"It took me a lot of time to find a place like this," says chef Casey Douglas, gesturing across the field, basket in one hand, clippers in the other. As a professional chef in the area where he has worked since the early '90s, Douglas has been trying to figure out how to collaborate with farmers and get them to widen their distribution to restaurants. His collaboration with farmer Ben Perrault of East Mountain Farm has grown.
Apollo Grill, where Casey is chef and owner, is a medium-sized place in an old factory in Easthampton, a short ride away from the herb bed where he picks food for the restaurant. Douglas has a couple of shares in Mountain View farm and tries to get over there as much as possible.
"But chef, there's no time," is the battle cry in most kitchens, but Casey makes the time. "It's a lot to come by every day, especially when I've got to be butchering the meat and filleting fish," he says.
Several years ago, around the time Apollo opened, Ben Perrault and Liz Adler took over Mountain View farm, an established CSA (Community Shared Agriculture/Farm Share) on East Street at the foot of Mount Tom. Casey told Ben what he wanted to see in his restaurant, and Ben grew it. Ever since, the chef and grower have been trading food. Casey gets two shares a season and the growers eat at Apollo for free.
"Our biggest motivation behind giving our food to Casey is so that we can eat it at his restaurant," says Liz. "It's so great to go there and see it all laid out like that, [with] amazing presentation."
Mountain View has grown, and now has a long waiting list for its summer share and offers a winter share as well. In addition, Ben grows for the Food Bank Farm CSA in Hadley and Casey is buying for an additional restaurant. But two shares at a CSA isn't much, and a certain amount of juggling is involved when sourcing local food. Typically a full share is around 15 pounds per week, but amounts of specific foods vary, and the distribution isn't designed for the volume required by most restaurants.
"It could take me 20 minutes to get a gallon's worth of red and yellow cherry tomatoes," says Casey. "It's not worth the time or the effort since one gallon is a lot less than what you might get ordering it from a vendor. I'll just put them on a couple of specials and they'll be done for the night."
For volume crops and menu staples, the deal with Mountain View makes more sense. "The share is great for things like lettuce and tomatillos," he says. "Strawberries, certain things are labor intensive to pick and there isn't enough volume to put them on the menu all summer, but they can be used for specials and very ripe strawberries can go into a sauce. You do what you can."
Although May is early in the season for summer crops, last week Casey showed up at the farm for herbs. "I was out here in February when the kale came back," he says. The sage he picks will go into a marinade for chicken, and the thyme will find a place in the kitchen as well.
In his new role as Executive Chef for Venus in Easthampton, Casey is collaborating with the new chef there who has just returned from cooking in China. It's the usual last-minute pandemonium of construction, interior details and labor issues, but Casey rolls with it, shrugging his shoulders and shaking off the anxiety. At Venus, the latest problem is how to create a great menu that is affordable. The chefs contemplate what to pair Ben's bitter greens with—fish, meat or fowl? Or just as a side? Good problem to have.
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Market News: Ashfield Farmers Market Opens Saturday, May 23. It's a good farmer's market because the farms are some of the more exotic in the area. Besides their farms, this market is the only place where you can get such items as sausage made from heirloom pigs.
In addition, local dairy and meat purveyor Sidehill farm sells its products there. They include yogurt and cheese made with milk produced by grass-fed cows. At Sidehill, they do early germination of tomatoes and greens, so Sungold tomato (cherry) seedlings and salad mix will also be for sale at the Farmer's Market.
Another vendor at the Ashfield Farmer's Market is Bread Euphoria of Haydenville, of note because they use local wheat in their Grainery Loaf. They also sell other types of bread, as well as a very nice honey bun with raisins.
Sangha Farm typically sells at this market as well. Their goat cheese truffles, which may or may not be out this Saturday, are legend. They also sell goat cheese, herbs and veggies. Manda Farm of Plainfield raises heritage breed pigs such as the Gloucestershire Old Spot Pig, (GOS) and sells sausage, bacon and other cuts of pork as well as free range organic eggs from designed chickens. Their meats can also be purchased at Elmer's, a store/restaurant down the street in Ashfield.
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Food of the Week: asparagus. It's asparagus season. What else could account for all of the rickety tables on Route 47 with their hand-lettered signs proclaiming this year's prices for a bunch of spears (in a range of $3 to $4.99)? Hadley grass, in the local vernacular, is the perfect plant for the sandy yet loamy soil of our fertile Valley. Asparagus used to be an export, yet a blight several decades ago decimated the crop, and now a yearly yield from around 50 acres keeps the crop close to home.
Asparagus is the first sign of spring, after fiddleheads, and is great raw, right out of the ground. There is an asparagus ice cream that can be sampled for free at Flayvors of Cook Farm in Hadley. It tastes kind of like an ice cream cone that some toddler dropped in a bale of hay and then gave to his mother to finish. "Here, mom!"
A better use for asparagus: Valley Vichysoisse is a variation on the traditional recipe for french potato soup. All ingredients are in season and can be purchased locally with the exception of salt, white pepper and nutmeg.
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Recipe: Valley Vichysoisse
Ingredients:
1 bunch fat or thin asparagus, with bottom trimmed off and cut into one-inch pieces
2 small white potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 small onions, sliced
1/2 stick butter
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
1-1/2 cup whole milk (raw if possible)
Grated nutmeg
1/2 cup yogurt to finish (optional)
Boil asparagus with enough water to cover for approximately 10 minutes (depending on thickness of spears), until softened (reserve liquid). Boil potatoes with enough water to cover for approximately 10 minutes, until softened. Caramelize onions in butter until translucent and light brown (around 15-20 minutes). Add rosemary in last 10 minutes of cooking onions. Puree asparagus, potato, onion and some of the asparagus in food processor. Heat in saucepan and add milk, grated nutmeg, salt and white pepper to taste. Finish with a dollop of yogurt, if desired.
