Chefs Collaborative

The RAFT (Renewing America’s Food Traditions) Grow-Out project centers on encouraging farmers to grow and chefs to use rare heirloom varieties of vegetables.  So, what is an heirloom and why would you want to eat these funky-looking fruits and veggies?

Today, many vegetable varieties are bred for industrial agriculture.  Many seed developers seek to breed plants that will grow well in large monocultures, stand up to mechanical harvesting, produce large volumes of product with a uniform appearance, and travel well across great distances without spoiling.   Farmers growing for a marketplace that values uniformity and shipping quality grow a relatively small range of varieties that meet these criteria.

There are several major downsides to this, including the loss of crop biodiversity, the sacrifice of flavor and other qualities, and the lost ability to save seeds.

Biodiversity has lost out big-time in our move to a standardized and industrialized food system.  As a few standard varieties replace thousands of unique types of plants and animals, we risk losing our crop biodiversity for good.  Biodiversity is essential to a resilient food system that can withstand climate change and diseases.  For example, the Irish potato famine took place when the one widely-grown variety of potato was wiped out by a disease.  More genetic diversity of crops equals more ability to withstand threats, be it pests, diseases, weather, drought, climate change.

And then there is flavor.  Who wouldn’t rather have a tomato that melts in your mouth than one that can travel cross-country?  Speaking of which, heirloom tomatoes have gotten the most hype in recent years, but in fact, there are heirloom varieties of just about every plant.  Jimmy Nardello’s Sweet Italian Frying Peppers, Boston Marrow Squash, and the Gilfeather Turnip are just a few examples of endangered heirloom vegetable varieties.  And then there are thousands of varieties of heirloom wheat, corn, beans… the list goes on and on.  Heirloom varieties often have a specific attractive quality that led generations of gardeners to save them: they are great for canning or pickling; they are cold-hardy and withstand a light frost; or they have excellent flavor.  If we lose an heirloom variety, we lose a whole culinary and cultural tradition associated with it.

And finally, there is the critical ability to save and share seeds. Heirlooms are open-pollinated and seeds can be saved, shared, and grown again, as opposed to hybrid varieties, which reproduce via controlled pollination and cannot be grown from saved seed. To many, heirlooms must have a long history, and for some literal-minded folk, a variety can only be considered an heirloom if the seeds have actually been handed down from generation to generation, but open-source seed breeding is a crucial part of every definition of what makes an heirloom.  Thousands of heirloom varieties exist thanks to generations of farmers and gardeners who have carefully saved and propogated seeds over the years.

Of course, hybrid varieties have their plusses as well: many hybrid seeds have higher yields, and others have been bred for resistance to specific diseases.  Few farmers are growing solely heirlooms; many farmers who appreciate heirlooms for their flavor and history also choose to take advantage of the qualities of hybrid seeds.   The important part is making sure we are keeping the diversity alive by growing a wide range of crops that includes plenty of open-pollinated heirlooms.  If we only grow a few kinds of hybrid crops, we risk losing our genetic stock for future seed breeding, losing our right to save and share seeds via open pollination, and losing the flavors and traditions associated with these foods.

By growing, buying, cooking, eating, and appreciating heirlooms, as the RAFT collaboration encourages, we can support the farmers who are choosing to help keep biodiversity alive, while enjoying the flavors, and cultural context of these unique and interesting food crops.

Last night’s delectable RAFT Harvest Dinner at Garden at the Cellar in Cambridge, MA marked the start of our collaboration with Slow Food Boston this harvest season, a series of dinners themed around RAFT heirloom vegetable varieties.  The dinner series is part of our RAFT Heirloom Grow-Out project, which seeks to celebrate agricultural diversity and build farmer-chef connections.

Chef Will Gilson put together a fantastic five-course menu in which each course featured one of the RAFT varieties.  Diners started with a local lobster bisque with slow-cooked Gilfeather turnip, then moved into a miso-marinated scallop with Gilfeather turnip puree, soy-cured green apples, and dashi cilantro sauce.  The Gilfeather turnip was developed by Vermont farmer John Gilfeather, who apparently cut off the top and bottom of each turnip before selling it to prevent others from growing the vegetable.  Luckily someone got ahold of the seeds so we could enjoy it on the menu.

Next up was a charred Wethersfield Red Onion soup with a Gruyere-rye crumble, thyme, and crispy onions, which tasted like a lighter, creamier version of French onion soup.  Wethersfield onions were once grown by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, and were the prize crop of Wethersfield, Connecticut in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The soup was followed by a juicy, tender slow-roasted heritage pork chop topped with Jimmy Nardello pepper romesco and served with seared cauliflower, golden raisins, and creamy zucchini fregola.  Jimmy Nardello pepper

seeds were brought by the Nardello family from Italy in the late 1800s.  Chef Will Gilson proclaimed the sweet, flavorful red pepper his favorite of the RAFT vegetables.

Finally, we ended the dinner on a sweet note with marinated Oka Muskmelon over coconut lime panna cotta with Szechuan peppercorn syrup and Thai basil.  The spices complemented the sweet melon and creamy panna cotta excellently.  The melon, which grows well in northern climates like New England, was bred by Trappist monks in Quebec.

Thanks to the Garden at the Cellar for kicking off our dinner series! We are looking forward to more delicious opportunities to share meals with Slow Food Boston this harvest season.  

It’s mid-August, and the following month is the height of harvest season.  Corn and peaches abound. But the all-star at this time of year is clearly the tomato.  This humble vegetable, which appears year-round as a mealy, pale slice atop a hamburger, gains a cult-like following at this time of year.  You can find the tomato’s devotees exclaiming over knobbly, multi-colored fruits at farmers’ markets, hunting for the perfect specimen, or carefully tending to their own tomato vines for months throughout the spring and summer, all for the perfect tomato.

Of course, it’s possible and even enjoyable to eat locally and seasonally all year round, with greens in the spring and squash in the winter.  But admit it- even the most dedicated locavore knows that this is the time we’ve all been waiting for.  Late summer presents the ultimate abundance, the heavy hitters, the sugary, juicy fruits we dream of all year round.

Here in New England it’s been an excellent harvest season, especially for tomatoes.  Unlike last year, where most of the crop was lost to wet weather and late blight, this year has presented its own challenges with dry weather, too much heat and not enough rain.  Fortunately, this kind of dry, hot weather makes for some amazing tomatoes, and farmers all around the Northeast are reporting a great crop.

Tomatoes are in many ways the Local Food All-Star.   While most vegetables taste notably better when fresh and local, in tomatoes the difference is astounding.   A ripe, juicy, farm fresh tomato is a completely different food from a winter hothouse baseball shipped from far away.  Tomatoes are familiar and accessible, not to mention sweet and full of natural sugars.  It is in tomatoes that heirloom varieties have particularly caught on: in the quest for the most delicious tomato, heirlooms like Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra, Black Krim, Arkansas Traveler, Striped German, Trophy, and hundreds of other varieties share the center stage.

The season for the perfect tomato is short but abundant, lasting only until the first frost kills the plants.  This encourages a flat-out tomato binge that will keep you satiated until the beginning of next season.  So feast while you can- enjoy delectable locally grown produce of all sorts all year long, but for now, eat tomatoes.

Why should chefs have all the fun visiting farms?  Sure, it’s important to know where your food is coming from, but isn’t it as important to know where your food goes?  We decided to switch things up on Monday night with a farm-to-restaurant tour.  RAFT participants from Drumlin Farm, Brambly Farms, Second Nature Farm, Langwater Farm, and ReVision Urban Farm found out this week what happens behind the scenes at a restaurant, with a little help from the strongly committed sustainable foodies over at Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro in Foxboro, MA.

Local cheese and housemade charcuterie at Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro

Executive Chef Matt Maue and his Sous Chef, George, very kindly welcomed us for a backstage pass into the new world at the back of the house.  After offering us cheese and some delicious house-made pheasant terrine, Chef Maue started his restaurant tour.  First he led us through the backbone of the back of house – the dishwashing area – into the kitchen, where the farm-to-table magic happens.  He showed us the tiny space next to the ranges where four chefs work simultaneously to produce anywhere from 50 to 250 covers a night.  He talked about his commitment to sourcing sustainable food, and fielded questions from farmers about the costs and benefits of sourcing his ingredients directly from them. Chef Maue had a lot to say about the importance of forming relationships with farms and small food purveyors, and how he builds his menu around it.  (To see a video of Chef Maue talking about why he came to Boston instead of Bali and why he chooses to participate in the RAFT project, visit our YouTube channel.)

After a brief look in his walk-in cooler (which hardly contained anything, thanks to the amount of fresh produce sourced by Chef Maue), we walked past the kitchen into a hallway.  Leading up to the roof was a terrifyingly steep staircase.  We climbed and climbed, and found ourselves in the middle of a tiny roof garden overlooking Gillette Stadium.  Chef Maue and his brigade had grown an impressive and hardy-looking herb selection, but the tomatoes seemed to be suffering a little.  They took the opportunity to ask farmers what they were doing wrong and received a little advice and encouragement for their labors.  Chef Maue mentioned that they might add some new veg varieties next year.

When we headed back down, it was time for the cooking demonstration.  Chef Maue voiced his appreciation for Jimmy Nardello peppers, one of the heirloom vegetable varieties being grown in this year’s RAFT project.  The first dish he’d make, a twist on bruschetta, would involve these peppers and a chevre topping.  He began by heating a generous amount of olive oil (also domestically sourced) in a saute pan.  Next, to our surprise, he added an even more generous amount of garlic.  When the garlic was golden, he sprinkled in sliced Jimmy Nardellos and softened them.   After some salt and pepper, he began piling the pepper mixture onto crostini.  Chef George finished the dish with crumbles of fresh chevre.  The next dish, gazpacho, had been made ahead of time using RAFT-grown Trophy tomatoes, Jimmy Nardellos, and Wethersfield onions (grown by White Barn Farm).  Before handing us the bowls, Chef grated some mozzarella cheese from Narragansett Creamery over the top and drizzled on smoky balsamic vinegars.

Everything was delicious!  Thanks to Alida Cantor, RAFT Grow-Out Program Manager, for arranging this trip!  For more information on the RAFT program and its participants, visit http://chefscollaborative.org/programs/raft-grow-out/ and for more information or to join us at Chefs Collaborative, visit http://chefscollaborative.org/join-us/.

On Monday, a bakers’ dozen of chefs and restaurant professionals joined Chefs Collaborative and Pioneer Valley-based Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) in Granby, MA for a unique backstage peek at  Red Fire Farm.  Red Fire, a vibrant & diversified organic farm, supplies restaurants all over the Pioneer Valley and the Boston area.  They also run a CSA, two farm stands, and attend farmers’ markets in Boston and Springfield.  Farmers Ryan and Sarah Voiland grow over 300 varieties of vegetables, fruits, and flowers, including many of the heirloom varieties in the RAFT Grow-Out.

Sarah prepares tomato samples

Upon arriving at Red Fire Farm, we all piled onto a rickety wooden haywagon pulled by a tractor driven by Ryan.  After a brief delay involving a flat tire, we were off!  Sarah rode in the wagon with us and sliced up samples of tomatoes.  We toured the squash patch and the lettuce fields, and then hopped off to see the Gilfeather Turnips, one of the RAFT heirloom vegetables.  Ryan explained he’s been growing the turnips (which, by the way, are really rutabegas) for a number of years due to their excellent flavor and storage ability.

From there we headed off to a favorite farm destination: the melon patch.  We sampled Ali Baba and Moon and Stars watermelon, along with Red Fire favorite Little Baby Flower.  After we got back to the main farm stand area, we toured through the greenhouses, marvelling at the height of the tomato plants towering over our heads. Ryan told us how he grafts tomatoes over the winter, merging the roots of a hardy, disease-resistant variety with the top half of a tomato variety known for its delicious fruits.  The two halves grow together to make superbly healthy, robust and productive plants.

We went on to take a look at the beans, including heirloom varieties Marfax and True Red Cranberry, two traditional New England dry bean varieties.  Finally we ended up at the ground cherry patch. Ground cherries are small tomatillo-like fruits that grow inside a little paper husk and explode in your mouth with a sweet burst of almost tropical flavor.

Ryan explains grafting in the greenhouse

Participants from Henrietta’s Table, Prana Cafe, Bon Appetit cafe, and a number of other area restaurants and cafes agreed it was a hugely interesting and educational, not to mention delicious, day on the farm. It even made the local news- watch the video!

For anyone who is sorry they missed out, you can see and taste Red Fire Farm for yourself at their upcoming Tomato Festival on August 28, which features a 5K “Tomato Trot,” a lineup of local bands, workshops, chef demos, and of course, tomato tastings.

Sampling ground cherries at the end of the tour

Navigating the waters of sustainable seafood is a task that is difficult even for the most educated of chefs.  Frequently-changing bits of information, “trust me” versus trustworthy purveyors, and multiple sources are only a few of the challenges that chef face in their seafood sourcing decisions.  Matt Jennings, Executive Chef and Co-owner of Farmstead, La Laiterie and Farmstead Downcity, talked to us about what he considers important when sourcing seafood for his restaurants. He also shares a beautiful and simple recipe for Striped Bass crudo.

Chefs Collaborative: What challenges do chefs face in sourcing sustainable seafood?
Matt Jennings: Where to begin? The challenges are very extensive. I think that one of the biggest issues is being able to find sustainable seafood that both satisfies the chef’s desire to cook something interesting and the customer’s desire to eat something interesting. If you’ve done sardines once, you’ve done them 1000 times.  How do you keep things exciting all the time?  The biggest challenge we have is keeping things fresh and new and interesting, for chefs and for customers.  We can’t have too many repeat offenders on the menu unless they are hallmarks of our cuisine.  When using sustainable seafood, we have to respect a more limited repertoire, but at the same time, there are different ways you can treat ingredients and therefore more opportunity for creativity.

C.C.: What factors do you take into consideration when sourcing fish?
M.J.: Sustainable first, local second.  The sustainable angle is more important than the local angle for us. It’s a top priority.  Local is its own beast because it’s impossible to source everything you buy locally.  If I had to choose, I  would rather have menus be seasonal and sustainable.  Seasonality is huge – a lot of the time you’re already purchasing sustainably and don’t even know it.  If you’re a  Rhode Island chef and you’re buying local Striper, you’re already halfway there.  But if we find great by-catch from the Mediterranean, we utilize it.

I’ve also made it an ongoing responsibility of my kitchen. On the days I’m not there, my Chef de Cuisine, Ben, and my cooks know that the bottom line is that we only serve sustainable fish. It is great to see my guys carry the torch. Together, we have sought out new sustainable seafood resources across the country. Seeing the next generation of young cooks ‘heed the call’ of cooking sustainably, is invigorating and reminds me on a daily basis, why I do what I do.

C.C.: What kind of tools would help chefs make better purchasing decisions?
M.J.: We’ve come a long way from where we were. I’m a Twitter junkie.  It’s nice to see people call each other out on Twitter for using unsustainable seafood.  We are able to keep each other honest that way – if you talk the talk, you better walk the walk.  Sourcing seafood can be challenging because you feel like you need to be on the Monterey Bay Aquarium website all the time and keeping your hand on the pulse of the industry.  You need to work with great vendors, and develop a close relationship with them. It’s all about trust. Our vendors know our angle.  They don’t come to us unless they have something sustainable that fits the bill.  We’ve already done the legwork to establish ourselves as a restaurant serving sustainable seafood.  We no longer have to talk to them to tell them what we want, which saves a lot of time and frustration. My fish guys are now acclimated to doing business with us. We might be a small account, but we are the type of account that a reputable vendor wants to have. It makes a statement about their caliber of customer. Likewise, when we find a fish vendor that is willing to go the extra mile for us, we are committed to them. I’ve had the same fish guys for over six years now. Our ordering is now less about asking them ‘what is sustainable’ and more about us inquiring about what kind of fish they have that fits into the sustainable boundaries. We might say “We are looking for something fatty, that can be grilled” or “larger fish that can be served whole”. That sets up a conversation with our vendors about ideas. That’s one of the best parts of being a chef. These type of relationships.

C.C.: How do you educate your customers on sustainable seafood?
M.J.: We did a special sustainable seafood dinner two years ago for New Year’s Eve.  Everybody got a packet from Monterey Bay, with a seafood watch list and other information on sustainable seafood.  It was great.  The people who attended were from both sides of the fence – some supported sustainable seafood, others didn’t know what sustainable meant.  At that dinner, it was customers educating customers.

On a daily basis, we offer a daily fish selection, which is always sustainable.  Ben is responsible for always finding sustainable fish – fresh and local, if possible.  Our customers know to expect it.  Even if they’ve been in two weeks in a row, they’ll have something they’ve never had before.

C.C.: Could you tell us a bit more about the recipe you’re sharing with us?
M.J: I’ve decided to keep it simple this time around. This time of year, we love serving raw seafood, so here I have provided a simple recipe for striped bass crudo. Here, the bass is complemented by the sweet fennel and slight heat from the Maras pepper. ‘Crudo’ simply means raw- this is basically an Italian version of sashimi- and when carefully prepared, it is one of the best ways to eat striped bass. In this country, this style of preparation has kind of been trendy since 2005 or so, but it has never and will never, go out of style for us. Preparing fish this way is so fresh, vibrant and, well…’summery’. The Spanish and Italians have been cooking this way for centuries. Goes to show- if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. What I love about crudo, is that this is ingredient driven technique- using the freshest and best ingredients available, and letting the food shine. That is what we are all about.

Rhode Island Striped Bass Crudo, Fennel Vinaigrette, Maras Pepper, Flowers & Tiny Herbs
Serves 6

For the vinaigrette:

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, picked
2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped (brunoise) fresh fennel bulb
2 tablespoons chopped fresh fennel fronds
1 tablespoon Maras pepper (available at specialty or middle eastern grocery shops)

Preparation:

Whisk lemon juice, shallots, thyme, lemon zest, and honey in medium non-reactive bowl, to blend. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, while whisking, then fennel and finally the fennel fronds.
Season to taste with kosher salt and cracked white pepper. This can be done a day ahead if necessary.

To serve:

Take a fresh and heavy fillet of stripped bass and slice as thinly as possible on the bias. Use a very sharp knife! You should be left with beautiful, paper thin slices of bass, and you should have about 24-30 thin slices.

On six plates, shingle four or five thin slices of striped bass on each plate. Gently stir the vinaigrette with a spoon, and carefuly spoon the vinaigrette over the fish. If you have access to small herbs or edible flowers, garnish the plates with these now. Lastly, sprinkle some maldon or other very coarse sea salt over each serving.

As a variation, you can always add a small bed of succulent, young salad greens underneath each portion of fish. This makes for a great opening course, paired with a glass of prosecco or other sparkling wine.