem as if farm-to-table cookbooks have become as ubiquitous as dandelions. Ian Knauer's The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food is an appealing entry with an engaging narrative about working a farm that belonged to his Pennsylvania grandparents. I suspect that the photography, by the Canal House series writers Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer, is every bit as gorgeous as the black and white proofs in my review copy seem to promise.

And now to the recipes (including two for dandelions). I won't review a cookbook without making a serious effort to try a range of recipes. Knauer's choices are an eclectic bunch, from a recipe for baking powder biscuits straight out of his grandmother's recipe box (Crisco!) to a recipe for a roast chicken basted and finished with wheat beer. The biscuits were light and tasty, the chicken perfectly pleasant, with plenty of liquid to moisten the leftovers. Likewise, a rhubarb crostata was nice, if unexceptional, while short ribs with dried fruit was on the rich and heavy side. Guests took seconds on the tart but not the ribs. Raisin-caper broccoli was good, but does the world need another recipe for lemon pudding cake or molasses raisin cookies? I think I liked the Dandelion Greens with Garlic, Pine Nuts, and Golden Raisins the best of all.

I doubt I'll reach for this book very much. My go-to cookbooks when the garden is bursting are Marian Morash's sensibly arranged (by vegetable) Victory Garden Cookbook, Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, and Alice Waters's The Art of Simple Food. What I like about these three books is that so many of the recipes are delicious and simple, whereas some of the non-Grandma ones in The Farm strike me as a bit contrived.... It must be difficult to write a new cookbook that focuses on seasonal produce that is so good that it needs little adornment (unless it's the woodchuck, the subject of one amusing recipe). The truth is that beautiful produce in season and the hard-working home gardeners that labor to produce it deserve a minimum of fuss.

M. Feldman Read more ›

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Memoir of a Family Farm April 15, 2012

By S. D. Fischer VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I requested The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food for the recipes but ended up loving it primarily for the writing.

The author's introduction describes the book well: "This book is a journal of abundance and the beginning of a new generation's thumbprint on what has become an ancient family tradition. Chapters follow the seasons of the garden, beginning in the early spring and ending well into the winter."

Each chapter opens with an anecdote of time the author spent on his family's farm in Pennsylvania and each recipe includes a note about the history of the dish, preparation tips, and/or serving suggestions.

In addition to an index at the end of the book, recipes are listed by category on three pages prior to the introduction: Starters (8); Soups (2); Salads and Slaws (14); Breakfast and Brunch (3); Sandwiches and Pizza (7); Breads (4); Pasta, Rice and Polenta (11); Poultry (14); Pork (10); Beef (5); Lamb (2); Game (7); Side Dishes (26); Preserves (14); Desserts (21) and Miscellaneous (5)....

The first chapter, Spring Planting, includes recipes for:
* Artichokes with Souped-Up Mayo
* Soft-Boiled Eggs with Watercress and Walnut-Ricotta Crostini
* Cheese Grits Nuggets
* Spaghetti with Arugula Carbonara
* Wheat Beer Chicken
* Cast-Iron Seared Cornish Hens with Baby Potatoes and Chives
* Paprika Pork Chops with Scallion-Citrus Relish
* Dried-Fruit-Braised Short Ribs
* Spring Pork Stew
* Chicken Stew with Dill-Scallion Dumplings
* Baby Lettuce Salad with Avocado Dressing
* Molasses-Orange-Glazed Carrots
* Creamed Spring Onions with Wine and Bacon
* Twice-Baked Chipotle Potatoes
* Rhubarb-Sour Cream Crostata Pie
* Lemon Pudding Cake
* Buttermilk Ricotta
* Master Fat

The next chapter, A Single Spear of Asparagus, contains recipes including:
* Radishes with Bacon Butter
* Cold-Spring-Night Asparagus Soup
* Asparagus and Scrambled Egg All-Day Breakfast Sandwich
* Spring Risotto
* Mustard-Garlic Children Paillards with Spring Peas and Lemon
* Scallion-Rubbed Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Radish-Oregano Slaw
* Garlic-Rubbed Boneless Leg of Lamb with Cucumber-Mint Sauce
* Asparagus and Baby Potato Roast
* Grilled Asparagus and Shaved Fennel Tangle
* Beet and Snap Pea Salad with Ricotta
* Watercress and Radish Salad with Pennsylvania Pickled Eggs
* The Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg
* Creamed Watercress
* Strawberry-Rhubarb Fool Shortcake
* Mary's Lemon Sponge Pie

The third chapter, A New Link in the Chain, features recipes for:
* Spicy Cilantro Chicken Wings
* Pasta with Garlic-Scape Pesto
* Pasta with Radishes and Blue Cheese
* Honey-Jalapeno Chicken Tenders
* Grilled Chorizo with Corn and Bell Pepper Salsa
* Seared Cowboy Steaks with Guinness Sauce
* Garlic-Pesto Roast Chicken
* Green Salad with Green Goddess Dressing
* Green Beans with Garlic Chips and Olive Oil
* Turnip Reunion
* Kielbasa Roast Potatoes
* Strawberry-Cream Cheese Pie
* Strawberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream
* My Grandmother's 1-2-3-4 Cake

The next chapter, "I Got a Pig," includes recipes for:
* Whole Roast Pig
* Beer and Garlic Roast Pork
* Roast Pork Chili
* Big Phil's Mac `n' Cheese
* Grilled Corn with Chili-Cilantro Butter
* Turkey-Bacon Burgers
* Grilled Caesar Salad with Yogurt Dressing
* Corn and Potato Salad
* Smoked Cheddar and Jalapeno Corn Bread
* Molasses Raisin Walnut Cookies
* Vanilla Bean-Mayonnaise Cupcakes with Glossy Chocolate Icing

The fifth chapter, Eating Between the Rows, features recipes for:
* Ramp Tagliatelle
* Seared Duck Breasts with Chanterelles
* Shiitake-Stuffed Cornish Hens
* Pursulana Salad
* Dandelion Green Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing
* Dandelion Greens with Garlic, Golden Raisins and Pine Nuts
* Sorrel-Buttermilk Panna Cotta
* Sour Cherry Cordial
* Homemade Yogurt with Wineberries in Honey Syrup
* Blueberry Belle Crunch

The following chapter, The Unstoppable Bounty of the Garden, includes recipes for:
* Chilled Corn Soup with Red Pepper Relish
* Pizza Dough
* Grilled BLT Pizza
* Zucchini Pizza
* Swiss Chard and Fresh Ricotta Pizza
* Ceci's BLT
* Corn and Parmesan Pesto with Tagliatelle
* Silky Savory Summer Sour Cream Flan
* Grilled Filet Mignon with Summer Herb Sauce
* Beet, Blue Cheese, and Almond Salad
* Pennsylvania Dutch-Style Green Beans
* String Beans with Herb Butter
* Shredded Swiss Chard Salad
* Easy Sauteed Chard
* Lemon-Garlic Swiss Chard
* Grilled Eggplant with Cilantro Pesto
* Potato Nachos
* Grilled Zucchini with Fresh Tomato Vinaigrette
* Cocoa-Zucchini Cake with "Whipped Cream" Frosting
* Zucchini with Their Flowers
* Magic Peach Cobbler

The seventh chapter is entitled, "A Jar Full of Sunshine, A Bottle Full of Sin" and includes a guide to canning plus recipes for:
* Pickled Beets
* Vinegar Chiles
* Hot Sauce
* Dill Pickle Spears
* Zucchini Relish
* Tomato Sauce
* Canned Tomatoes
* Homemade Ketchup
* Tomato Jam
* Peaches in Honey Syrup
* Quince "Honey"
* Refrigerator Radish Pickles
* Cooked Pumpkin Puree
* Hard Cider
* Strawberry-Cherry-Rhubarb Preserves

The next chapter, A Cool Change in the Breeze, features recipes for:
* Coriander Seed-Cornmeal Fried Chicken
* Quick Coq Au Vin
* Herb-Roasted Lamb Shanks
* Hot Pepper-Garlic Flank Steak with Quick Cucumber and Chile Pickles
* Butternut-Caramelized Onion Pizza
* Raisin-Caper Broccoli
* Roasted Butternut and Chard Stem Hash
* Thyme-Roasted Butternut Squash
* Kale and Toasted Walnut Salad
* Creamy Long-Cooked Collards
* Mustardy Mustard Collard Greens
* Silky Eggplant Puree
* Pumpkin Cake with Bourbon-Caramel Sauce

The ninth chapter is entitled, "Loving, Learning, and a Ton of Hard Work." Recipes include:
* Lebanon Bologna Sandwiches
* The Best Meat Loaf
* Rabbit in Cider-Mustard Sauce
* Mustard-Garlic Venison Roast (or Boneless Leg of Lamb)
* Venison Loin (or Beef Tenderloin) with Creamy Leek Sauce
* Venison Loin with Apple-Shallot Hash
* Chunky Chipotle Venison (or Beef) Chili
* Mushroom Venison (or Beef) Stew
* Groundhog (or Chicken or Rabbit) Cacciatore
* Crispy Potato Cake with Garlic and Herbs
* Celery Root and Parsnip Puree
* Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Polenta
* Grandmom's Bread
* Cloud Biscuits
* My Bread
* Black Walnut Cake
* Prebaked Pie Shell
* Mincemeat Pie
* Apple and Concord Grape Tart

The final chapter, Fifty Heads of Garlic, includes recipes for:
* Cider-Braised Bacon Crostini with Fried Green Tomatoes and Parsley Salad
* Garlic-Roasted Brussels Chips
* Pasta with Shredded Collard Greens
* Escarole and Leek Pappardelle
* Spinach and Walnut Lasagna
* Potato-Cheddar Pancakes with Perfect Fried Eggs
* Chicken with a Ton of Garlic
* Apple-Cider-Glazed Sticky Ribs
* Dried-Fruit-Stuffed Pork Loin with Apple-Mustard Cream
* Pork and Sauerkraut
* Orange-Lemon Escarole Salad
* Red Cabbage Balsamic Slaw with Bacon Bits and Parsley
* Chile Vinegar-Parsley Salad
* Fresh Ginger-Apple Tarte Tatin
* Apple Rumble Crumble
* Grandma McLean's Molasses Crumb Cupcakes

The Pennsylvania Dutch clearly influenced the author's family (as far as work ethic and cuisine). You can see in the list of recipes that most of the dishes, even the vegetable sides, include meat (including one that features groundhog).

I would like to have seen more vegetarian recipes. The Green Salad with Green Goddess Dressing calls for anchovies, Pasta with Radishes and Blue Cheese and Pasta with Shredded Collard Greens both call for bacon, and both Cold-Spring-Night Asparagus Soup and Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Polenta call for chicken stock. While I can easily leave out the bacon and use vegetable stock in place of the chicken stock, the recipes depend on the original ingredients for the flavor profile.

Most of the ingredients are likely to be found in the average kitchen. While the author includes recipes that call for venison (and one for groundhog), he makes it clear that other types of meat can be substituted for a similar result. Similarly, while he recommends black walnuts for the Black Walnut Cake, he notes that regular English walnuts may be substituted.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, I really enjoyed the author's writing style. He has a wonderful way of describing his experiences on the farm that made me feel as if I were there with him. His descriptions were vivid (without being overly wordy). Here is an example from "A Cool Change in the Breeze":

"On cue, the days became shorter, the leaves started to turn the colors of sunsets, and there was an unfamiliar chill on the edge of the dark night air. The peppers in their hued extravagance cried out to be saved. I dried the seeds from my favorite peppers and placed them in waxed paper bags, ready to placate my impatience in the coming March."

The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food was chosen as a "Must Read" in the April issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine: "Peppered with personal anecdotes, this cookbook reads more like a food diary. You'll want to keep this one in arm's reach." It was also one of three cookbooks chosen as "Recommended Reading" in the May 2012 issue of Country Living.

I am planting my first vegetable garden this summer and will be sure to consult The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food for recipes when it comes time to harvest. Read more ›