A Year at

Catbird Cottage

Recipes for a Nourished Life

 By Melina Hammer

 
 
 

100 recipes for celebration eating, from sumptuous to simple. Seasonal, locally sourced, and foraged dishes from Melina Hammer, of the idyllic Catbird Cottage B&B in upstate New York.

At the foot of the Shawangunk Mountain Ridge lies the hamlet of Accord, New York, dotted with orchards and farms, population 562. There, Melina Hammer is enticing guests from near and far to stay and eat at Catbird Cottage, a B&B run out of her charming home. Season to season, her eclectic table is set with meals that showcase stories and ingredients from her own garden, New York's wild landscape, and her travels around the globe. 

These recipes are organized by season, since the seasons dictate what's on the Catbird Cottage table. Whether it's wild salmon gravlax, scallop-shiso ceviche, buttery scrambled eggs and chanterelles, sour cherry pie, or a fall-apart persimmon served with triple crème cheese and freshly baked sourdough bread, Melina's food is deeply satisfying and sustaining--it brings eaters to an attainable means of cooking and living in a more connected and joyful way. 

Melina also shares her foraging and preserving know-how, allowing readers to stock their pantries, cupboards, and freezers. But these recipes don't require you be a fully-fledged homesteader, expert forager, or connoisseur of global flavor. Instead, this book takes the foundations of those practices and integrates them into a new, accessible kitchen vernacular that is fueled by love and feeds more than the belly. This is precious community on a plate, growing and harvesting and preserving food with love, and then eating it with those you cherish.

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  • “Spending time in these pages makes me want to spend more time in nature. A Year at Catbird Cottage reminds us to look closely at everything around us and to see beauty and possibility in every corner. This is how Melina Hammer not only approaches cooking food, but also how she approaches growing it, foraging for it, and capturing it through her stunning photography.”

    -JULIA TURSHEN, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SIMPLY JULIA AND HOST/PRODUCER OF KEEP CALM & COOK ON PODCAST

  • "In A Year at Catbird Cottage, Melina Hammer shows us that there is beauty all around us when we cook seasonally. Asparagus ends, parsley stems, crumbled chiles and spent corn cobs make a gorgeous still life and a delicious stock. Sour cherries and a rye crust form a beautiful grid. Hammer has written a joyful, inspiring book for cooks, bakers, artists, and dreamers."

    -AMANDA HESSER, FOUNDER AND CEO, FOOD52

  • “Melina’s photos are evocative and soulful, and everything looks scrumptious. A Year at Catbird Cottage is full of nourishing and seasonal meals made with foraged foods or fruit and vegetables you can grow in your garden, and quick meals prepared with everyday staples to share with the ones you love. This is a world I would love to immerse myself in.”

    –ARAN GOYOAGA, AUTHOR OF CANNELLE ET VANILLE AND CANNELLE ET VANILLE BAKES SIMPLE

  • “A Year at Catbird Cottage makes a strong argument for strengthening our connection to nature through what we cook. From sourdough to stocks, foraging to fermentation, Melina’s seasonal, ingredient-driven recipes are flavor-packed and beautiful. Her love for the bounty of the natural world is infectious.”

    -HEIDI SWANSON, AUTHOR OF SUPER NATURAL SIMPLE

  • “With A Year at Catbird Cottage, Melina does so much more than welcome us into her kitchen; she invites us out into her garden, seduces us to forage with her the neighboring woods, shows us how to preserve all manner of edibles, and plies us with some of the most enticing recipes I’ve seen in ages. Her lusciously styled photos and equally evocative prose will leave you torn—do you grab this book and start cooking immediately or do you find a quiet spot to hunker down and get lost in the magical world she’s created? Either way is a total win.”

    -SUZANNE LENZER, AUTHOR OF GRAZE

  • “Any dish at Melina’s table is like a cozy embrace. I say this in the best way possible: her cottage reminds me of the comfort I felt at my grandmother’s. Melina is a badass, and A Year at Catbird Cottage inspires a special nostalgia in a beautiful and delicious way that only she can create.”

    –GREGORY PORTER, TWO-TIME GRAMMY AWARD–WINNING SINGER AND SONGWRITER, AND EMCEE OF LEGENDARY BED STUY DINNER PARTIES

  • "I’ve been a follower of Melina for years, and I’m excited about her upcoming cookbook, which focuses on her style of cooking: seasonal, approachable, beautiful, and, most importantly, always delicious."

    -MAURIZIO LEO, AUTHOR OF WEBBY-NOMINATED AND SAVEUR AWARD-WINNING BLOG, THE PERFECT LOAF AND FOOD52 RESIDENT

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Upcoming events.

June 17

Solstice Picnic+Nature Walk

Callicoon, NY

June 24

Hillside Curated Dinners

Accord, NY

July 22

August 12

Hillside Curated Dinners

Summer Fête

Accord, NY

Kerhonkson, NY

August 26

Hillside Curated Dinners

Accord, NY

From the pages of A Year at Catbird Cottage

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Foraging_FallJuniper.jpg
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What is Catbird Cottage?

An idyllic B&B in upstate New York.

Melina's book for new cooks in the kitchen

Kid Chef

The Kid Chef cookbook is part cooking school and part kid’s cookbook, meant for the aspiring junior chef who wants to make dishes the whole family will love. It’s a healthy kids cookbook that teaches kitchen fundamentals with simple instructions and more than 75 tasty recipes.

 

  • "There may be no better way to instill a love of good food in your kids than by having them learn to cook. Kid Chef helps them develop fundamental skills, harness their curiosity, and turn out tasty, family-friendly dishes."

    ―Cooking Light Magazine

  • "[Kid Chef] is packed with all kinds of healthy recipes and culinary skills for the kid who’s trying to take over mealtime. While geared towards the younger ones, these recipes are for anyone wanting easy to prepare, nutritious recipes. Miso Grilled Shrimp Skewers, Pulled Pork Sliders and Easy Tzatziki were a few that Chloe asked to make as she flipped through the pages. That’s a pretty good sign of this book's success!"

    ―Catherine McCord, Weelicious

  • "The clear and concise recipes are great for novice cooks of any age and keep with Melina’s dedication to eating in season, and with flavor."

    -- Design Sponge

  • "I am excited that all kids and their caretakers will have access to such an important tool for teaching children the joy of cooking. This book will equip children to make tasty, from-scratch meals for themselves now and well into the future, when they are living on their own."

    - Bryant Terry, author Black Food, Vegetable Kingdom, James Beard Foundation & NAACP Image award-winning chef

  • "Melina has written the cooking with kids book that we have needed for a long time. It's so refreshing that she doesn't dumb anything down or hide ingredients. Instead, she brings everything front and center: the heat, the anchovies, the knife skills. Without being precious or cautious, she sets a vast and solid foundation for cooking in the real world. I would recommend this spectacular book to both kids and grownups alike."

    —Phyllis Grant, author of Everything is Under Control: A Memoir with Recipes, and the Dash and Bella blog

  • "I am excited to see a book for children focused on technique and healthy cooking. No more food cut-outs and cute gimmicks. Kid Chef empowers children and teaches them one of the best skills they will need: feeding themselves and the ones they love.”

    ―Aran Goyoaga, author of Cannelle et Vanille and Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple

  • "What kid wouldn't want to don an apron, gain a little know-how, star in their own kitchen and spread the love?"

    ―Betty Fussell, award-winning food historian and author of Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef

  • "Because Melina’s food is centered around fresh, good eating, the dishes will satisfy grownup palates just as much as adventuresome kids."

    ―Milkbottle

Hello my name is Melina and I love rainbows. Eating them, specifically!!Celebrate the bounty of the season with a gorgeous riff on the Niçoise salad - I developed this recipe for @driftersfish, who sent me this pristine Alaskan salmon. Make it
Do you love stone fruit? Are you a fan of cake you can eat any time of day? I mean, aren’t we all...? 😂 This amazing cake - double rye (booze+flour) buckwheat plum cake - is part of the summer chapter in my book. If you’ve got a copy, it
Y’ALL. By now a *whole lot of you* have either made my recipes or come to dine at our sweet @catbirdcottage , and you know I would NEVER lead you astray! THIS RECIPE IS BLISS. Kissed-in-the-pan seared tuna, umami-dressed crunchy fennel, avocado
TOMATO SEASON. 😍As an avid gardener I wait for this all year! Friendly reminder that no matter what else, you should be gorging on alllll the tomatoes, breakfast-lunch-dinner. I sure am. 🍅 I grew this #CherokeePurple, my favorite tomato varietal.
MAKE THIS DISH: Luscious, plump+tender shrimp salad with a proper umami kick! Swap the gloppy mayo for my version: showered in fresh dill and tossed with extra-savory fish sauce+lemon juice vinaigrette. Then pile it on toast (bonus, with creamy 🥑).