A seasonal food journey with native Kentuckian Maggie Green, The Kentucky Fresh Cookbook takes home-chefs through a year in a Kentucky kitchen with more than 200 recipes. With a focus on the cook’s activities in the kitchen, this book guides both aspiring and experienced cooks in the preparation of delicious meals using the delightful variety of foods found in Kentucky.
Green welcomes readers with her modern and accessible approach, incorporating seasonally available Kentucky produce in her recipes but also substituting frozen or canned food when necessary. She complements her year of recipes with tidbits about her own experiences with food, including regional food traditions she learned growing up in Lexington, attending the University of Kentucky, and raising a family in Northern Kentucky. The Kentucky Fresh Cookbook acknowledges the importance of Kentucky’s culinary and agricultural traditions while showing how southern culture shapes food choices and cooking methods.
Green appeals to modern tastes using up-to-date, easy-to-follow recipes and cooking techniques, and she addresses the concerns of contemporary cooks with regard to saving time, promoting good health, and protecting the environment. The Kentucky Fresh Cookbook contains a year’s worth of recipes and menus for everyday meals, holiday events, and special family occasions–all written with Kentucky flair.
Green owns The Green Apron Company, a consulting firm specializing in culinary nutrition and cookbook development. As a cookbook editor, she has edited several well-known trade cookbooks. Licensed as a dietitian in Kentucky and Ohio, Green is also a graduate of the Culinary Arts Management program at Sullivan University’s National Center for Hospitality Studies in Louisville.
Maggie Green’s cookbook focuses on a year of cooking seasonally with foods found in Kentucky. So when I was looking for a reviewer for this book, I naturally wanted a Kentucky-based cook. Enter Lori Rice, the co-founder–with Mindy Wilson–of the Kentucky Food Bloggers Association. Lori is the blogger behind Fake Food Free: Real Food From Every Corner of the World and the author of The Everything Guide to Food Remedies.
Cooks&Books&Recipes Guest Cook:
Lori Rice, Fake Food Free
In Kentucky, we certainly are not hurting for fresh foods during the spring and summer seasons. Goods from our gardens even hang around in autumn. Berries, greens, corn, apples–in addition to some more unique finds such as paw-paw–overflow our farmers’ markets. However, eating fresh the rest of the year? Well, once you tire of pumpkin and kale, things become more challenging. That is, unless you find yourself with a copy of the Kentucky Fresh Cookbook by Maggie Green.
The book creatively divides recipes into different months of the year, with everything from seasonal favorites using farm-fresh ingredients to traditional recipes that you will find at any Derby party or Bluegrass holiday celebration. The extensive list of Kentucky growers and the seasonal produce chart make this as much of a resource book for food shopping as it does a guide for Kentucky cooking.
Featured Recipe: Smoky Chili Non Carne
Maggie Green notes:
For a long time I was faithful to an old Jane Brody vegetarian chili recipe. Her list of spices seemed daunting, but the chili was so full of complex flavor, I kept on making the chili. This recipe for a spice-filled chili is my adaptation of her recipe. When I make chili I’d rather build the flavor than make the chili too hot. If more heat is desired, a shake of hot red pepper sauce does the trick. The smoky flavor and a rich red color come from the smoked paprika.
Guest Cook Lori:
As I flipped through the book the first time, my attention went to November. The Smoky Chili Non Carne caught my eye both for its clever name and for its aromatic list of herbs and spices. It simply had to be good. Good is an understatement–it is hearty, complex, and comforting all in one.
I made a minor alteration, and that was simply in the choice of beans. I had cranberry beans and pinto beans on hand versus the chickpeas and black beans the recipe calls for, so don’t let the bean variety sitting in your pantry hold you back. I opted for Kentucky honey when given the choice of honey or maple syrup. It added a distinct sweetness to the chili, blending well with the spices, but if sweetness isn’t your thing you might consider cutting back to one tablespoon.
Photo credit: Lori Rice
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Smoky Chili Non Carne
Makes 10 servings
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 4 large carrots, peeled and sliced thin
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons mild chili powder
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons thyme
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- Generous pinch ground cloves
- Generous pinch ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup or Kentucky honey
- 3/4 cup reduced-sodium vegetable juice (one 6-ounce can)
- 1 1/2 cups diced fresh or canned tomatoes (one 15-ounce can)
- 1 1/2 cups cooked or canned chick peas, drained (one 15-ounce can)
- 1 1/2 cups cooked or canned red beans, drained (one 15-ounce can)
- 1 1/2 cups cooked or canned black beans, drained (one 15-ounce can)
- 2 cups reduced-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
- 3 cups cooked brown rice
- Chopped avocado for garnish
- Sliced green onions for garnish
In a Dutch oven heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook until the onions are soft and golden, about 10 minutes. Mix in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, thyme, smoked paprika, coriander, cloves, allspice, and salt and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in the maple syrup or honey, vegetable juice, tomatoes, chickpeas, red beans, black beans, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes. Serve over a portion of cooked brown rice and garnish with chopped avocado and sliced green onions.
© 2011 Maggie Green
—From The Kentucky Fresh Cookbook, by Maggie Green (University Press of Kentucky, 2011)
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