Be still my heart: Chef and author David Tanis has started a weekly column in The New York Times called City Kitchen, and it’s about cooking dinner, not only at home, but in a small space.
Tanis has worked for more that 25 years at the celebrated Chez Panisse in Berkeley, but he’s leaving in November. The weekly column in the paper’s Wednesday dining section is part of his new focus. City Kitchen appears online as well, and that’s great news for us, as Tanis has an easy and relatable writing style that mimics his approach to cooking.
Here’s how he describes his column in his introductory blog post: “The column will feature simple dishes for seasonal cooking, designed for a busy cook. We’ll also take trips to forage for food, venturing beyond the supermarket and big box store in search of the real thing.”
I’ve been a fan of Tanis for some time, but my interest was intensified by The United States of Arugula (a must read for foodies, btw) which details the unlikely success story of Chez Panisse along with every other food trend in America since the early 1900s.
For Christmas, I bought myself Tanis’ new cookbook called Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys. The book is beautiful to look at and inspiring. In fact, the first City Kitchen column on “Cannellini Bean Salad with Shaved Spring Vegetables” seems to have sprung from one of my favorite essays in Artichoke called "Beans on Toast." Today’s column features a recipe called “Pan Roasted Cauliflower with Peas,” a dish satisfying enough to be a stand-alone meal.
