Diane Peavey’s slow-baked lamb shanks are about to become as well
known as the Flat Top Sheep Ranch she and her husband, John, own east of Bellevue.
Peavey and another local gardener and cook, Mary Jones, are among 300
contributors to the just-published Smith and Hawken: The Gardeners’ Community
Cookbook.
At Chapter One in Ketchum tomorrow at 7 p.m., Peavey and Jones share
the recipes and thoughts that went into their submissions to the book.
The cornucopia of a book by gardeners who cook, and cooks who
garden, celebrates the Smith and Hawken gardening community and Second Harvest, the
largest charitable hunger relief organization in the U.S. A two percent royalty from the
sale of the book will go to Second Harvest.
Peavey, an organizer of the valley’s Trailing of the Sheep Festival,
and Jones, former owner of Ketchum’s Chocolate Moose restaurant, join the ranks of
illustrious chefs and writers in the book, including Deborah Madison, Alice Waters and
Barbara Kafka.
"In the landscape of rolling sagebrush hillsides, wide meadows,
basalt rocks and forested mountain foothills reachable only by dirt roads, I began to
follow the cycles of the seasons as I learned that they are the cycle of life for our
animals," Peavey writes in her introduction to her recipe for lamb shanks slow baked
with garlic, rosemary and mint.
Jones, who today bakes desserts for several valley restaurants, had this
to say in the book regarding her landscape and her cuisine: "Although we have a short
growing season, a small amount of work in the garden yields fresh herbs, edible flowers
and fruits and vegetables that lend a grandness to my salads, savory breads, dishes of our
local apples and, especially, decorations for my piece de resistance, chocolate
cake."
The book was compiled and written by Victoria Wise, a cook book writer,
food columnist and an alumna of the world renowned Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley,
Calif.
