Author Tieghan Gerard, whose new cookbook, “Half Baked Harvest: Quick & Cozy,” was recently released by Clarkson Potter.
“Half Baked Harvest: Quick & Cozy” is available now at Books & Books, Bal Harbour Shops.
She’s not pretentious, nor is she precious about ingredients—or particularly worried about calories. But Tieghan Gerard is a bit of an oracle when it comes to viral recipes, with a finger on the pulse of what we really want to eat. Think creamy turmeric-lemon chicken, kale and orzo soup; red curry salmon and avocado-cucumber salad and coconut rice; and an endlessly necessary tahini-Caeser dressing. And to prove their staying power, more than half of her recipes originated on her own family table sheet-in Cleveland, Ohio (and later Silverthorne, Colorado, where she still lives.) Gerard started Half Baked Harvest, as a food blog in 2012 when she was just 19 years old. Today, the 31-year-old counts Blake Lively, Katie Couric, Melissa Wood Tepperberg, and 5.5 million other followers as fans.
In between appearances promoting her fourth book, “Quick & Cozy,” (Clarkson Potter), which came out just in time for the holiday season, Gerard shares where some of her most popular recipes originated, her greatest influences, favorite fall flavors, and how she thrived in the kitchen growing up—serving 8 every night.
You seem like you’re truly at home in the kitchen. What are some of the tools you can’t live without?
A chef knife, cast iron skillet, a few good spatulas, a cutting board, and probably a food processor! I like to keep it pretty basic. Nothing too fancy!
What are some of your favorite flavors and spices for winter gatherings?
On the savory end: fresh sage and thyme; brown butter, and apple cider. For something sweet, I gravitate toward anything with cinnamon and vanilla, and of course.
What have been your most viral recipes to date?
Without a doubt, my Crispy Chipotle Chicken Tacos and Spicy Indian Butter Chicken.
Baked blackberry lavender doughnuts from “Quick & Cozy”.
Across your platforms and in this book, you reference mealtimes growing up. Are any of your recipes born from those you enjoyed at the family table?
Yes, so many of them; probably 50 percent. The Crispy Chipotle Chicken Tacos I mentioned are the same tacos my dad made growing up, for example.
You grew up in a big family and have five siblings. What did dinner time look like?
It was a little chaotic. We ate on the later side, around 9pm; my dad worked a 9-5, then went to the gym, and with 6 kids at home it just meant a late dinner since he usually did the cooking. We kept it simple, though: tacos, chicken and rice, casseroles, that kind of thing. I think I was in the 7th grade when I took over the kitchen. I would do all the cooking–and I loved it! It was lots of fun cooking for my family.
Gerard’s garlicky mushroom chicken skillet from “Quick & Cozy”.
How has your approach in the kitchen evolved from your first “Half Baked Harvest” cookbook?
I cook much simpler now. In the beginning I used to think recipes needed to be complicated to be good, but now I think the complete opposite. The simpler the better.
When did that start to shift? Was there something significant that changed in your life or some aha moment?
Our community was really asking for recipes with less ingredients, and at the same time, I was very busy working on the website. I think we all needed simpler recipes to get dinner on the table quickly!
Raspberry white chocolate buttermilk cake.
Reading the prompts to some of your recipes, it seems like you’re problem-solving or workshopping solutions. The corn soufflé omelets for example. Can you share how you ideate?
I work backwards. I start with a picture of the recipe in my head, then build the recipe from there. I usually write the recipe in a notebook, then test it and photograph it.
How about sourcing ingredients; what’s most important to you and what do you recommend to your followers?
Quality ingredients, preferably organic–especially your meat, which should be grass-fed when possible.
The author with a tray of Aperol pomegranate palomas.
How much time is spent on recipe development? Do you work with a team or are you a one-woman show?
About 70 percent of my time is spent on recipe development. I work alone so I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, testing recipes, then photographing and filming them for the website. For cookbooks I always have two or three external recipe testers, which helps to ensure the recipes work for everyone. I like to have a tester in New York and then a tester in LA and for this book, we had a team member in Nashville testing too.
Give us your staples–freezer, fridge, and pantry:
Apples, avocados, carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, potatoes, spaghetti squash, pineapple, all berries, bananas, lots of european salted butter, eggs, goat milk, ground beef, garlic, onions, ginger, in the fall and winter apple cider, pomegranate juice, and pomegranates. Plain Greek yogurt, cream cheese, a variety of cheeses, chipotle chilies, sun-dried tomatoes, pastas, flour, rice, and baking ingredients; lots of semisweet chocolate chips and flaky sea salt.
All images from “Quick & Cozy,” (Clarkson Potter) courtesy of Random House; © 2024 by Tieghan Gerard.
