Make Ahead

Both the vinegar and peppers (together or separately) can serve as a condiment for soups like the Red Lentil (page 191), for braised greens and stewed meat, or as a bright winter substitute for dried chiles.

These were introduced to the Lantern kitchen by Fuchsia Dunlop’s exhilarating book Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. The surprisingly simple method lets you carry the heat and spice of late summer long into the winter months, such as in Roast Moulard Duck with Kumquats (page 214). Pureed along with cider vinegar, garlic, and a little sugar, salt-cured chiles become a vibrant hot sauce for raw oysters (page 188) or rice and beans.

Use small organic pumpkins or squashes. Before peeling, taste their skins. If they are very tender, they can be left on. Pickled pumpkin is good served with crispy roast pork seasoned with five-spice or on its own as part of a pickle plate.

Leftover spice powder can be stored in an airtight container for a few weeks and makes a surprising addition to noodles, soups, and sashimi.

When red bell peppers are best (and least expensive) in the late summer and early fall, this is a good dish to make in a big batch.

This is a good idea for an abundance of tomatoes that are threatening to rot. The juice keeps refrigerated for several days and can be frozen for up to 6 months.

This keeps for several weeks in the fridge and is good with spiced basmati rice, grilled chicken or lamb, or a creamy corn stew.

This delicate, wobbling cream is perfumed with the mysterious cherry-almond essence contained in the kernel of the cherry pits—a reward for pitting the cherries.

This recipe makes a little more ginger syrup than is needed for the sorbet and will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks. It makes an unexpected spring cocktail combined with muddled fresh strawberries, lime juice, and vodka and served over ice.

Pea greens are the immature green tendrils of the pea plant and often have a fresher “pea” flavor than garden peas themselves. Chive blossoms appear here for a few weeks in early spring and add a mellow onion flavor to everything from salad greens, to fresh sashimi, to buttermilk mashed potatoes. To use them, just pull the individual lavender petals off the chive blossom and sprinkle them directly on top of the salad after it is dressed.

This was one of the coldest winters here anyone can remember and many producers harvested root vegetables from underneath a cover of snow. It was hard on the farmers but great for the carrots, which didn’t get prettier but definitely got sweeter while resting in the cold winter earth. Carrots aside, early spring is the time to eat raw vegetables, especially at Fickle Creek. Gather as many colors, textures, and flavors as you can, such as small fennel, carrots, and radishes but also sweet scallions, baby turnips, and hearts of butter lettuce. Good on their own, they are of course also delicious with homemade mayonnaise. If you have an immersion or stick blender, you can make your own mayonnaise in 2 minutes.