I want to share a project my wife and I worked on together a few years ago. I felt inspired to share this because I have been noticing that as an adult, it becomes progressively more difficult to fathom taking on anything that might disrupt my carefully calibrated routine. It seems as though I already have so much for which I’m responsible, and free time already seems to be at such a premium that trying to add anything to my plate that isn’t essential feels either frivolous, or doomed to wither because I’m unable to pay it enough attention.
But sometimes pushing yourself to complete a project, even if it temporarily upsets your life a little bit, can be ultimately so rewarding that any memories of the difficulties of achieving it will just become seasoning making the satisfaction that much sweeter.
The project I’m sharing is a cookbook my wife and I made together as a Christmas gift for my sister. After creating it, I felt proud of what we had achieved, but also totally in awe of people who make actual full length cookbooks. Our book turned out to be about 50 pages long, and it was so difficult and time consuming that I thought it would kill me. That said, I think all the effort was worth it because—in my opinion—it turned out pretty nice. Come along and I’ll take you on a little tour of what we made.
The book is called ‘florae’ as a reflection of the fact that all of the recipes are vegetable based. With the exception of an optional smoked salmon garnish for a turnip soup, no animal flesh of any kind is called for. It is separated into four sections: salads, snacks, veggie plates, and desserts. First up is salads.
For each section, my wife made pretty watercolor paintings to serve as bumpers.
Beet and Grilled Peach Salad with Praline Dressing
This radish salad is a banger!
I haven’t taken the trouble to transcribe any recipes out of the book, and working off a photo of a recipe is no fun. However, if you’re interested in checking out the book in its entirety—recipes and all—you can check out a digital version at this link.
Next up is snacks.
This is one of the best dishes I’ve ever come up with. Inspired by Mexican street corn, these grilled shishito peppers are dressed with a creamy sweet corn and lime sauce, and topped with all the flavors of a classic elote. Probably my favorite way to eat shishitos ever!
The ‘veggie plates’ section is meant to be larger format dishes that you could enjoy as a main course.
This carrot tart is a bit of an odd recipe, but I’m really pleased with how it came out. It follows the basic formula of a classic fruit tart with a buttery tart shell, pastry cream, and seasonal topping, but in this case, everything is savory instead of sweet. Caramelized onions take the place of a fruit jam, roasted carrots replace the fruit, and a rich and savory white miso pastry cream stands in for the typical sweet version.
Finally we come to the dessert section.
And that brings us to the end of the tour. Looking back in this project, I’m surprised by how nice and slick it all seems. Even though making it was a grueling process, the end product is a true source of pride.
If you’re thinking of tackling your own ambitious undertaking that will leave you with many new skills I recommend checking out our Culinary Boot Camp. Let's all do our best and push ourselves to create things we can be proud of!
