The Perennial Kitchen: Simple Recipes for a Healthy Future

by Beth Dooley, Mette Nielsen (Photographer)

Recipes and resources connect thoughtfully grown, gathered, and prepared ingredients to a healthy future—for food, farming, and humankind

Knowing how and where food is grown can add depth and richness to a dish, whether a meal of slow-roasted short ribs on creamy polenta, a steaming bowl of spicy Hmong soup, or a triple ginger rye cake, kissed with maple sugar, honey, and sorghum. Here James Beard Award–winning author Beth Dooley provides the context of food’s origins, along with delicious recipes, nutrition information, and tips for smart sourcing.  More than a farm-to-table cookbook, The Perennial Kitchen expands the definition of “local food” to embrace regenerative agriculture, the method of growing small and large crops with ecological services. These farming methods, grounded in a land ethic, remediate the environmental damage caused by the monocropping of corn and soybeans. In this thoughtful collection the home cook will find both recipes and insights into artisan grains, nuts, fruits, and vegetables that are delicious and healthy—and also help retain topsoil, sequester carbon, and return nutrients to the soil. Here are crops that enhance our soil, nurture pollinators and song birds, rebuild rural economies, protect our water, and grow plentifully without toxic chemicals. These ingredients are as good for the planet as they are on our plates.  Dooley explains how to stock the pantry with artisan grains, heritage dry beans, fresh flour, healthy oils, and natural sweeteners. She offers pointers on working with grass-fed beef and pastured pork and describes how to turn leftovers into tempting soups and stews. She makes the most of each season’s bounty, from fresh garlic scape pesto to roasted root vegetable hummus. Here we learn how best to use nature’s “fast foods,” the quick-cooking egg and ever-reliable chicken; how to work with alternative flours, as in gingerbread with rye or focaccia with Kernza®; and how to make plant-forward, nutritious vegan and vegetarian fare. Among other sweet pleasures, Dooley shares the closely held secret recipe from the University of Minnesota’s student association for the best apple pie. Woven throughout the recipes is the most recent research on nutrition, along with a guide to sources and information that cuts through the noise and confusion of today’s food labels and trends.  Beth Dooley looks back into ingredients’ healthy beginnings and forward to the healthy future they promise. At the center of it all is the cook, linking into the regenerative and resilient food chain with every carefully sourced, thoughtfully prepared, and delectable dish.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction

216 pages, Hardcover

Published May 18, 2021

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on the title and the cover you might think this cookbook only highlights recipes/cooking with perennial vegetables/herbs/etc. But, the book goes beyond that to highlight foods grown through regenerative agriculture and heirloom varieties. In my opinion a lot of people think the answer to climate change or industrial agriculture is to eat less or no meat, but that only pushes vegetable industrial agriculture (like soybeans and corn). The real answers are smaller, sustainable, regenerative farms that are bringing back heritage breeds of animals and heirloom vegetables/grains/fruit/etc. And that is what the recipes in this book focus on. There are typical cookbook chapters on baking, vegetables, grains, meat and eggs, soup, and desserts. But, the first chapter is the Perennial Pantry and covers how to stock your pantry with heirloom/heritage staples. And the final chapter is Preserving the Seasons with recipes for pickles, jams, etc. Overall, I thought this was a very unique cookbook that focuses on sourcing higher quality ingredients that support local farmers and help heal the land.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, it's a cookbook and no, I didn't prepare anything by following one of the recipes, but I did enjoy Beth Dooley's entries in the book and I did learn a few things about sustainable food production and preparation. So fun to see people from my area of the state (Minnesota) featured in the book. I have visited Carmen Fernholz's farm (Madison, MN) where Kernza was first produced as an experimental project from the Forever Green Initiative at the U of M. I am acquainted with Luke Peterson who works with Fernholz and gives farm tours and seminars and passionately promotes organic and sustainable farming practices. I have reveled in authentic indigenous delicacies from Sean Sherman's restaurant, Owamni. Interesting fact: Dooley co-wrote Sherman's award-winning book, "The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen."

[Laurla2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

248 pages

-4 stars. an interesting book.
"recipes and insights into artisan grains, nuts, fruits, and vegetables that are delicious and healthy—and also help retain topsoil, sequester carbon, and return nutrients to the soil. Here are crops that enhance our soil, nurture pollinators and song birds, rebuild rural economies, protect our water, and grow plentifully without toxic chemicals. regenerative agriculture."

-kernza, a cousin of wheat, is a perennial grain plant that comes back year after year. its roots go 10 feet deep. perennial oilseeds and perennial legumes are being developed as well, including perennial sunflowers.

-the recipes focus mainly on perennial ingredients.

-there are multiple editing errors. next to the picture of legumes it lists the ingredients "left to right" except it doesn't, it lists them right to left. for the oils, 6 are pictured but only 5 are listed. next to the picture of sweeteners it says they're listed clockwise, they're not. they're listed counter-clockwise. in the back of the book the link for appetiteforchange.org is actually appetiteforchangemn.org.

--recipes that interested me
-oat crackers
-fresh herb focaccia
-drunken cheesy garlic bread
-barley bread
-sunny butter
-pesto (made from sunflower seeds)
-garlic scape pesto
-asparagus radish salad in bacon vinaigrette
-scarlet and gold beet salad
-cranberry chestnut and barley pilaf
-pork chops with black currant sauce
-sausage and white bean soup
-farmhouse beef and barley stew
-creamy cauliflower onion and cheddar bake
-wild rice hotdish
-blue fruit cheesecake
-apple honey

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures, though I can always use more! I liked that it was local but there was a big focus on kernza, which I wouldn’t use. I probably need some simpler meals to cook.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So informative with many useful recipes using foods grown in Minnesota (and region). I do not need more cookbooks but this might be one to buy.