When Lish Steiling, assistant food stylist at the Today Show, was 16 years old, she and her sister got matching tattoos of the Chinese symbol for “sister.” After her first tat, she became addicted; she now flaunts a carrot and a radish on her forearms, and a spoon and fork on the back of her arm.
Steiling is part of a gang of chefs who have permanently branded themselves with their passion for good food. In Eat Ink: Recipes. Stories. Tattoos, Birk O’Halloran and Daniel Luke Holton tell the stories of dozens of these tattooed chefs through a recipe collection cum photo essay. The book is divided into five sections—Hoofed, Finned, Winged, Rooted and Sugar—with recipes from James Beard Award winners, Top Chef competitors, Food Network stars and more.
Eat Ink is set for release on December 18. To preorder the book from Amazon, click here. For a sneak peek at one of the recipes in the book, check out Steiling’s Roasted Parsnip and Kale Salad below.
Autumn in a Bowl: Roasted Parsnip and Kale Salad
Serves 2 as an entrée or 4 as a side dish
Lish says, “[I] just love all of the flavors that happen in this recipe. It’s comforting without being heavy.”
Ingredients:
2 good-size parsnips, about 1 pound or so, halved horizontally, each half cut in half lengthwise and then into equal-size wedges
3 sprigs of thyme
1⁄4 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/3 cup chopped bacon, about a 1⁄4-inch dice
3⁄4 cup sliced yellow onion
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
8 cups chopped curly-leaf kale
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1⁄2 an apple, such as Honeycrisp, cut into 1⁄4-inch matchsticks
Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 425°.
2. On a large baking sheet, toss together the parsnip wedges, thyme sprigs, chili flakes, 1⁄2 teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Place the tray in the oven and roast, stirring once, for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and tender. Remove the thyme branches and set parsnips aside to cool slightly.
3. Meanwhile, sauté the bacon over medium heat until almost entirely crisp, about 4 minutes. Add the onions and sauté a few minutes more, until the onions are soft and just beginning to brown. The bacon should be completely crisp. Turn off the heat and deglaze with the red wine vinegar, scraping up the good bits from the bottom of the pan. Set aside to cool.
4. In a large bowl, toss together the kale with 1⁄2 teaspoon of salt. Massage the salt into the kale rather aggressively by hand for about 20 seconds. Now begin to build the salad. Add the cooled onions and bacon dressing along with 2 tablespoons olive oil and the sesame oil. Toss in the cooled parsnips, rosemary and apple matchsticks. Mix gently with your hands. Taste it, think about it and season as needed. Serve immediately.
Excerpted from Eat Ink Copyright © 2013 by Birk O’Halloran & Daniel Luke Holton, published by F+W Media, Inc. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. Photos courtesy of Daniel Luke Holton.
