Seed to stalk, chef uses whole vegetable
Chef Jeremy Fox has a way with vegetables. Laura Brehaut explains.
Chef Jeremy Fox opens his debut cookbook, On Vegetables: Modern Recipes for the Home Kitchen, with a recipe that doesn’t contain a single one. Not an herb, not a leaf, not a petal in his sumptuous, béchamel-laden grilled cheese sandwich.
“It’s something everybody loves, a grilled cheese,” Fox says. “Vegetarian food can be just as … awesome as anything else.”
The more than 80 other recipes are devoted to utilizing vegetables in their entirety: tops, greens, roots, scraps and shells. Fox is not a vegetarian: He cooks pig trotters regularly and enjoys the occasional steak. But he’s a firm believer that vegetables — from “seed-to-stalk” — warrant the same enthrallment as meat.
Fox rose through the ranks at Michelin three-starred California restaurant Manresa, where he first delved into charcuterie. Learning how to make the most of an animal, “nose-to-tail,” laid the groundwork for his innovative approach to vegetables.
“A lot of my food philosophy was taken from Paul Bertolli (author of Cooking by Hand, Clarkson Potter, 2003) without even meeting him, as well as David Kinch (Manresa chef-owner). So, when I started cooking vegetables, that was just the way I knew and it really took on a life of its own,” Fox says.
After moving on from his chef de cuisine position at Manresa, Fox headed the kitchen at vegetarian restaurant Ubuntu in Napa Valley.
The accolades rolled in following a fortuitous review in 2008: “Ubuntu is where virtue meets naughty sensuality,” then-New York Times food critic Frank Bruni wrote.
Among other honours, the restaurant earned a Michelin star. Fox was at a professional high point but his mental health and personal life were suffering; he was self-medicating with prescription drugs.
“Anything I’ve learned, whether it’s through food or life, is from making mistakes,” Fox says. “If you don’t screw up, then you don’t really know how to fix things. You don’t realize how good something is if you haven’t had bad. That’s a running theme throughout food and life.”
He left Ubuntu and started his recovery, eventually moving to Los Angeles and becoming head chef at Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica (where he’s executive chef today). He moved away from the “gorgeous, complicated, hypernatural displays” he had specialized in, ditching the tweezers and 15- to 20-hour work days.
Instead, he started creating “food that looks like itself, but tastes like a better version of itself.” Serves: 4 1 lb (454 g) small fingerling potatoes, rinsed 3 bay leaves (preferably fresh) 2 tbsp (30 mL) extra-virgin olive oil Kosher salt 8 cups (2 L) grapeseed, canola or peanut oil, for deep-frying (optional) 1 cup (250 mL) “Horsey Goat” (see recipe) A handful of Persian cress, watercress, arugula or any spicy, tender green, washed and dried Horseradish root 1. Poach the potatoes with the bay leaves (see note). Drain the potatoes and toss in the olive oil. Gently flatten each potato with the side of a chef’s knife. You want the potatoes to maintain their structure, so don’t let them break up into multiple chunks. Each potato should make one, flattened piece.
2. If frying the potatoes (Fox’s preferred method): In a heavy pot, heat the grapeseed oil until it registers 350 F (175 C) on a deep-frying thermometer. Fry the flattened potatoes until they are golden brown and crispy, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the potatoes to a wire rack or a plate lined with paper towels and season immediately with salt.
3. If roasting the potatoes: While the potatoes are poaching, preheat the oven to 400 F (205 C). Once cooked, drained and flattened, season them to taste with salt and spread on a baking sheet. Roast until they are golden and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes.
4. To serve, divide the potato tostones across 4 plates (or serve on a platter). Accompany with a nice dollop of the Horsey Goat.
5. Garnish with the cress and freshly grate the horseradish, like falling snow, over the top. Note: Scrub the dirt off your potatoes and place them in a pot of cold, moderately salted water with the bay leaves. Bring the pot up to a gentle simmer (the potatoes will break up if the water is at a rolling boil). Depending on the size of your potatoes, cooking them could take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. When in doubt, insert a cake tester into the potato — it should meet no resistance and slide right through.