Archive for the ‘GreenLeaf Bulletin’ Category

Q&A with Local Chefs and Farmers: Tim Mueller of Riverdog Farm & Jesse Cool of Flea St. Cafe

May 21st, 2012

Leeks

Appropriately prized in Europe as a versatile, subtle workhorse, leeks are gaining ground stateside.  Our sales increase annually, and when possible we “alpha” them.  This means when a local grower of organic leeks can offer a price close to conventional, then we sell only their leeks. Their sales go up, and you get to use really pristine produce!

Known in Wales as “poor man’s asparagus”, leeks are one of the most easily digested allium family members.  Their mild, refined flavor enhances and melds other ingredients together in a subtly beautiful way. They do take a long time to grow, and must require mounding of soil as they grow to produce optimum white blanched shanks.  The two major leek challenges are in dead of winter, when slower growing means harvest may be pushed to meet demand, resulting in shorter, less blanched, lower yielding leeks, and in spring, when their DNA pushes them to bolt in an effort to flower and produce seed, during which time texture is challenged and we may have to deal with a wood “stick” in the center.  As with all things produce, timing is everything and Mother Nature has the final word.  Every season is different but in a perfect world there are enough leeks planted at the right time to endure a steady supply of perfectly sized, non-bolting, high yielding leeks.  That’s what farmers aim for, and what our buyers strive to supply you with.  Because leeks are a biennial (setting seed in their second year), they can be particularly tricky.

Whole or halved and braised leeks make an elegant and tasty statement as a simple plate veg.  As days warm (they will), leeks vinaigrette makes one tasty appetizer, and Vichyssoise can hit the spot.  For cooler days, a creamy leek tart or warm soup is welcoming.  Try a leek and pork pie, or the Scottish Cockaleekie, a casserole combining chicken, leeks, herbs, stock and prunes.

Mary Risley has a knock-your-socks-off recipe for Cream of Leek Soup with Stilton in the San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook, Volume 2.   Gerald Hirigoyen, in his cookbook The Basque Kitchen, has a mouth- watering recipe for Monkfish or Salmon in Red Wine with Leeks and Pancetta.  Or whip up a hearty creamy pasta gratin with sausage, leeks and dried porcini.  Last, with spring onions, ramps and green garlic abounding, a multiple onion soup would not be out of order.

History

Cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, leeks were thought by Emperor Nero to improve his singing voice.  Leeks somehow made it to Britan, and in Saxon times the word leac was the generic term for any type of garlic or onion.  Also grown for centuries in cooler Northern China, where the tender blanched julienned heart is a classically rolled into Peking pancakes.

 

Q&A with local chefs, cheese mongers and farmers

Featured Farmer:

Tim Mueller

Riverdog Farm

Capay Valley, Yolo County

Founded: 1990
Working with GreenLeaf since: 1997
Specialties: Root crops, asparagus, spring onions, favas, tomatoes, peppers, leeks

Earliest Food Memory?
Tomatoes! Being in my maternal grandfather’s garden. Eating blueberries and blackberries at the peak of their season. It was phenomenal. From 0 to 15 I would spend every August with my grandparents in Cape Cod or Old Greenwich. We would go crabbing and fishing in Long Island Sound. Fond memories. That’s where it all started. Happy times and good food.

Why Farming?
Why not farming? I grew up in Cleveland, and decided I never wanted to live in a city again. I saw farming as a way out, and to bring my grandfather’s farming influence into my life, make it a focus of life. I saw it as an idyllic lifestyle, and while “reality hit”, I consider myself lucky to be a farmer, especially with no “legacy” of family farming to draw from. To have pulled it together and be reasonably successful, 27 years later, I feel like it’s an honor. I see no compelling alternates.

Farming is truly an honor. We grow delicious foods and bring them to people. There is immense pleasure selling at Farmers Markets, developing relationships with our customers, watching their kids grow up, and for them to bring their kids. The continuity and knowing that people love and appreciate what you do is gratifying. The connection to the restaurant world is a bit less direct, but it’s still there, and we appreciate the deep relationships with GreenLeaf buyers we’ve developed over the years.

Favorite leek recipe?
I love a plateful of leeks, maybe piled on crostini. Just simply sautéed in olive oil. Straight up, sometimes finished with some kale or chard. I consider them a vegetable unto themselves; nothing like a big pile of steaming, slippery leeks.

Biggest challenge?
So many! I would say providing a stable workplace for our crew, managing crops to that end so we can be great employers. We base our agricultural model in large part on how to employ our crew year round, and to provide them and their families with health insurance. Also, managing crops w/in the parameters of the weather.

It is a challenge to communicate this to our customers, that it’s not just great produce we’re providing, but that it shows the commitment that Riverdog makes to be a great place to work, where people are respected. We’ve created a stability that is rare in our world. Hopefully respect of workers is reflected in our produce. It’s not just about the bottom line when dealing with fresh produce and people working hard.

Riverdog Farm Snapshot: Tim Mueller and Trina Campbell started farming in the Napa Valley in 1990. Their successful two acre organic garden was inhabited by the family dog, Shadow. A water lover, Shadow gave the farm its name— Riverdog—and it is Shadow’s portrait that graces the Riverdog label. The farm eased out of the Napa Valley during the mid 1990s due to the rising price of grapes and the concomitant pressure on land prices. Tim and Trina knew other growers in the Capay Valley and moved to their current farm in Guinda in 1995. Riverdog is located on a creek bed where rich creek-bottom soil, intense summer heat and winter frost make exceptionally tasty fruits and vegetables. GreenLeaf has partnered with the folks at Riverdog for more than a decade.

Farm to Table

Featured Chef: Jesse Ziff Cool

Featured Restaurant: Flea Street Cafe

Working with GreenLeaf since: 1979

 

Earliest food memories?

Being in my Dad’s back yard in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where he had cucumbers and tomatoes growing between bushes. Also, because my uncle had a slaughterhouse we regularly had tongue and sweetbreads on the table. They were delicious and I thought everyone ate that way. As a kid eating such food and secretly loving it was an embarrassment.

How are you currently using Riverdog’s organic leeks?

They’re the backbone of everything we cook.  From stocks, to being in our ever-changing nightly veggie plate where we’ll sweat them in olive oil, toss with carrots, and whatever else is fresh and in season. They go in to our wonderful croquettes which were recently featured on KQED’s program, Check Please!

Favorite spring vegetables?

Artichokes, unquestionably.  Asparagus. I can’t eat enough of it, regardless of any side effects.  Fava leaves and fava blossoms. Oh, and we love your local cheese program!

Biggest challenge?

Blending, balancing my passion and respect for well raised/grown/crafted ingredients and the farmers/artisans behind them with a conscience for social justice, community, and making it all work to run a sustainable, ingredient driven business.

My Dad had a neighborhood grocery where he baked everything from scratch and used lots of home grown produce. He taught me early on how much work goes in to making real, good food.  My respect for that runs deep, and it’s gratifying to see food consciousness and systems supportive of this are on the rise.

Looking into the future?

Passing my experience and passion on to my amazing staff.  They are really fantastic.

Posted in GreenLeaf Bulletin, Q&A with Local Farmers | No Comments

Q&A with Local Chefs and Farmers: Rick Knoll of Knoll Farms & Ken Frank of La Toque

May 14th, 2012

“THE” GREEN GARLIC

While we’ve got one month until official spring and barring meteorological catastrophe it looks like an early landing this year. Our stalwart partners Rick and Kristie Knoll say the dry, cold winter in Brentwood bodes well for bumper crops of stone fruit. It also means a later start for them on their unparalleled green garlic, known by many as THE green garlic.  “We’re a bit behind seasonal norm this year. Our green garlic was frozen to the ground for six weeks, and needs another couple weeks until we really get going on harvest”, said Rick. We will augment from Capay.

Initially the Knolls developed it for themselves to eat, valuing its anti-bacterial, anti-viral properties and consuming it raw for highest medicinal value.  The “stinking rose” has grown into one of their top 3 crops.

Knoll green garlic is recognized as the “green” standard, for many reasons. To start, as anyone who’s visited Knoll Farms has seen, it’s grown with “beyond organic” practices.  It’s irrigated with an amazing biodynamic brew and grown in rich soil that has benefited from over 3 decades of mindful, educated stewardship. The Knolls have developed their own strain of green garlic that is prized for its aromatic, relatively mellow flavor. While carrying some pleasing initial heat, the often fiery aftertaste of other garlic varieties is absent. The Knoll’s also have successive planting, harvest, cleaning and packing details honed to a fine point. Once the crop comes on, you can plan on consistently sized, clean, fresh green garlic with unparalleled flavor. Green garlic takes 5-6 months on average to mature, which means land is tied up for a long time, and this makes it a more expensive crop to grow than those with a shorter growing cycle. There may be less expensive green garlic out there, but none consistently better tasting or cleaner.

Beyond pairing with any permutation of pasta, pesto or pizza, this spring harbinger is a welcome addition to soufflés, soups, risotto, sauces, puddings, aioli, and stews. Basically the herbaceous nature of green garlic brightens any dish made with mature garlic cloves, from roasting proteins to vinaigrettes and marinades, to any sautéed vegetable.

Rick, a huge green garlic proponent, says, “when a big restaurant uses only three pounds a week, I laugh. I wish restaurants would replace the butter ramekins with a raw green garlic-infused olive oil. That would be awesome. People would go nuts over that. I’ve seen chefs throw the green part away and that drives me crazy.”

GreenLeaf is proud and grateful to have been one of Knoll Farms primary customers for well over two decades. As with all our great grower/partners, we have helped each other grow.

Rick and Kristie are working on a book about their crops, focusing on growing methodologies, and will feature lots of recipes and pictures. Stay tuned, and eat your green garlic.

Q&A with local farmers

Featured Farmer: Rick Knoll
Featured Farm: Knoll Farms, Brentwood
Founded: 1979
Working with GreenLeaf since: 1983
Specialties: Green Garlic, Figs, Rosemary, Apricots, Plums, Cardoon, Fava Leaves

Earliest Food Memory:
Eating oatmeal with our pig, Mr. Sheen, on our ½ acre garden growing up. We got a little pig, and it became a pet. It would smell my mom making oatmeal for me, and would start squealing and butting the back door. He wanted some too. We loved him, he let us hug him, and he got his oatmeal. In time he reached 350 pounds and my dad was afraid he’d step on us. One day he disappeared. It wasn’t until much later that I found out he had turned into bacon and pork chops.

Why Farming?
It just evolved. I was a corpsman in Vietnam. Just out of the service I was in Southern California earning my doctorate in organic chemistry. I met Kristie, who helped me deal with my compromised immune system. We got into organic gardening, juicing, had chickens, started eating more raw food. The goal was to do post doctorate work and become a professor. I ended up working for an aerospace company in Pittsburg. Kristie and I found a 10-acre farm with a little house in Brentwood. In addition to growing good food for ourselves we soon had planted over 600 fruit trees. In six years we  gained enough confidence to switch to full time farming.

Favorite green garlic recipe?
Our favorite is to chop super-fine and put it on just about everything. We don’t believe in cooking it a lot. We’ll drizzle bread with olive oil, heat it, then dump a whole bunch of green garlic on and cover until it just wilts. Or smear fromage blanc on a baguette and heap raw green garlic on it. It’s fantastic raw in an arugula salad.

Biggest challenge?
Apricots. Without using organically approved fungicides (sulfur, copper) it’s the most difficult thing … even with. If weather is ripe for brown rot to grow, there’s really nothing you can do. From first bloom it takes a month to know you’re not going to get any fruit. As a farmer, it can be heartbreaking.

Farm to Table

Featured Chef: Ken Frank

Featured Restaurant: La Toque

Working with GreenLeaf since: 1998

 

Earliest food memory?

Making breakfast w/my grandfather in Eagle Rock, CA. He grew up on one of the first farms in San Fernando Valley, had a butcher shop, and was the cook in the family. As a kid it was amazing to me watching him flip flapjacks up in the air, never missing the pan.

Currently serving:

An amuse bouche of Lemon Ricotta Potato Gnocchi, crisped and topped with a dollop of green garlic confit which is cooked simply and slowly in olive oil to let it be green garlic.

Favorite winter vegetable?

Parsnips.  A very under-appreciated vegetable.  So sweet!

Biggest challenge?

Service. A difficult lesson learned a long time ago is that service is more important than your food.

You can never turn away from it. It is a constant pressure, a challenge, and a great joy to instill and maintain great standards. I believe we have really good service.

Posted in GreenLeaf Bulletin, Q&A with Local Farmers | No Comments

GreenLeaf Bulletin 03/07

March 7th, 2012

Menu Inspiration of the Week: Belgian Endive

Like a black dress or blue suit, Belgian endive is perfect for almost any occasion at any time of year. It has a unique, two-tiered growing process. First the chicory is grown outside for about 5 months. The plant tops are then cut off (used for cattle fodder or green manure) and the large roots are harvested and placed in cold storage.  As needed, the roots are then placed in a highly specialized controlled atmosphere building for forced growing in the dark for about one month. We’ve taken the tour, just down the road in Rio Vista, and it is an amazing process to see. Because of this controlled growth, Belgian Endive is available year round. We’ve worked with Rich Collins at California Vegetable Specialties for over 28 years. (Read on for an interview with him.)

A chicory family member, related to radicchio, escarole and curly endive, Belgian Endive, or Witloof (white leaf) originally popped up from overwintering chicory roots in a root cellar. Imagine the delight in discovering crispy, crunchy fresh nubbins in the dead of winter in Belgium. Here’s the back story as gleaned from California Vegetable Specialties website, www.endive.com:

History
Endive — The Accidental Vegetable
: In 1830, Jan Lammers returned from the Belgian War of Independence to his farm near Brussels, where he had stored chicory roots in his cellar while he was away, intending to dry and roast them and use as a coffee substitute. But his chicory roots, resting for months in the dark, damp environment, had achieved a different result. They had sprouted small white leaves. Curious, he tried the leaves and found them to be tender, moist, and crunchy, with a pleasant, slightly bitter taste. Thus, a new vegetable was discovered — endive.

White Gold: 
It took a while before cultivation was refined enough to grow the vegetable commercially. Legend has it that endive took the world by storm when introduced in Paris in 1872, quickly becoming so popular that it was nicknamed “white gold.”

Georganne Brennan has a delicious recipe for Belgian endive and watercress with smoked trout, featuring a warm shallot/tarragon dressing in The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook.  In The Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook, Alice Waters proffers a Belgian endive risotto recipe with Taleggio and Walnuts. Braised, steamed or boiled, endive pairs perfectly finished with cream, or with a shalloty sauce Meuniere, or Mornay. Most any configuration of ham and cheese play well with Belgian endive. Raw, try pairing with slivers of fennel and red pepper and a dipping sauce, from a green goddess, Russian, or Anchovy. 

Marion Morash in her Victory Garden cookbook stuffs a breast of veal with a Belgian endive and ham stuffing.  She also has an “extra easy” chicken and endive recipe in which chicken thighs, Belgian endive, and whole shallots are baked with butter, salt and pepper, sealed tightly. Ah, Belgian endive, we love you: always in season, and incredibly versatile!

 

3 Food Questions

Weekly interview with local chefs, cheese mongers and farmers

 

Rich Collins

California Vegetable Specialties, Inc.

www.endive.com
Founded: 1983
Working with GreenLeaf since 1984
Specialties: Belgian endive, white and red

Earliest Food Memory:
Bologna. I was 3 or 4, standing in front of the deli counter at Corti Brothers market with my mom. This big, burly white jacketed Italian guy with glasses offered me a slice of bologna. I loved it. It was a very kind gesture, and good marketing, too.

Why Farming?
Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a farmer. I remember driving by Farmer’s Insurance Company when I was 5 or 6, and thinking, “Wow, there must be farmers in there!” My parents, 4th generation San Franciscans, had encyclopedias for us, and the sections on farming were just about worn out. Growing up we had a one acre market vegetable garden, but I needed additional funds as I was entering UC Davis’ Agricultural program. At 18 I became a dishwasher at Restaurant LaSalle in Sacramento. Great place, eclectic staff, from a Ugandan chef to a Swiss maître d’ and a pastry chef with a Ph.D. At a VIP birthday party the chef/owner braised Belgian endive. He said, “This is what you should grow, it sells for $4.00 per pound and no one is growing it in the U.S.”  The next day I went to my seed supplier and asked for endive. He gave me curly endive seeds. I explained I wanted Belgian endive, and in 1978, with one seed packet, I grew my first crop of roots, forcing them in lard cans. I stuck the roots in my 3×5 foot closet, and got about 20 pathetic, anemic sprouts. I served them in a salad to my family to underwhelming praise. I was determined, though, and after college I went to Europe to learn how to grow Belgian endive properly. I knew I needed a niche to succeed in farming, and I found it. People said I could not do it, and in fact, Rebel Farms was our original name. It’s worked out pretty well in the end.

Favorite Belgian endive recipe?
So many! Last night I pan seared halved spears in olive oil, then braised in chicken stock with a touch of nutmeg. Once soft, I grated Parmesan on to finish with the pan covered. Also, any salad combination with mache and/or arugula. I use rice vinegar, shallot, sunflower oil and a touch of Dijon mustard to dress. Adding matchstick apples, chunks of pears, or segmented citrus is always delicious – something sweet to balance the slight natural bitterness of Belgian endive.

Biggest challenge?
Ignorance. Not stupidity. The lack of consumer awareness is our biggest competitor. Many people don’t know what endive is. Over 30 years later, we are still answering this litany of questions: “What is it, how do you grow it, what’s it taste like, how do you cook it, and how do you pronounce it?” 

 

Farm to Table

Inspiration from local chefs

 

Gloria Ciccarone
The Huntington Hotel, Big Four Restaurant
www.huntingtonhotel.com
Working with GreenLeaf since 1980

Earliest food memories?
Packing basil leaves in oil with my grandmom. I also remember making stuffed breast of veal when I was 8 years old with my father in our family restaurant, the Avalon Inn, in Bethel, Connecticut. I cut my finger on the slicer when I was 11 one busy Saturday night, and my mother patched me up in the pantry to get through service.

Favorite ways to use Belgian endive?
Beyond using it as a gorgeous garnish, we marinate halved red Belgian endive in an aged sherry vinaigrette, grill briefly for a slight char, then finish in the oven with a really good Mountain Gorgonzola.

Favorite spring vegetables?
Artichokes, #1 favorite.  I love to make a ragout of fennel, favas, spring carrots and onion. Melt it all together, finish with chervil and use it as a bed for a nice piece of fish.

Biggest challenge?
Keeping staff fresh and excited, and the customers happy at the same time. Also, making my hair look good every day – a challenge in a kitchen!

 

This week’s tidbit: Play with Your Food

Why did GreenLeaf pioneer the Toybox Series over 20 years ago?  (First with organic cherry tomatoes, then mixed heirloom tomatoes, baby carrots, eggplant, peppers, chiles, wine grapes).

To get you the most, and best, varieties packed in a user-friendly quantity. The farmers we work with select the seasons peak heirlooms, with pride of growership apparent. The Toybox Series is also of great support to the creative backbone of the produce world, local small-scale family farmers.  It encourages them to plant an ever-more diverse mix because they know we’re working with them to market and sell their prime fare to a growing, appreciative audience – you!  One key to success in a very competitive market is to distinguish your food and menus with peak season produce. Use the best to achieve excellence, recognition and repeat customers.  This is why, for over 35 years, we have worked with the best growers and suppliers. Our aim is to help Chefs and Farmers grow.

 

Posted in GreenLeaf Bulletin, Menu Inspirations, Q&A with Local Chefs, Q&A with Local Farmers | No Comments

GreenLeaf Bulletin 02/29

February 29th, 2012

Menu Inspiration of the Week: Green Garlic

While we’ve got one month until official spring and barring meteorological catastrophe it looks like an early landing this year. Our stalwart partners Rick and Kristie Knoll say the dry, cold winter in Brentwood bodes well for bumper crops of stone fruit. It also means a later start for them on their unparalleled green garlic, known by many as THE green garlic.  “We’re a bit behind seasonal norm this year. Our green garlic was frozen to the ground for six weeks, and needs another couple weeks until we really get going on harvest”, said Rick. We will augment from Capay.

Initially the Knolls developed it for themselves to eat, valuing its anti-bacterial, anti-viral properties and consuming it raw for highest medicinal value.  The “stinking rose” has grown into one of their top 3 crops.
Knoll green garlic is recognized as the “green” standard, for many reasons. To start, as anyone who’s visited Knoll Farms has seen, it’s grown with “beyond organic” practices.  It’s irrigated with an amazing biodynamic brew and grown in rich soil that has benefited from over 3 decades of mindful, educated stewardship. The Knolls have developed their own strain of green garlic that is prized for its aromatic, relatively mellow flavor. While carrying some pleasing initial heat, the often fiery aftertaste of other garlic varieties is absent. The Knoll’s also have successive planting, harvest, cleaning and packing details honed to a fine point. Once the crop comes on, you can plan on consistently sized, clean, fresh green garlic with unparalleled flavor. Green garlic takes 5-6 months on average to mature, which means land is tied up for a long time, and this makes it a more expensive crop to grow than those with a shorter growing cycle. There may be less expensive green garlic out there, but none consistently better tasting or cleaner.
Beyond pairing with any permutation of pasta, pesto or pizza, this spring harbinger is a welcome addition to soufflés, soups, risotto, sauces, puddings, aioli, and stews. Basically the herbaceous nature of green garlic brightens any dish made with mature garlic cloves, from roasting proteins to vinaigrettes and marinades, to any sautéed vegetable.
Rick, a huge green garlic proponent, says, “when a big restaurant uses only three pounds a week, I laugh. I wish restaurants would replace the butter ramekins with a raw green garlic-infused olive oil. That would be awesome. People would go nuts over that. I’ve seen chefs throw the green part away and that drives me crazy.”
GreenLeaf is proud and grateful to have been one of Knoll Farms primary customers for well over two decades. As with all our great grower/partners, we have helped each other grow.

Rick and Kristie are working on a book about their crops, focusing on growing methodologies, and will feature lots of recipes and pictures. Stay tuned, and eat your green garlic.

3 Food Questions

Weekly interview with local chefs, cheese mongers and farmers

 

Rick Knoll
Knoll Farms, Brentwood
www.knollorganics.com
Founded: 1979
Working with GreenLeaf since: 1983
Specialties: Green Garlic, Figs, Rosemary, Apricots, Plums, Cardoon, Fava Leaves

Earliest Food Memory:

Eating oatmeal with our pig, Mr. Sheen, on our ½ acre garden growing up. We got a little pig, and it became a pet. It would smell my mom making oatmeal for me, and would start squealing and butting the back door. He wanted some too. We loved him, he let us hug him, and he got his oatmeal. In time he reached 350 pounds, and my dad was afraid he’d step on us. One day he disappeared.  It wasn’t until much later that I found out he had turned into bacon and pork chops.

Why Farming?

It just evolved. I was a corpsman in Vietnam.  Just out of the service I was in SOCAL earning my doctorate in organic chemistry. I met Kristie, who helped me deal with my compromised immune system.  We got into organic garden, juicing, had chickens, eating more raw food. The goal was to do post doctorate work and become a professor. I ended up working for an aerospace company in Pittsburg. Kristie and I found a 10 acre farm with a little house in Brentwood, and in addition to growing good food for ourselves, soon had planted over 600 fruit trees. In 6 years we had gained enough confidence to switch to full time farming.

Favorite green garlic recipe?

Our favorite is to chop super- fine and put it on just about everything. We don’t believe in cooking it a lot.  We’ll drizzle bread with olive oil, heat it, then dump a whole bunch of green garlic on and cover until it just wilts. Or smear fromage blanc on a baguette, and heap raw green garlic on it. It’s fantastic raw in an arugula salad.

Biggest challenge?

Apricots. Without using organically approved fungicides (sulfur, copper) it’s the most difficult thing, even with. If weather is ripe for brown rot to grow, there’s really nothing you can do, and from first bloom it takes a month to know you’re not going to get any fruit. As a farmer, it can be heartbreaking.

 

Farm to Table

Inspiration from local chefs


Ken Frank
La Toque
www.latoque.com
Working with GreenLeaf since: 1998

Earliest food memory?

Making breakfast w/my grandfather in Eagle Rock, CA. He grew up on one of the first farms in San Fernando Valley, had a butcher shop, and was the cook in the family. As a kid it was amazing to me watching him flip flapjacks up in the air, never missing the pan.

Currently serving:

An amuse bouche of Lemon Ricotta Potato Gnocchi, crisped and topped with a dollop of green garlic confit which is cooked simply and slowly in olive oil to let it be green garlic.

Favorite winter vegetable?
Parsnips.  A very under-appreciated vegetable.  So sweet!

Biggest challenge?

Service. A difficult lesson learned a long time ago is that service is more important than your food.
You can never turn away from it. It is a constant pressure, a challenge, and a great joy to instill and maintain great standards. I believe we have really good service.

 

This week’s tidbit: What is Alpha?

Why“Alpha-ing”, one part of our sustainability practices.

When one of our grower/partners has a fantastic, organically/cleanly grown, local piece of fruit or veggie, we work with them to see if in exchange for some serious volume, we can come close to conventional pricing. If we can work that out to the farmer and chef’s benefit, then we switch exclusively to that item.
This is what we mean by “alpha-ing”. This provides our customers with really terrific local fare, supports those growers using sustainable growing practices, and ideally incentivises others to come on board.  Local money stays in the community, agricultural land is more mindfully tended, and diners benefit, too.  Hopefully happy diners become/remain regular diners, and spread word of their delicious experiences out via mouth and social media.  As a distributor, our 3 decade experience is that sticking with quality minded growers over the years versus chasing the “cheapest” is a solid business model. Our customers can rely on consistently sized, fresh, high yielding and great tasting produce.  Often the “cheaper” deal is not the best value.  Quality, yield, freshness and flavor can suffer.  That can lead to shortages, frustration, and lackluster food going out to your diners.  Not a good thing.  Count on us for the likes of County Line mixed baby lettuce and chicories, Coke Farms celery root and Meyer lemons, Knoll Farms rosemary, Castagnetto Farms mint, T & D Willey Farms baby turnips, Nantes carrots and Bloomsdale spinach, and Andy Boy broccoli rabe. This is what “Alpha” means to us.

 

Market Update

Cross fingers that serious cold snap northward does not wend into our neck of the woods; if it does, all local asparagus bets are off.  Nascent shoots are extremely cold-sensitive, and a frost could pretty much wipe out this years crop.  In this cold, Delta Queen is harvesting only once or twice weekly.  That said, the spears are delicious and pretty- purple tipped from cooler weather.

Mexican Favas are in and not bad.  Some sightings at farmer’s markets of more local beans, but growers barely have enough for the Farmer’s Market, where it’s a more profitable proposition for them.  We’re a few weeks away from local favas reaching critical mass.

Allium a go-go!  Early spring harbingers are on, well, early!  Beyond green garlic, beautiful, succulent organic spring onions are in, both red and white, plus Coke baby leeks.  Ramps will pop up most likely toward late March. We’ve got some arugula rabe and Sausalito Springs watercress for you, too.

Blood oranges should run through early-mid March. It’s prime Meyer lemon time. Pixie mandarins are due in mid-March, with Tahoe Golds fading out. Tiny sized, huge flavored organic Kishu mandarins are in from Oaji for their short, sweet season

CA Brussels Sprouts done, now from MX , time for local spring onions, asparagus, ALBA Broccoli di Ciccio,  Capay purple and cheddar cauliflower.

Berries- Quality of MX blackberries improved, CA raspberries decent, Chilean blueberries only fair, and continued cold in Oxnard means a strong Strawberry market, with ripeness challenged fruit this week. Santa Maria to start soon.

Best foraged fungals still Black Trumpets and Hedgehogs. A dry winter means a dearth of Chanterelles. Oregon truffles are yours with a preorder.

Wilgenberg hothouse tomatoes due in early March.

Good values this week include broccoli, leeks, cabbage, lettuce and spinach, plus MX Blue Lakes, corn, cucumbers, squash, and peppers. Strong markets on MX limes, CA fennel. Typical for February, avoid melons.

Done for the season are Crab, Lady, and Honeycrisp apples.

Posted in GreenLeaf Bulletin, Menu Inspirations, Q&A with Local Chefs, Q&A with Local Farmers | No Comments

GreenLeaf Bulletin 02/14

February 14th, 2012

Menu Inspiration of the Week: Mixed Chicories

The chicory family is large and diverse.  Chicorium intybus, a group of perennial cultivated plants, developed from wild chicory. In old England the wild plant was called succory. In Italian and French, the moniker was barbe de capuchin and barbe di cappuccino, translating to “Capuchin monk’s beard”. Wild chicory was used as a vegetable and salad green in classical Greece and Rome, harvested young to avoid the bitterness found in more mature plants. Cultivation commenced in the 1600’s and today there are hundreds of permutations including Puntarelle, or “little points”, Sugarloaf, many radicchios including Tardivo, Variegata and Castle Franco. A large rooted variety was developed in Holland in the mid 1800’s, dried, ground and used as an alternate to coffee, which was just gaining popularity and which was quite expensive. To this day this ground chicory finds itself blended with coffee and consumed in France, Spain, and New Orleans in particular. Then there’s Witloof (white leaf), which we know in it’s sprouted form, Belgian Endive, born from harvested roots and cultivated in the dark. Chicory takes many forms, from broad and narrow leaved varieties to loose leaves to fully headed types. C. endivia is a kissing cousin to chicory, and includes Curly Endive, Escarole, and Frisee.

There’s chicory, and then there’s County Line Harvest’s mixed chicories, an enticing mix of 4-8 heirloom varieties commingling in one 5-pound, chef-friendly case. Most all of David’s chicories end up in salads.
Their bracing bitterness is usually balanced with something sweet, one or several ingredients including,  citrus, apples, pears, peppers, roasted beets, parsnips, yams, sweet potatoes, rutabaga, or either black Spanish or Watermelon radish. Also, a cheese and/or toasted nut for complimentary concord and texture play well in the salad bowl, and another protein shows up often, a favorite being bacon or pancetta with or without some of the fat used in the dressing. Cooking mellows chicory. A long, slow, vinegary braise creates a lush, soft, mellow dish, perfect finished with some combo of lemon juice, red chile flakes, garlic and oil. Talk about comfort food!

3 Food Questions

Weekly interview with local chefs, cheese mongers and farmers

 

David Retsky
County Line Farms, Petaluma, Thermal
Founded April 1st, 2000, no fooling!
Working with GreenLeaf since: 2000
Specialties: Baby mixed and Little Gem lettuces, chicory mix, baby beets, Tokyo turnips

Earliest Food Memory: Processed ham, American cheese and Miracle Whip on Wonder Bread.  I can still taste that sandwich. How’s that for local and seasonal?!

Why Farming? Find me something else that stimulates my mind and body as much as farming and I’ll change careers.

Favorite mixed chicory recipe? If it were date night, my signature salad. Shredded mixed chicories with a medium boiled farm egg, Point Reyes Blue, and a simple vinaigrette. I’ll eat this for breakfast.

Biggest challenge?  Making payroll every week. Farming is not for the faint of heart. It’s an endeavor; I feel like I’m raising a baby, really a toddler now.  It’s very time consuming, especially with properties north and south now.

 

Farm to Table

Inspiration from local chefs

Gerald Hirigoyen
Piperade
Working with GreenLeaf since: 1985 (San Tropez)

Earliest food memory?
As a child, going to my Uncle’s farm, milking cows, boiling the milk and getting to eat the cream on top. I also loved duck confit.

Currently serving:
Mixed chicory salad fresh tarragon, chives, parsley, roasted “perfect blonde” almonds from Yuba City, dressed with a pear vinaigrette.

Favorite winter vegetable?
Brussels sprouts, home grown broccoli, and my kids love parsnips.

Biggest challenges?
To stay fresh, current, and as I get older to keep up my energy. I’m exercising a lot and eating a lot of vegetables to stay fired up.  I am so slim!

 

This week’s tidbit: Grooving with Growers

GOne potato, two potato….

French Fingerling Potatoes – Florence Fabricant in The Great Potato Book says: “One of the newer varieties in the rapidly expanding fingerling category is called the French fingerling, in a nod to the ancestry of the seed stock. It’s a plump elongated oval with a smooth red skin and light yellow flesh mottled and streaked with a hint of red that has a silky texture and a rich flavor with a hint of mineral. The starch content is medium to low, making it a lovely candidate to incorporate whole in recipes that give it a chance to absorb a sauce without falling apart.”   Other fingerling varieties on hand include Red Thumb, Ruby Crescent, the new all red Amarosa, Banana, and purple Peruvian.

Mixed Marbles (a red, Banana fingering, and purple mélange) are lovely, and from T&D Willey Farms choose from both baby red and Yukon Golds, German Butterballs.

Last spud note: WA Yukon Gold season is winding down; market firming. Nascent CA crop is quality challenged, especially on AA size; an annual occurrence.

 

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