Excerpt
Tartine All Day
WHY THIS BOOK NOW I remember once hearing that cookbooks are the novels of choice for working parents. That they are bedside reading, blueprints for a fantasy time when afternoons would be free enough to bake a cake or when flavor could be considered an equal to convenience in the morning.
Before becoming a parent and business owner, I found this utterly depressing. Of course, I understood indulging in a cookbook’s pleasurable writing, but to only read and not cook from a cookbook? One café, two restaurants, and one nine-year-old daughter later, and I understand that limitations on time can reduce the family meal to a slapdash event on most days. I know that it’s often easy to forget to pause to really taste the food, and this is despite the fact that I know how to cook well.
You see, there’s no way around it: cooking is work. Work in that it requires forethought, a modicum of skill, and time. Work in that you must use your hands, stand on your feet, wash the dishes. (And, full disclosure: for my husband, Chad, and me, cooking
is work. It is how we earn our living.) Your simple hope is that while sitting around the table to share the fruits of your labors, the effort fades to memory. Or better yet, the effort becomes part of a meal’s pleasure, and that the experience of transforming ingredients into a sum greater than their parts connects you to the food in a far more profound way than any recipe lets on. That is the ideal, and to fess up to my own biases, I believe wholeheartedly that it’s attainable.
QUICK VEGETABLE PICKLESMakes 2 cups/280g
This versatile pickle—our original recipe developed for the bakery—is served alongside our hot-pressed sandwiches. Because the simmered pickling liquid is poured over the vegetables and left to sit off the heat, the pickles remain pleasantly crisp. Just as a cornichon cuts through a rich pâté, these pickles brighten any meat or roast, from cured meats to chicken, pork, and beef. I like to slice the pickles paper-thin and add them to sandwiches, or finely chop and fold them into a slaw. The recipe itself is malleable, too. If you’re after a sweeter, bread-and-butter–style pickle, add 2 tsp of sugar. Vary the spices, as well as the vegetables, to your liking. I favor fermenting, but a quick pickle is good when you need a sandwich or picnic pickup.
1 cup/240ml white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar
1 cup/240ml water
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp black peppercorns
6 allspice berries (optional)
6 whole cloves (optional)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
Pinch of granulated sugar
1 tsp sea salt
2 cups/280g sliced vegetables (such as small, hot peppers of any kind, bell peppers, red or yellow onion, cauliflower, small carrots, radishes, Persian cucumbers, or any combination of these vegetables)
Combine the white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar, water, garlic, peppercorns, allspice berries, whole cloves, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, sugar, and salt in a small saucepot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Place the vegetables in a 1-qt/960ml jar and then pour in the hot pickling brine. Let cool to room temperature. Use immediately or refrigerate for later use.
Store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
