"Farm Series Cookbooks: Summer"
by Sybille van Kempen with Licia Kassim Householder
Loaves & Fishes, $50
While perusing the three new and colorful cookbooks by Sybille van Kempen, the first thought that popped into my mind was a question: "Where does she find the time to publish more books?!" The "Bridgehampton Inn Look and Cook Book" just came out in 2019.
Self-publishing by having your own Loaves & Fishes Press is a start. But keep in mind that Ms. van Kempen and her family are running the inn and restaurant, the Loaves & Fishes Cook Shop in Bridgehampton, which sells table linens, knives, place settings, and every other tool and product you would need for the kitchen and entertaining, and the Loaves & Fishes Food Store in Sagaponack, which sells all manner of gourmet foods, both fresh and frozen. I need a nap from just writing that.
The three cookbooks in the "Farm Series Cookbook: Summer" each focus on a different month and a particular farm: the Green Thumb, a Halsey family organic farm in Water Mill for June; the sixth-generation Foster Farm in Sagaponack for July, and Pike Farms, also in Sagaponack, for August. They were composed with the help of Licia Kassim Householder with stunning photography by Conor Harrigan and were designed by Maria Lavezzo. There are a lot of pictures in each one, making them almost mini coffee table books. There are occasional photographs of Ms. van Kempen visiting the farms, harvesting, cooking, presenting baskets of bounty, inspecting melons with Licia.
As each book is seasonal, the first one is focused on strawberries, cherries, beets, carrots, greens, herbs, and peas. There are approximately 20 recipes in each, with an introduction and some historical information about each farm and the farmers. There are even haikus composed by Ms. van Kempen in each one.
The Green Thumb book has a lot of tempting recipes like Thai coconut carrot soup, summer borscht, pea hummus, beet horseradish smorrebrod (an open-faced sandwich), and cherry hand pies.
The Foster Farm book has berries, tomatoes, summer squash, radishes, peppers, and ginger. If you don't know who the Fosters are, well then, by golly, you've been living under a rock. Or a potato. Marilee Foster and her brother, Dean Foster, have kept the family farm's quality top notch, while at the same time bringing some creative entrepreneurship into the mix with their Tiger Spuds potato chips and their Sagaponack Farm Distillery, which produces Sagaponacka vodka, Single Spud potato whiskey, aquavit, and more. The recipes in this book that sounded most mouthwatering are the roast ginger pork tenderloin, grilled radishes with garlic and anchovy dip, and raspberry pavlova. There is also a recipe for Lee Foster's "secret poppy seed dressing" that suggests you don't keep the dressing too close to the freezing coil in your fridge.
Each book has occasional "smart tips," or lagniappes, as they're called in New Orleans.
The Pike Farms book includes corn, stone fruits, figs, melons, Swiss chard, kale, and eggplants. When Ms. van Kempen's mother, Anna Pump, was still alive, I recall her telling me what pleasure she got from stepping out of the Loaves & Fishes Food Store and zipping down the road to Pike Farms to pick out perfect blueberries and corn. Jim and Jennifer Pike's produce is consistently and famously impeccable. Some of the noteworthy recipes are eggplant tomato feta casserole, kale leek potato mash, honeydew sherbet, and apricot galette.
Some of the recipes in each of the books seem to be staples at Loaves & Fishes Food Store, such as the rich and lightly spiced corn pudding, the spinach and mushroom sauté, and summer borscht. You will also find that certain recipes, or methods, are repeated to match the seasons, such as variations on smorrebrods, galettes, and meringues.
In the introduction to each book, Ms. van Kempen describes them as "part of a series of publications celebrating farmers in our local community by month, cooking and baking with their extraordinary ingredients. You'll want to collect them all! Happy gathering at your local farms."
Isn't it wonderful that someone has finally done this, recognized and honored our hardworking farmers and then turned their bounty into simple but sophisticated recipes?
I have known the Pump-van Kempen-Fengler family for quite a while and have always admired their warmth, work ethic, creativity, and enthusiasm.
These little volumes remind me of some of my favorite books as a child, Maurice Sendak's "Nutshell Library," a boxed set that contained "Alligators All Around," "Chicken Soup With Rice," "One Was Johnny," and "Pierre," charming little books for small hands.
I plan to collect each of the Loaves & Fishes "Farm Series Cookbooks" as they come out and share them as gifts. Like the haikus contained within, they are about seasons and nature, and have an artistic discipline, pared down, essential ingredients, and recipes. Brava!
Thai Coconut Carrot Soup
This recipe is from the Loaves & Fishes "Farm Series Cookbook: Summer" volume focusing on the Green Thumb in Water Mill and the month of June. You can find Thai red and green curry pastes at most grocery stores.
Serves six to eight.
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
Kosher salt to taste
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
5 cups peeled and chopped carrots
2 Tbsp. Thai red curry paste
1 Tbsp. Sriracha
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 14-oz. can full-fat coconut milk
Lime wedges for garnish
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
Heat olive or coconut oil in a Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Add in onion and celery and a large pinch of salt and cook for about five minutes or until onions are translucent. Add in garlic and ginger and cook for another two minutes. Add in carrots, curry paste, sriracha, fish sauce, and stock and bring to boil, turn the heat down to medium-low, and simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes or until carrots are fork-tender. Add in coconut milk and warm through. Season with salt and puree in a blender until creamy. Serve with a wedge of lime and fresh cilantro.
Roast Ginger Pork Tenderloin
This recipe is from the Foster Farm cookbook, focusing on the month of July. If I were you, I'd make two tenderloins to have leftovers!
Serves four.
1 lb. pork tenderloin
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, grated
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Pat pork tenderloin dry with paper towels. Place tenderloin into a roasting pan and season with salt and pepper on all sides. Whisk together remaining ingredients in a bowl and spread tenderloin with half of the marinade. Roast in oven for 10 to 15 minutes until a thermometer reads 135 to 140 degrees. Remove from oven and spread on remaining marinade. Broil for three to four minutes until slightly caramelized. Cover the tenderloin with foil and let sit for 10 minutes before slicing. Slice and place onto a platter for serving.
