In season, but with leftovers

What does it exactly mean for a restaurant to be "produce-driven?" According to Steven Satterfield, Atlanta chef and author of Root to Leaf: A Southern Chef Cooks Through the Seasons (Harper Wave), it means working closely with local sources, cooking with scrupulous seasonality, and cooking "root to leaf" - the vegetable-and-fruit equivalent of "nose to tail."

That struck me as intriguing. Would my composting output be reduced by half? Would there be no more trimmings for stock? Would a "white-and-light-green parts only" leek once again be the whole vegetable it was? As always, the proof would be in the testing.

Naturally, Root to Leaf is seasonally organized. I found some familiar flavor combinations, but often they came in unexpected contexts or made use of slightly tweaked techniques.

Some shockingly tender shrimp make a good match for silky new fava beans and a bit of crisp radish. Satterfield's method of cooking shrimp might be my new favorite: The protein and the butter go together into a cold pan and slowly heat, the shrimp barely turning opaque as the butter melts.

Summer recipes marry sweet and savory elements with equal effectiveness. Blueberries, with their ample freight of pectin, naturally thicken Satterfield's mostarda, a kind of heavy-bodied gastrique, acidified with vinegar and lifted by faintly popping mustard seed and minced ginger. I served it with seared chicken paillards, and it transformed what would be a very ordinary weeknight meal into something memorable.

There are a lot of bright, crunchy, good ideas in his crab salad: cucumber, preserved lemon, basil. But be sure to spring for the best-quality pasteurized crab you can find, as you won't be cooking it further. I did not, and now the Night of the Bad Backfin is seared into my memory. If not for that, those cool, crisp textures might have become a summer staple.

A salad of green beans, roasted pepper, and potato similarly makes the most of summer. Its dressing, though, falls back on cooler-weather apples (in the form of vinegar) and oranges (in the form of juice), bizarrely but happily mingled with mashed anchovy, in the manner of a niçoise salad.

I learned something from most of those recipes. But I'm still puzzling about that phrase "root to leaf." I had rather hoped it meant I would discover undreamed-of treasuries of flavor in strawberry hulls, rhubarb leaves, cucumber seeds, radish roots, and potato peels. Yet those vegetable castaways were still mostly cast away, and the compost bucket remained as full as ever throughout a week of testing.

It's little more than a quibble, really. These recipes might not be as thrifty and resourceful as the nose-to-tail recipes they emulate. But they're still full of craft and reverence, and they make good companions for the harvest in any season.

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Makes 4 servings

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1 cup kosher salt, plus more for seasoning

3 pounds whole fava pods, about 11/2 cups beans after shelling

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

11/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Freshly ground black pepper

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup fruity white wine

1 or 2 radishes, thinly sliced

Flat-leaf parsley leaves for garnish

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1. Set a large pot on the stove. Put in 1 gallon water and 1 cup kosher salt. Bring to a boil. Ready a large bowl of ice water.

2. Tear open the fava pods and remove the beans, discarding the outer pods. Place the beans in the boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. When cooled, remove the outer hull of each bean and place the shelled beans in a bowl, discarding the hulls. Set aside.

3. Place the butter and the shrimp in a wide skillet and set on the stove. Turn the heat to the lowest setting and stir as the butter melts and the shrimp begin to cook. Season with salt and pepper and add lemon juice and white wine. As the temperature rises, keep a close eye on the shrimp, stirring frequently. Remove with a slotted spoon when the shrimp are pink and slightly curled. Set aside.

4. Add the peeled favas to the pan and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook until the favas are heated all the way through, then taste for seasoning and adjust. Be sure to taste both the beans and the liquid. Add the radishes to the pan and turn off the heat. Return the shrimp to the pan and toss to combine. Divide the shrimp and fava mixture with the juice among 4 bowls, and garnish with parsley. Serve immediately.

Per Serving: 523 calories; 54 grams protein; 37 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams sugar; 15 grams fat; 389 milligrams cholesterol; 583 milligrams sodium; 14 grams dietary fiber.EndText

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Makes about 3 cups or 40 canapés

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1 pound fresh lump crabmeat

1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced to 1/8-inch thickness; plus more cucumbers, cut into round slices for serving

2 pieces preserved lemon, blanched and minced

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 to 2 tablespoons mayonnaise

A few fresh basil leaves, sliced into small pieces

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1. Place the crabmeat in a wide shallow container and carefully pick through to check for pieces of shell. Add the diced cucumber, preserved lemon, lemon zest, and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. Stir in mayonnaise to the desired consistency and taste for seasoning. Adjust as needed, then chill for 30 minutes. Serve on cucumber slices and garnish with the basil.

Per serving (based on 10 servings): 56 calories; 9 grams protein; 1 gram carbohydrates; trace sugar; 1 gram fat; 46 milligrams cholesterol; 196 milligrams sodium; no dietary fiber.EndText

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Makes 6 servingsEndTextStartText

1/2 pound new potatoes

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup kosher salt

1 anchovy fillet

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

Juice and zest of 1 orange

1 small shallot, minced

1/4 cup parsley leaves, roughly chopped

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 roasted red or yellow bell peppers, cleaned and seeded, reserving any juice from roasting

2 cups blanched green beans, filet beans, wax beans, or a mix

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1. Place the potatoes in a small saucepan and cover with cold water by 2 inches. Add the vinegar and salt to the water and place over medium-high heat. Cook until the potatoes are just tender, about 20 minutes, then drain well in a colander and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, mash the anchovy fillet with the back of a fork. Make the dressing by adding the citrus juices and zest, shallot, chopped parsley, and olive oil to the bowl and whisk to combine. Slice the potatoes into quarters while still warm and toss with the dressing. Slice the roasted peppers into thin strips, about the same size as the green beans. Toss the green beans and peppers together, including any juice from roasting the peppers, then add to the potato mixture and toss to combine. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Serve at room temperature.

Per Serving: 136 calories; 5 grams protein; 12 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams sugar; 8 grams fat; 8 milligrams cholesterol; 801 milligrams sodium; 3 grams dietary fiber.EndText