22 San Diego Uptown News | December 10–23, 2010


WHAT'S UP!


Local chef and owner of Terra dishes on new cookbook GLENDA WINDERS / BOOK REVIEW


By Glenda Winders SDUN Book Critic


It’s hard to imagine how Chef


Jeff Rossman ever found time to write a book. He’s up at 6 a.m. everyday and at his Hillcrest restaurant, Terra, located at 3900 Vermont St., an hour later, often staying until late in the evening. Some days he visits farms or consults with school food service directors. Weekends are likely to find him at events he caters or at farmers markets. Once he gets home, he’s at the computer until the wee hours of the morning. “There’s no typical day in the life of a chef/owner,” Ross- man said, laughing. “There are always kitchen issues and things to be done; new menus to write, recipes to look at, online articles, magazines. I need to stay on top of farm-to-school issues, gardening is-


sues at the schools, contemporary recipes, catering trends. And I do all the marketing for the restaurant on e-mail, Twitter and Facebook.” But write a book he did. “From


Terra’s Table: New American Food, Fresh From Southern California’s Organic Farms” (Chefs Press, $32.95) is a lavish, colorful cookbook with pictures that look good enough to eat and chapters thoughtfully divided by type of fruit or vegetable. “We decided to organize by


produce so that if you have a whole bunch of onions or tomatoes or tree fruits you can go to that chap- ter and make something a little different,” he explained. The chapter on “Alliums,” for example, includes recipes for chilli- marinated onion and cambazola bruschetta; spring onion ravioli; grilled cheese “toast” with mush- rooms and roasted shallots; and


(Photos courtesy Paul Body)


lobster tamal with quinoa, leeks and corn. Every recipe is paired with suggestions for local wines and beers, and the text is liberally sprinkled with cooking tips and


techniques. This tasty tome is


much more than a cookbook, however. Several local farms and farmers are profiled within its pages.


“I wrote the book for people all over the country to know what was happening in San Diego,” Rossman said. “I also wanted to help people understand what farmers go


through.”


He explained that the condi- tions due to the drought, water is expensive. Also, local farmers must also deal with changing weather patterns. One of the farmers


see Cookbook, page 24


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