“Sumac grows wild throughout the Northeast. It adds an interesting color contrast and tartness to the dish.”
“The sauce gives the dish some richness. The yogurt brings a mouthwatering lactic acid that gives a little extra weight to the vegetables.”
“It gives the dish a bitter crunch to battle the sweet elements, like sunchokes, carrots, and beets.”
“These fall in the crunch camp; they still have a little al dente bite to them. We finish them in a lemon vinaigrette, so there’s a burst of flavor. It’s very bright.”
“These are the whole almonds, before they get dry. We put on a little fleur de sel, and dress them with a light Ligurian olive oil. It really brings out that herbal quality in them, and yet you really taste the olive oil as itself, too.”
“We try to use all of the vegetables here – the root, the leaf, the stem – to get different plays on flavors. It’s our version of nose-to-tail cooking. The pickling liquid is red-wine vinegar, sugar, salt, and star anise, and a touch of beet juice to give it color.”
“Sunchokes last the longest of all the winter roots, because they have so much sugar, and when they caramelize during cooking, they bring a sweetness without adding sugar.”
“These carrots are soft and sweet and aromatic. They’re glazed with vegetable stock and a touch of butter, and then that lemon vinaigrette, which has an undercurrent of sweetness from a little wildflower honey we put in it. It’s subtle, but you pick it up behind that lemony pop.”
“Now’s the time that all the chives that popped up with the sun have flowered! Not only are they aromatic, but there's even a punch of onion that’s nice and strong.”