{"id":244054,"date":"2010-12-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-13T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/cookbook-review-local-chef-and-owner-of-terra-dishes-on-new-cookbook\/"},"modified":"2010-12-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-13T08:00:00","slug":"cookbook-review-local-chef-and-owner-of-terra-dishes-on-new-cookbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/cookbook-review-local-chef-and-owner-of-terra-dishes-on-new-cookbook\/","title":{"rendered":"Rese\u00f1a de libro de cocina: chef local y propietario de platos Terra en un nuevo libro de cocina"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Glenda Winders | Cr\u00edtico de libros SDUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine how Chef Jeff Rossman ever found time to write a book. He\u2019s up at 6 a.m. everyday and at his Hillcrest restaurant, Terra, located at 3900 Vermont St., an hour later, often staying until late in the evening. Some days he visits farms or consults with school food service directors. Weekends are likely to find him at events he caters or at farmers markets. Once he gets home, he\u2019s at the computer until the wee hours of the morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no typical day in the life of a chef\/owner,\u201d Rossman said, laughing. \u201cThere are always kitchen issues and things to be done; new menus to write, recipes to look at, online articles, magazines. I need to stay on top of farm-to-school issues, gardening issues at the schools, contemporary recipes, catering trends. And I do all the marketing for the restaurant on e-mail, Twitter and Facebook.\u201d<\/p>\n

But write a book he did.<\/p>\n

\"Cookbook<\/a>
\u201cFrom Terra\u2019s Table: New American Food, Fresh From Southern California\u2019s Organic Farms\u201d (Chefs Press, $32.95) is a lavish, colorful cookbook with pictures that look good enough to eat and chapters thoughtfully divided by type of fruit or vegetable. (Courtesy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe decided to organize by produce so that if you have a whole bunch of onions or tomatoes or tree fruits you can go to that chapter and make something a little different,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

The chapter on \u201cAlliums,\u201d for example, includes recipes for chilli-marinated onion and cambazola bruschetta; spring onion ravioli; grilled cheese \u201ctoast\u201d with mushrooms and roasted shallots; and lobster tamal with quinoa, leeks and corn. Every recipe is paired with suggestions for local wines and beers, and the text is liberally sprinkled with cooking tips and techniques.<\/p>\n

This tasty tome is much more than a cookbook, however. Several local farms and farmers are profiled within its pages.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote the book for people all over the country to know what was happening in San Diego,\u201d Rossman said. \u201cI also wanted to help people understand what farmers go through.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explained that the conditions due to the drought, water is expensive. Also, local farmers must also deal with changing weather patterns. One of the farmers\u00a0with whom Rossman deals with regularly lost his entire butternut squash crop during a recent freeze. The result: prices go up.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have to understand that chefs and restaurateurs who support the local farmers have to charge a little bit more money because of that,\u201d Rossman said. \u201cA lot of times we pay just as much for the produce as we do for the fish or the chicken or the beef.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for people who understand the issues and are willing to pay the price, the payoff is worth it.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal produce is fresh. It usually comes out of the ground that day,\u201d he said. \u201cTomatoes, carrots, beets, chard and lettuces are usually picked that morning. They\u2019re going to be healthier and tastier because they don\u2019t have to be transported so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rossman said people are also less likely to have allergies to produce grown in their own environment. And there\u2019s a bigger picture to consider as well. As Rossman noted, buying locally is a gentler option for the environment because it leaves a much smaller carbon footprint.<\/p>\n

Another issue covered in the cookbook is his work with local childhood obesity initiatives and school-lunch programs. It\u2019s a passion of Rossman\u2019s that began several years ago with school gardens project and ensuing salad bar at Central Elementary School in City Heights. Today he is working with other chefs, restaurateurs and educators to make changes that will hopefully result in healthier students, which could translate to improved school performance. The obstacles are many, however. For one, the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides schools with commodity products that aren\u2019t always wholesome rather than funds to buy local produce. Government reimbursement depends on participation numbers, which forces schools to resort to unhealthy but popular foods such as pizza and French fries.<\/p>\n

Another problem is that schools don\u2019t have the staff and equipment to make foods from scratch. That\u2019s where the chef\u2019s task force comes in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a catering job,\u201d Rossman said. \u201cWe know how to make ranch dressing or homemade hummus or whole wheat pizza crust without all of the preservatives. We can develop recipes and evaluate processes. We can show the staff how to take commodities, such as frozen chicken and marinate it and roast it so the kids have a nice healthy chicken lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rossman and other chefs put on assemblies at schools, have after-school \u201cIron Chef\u201d competitions and set up food stations at lunchtime to educate students on healthy alternatives, such as fish tacos and hamburgers.<\/p>\n

\u201cKids get excited when chefs are involved,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a different kind of energy on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, busy chefs don\u2019t have much time to donate. One of the projects Rossman\u2019s group is working on is finding funds to compensate chefs so they can spend the time it will take to affect real change. They\u2019re working on establishing a nonprofit that would accept donations and serve as a clearinghouse for questions and ideas about all aspects of school and community gardening.<\/p>\n

Not only does his cookbook advocate healthy eating, it also encourages healthy buying. Rossman uses his cookbook to guide cooks who are used to starting with a recipe and finding groceries to accommodate it to instead buy whatever fresh produce is available and then look for or create a recipe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really opens up your mind and your thought process to think the other way and find different applications,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To illustrate his point, at a recent farmers market demonstration he saut\u00e9ed joy choi, red onions, garlic, spinach, sweet peppers and summer squash in freshly pressed olive oil with salt and pepper and served them over grits. Asked what he would do with an abundance of kale, he responded that he\u2019d saut\u00e9 it with olive oil or blanch the leaves like cabbage and stuff them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can do anything with vegetables,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just depends on what kinds of spices and oils and vinegars you have in your pantry. Make a nice risotto or pasta with vegetables\u2014really good and really healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Terra\u2019s Table\u201d is available from the restaurant\u2019s website, terrasd.com; the publisher\u2019s website, chefspress.com; all major bookstores; and amazon.com. Rossman would also like to invite interested parties who want to become involved with his school lunch crusade to e-mail him at jeff@terrasd.com.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Glenda Winders | SDUN Book Critic It\u2019s hard to imagine how Chef Jeff Rossman ever found time to write a book. He\u2019s up at 6 a.m. everyday and at his Hillcrest restaurant, Terra, located at 3900 Vermont St., an hour later, often staying until late in the evening. Some days he visits farms or […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1305,"featured_media":244055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Cookbook Review: Local chef and owner of Terra dishes on new cookbook","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}