[.ca] The Herbfarm Cookbook (ISBN 0684839768)

From Amazon.com:
Since 1990, Jerry Traunfeld has been the chef at the Herbfarm, a restaurant-nursery nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State devoted to propagating an exceptional variety of culinary herbs, edible flowers, and greens. People wait months for a table at this restaurant, where Traunfeld's unaffected yet sophisticated cooking unfolds in a nine-course dinner. Reading his recipes, you understand why. It is hard to get through even the first chapter, on soups, without starting a shopping list for making Green Gazpacho, a cooling blend of cucumbers and green pepper with spearmint, parsley, and cilantro, or Herbal Chicken Noodle Soup, lavish with fresh basil, chives, tarragon, and marjoram. After enticing you with the story of his signature dish, a green salad made with up to 30 ingredients, each literally harvested and assembled on the plate one leaf and blossom at a time, Traunfeld shows how, using more typical resources, you can construct a salad friends will declare a delicious work of art. To make it really simple, he provides a chart listing 50 possible choices that helps you balance the flavors, including hot, sweet, bitter, and aromatic, and the colors and textures that make a salad more than a plate of lovely greens. However, if you don't live in a culinary paradise like the Seattle area, only have access to a typical supermarket, and you don't want to grow your own herbs, you can still infuse your cooking with the same enticing magic Traunfeld creates at the Herbfarm. Just tuck sprigs of thyme, rosemary, or oregano between the slices of a loaf of country bread spread with butter or olive oil and roasted garlic, wrap it in foil, and pop it in the oven for a quick 12 minutes. Or try Mashed Potatoes with Toasted Coriander, the seeds adding earthy flavor to a perennial favorite, and serve with chicken piccata enlivened with fresh dill. Traunfeld is such a good teacher and clear writer that you follow with confidence when he guides you through Herb-Smoked Salmon--first dry-rubbed, then smoked over dried stems from basil, thyme, or fennel and finally baked until the fish is just gently set. You also get an introduction to the Japanese concept of umami, a state of food perfection that Traunfeld achieves in his Umami Carrot Soup with Mint. Following the 200 recipes and alluring photos of some prepared dishes, you learn about growing herbs, both in the garden and in containers. A section describing herbs and edible flowers, from angelica to violets, is ample and articulate enough to stand on its own as a book, and those interested in gardening will appreciate the list of nurseries here. Finally, this section includes a table covering 29 herbs that will help you transform your own favorite dishes simply by adding fresh herbs. --Dana Jacobi

A real treasure:
The recipes in Jerry Traunfeld's The Herbfarm Cookbook will make your taste buds perk up and sing. And they'll have your friends begging for dinner invitations. After reading an essay by the author on growing herbs, I bought this book to learn about herb gardening. Three months later, I find it my favorite--and most-used-- new cookbook since I discovered Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking thirty-odd years ago. The Herbfarm Cookbook is not merely an extraordinary source of scrumptious recipes; it has transformed the way I cook--even the way I think about food. Traubman uses herbs to intensify the flavors of foods--in glorious combinations. He infuses the cream for a panna cotta with ginger and lavender or turns a simple white gazbacho into the essence of summer with the addition of mint, parsley and tarragon. Purees of fresh herbs form bases for relatively light yet rich-tasting sauces. While he may call for a half cup of basil here or 3/4 cups of tarragon there, none of his dishes are overpowered by a too-dominant flavor. In fact, the amazing thing about cooking with herbs in this manner is the way they underscore the tastes of star ingredients. Vegetables as ordinary as parsnips and carrots become sublime. The simplest roast chicken or linguine in clam sauce gains intriguing overtones and new interest. Halibut roasted in an herbal green robe. Couscous salad with cumin, cilantro and apricots. Appetizers of broiled figs sprinkled with thyme on gorgonzola-slathered croutes or mussels on little beds of broiled mint pesto. Every recipe I have tried has been amazing. And most of them have been surprisingly simple. The author is the chef of one of America's most acclaimed restaurants. Yet his book is a joy for an amateur like me who doesn't keep truffles and foie gras on hand or have access to even one helper. Even the herbs are, for the most part, easy to find, and there are plenty of suggestions for substitutes. Best of all, cooking from this book has given me a firsthand understanding of the excitement of modern American cuisine. Bringing out the very essence of a food...giving the taste buds a new thrill of recognition...taking the familiar and making it new and wonderful. For someone who loves to explore ways of making food delicious, The Herbfarm Cookbook is a revelation. And by the way, it's also a fabulous guide to herb gardening.

The best reference for herbs:
Despite the fact that this is, first, a cookbook, I found that it also offers the most comprehensive information regarding the growing and harvesting of herbs, including herbs in containers. For the first time, with Jerry's instructions, I am cutting my herbs in the right places (Italian parsley from the outside leaves in, cutting right at the bottom) so that they grow fuller and remain healthy. The best reference I've found.

The Best Cookbook Out There:
The Herbfarm Cookbook not only is filled with absoloutly scrumptious recipes but also is an excellent guide to basic cooking technique and herb properties. Even when I have no herbs available I will look up an Herbfarm recipe to use as my technique guide. The book is complete with herd substitutions in case a certain herd is not available. The herbs in the recipes blend so well that a better meal is unimaginable.

My favorite cookbook--Easy Elegance!:
Growing up in the Seattle area, the Herbfarm Restaurant was our local version of Napa's French Laundry: very difficult to get into, very expensive, but a 'must-do' culinary experience where you'd likely be served the meal of your life. In the late 90s, I worked with a guy who held another job as a part-time prep cook at the Herbfarm. After the restaurant burned down and chef Jerry Traunfeld was finishing up this cookbook during the re-build, that prep-cook brought in a few of the recipes for me to preview before the book went to press. After trying the pork with sage, onions and prosciutto served over toasted coriander mashed potatoes and runner beans with summer savory, I was hooked! I had to go out and buy the cookbook, and I still use it more than any other. Most of the recipes in this book contain only a few ingredients and are quick and easy to prepare (I'd say most can be put together on a busy weeknight), but you've never know it based on the flavor and presentation of the each dish. Other easy, elegant favorites of mine include: dilled chicken piccata, rosemary grilled chicken, the delicata squash with sage, the trout with rosemary and thyme...every recipe is delicious. Enjoy!

An easy to use resource for all cooks and gardeners!:
I just received this book from my husband as a Christmas gift. I devoured it in a week, reading it almost like a novel. Now I am bursting with ideas I can't wait to test when spring arrives and I can begin to harvest my backyard herbs. I have never heard of the Herb Farm but last year I was lucky enough to dine at Sooke Harbour House on Vancouver Island, which is a fine restaurant that relies heavily on its extensive surrounding herb gardens. I have been growing herbs in large and small pots and here and there in my yard for several years (Richter's Herbs is a super source here in Canada) because I like their fragrances and how they look. But I have been a bit afraid of cooking with them. My trip to Sooke Harbour House started to build my confidence. Jerry Traunfeld writes with such an easy, confident and passionate style you know these are recipes he has cooked many times and they will work, and his gardening advice rings true as well! Now with this book handy on my shelf, I am ready and eager to really get cooking! I strongly recommend this book to all cooks and gardeners!