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eNewsletter | Free Catalog | ||
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IN THIS ISSUE |
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Dear Organic Gardeners
Reflections on climate change, wet, warm weather, and winter gardening... |
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A Green Winter Tips on growing windowsill salads throughout the winter...
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Carrots The history, cultivation, and breeding of one of our favorite vegetables...
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Chef Interview We talk with Karen Todd of The Dragonfly Café in Taos, New Mexico...
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Farm Report: November '06 Putting the Farm to bed, seed cleaning, and winter building projects... |
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News & Views
The Sixth International Ecocity Conference (Ecocity6) in Bangalore, India ... Advances in the Cutting-edge Techniques of Genomics... An organic farmer in the Senate... |
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Please send letters regarding this eNewsletter to: Scott Vlaun, Editor. |
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Chef Interview: Karen Todd of the Dragonfly Café in Taos, NM
by Dan Sandweiss
Your web site says that your #1 ingredient is quality. What defines quality for you?Freshness and no processing. Freshness is key.
How do organic ingredients fit into that definition?
My produce comes as fresh as I can get it. Sometimes it's out of the garden in the morning and on the customer's table that afternoon. I buy local, which is mostly organic. Most small growers are turning more and more to organic and heirloom crops. If I have to choose between a conventionally grown heirloom and an organically grown "regular" item, I always go organic. Just because a seed starts as an heirloom, it doesn't mean it's free of chemicals. The finished product is ruined once they start dumping chemicals in the soil.
You visit the Seeds of Change Research Farm quite often. Why?
They're a wonderful group of people to work with. We have a wonderful, symbiotic relationship where they trade produce to me in exchange for my organic baked goods. They hand me quality ingredients and I turn around and hand back finished goods. Also, I respect the work they do and appreciate it. Finally, I get to try things they're researching but aren't in the catalog, and I give them feedback. They had a wonderful prickly cucumber that never made it into the catalog.
Where else do you get your ingredients?
Our flour is from the Sangre de Cristo cooperative mill that is local and organic and from a cooperative of farms. It's gluten content is very consistent. Eggs are from our own chickens. We compost everything from the kitchen and much goes back to the chickens. Our butter is regular, sweet unsalted. In the summer, we grow most of our own produce in our 2000 sq. ft. garden. The rest of our produce is from local growers. We have friends on the Pueblo that let me pick their fruit trees. People come in with wild mushrooms. In the summer, most of what I buy is local and organic. In the winter, I have to buy through big restaurant suppliers. To offer more local and organic products in the winter, I have started preserving organic produce by pickling, but it's not enough. We're talking about getting a greenhouse on our own property. That's how committed we are to fresh, organic, and local.
You attended the Cooking and Hospitality Institute in Chicago. How much did they teach about organic ingredients?
They didn't. It's just something I hold dear to my heart. I have two small children. I wouldn't put anything out that I wouldn't give to my own family. We use grass-fed buffalo. No hydrogenated oils. We support agriculture that we agree with in our hearts.
What should farmers know about supplying restaurants like yours?
Before planting, call the restaurant to ask what the chef wants. It's a great way to get a foot in the door with the restaurant. The restaurant also feels committed to purchase your goods. Farmers should research selling prices to make sure they're in line with what restaurants are paying. Flex the price when you have more or less of an item. Lots of restaurants want to work with local growers because they know the produce didn't sit in transport a long time, so it tastes much better.
What should gardeners know about trying to replicate fine dishes like yours?
Never use hydrogenated oil; always use butter. If it doesn't taste right, add more butter (laughs). Play with the food. Have fun. Make a dish several times and see what you liked and didn't like. But quality ingredients are always key.
Can you share an easy recipe with our readers?
How about a beet salad for the fall? This one is a fine, simple salad. The sweetness of the beets shines through. The truffle oil adds earthiness and the cheese adds saltiness.
Ingredients:Chiogga Beets
Yellow Mangle Beets
Detroit Dark Red Beets
Italian Parsley
Stockton Red Onion
Zefa Fino Florence Fennel
Truffle or olive oil
Manchego cheese
Instructions:
Roast beets and peel. Skin slips off easily after roasting. Quarter the beets. Add chopped parsley, shaved fennel, and thinly sliced red onion. Toss in truffle/olive oil. Shave manchego cheese on top.
What else should our readers know?
It's been great pleasure to work with Seeds of Change. Kelle Carter has been a star, driving items up to Taos. I hope our relationship continues for a long time.
Interviewed by Dan Sandweiss
Seeds of Change Marketing Analyst
Photo captions: (1) Chef Todd preping greens in the kitchen.(2) Chioggia beets are just one of several varieties that Chef Todd featrues in her fall beet salad.
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