Issues > March/April 2005 (#107) > Cooking Locally in Season: An Interview with Peter Hoffman

Cooking Locally in Season: An Interview with Peter Hoffman

by Mindy Pennybacker

Celery Root and Cucumber Salad with Dill Dressing

1 large or 2 medium celery roots
1 cucumber
1/2 cup dill, roughly chopped
1 T shallot
1 T pommery (coarse-grained) mustard
1 T Dijon (smooth) mustard
3/4 cup Champagne or white wine vinegar
2 cups pure olive oil

Peel and halve the celery roots and bake in a covered baking dish with a splash of water and a sprinkling of salt. Bake in moderate oven 45 minutes or until a knife passes through easily. Meanwhile, make the dressing. Combine the shallot, mustard and vinegar in a food processor. Add the oil slowly, then add the dill. Season with salt and black pepper. Peel the cucumber and cut in half rounds. Allow the celery root to cool, then slice in rounds similar to the cukes. Mix together. Add some of the dressing. Taste. Vegetables should be well coated but not gloppy. Garnish with some dill sprigs over the salad. Drink a glass of pinot gris with it.

Photo: Cooking Locally in Season: An Interview with Peter Hoffman

Peter Hoffman is the owner and chef of Savoy in New York City and executive director and national chair of the Chefs Collaborative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting artisanal, local and organic foods. On a cold, rainy winter's day in Savoy's freshly spare, warm-hued dining room, Hoffman, sitting with his back to the fire in the white stone hearth, shared some tips on good cooking, eating and staying slim.

GG: Isn't midwinter the most frustrating season when you want to serve fresh local produce?

PH:I don't feel that way in January and February. It's a time when we're cold and want stewy things, rich things, and root vegetables are in season: turnips, rutabagas, celery, celery root, squash, leeks, carrots. I cook them with onions and garlic, herbs and peppercorn.

PH: For me, the really grim time is April and May. You want spring food, it's warm enough to wear a T-shirt, but there's nothing in the greenmarket yet—not even local radishes. April is a slow beginning. The ground has to warm, seed has to sprout. The temptation is to buy asparagus from Florida; I've had enough of wintered-over greens and rutabagas.

GG: Do you always decide what to make based on what you find at the greenmarket?

PH: The menu doesn't necessarily change as often as the market. I develop dishes, repeat them, keep them for a while, work out the logistics. String beans are in season for week after week, so they can run for a while. Then when another product comes into season we'll work that in.

GG: What are some basic vegetable-cooking techniques?

PH: Stock is an important foundation. One thing I'm always trying to control is the balance of sauces and stocks—avoid overreductions. I'll sauté vegetables or steam them in vegetable stock. I don't use water.

GG: How did you come to the philosophy of eating local and get to be an advocate and supporter of greenmarkets?

PH: I was working at Hubert's on 22nd St. in 1981, and on my way to work I would pass the farmers' market at Union Square, and I'd buy whatever was fresh to serve that day. I had just returned from a year of living in Europe, where I'd buy from growers, the shortest distance in all kinds of ways from the harvest to my touching it—no middleman. All these things remain exciting and compelling to me.

GG: Do you cook at home?

PH: Yes, a couple of times a week. We have two kids with lots of likes and dislikes. So I make meals almost like a smorgasbord. They eat real food, though. We did a taste test, comparing French fries from McDonald's and Le Frite Kot, a Belgian place. They picked the real fries.

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Filed under: Home and Garden, Food and beverages

Green Guide 107 | March/April 2005 | For Cooks