Acorns & Cattails

The culinary do-it-yourself era is in full swing! Many chefs and cooks are seeking a deeper connection with their food through foraging, farming, and hunting, leading many to cast aside the casserole for modern spins on familiar foods.

In Acorns & Cattails, nationally acclaimed chef Rob Connoley offers more than one hundred recipes featuring ingredients that any home cook can forage, grow, or hunt. Each recipe shares modern flavor and texture pairings that will excite professional chef and home cook alike. The comforting mesquite chocolate chip cookie, the indulgent pork belly poppers, and the haute hackberry rabbit paté launch homespun do-it-yourself dishes into modern classics.

In addition to learning to cook foraged and farmed foods, readers will explore the basics of wild plant harvesting (including identification and ethical best practices) while enjoying humorous anecdotes from Connoley’s years of remote gathering. Photographer Jay Hemphill also presents stunning images that capture the bounty of North America.

Rob Connoley is a James Beard semi-finalist for best southwest chef and is the owner of the Curious Kumquat. He has received acclaim in the New York Times, Saveur magazine, Sunset magazine, and Gastronomica. Connoley farms in the high desert of the Southwestern United States and hunts and forages the world over seeking the greatest ingredients that Earth has to offer. He resides in Silver City, New Mexico.

Jay Hemphill grew up in the Kansas City area and is a graduate of Western New Mexico University, where he earned his BFA in photography. He resides in Silver City, New Mexico.