Recipes from a Very Small Island
by Linda Greenlaw and Martha Greenlaw
Hyperion

The very small island in this case is Isle au Haut, off the coast of Maine in the northeast of the United States. Linda Greenlaw is a swordfish boat captain there, and when she not doing that she writes, both fiction and non fiction. Her books include The Hungry Ocean and The Lobster Chronicles. Greenlaw also likes to cook, as does her mother, Martha Greenlaw, so it became natural for them to come up with the idea of writing a cookbook together.

It’s the sort of book that will have you wanting to take off for the coast of Maine even if you never prepare any of the recipes . Each comes with a few sentences about making the food or a memory of when it was served by way of introduction, there are several essays about life on a small island interspersed with the cooking instruction, evocative photographs of the town, the harbor, and the working boats, and great shots of the food too. Sara Grey did the landscape shots and Joseph DeLeo photographed the food. Their work is an integral part of the book.

The recipes are at the heart of it it, though -- the recipes and the directions and stories that come along with them. You may perhaps not cook lobster quite as often as someone who catches it regularly, but you'll enjoy reading the recipes anyway, and when you think of lobster, there are straightforward and creative things to do with it here. Many recipes for shellfish and other fish, too, but it’s not all about the sea: there are chapters on food from the garden, meat and poultry, and one called Plain Old Fashioned Sweets. There’s also a whole chapter on beans and covered dishes, and another on all things blueberry and cranberry, as well as one on breads and biscuits. The Greenlaw women are not low fat cooks, although there are some recipes here than would work with that, and many more that could be adapted easily enough.

In the photographs and in their stories and recipes, Linda and Martha Greenlaw are clearly enjoying each other, and enjoying making food as a way to share, and connect, and celebrate family and friends. All that is done with distinctly northeast coast ingredients and sense of fun.

Kerry Dexter is the Music Editor for Wandering Educators.

Kerry's credits include VH1, CMT, the folk music magazine Dirty Linen, Strings, and The Encyclopedia of Ireland and the Americas. She also writes about the arts and creative practice at http://www.musicroad.blogspot.com Music Road. You may reach her at music at wanderingeducators dot com