My Vermont Table

WRITTEN BY GESINE BULLOCK-PRADO

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAYMOND PRADO

PUBLISHED BY COUNTRYMAN PRESS, 2023
 

Gesine Bullock-Prado spends her happiest moments dreaming about meals she will make with ingredients harvested from her garden or foraged from her woods. “Our summer meals tend to be either super-fresh and light, or charred from the grill or pizza oven!”

Summer is but one of the six seasons that spark Gesine’s culinary brilliance. Vermonters will know the other two as stick season—late October up to the first snows—and mud season, sweetened by maple madness. Naturally, Gesine pays homage to Vermont’s liquid gold, relying on maple as her primary sweetener throughout the book and devoting nearly an entire chapter to all things maple. This book is clearly crafted by a woman with a deep appreciation for the 14th state.

Gesine and her husband, Raymond, moved from Los Angeles to the Green Mountain State in 2004 and immediately found their dream life: grounded in Vermont, attuned to the land, connected to the seasons. The rolling hills, productive farms, and functional villages reminded her of her childhood homes in Bavaria and Virginia. Inspired by this sense of place, she created her latest cookbook based on seasonal flavors and ingredients “from here”: King Arthur flour, Vermont Creamery cultured butter, craft beer and spirits, maple syrup and boiled cider, a plethora of local cheeses and meat, and straight-from-the-garden produce along with foraged treasures. Gesine trolls the woods of her homestead searching for wild mushrooms and grows crocuses not only for their beauty but also for their saffron stamens. Heck, she even harvests staghorn sumac and dries the crimson spires for the ground sumac that brightens many of her dishes!

“I’ve built a life where I get to be curious all the time. I can continue to teach, learn, and explore this natural world around me. I watch the seasons morph and the gardens transform. Living in Vermont sustains my curiosity and allows me to share my passions through food.” –Gesine Bullock-Prado

The former film executive and producer followed her passion and became a professional baker when she moved to Vermont. She opened Gesine Confectionary in Montpelier before moving to the Upper Valley. After publishing her first book, Confections of a Closet Master Baker, Gesine became a regular guest instructor at King Arthur Baking School. In 2017, she established Sugar Glider Kitchen at her home, where she teaches wildly popular baking classes. Additionally, she starred for several years in the Food Network’s “Baked in Vermont” series.

“I’m a sharer by nature so teaching is my wheelhouse,” Gesine explains. “I’ve built a life where I get to be curious all the time. I can continue to teach, learn, and explore this natural world around me. I watch the seasons morph and the gardens transform. Living in Vermont sustains my curiosity and allows me to share my passions through food. Baking can be intimidating for many people, but my personality lends itself to lightening the mood and taking away those initial fears. Silliness will prevail!”

My Vermont Table is Gesine’s seventh book, and possibly her favorite. “Creating this body of work was a natural and relaxing process, the least taxing thing I’ve ever written. My other books focused exclusively on baking, while this one blends baking and cooking.

My husband, Ray, is a professional artist and filmmaker and took all the photographs. Having my photographer live right here was a game-changer. I could prepare or style a dish and call him down with his camera when the light was just right. This approach worked perfectly for such a seasonal book.” With personal mini-essays sprinkled throughout, My Vermont Table reflects their true partnership, every word and image so clearly from heart and homestead.

Gesine’s superpower? Elevating humble dishes with unique, earthy touches. Maple-glazed carrots seasoned with fresh thyme and ground sumac for brightness; beans on toast with a poached farm egg and broccolini. In cornbread, maple syrup balances tangy buttermilk, ground sumac, and goat cheese; add some chopped chiles if you want a little kick.

Gesine’s superpower? Elevating humble dishes with unique, earthy touches.

Even classic dishes harbor a creative twist. Vermont cheddar soup gets a triple flavor spark from cider vinegar, maple syrup, and sweet miso. And why make potato latkes when you can opt for butternut squash fritters? Strawberry shortcake dough includes two pulverized hard-boiled eggs to enhance the texture. In creative bakers we trust!

Looking for height-of-summer perfection? Try the beautiful salad of super-thin ribbons of summer squash, zucchini, and radishes, adorned with emerald fava beans, crumbled goat cheese, and sliced pear that comes lightly anointed with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and cracked pepper. Finish off your dinner with peach ice cream: homemade peach puree combined with buttermilk, heavy cream, honey, and dried hops. Further proof that what grows together, goes together.

A confessed sugar-obsessive and omnivore, Gesine reflects on her childhood. “I was raised on a strict vegetarian/vegan diet. My mother and grandmother were strong women and purposeful cooks, but their lives didn’t revolve around the kitchen. The woman who actually inspired me was the witch in Hansel and Gretel who built a house of cookies, candy, and chocolate. Sure, she ate children, but aside from that little quirk, I could really get behind this woman!”

Gesine’s playful sense of humor permeates the book, peppered with wry observations of life in Vermont. In fact, she has so deeply embraced this rural and rooted lifestyle that it’s hard to fathom how she survived Los Angeles. For crying out loud, the woman has a goose named Mama who follows her around the homestead like a soul mate!

This is a book for anyone who relishes Vermont: cooking, baking, growing, eating, living. Goose optional. 

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