From the Earth to the Table
John Ash's Wine Country Cuisine
by
John Ash with Sid Goldstein
Reviewed by Rachel Levin
In the twelve years since From the Earth to the Table was first published, American gastronomy has edged closer to John Ash’s vision of farm-centered cooking with wholesome, local and unique produce. Ingredients like Portobello mushrooms and chipotle peppers, which were exotic in the first book, now show up on menus across the country; his appeals for conscious, ethical farming have become mainstream practices in a short time. Such transformation suggests that Ash’s homegrown cuisine—nurtured in the cradle of California’s wine country—is indeed a vanguard for the rest of the nation. Though cooking in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys began in the late 1960s as a duplication of cuisine served in French and Italian wine regions, wine country chefs in the last two decades have absorbed influences from Asia and Latin America and responded to the increasingly subtler local wines to create a distinctive collaboration of tastes. The revised and expanded edition of From the Earth to the Table balances traditional recipes with novel ones, all "wrapped around a consciousness," as Ash says, of this wine-centric locale.
A former painter, Ash uses the abundance of locally grown and produced ingredients as his palette and blends them masterfully while traversing the globe, from his grandmother’s ranch-style cooking in Colorado to Mexico, Europe and the Pacific Rim. Fresh corn, for example, is adapted to smoked chicken salad with orzo and pine nuts, Mediterranean polenta tamales, sage-corn muffins and fresh corn ice cream. Global variations on Sonoma lamb include lamb osso buco with tomatoes, olives and herbs; conchiglie with sweet and sour lamb; and spicy lamb stew with orange rice. Wine serves as an extension of the recipes; each dish is accompanied by wine-pairing recommendations, and a comprehensive matching guide brings the tasting room home. Great food and great wine, after all, share a common source: carefully tended land. In reinforcing the connection between land and cook, From the Earth to the Table captures the essence of this influential corner of California.
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