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The Real Food Cookbook: Traditional Dishes for Modern Cooks

Nina Planck

By Jesse Kornbluth
Published: Jun 10, 2014
Category: Food and Wine

My 97-year-old mother thinks we spend too much for food.

“The prices of organic milk and grass-fed meat — they’re so expensive,” she says. “Why do you need them?”

And I say, “So we can live as long as you — we’re just trying to eat as you did for the first 50 years of your life.”

Or as Nina Planck does now.

Nina Planck, a farmer’s daughter, was raised on “real food, plain old American-style: meat, vegetables, whole grains, real milk and cheese.” Her mother used to say, “No matter how poor we are, we’ll always have real butter, olive oil and maple syrup.”

Then Nina read about the dangers of that way of eating, and she adopted the non-fat, vegetarian diet and six-mile runs that are said to lead to eternal life. It didn’t work out: “I was 20 pounds heavier than I am now and struggled constantly with my weight. I got colds and flu in colds and flu season. I was moody and irritable once a month. My nails were brittle and my skin was dry. My digestion was poor.”

Back up the truck! She reaffirmed the diet of her childhood, became a “conscientious omnivore,” started farmer’s markets in London and New York, married the king of cheesemongers, produced three children, published a book called Real Food: What to Eat, and Why — one triumph after another. I know Nina slightly. When I see her, I restrain myself from confessing that I want to be president of her fan club.

I am Nina’s fan because she is so resolutely human. “I’m not a foodie,” she says, and I believe her. She says she made many mistakes on the way to this way of cooking, and I believe that too. Her modest ambition: “to spare you a few wrong turns.” [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.]

One more cookbook, you say. More upgraded home cooking. And you already use the Canal House cookbook. Sigh. What’s it like?

It’s like: sensible. There is nothing earthshaking about “The Real Food Cookbook: Traditional Dishes for Modern Cooks” — which is exactly why I use it. But let the author speak:

It’s an idiosyncratic collection. The recipes here are those of a farmer’s daughter, former vegetarian, and home cook…. The ingredients are timeless, not trendy; the methods classic rather than rule-breaking. Above all, these are the dishes I love, made with real food.

This means cucumber lemonade, zucchini carpaccio, pea soup with mint, brisket, tacos, roasted beets, sweet onion custard, apple crisp. And it means smart commentary, like this about asparagus:

In May and June, farmers don’t let the spears grow: they cut them for you and me to enjoy. What the farmer who seeks perfect maturity looks for – or should – is not the spear diameter or height, but the scales. They should not be too closed and tight – that’s too young. Nor should they be splayed out, starting to reach away from the spear tip – that’s too old. In the perfect spear, the tip looks like a mermaid’s tail: smooth, but not tight. Let me repeat: it doesn’t matter whether the spear is fat or thin. All that matters to you, the cook, is how those scales look. Thick or thin, the spear will be perfect if the scales are perfect.

It does help to buy stalks with a similar thickness: they cook evenly. But I don’t find it onerous to drop the fatter ones in first. You can’t afford to be away from the pot when cooking asparagus anyway. It’s not the time to fold clothes or call your mother.

But forget the nonsense about slender = tender. It goes along with other rubbish about baby vegetables – I’m referring to tasteless miniature French beans, micro-leaves, and doll-sized, watery zucchini. I saw ‘infant arugula’ on a menu once, but I prefer mine all grown up.

That last line is the tell. This book is written by a human, for humans.

Some recipes…

THAI CHICKEN CURRY

This is a lovely dish, not my invention, with bottled condiments containing the not-so-secret Thai flavors, such as lemongrass and fermented fish, which make all the difference. Make it red, with a red pepper and red curry paste; or green, with the same items in that color. A simpatico seasonal vegetable is optional, but keep it simple; one is enough. Here’s a great moment for one of my little luxuries. When I can’t get to a farmers’ market, I stop at the supermarket on the school run for organic bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. Boy, are they delicious, and they cook fast. I roast them in 20 minutes. If you make this with cooked chicken, simply add the chicken with the basil.

serves 6

2 onions
1/4 cup olive oil or 4 Tablespoons coconut oil
1–2 Tablespoons red or green Thai curry paste
2 red or green bell peppers
1 eggplant, 2 zucchini, 1 quart snow peas or 1/2 lb green beans
1 lb chicken meat
1 14-oz can of unsweetened coconut milk (not “light”)
1 cup fish or chicken stock
1 Tablespoon fish sauce
1 knob of ginger
1 small bunch Thai basil
cooked rice to serve

1. Dice the onions and sauté them in the olive oil or coconut oil until half-soft. Add the curry paste and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Cut the peppers and the other vegetable in shapes you like and pieces of even size. Add them to the onions and sauté until the vegetables soften.
3. While the vegetables are getting soft, chop or shred the chicken. Add it to the vegetables and sauté until it’s lightly brown all over.
4. Add the coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, and a grating of ginger, and stir for 1 minute.
5. Chop or shred the basil. Add it to the pot and cook until the flavors have melded, about 5 minutes. Serve it over rice.

SHAVED FENNEL, APPLE AND RADISH SALAD

Olive oil
1 orange
Salt and pepper
Watermelon radish
Fennel
Green and red apples
Chives or parsley
Walnuts

1. Juice the orange. Whisk a dressing, using four parts olive oil to one part juice. Season.
2. Shave the radishes, fennel, and apples in very thin slices on a mandolin.
3. Mince the herbs.
4 .Toss it all, coating the vegetables thoroughly with the dressing.
5 . Scatter walnuts on top.