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the girl & the fig Cookbook ... $ 30.00

released April 2004 by Simon & Schuster

COOKBOOK REVIEWS ...

A girl uses her love of figs to create a solid cookbook

Benjamin Wiser, Special to The Chronicle Wednesday, May 19, 2004

It's with a whole lot of emotional gusto that Sondra Bernstein translates the concept and cuisine of her Sonoma restaurant, "The Girl & The Fig," into a cookbook. More than 100 recipes reflect the chef/author's vision of "country food with French passion." There is something for everyone here. Rustic classics like duck cassoulet, braised short ribs and coq au vin rub shoulders with sprightly entries like grilled mahi mahi with fire-roasted tomato vinaigrette or carrot-ginger soup. Figs are ubiquitous, appearing in everything from a fig-leaf-wrapped rainbow trout to goat cheese-stuffed figs to a fig-infused martini.

The book has sections on soup, salads, small plates, large plates, cocktails, desserts and stocks and sauces. Many of the sauces are interchangeable, extending the flavor range, and a wine pairing is included for each recipe. A brief separate section on wine can be found in the back of the book. For the Lamb Medallions With Sonoma Mustard Sauce, finding lamb tenderloins took a few phone calls, but the richness of the lamb worked wonderfully with the mustard sauce. Making the sauce was simple enough, and one could try varying balances of mustard to orange juice to fine-tune the sweet and sour flavors. If lamb tenderloin isn't readily available, you could just as easily roast a rack of lamb, cut the rack into chops and serve them with the same sauce. Grilled Salmon With Lavender Beurre Rouge and the Citrus Beurre Blanc features two sauces. Both accompany the salmon nicely, though the beurre rouge came out a dark purple that looks awkward with the pink salmon. However, the lavender flavor was rich and heady and brought out the sweetness of the salmon. The citrus beurre blanc, with the zing of fresh lemon and orange zest, is a nice match with the fish. But the butter emulsion broke, and no instructions could be found to correct it. (The solution? Add more butter.) All in all, "The Girl & The Fig" cookbook is a well-rounded collection that brings the vibe of a Wine Country restaurant into your own kitchen.

THE FOOD PAPER - GAYOT
May 6, 2004
Reviewed by Kevin Schoeler

The lucky people near Sonoma have The Girl & the Fig restaurant, a place to wind down over a simple dish of Heirloom Radishes with Anchovy Butter and Sea Salt, or maybe Fresh Figs with Fromage Blanc and Pine Nuts, glass of Grenache in hand. The rest of us, meanwhile, may dream of a life where it's not a big deal to find a perfect Endive Salad with Pears and Blue Cheese (with Pomegranate Vinaigrette), and Broiled Halibut with Spring Vegetable Ragout. At the right time of year, dessert might be a glass of Tawny Port next to Warm Fig and Thyme Crisp with Fig Syrup, or figs stuffed with honey-sweetened goat cheese.

Wine Country sensibility is so pervasive, so deeply rooted in the region, it begs to be celebrated every day, and at every meal. The remarkable culinary traditions of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys begin in the fields, farms and vineyards, and are skillfully translated by abundant talent in the kitchens and wineries of this remarkable area. Sonoma's The Girl & the Fig restaurant, one of three in the area, fills its menus and delights its patrons with house-made charcuterie, salads of Grilled Asparagus with Lemon-Thyme Vinaigrette, plates of Lamb Medallions with Sonoma Mustard Sauce, Sonoma Rabbit Two Ways (legs braised, loins seared) with Baby Artichoke Pan Sauce, and Wild Mushroom Ragout. Its pastry chef turns out Profiteroles with Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce, and Pear Clafouti. Their wine lists are sensible but exciting. Occasionally, the forces behind such a restaurant does the hard work it takes to write a cookbook, making it possible to bring the Wine Country into our own kitchens. This is the case with Sondra Bernstein's the girl and the fig cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from the Acclaimed California Wine Country Restaurant. The book, like Bernstein's restaurants, embodies the meaning of "simple and sophisticated."

These words are frequently used but rarely fulfilled by so many restaurants-especially after you've spent an entire meal trying to sort out precious combinations of flavor and texture, often from foods deserving restrained treatment.

the girl and the fig cookbook approaches food and cooking with French culinary skill and respect. As expected, figs are abundant throughout-perhaps because Bernstein's first "fig experience" occurred in Florence. Or maybe because she has eaten her way across the globe and finds the greatest satisfaction working with fresh and seasonal foods that also make it possible to eat a nutty, vibrant Asparagus and English Pea Soup with Pistachio Butter in Springtime, Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho in Summer, Apple-Yam Gratin in Fall, and Potato Leek Soup in Winter. the girl and the fig cookbook contains more than 100 recipes: twenty-some you'll want to line up for your next party; like Goat Cheese Fritters, Herb-Marinated Olives, Pernod-Scented Mussels, Pork and Dried Cherry Pâté, and Prosciutto-Wrapped Figs. Salads like Green and Yellow Bean Salad with Peas and Sherry-Truffle Vinaigrette remind us again of why we yearn for the warm-weather seasons. Anything with Heirloom tomatoes (Heirloom Tomato Salad with Feta and Balsamic Reduction) makes us dream of endless summer.

For the home cook, the girl and the fig cookbook provides an ncomplicated path to impressive food. Large Plates range from rustic to brilliant: multi-dimensional Pasta with Fromage Blanc, Brown Butter, Corn, and Spinach may be good accompanied by scallops or grilled fish, but chances are you'll want to eat this gutsy pasta solo. Grilled Mahi Mahi with Fire-Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette makes good use of even the most mediocre tomatoes. And what more can one say about a good, solid Coq au Vin or Braised Short Ribs recipe? For side dishes, Bernstein covers Balsamic Onions, Roasted Asparagus, luxuriant Fingerling Potato Confit, and Orange-Scented Braised Endive. Many of the recipes are not groundbreaking, but they are solid, reliable, and outstanding. And there's great satisfaction in finishing with a memorable dessert. Try Meyer Lemon Tartlets with Blood Orange Sauce, Bellwether Farms Ricotta Cheesecake with Peaches and Cream, or Roasted Figs with Honey and Vanilla Ice Cream.

the girl and the fig cookbook is about simple food done well. Both the book as a whole, and its recipes, are uncomplicated and compelling. Most recipes are scaled for six servings-perfect for families (or fabulous leftovers). Seasonal menus and wine pairings are thoughtful. Bernstein includes primers on Artisan Cheese Makers, and the California Rhône wines which dominate her wine lists. Best of all, this book is about food you'll return to frequently. It always tastes good. It's always appropriate. If you can't be up in the Valley, eating like this all the time, the girl and the fig cookbook is a great solution.

www.thefoodpaper.com

Bernstein's figgy Sonoma restaurant inspires cookbook.

RECENT STORIES

The SF Examiner Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Sondra Bernstein, in the introduction to "the girl & the fig Cookbook," travels through her international food memories. In a simple three-sentence reminiscence of eating baguettes for breakfast and lunch and "sipping espresso and smoking cigarettes in cafes" in Paris, Bernstein assures her readers that her recipes -- like her writing style -- are honest, humble and elegant. Every poetic memory, whether about food, dining, service or the children who visit her restaurants, seems so dear that readers will enter the recipe section with an open heart. Even there, the book is studded with Shakespearian quotes, a fond tale of some fig farmers the author once knew, stunning photos, wine suggestions and informative break-downs of, for example, creating a charcuterie platter or understanding mushroom varieties.

Bernstein's book springboards from her restaurant (the girl & the fig, 110 West Spain St., Sonoma). Provencal flavors fuse with fresh California foods. Almost every recipe is simple; the ingredients list and instructions will leave you thinking, "I can do that," rather than, "where am I ever going to find that?" Many recipes call for no more than four or five ingredients total. And yet, the union of fresh figs, quality cheese, herbs or whatever else will tempt your taste buds page after page. In preparation, fresh figs with fromage blanc and pine nuts is hardly different from savory goat cheese-stuffed figs or sweet goat cheese-stuffed figs. Each stuffed fig dish, however, achieves its own awareness. Another dessert, lavender and wildflower honey crème brùleé, doesn't use figs at all, but asks so little of its chef that it's hard to turn down. "the girl & the fig" addresses sauces extensively, soups, salads (check out roasted baby beet and blood orange salad with champagne vinaigrette), pantry ingredients, fig-inspired martinis, main dishes (grilled chicken breasts with tarragon-mustard sauce), sides and sweets. Bernstein gives basic methods for making, using and storing brown butter, homemade crème fraîche and roasted red peppers, among other flavor boosters. Her recipes use plenty of figs, of course, but also leeks, fennel, shallots, Balsamic vinegar (straight up and in reductions), heirloom tomatoes and saffron -- ingredients that make me feel like even I understand French-inspired cooking, though I've never so much as braised a rabbit leg. But with Bernstein's tender guidance, I want to run out and buy a bottle of Pernod and celebrate her book with Pernod-scented mussels.

The girl & the book

Fans of Sondra Bernstein's popular "the girl & the fig" restaurants will love her new cookbook filled with rustic French recipes
April 7, 2004
By DIANE PETERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

"Resting her hand on her new cookbook, Sonoma County restaurateur Sondra Bernstein laughs as she remarks on the difference between writing a book and running a restaurant. "With food, it takes forever to make it, they eat it in 15 minutes ... and they're gone," she said. "This (cookbook) makes me feel like I've actually done something." Over the past seven years, Bernstein has actually accomplished a great deal while nurturing her own restaurant empire in Sonoma County. The release of her first cookbook next week -- "the girl & the fig Cookbook" (Simon & Schuster, 2004) -- is simply icing on that cake.

Through the years, Bernstein knew that she wanted to write a cookbook as a showcase for the rustic, Mediterranean recipes she had developed in partnership with her executive chef and director of operations, John Toulze, 29. "We've always kept our recipes and typed everything up," she said. "I wanted it to bring people to the area, to bring people to the restaurant and to let people bring a piece of the restaurant back with them."

I want this book to be on the counter, a spoon stuck in a page and the binding really worn, because those are the best books"

the girl, the fig & the mushroom man
Real Food Revolution
The girl, the fig and the mushroom man
March 31, 2004
By Heather Irwin
THE BOHEMIAN

"The girl calls him the "mushroom man." That, or the "god of dirt and fungus" (affectionately, of course). She never quite knows when he'll show up. The mysterious master of mushrooms just arrives unannounced at the back door of her kitchen with a treasure of moist, earthy delights, the booty of a day's woody wanderings. Culling her mental recipe file, she--Sondra Bernstein, the girl of the Girl and the Fig--creates a wild mushroom risotto or wood ear gravy for the evening's menu. And we, the diners, are all the luckier for their meeting. Used to be there were lots of people like the mushroom man who peddled what they found, grew or caught that day. And then, with the advent of air shipping and pesticides and megafarms, there were hardly any people like the mushroom man left at all. But with the 20-year-long "aha!" farm moment sparked by Alice Waters and the slow-food movement, people like the mushroom man are starting to resurface. But that isn't what this story is about, because much has been said (maybe too much) about the trendy local foods phenomenon. Restaurant menus all but list a street address for your beets. Trés chic. Instead, this is about asking whether there is really a difference between farmed mushrooms from Watsonville and those foraged by the miraculous mushroom man.

The answer is a resounding yes, according to Bernstein. In her Girl and the Fig Cookbook (Simon and Schuster; $30), due out in April, she highlights not just the local foods that make up nearly all of her 100-plus recipes, but calls out by name many of the irreplaceable, irrepressible local personalities purveying her favorite ingredients, quirks and all."