Farm bounty

photo courtesy of Oak Hill Farm in Glen Ellen

Well known food writer Mark Bittman recently wrote 

 in the New York Times, "Its a Buyers Market" saying: 

"Although there are areas of the country where farmers’ markets feature 

 loads of fresh vegetables year round (yay Sonoma!), 

those of us who live in regions with a different set of blessings 

experience long stretches when farmers’ markets (at least those that remain open) 

offer only cider, apples, root vegetables, frozen meat and things like

 candles and sweaters made of the coarsest wool. 

Which is all fine, but it mostly serves to enhance the excitement 

we can feel when we hit the big time: a farmers’ market loaded 

with stuff that was picked not only nearby but yesterday."

Well, it's that time of year for sure. August 7 was the half way point for summer. 

So here we are at that glorious "moment" when all our winter labors prepping 

and spring toil planting at the farm pay off at the table. 

Our chefs may stop by the farm on their way to the kitchen 

to pick what's ripe and are then inspired to get creative. 

Executive chef John Toulze picking tomatoes
on his way to the girl & the fig kitchen

A recent bounty of pluots in the orchard brought about 

some especially innovative specials at the girl & the fig including 

chilled garden pluot soup with local honey, sweet crème fraîche, oat crumble 

and then grilled pluots with frisee and roasted cherries as a special salad.

Chilled pluot soup
bottom photo

pluots at the farm

Right now there's just so much to pick, whether at a farm like ours, 

your backyard garden patch or the Farmers Markets. 

You can get super creative or actually, considering how "eat-it-right-now" 

delicious everything is, simple may be best. 

One of our friends, Kristin Jorgensen who writes "The Sun Eats" column in Sonoma Sun 

offered her "last ditch month-long guide, crusade if you will, 

of what you must do to soak up every juicy morsel 

of what is left of this amazing Sonoma summer" 

with great tips on easy ways to enjoy the bounty surrounding us. 

Our favorite bit of advice from Kristin, one we subscribe to as well, is about tomatoes. 

She wisely says: "You need to eat more. I promise, you'll be sorry if you don't. 

Have them at every single meal." 

photo courtesy of Quarter Acre Farm in Sonoma

She's right. We are doing our part for you 

with the 800 tomatoes we are harvesting from the farm. 

Not only are we featuring our tomatoes and cucumbers 

in this week's Plats du Jour entree, 

but we are sharing a bit of the farm with you too—while they last, 

you can pick from a box of heirloom tomatoes at the restaurant and take them home!

overflow from our 800 tomatoes plants
to share with you!

this week's Plats du Jour features (upper left photo):
garden tomato salad made from our farm cucumbers,
smoked house-made mozzarella, avocado vinaigrette, arugula

Tomato Row at the farm

Kristin has some great ideas for what to do with tomatoes 

including the quickest way to create a sauce 

you can use for anything—from cold soup, a topping for grilled bread 

or steak, to toss with noodles —and not have to turn on the stove! 

It "cooks in a sunny spot on a window sill" while 

you are out having whatever summer fun you enjoy. 

never too many, right?

There are a lot of great ideas and suggestions available
(including tips top be a savvy Farmers Market shopper)

 for what to do with the abundance of produce available right now, 

but the absolute best resource we've seen recently 

is the "Farmers Market Recipe Generator, 

"essentially a one-armed bandit of ingredients and techniques,

offering more than 50 combinations of things 

you’re most likely to find in a market or your C.S.A. basket."

photo courtesy of Quarter Acre Farm in Sonoma

And check out a cool new resource which is 

probably very busy at this time of year: CropMobster.

From their website: "How It Works:

Taking part in the CropMobster™ community is a great way 

to help local farms, food sellers and producers and create affordable access 

to fresh food, free donations and other items of surplus and excess 

that may be at risk of going to waste." 

If you have too much and want to share, or if you are on the lookout 

for what's fresh and bountiful, check out their latest alerts.  

photo courtesy of Oak Hill Farm in Glen Ellen

It's just that time of year—overflowing baskets, lush farm beds, 

bountiful, plentiful—truly "a buyers market," as Mark Bittman said. 

Go out and pick what you have growing, forage at the farmers market, 

bring it home and you hardly need to open a cookbook—chop it, 

drizzle some good oil and sprinkle some of the fresh herbs

 you no doubt got as well, toss and enjoy. 

Or maybe, do what many of us confess is the true summer pleasure: 

slice that juicy tomato or peach or whatever you've got...
stand over the sink and savor. 

Then repeat.

What's are you enjoying now from your farm?

Any creative recipes to share, or 

do you just throw together the best salad of the year?

Worth the wait

As we move from spring to summer, the days at the farm 

are still filled with many labors—we are not done with all our planting 

and much of what's in the ground is still at the fragile stage 

of needing lots of attention to ensure an abundant summer and fall bounty. 

While we may not yet be able to steal a taste of something as we are picking, 

we do get enough signs of encouragement to keep us going.

growing Dragon Beans behind "the fig"
They look cool now, but when cooked, the bean
will lose its variegated color.
Good thing you can also eat them raw!

"The "Dragon Tongue" bean is a dual purpose bean, 

qualifying as a fresh pod bean as well as a dried legume. 

 When harvested fresh, the entire bean, shell and "seeds" are edible. 

 The bean has a warm cream color with vivid violet 

variegations throughout its stringless pod. 

 Its shape is broad and the bean measures to an average of six inches in length. 

 The pods are crisp and succulent and bear four to six plump bone white seeds 

 with pink to purple stripes that turn tan with age. 

 The fresh seeds are firm, slightly starchy, nutty and sweet." 

We have to wait a bit to see what magic our chefs will create with these.

Check out this primer on other bean varieties 

and how to use them

So yes, even with our labors, we are doing a lot of waiting these days.

Waiting for vegetables to grow, for seeds to set, 

for blossoms to mature and fruit to ripen.

eggplants growing

squash seeds just planted

we can't harvest the potatoes until
the flowers have finished blossoming

Indian Blood Peaches starting

soon to be apricots

If you are waiting for your garden to grow, or if you aren't able to have your own farm, 

check out the Farmers Markets near you. 

While it's true that even those who farm for a living

may not be at peak time yet, you might be surprised 

at some of the gems available now.

Sonoma Farmer's Market photo
courtesy of Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau

If you do want to grow your own vegetables and have your own "backyard farm," 

there are lots of great resources to help you. 

In the North Bay, there's "Let's Go Farm,", where you can purchase vegetables to plant, 

join their CSA and also buy from their bounty at area Farmers Markets.

Joey Smith, the young man who founded "Let's Go Farm," explains:

 “One of my goals is to show people that they can 

grow a lot of food on a very small piece of land.” 

This video also gives you an idea of how to create your own "farm" at home:

Still wondering how to get started? Or need some tips?

Check out Garden Nerd.

And still one of our favorite online resources is SmartGardener

And in the "creative ideas" department, 

we couldn't resist this use of a ladder:

More ideas to share: The headline for this post was 

"Grow your salad" 

Easy recipes to use what you are growing 

or finding at the Farmers Markets. 

Back at our farm, we are waiting for those potatoes 

that are getting close to harvesting.

Besides the obvious go-to creation for them:

here's our Fingerling Potato Confit recipe 

from Plats du Jour: the girl & the fig's Journey Through the Seasons in Wine Country:

Fingerling Potato Confit          Serves 6

2 pounds Fingerling potatoes, cut in half 4 cups extra-virgin olive oil

5 garlic cloves

3 sprigs fresh thyme

11⁄2 tablespoons salt 1 teaspoon pepper

Place the potatoes in a deep cooking pot along with the olive oil, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Make sure the potatoes are completely covered by the oil (add more oil if necessary).

Heat the oil and cook the potatoes until soft, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the potatoes to rest in the oil for at least 10 minutes. 

What are you waiting for from your garden?

Now is the "IT" time at the farm

Now is the "it" time at the farm: 

When everything is in bloom, plants are growing like crazy 

and there is almost too much there to know what to do with. 

But we are not complaining and our chefs enjoy 

the creative challenge of what to do with all this bounty.

Chef Jeremy at the girl & the fig

During the hard work of prepping the land and the painstaking labor of planting,

 these are the days we dreamt about.

Chefs Seth (left) and Uriel (right) working the land.
And now they are cooking with the fruits of their labors

As spring turned to summer we went from

 the encouraging signs of taller plants to blossoms to fruit.

All along we knew it would be worth it when we got to the days 

of arriving at the farm ready to collect the treasures.

Asian pears just picked off the tree
photo by Matthew Ruff

Atomic red carrots ready for the kitchen
photo by Matthew Ruff  

And these August days, tomatoes
are the "IT" girls at the girl & the fig.

We are now in the bounty time, picking these beauties daily
 from our farm at Imagery Estate Winery.

mixed heirloom tomatoes are finally ripe and ready

here's how they began: tomato starts May 12 at the farm

July the plants began teasing us

We've been waiting and watching the tomato plants since May, 

anticipating one of the house favorite's at the girl & the fig restaurant—

the heirloom tomato and watermelon salad, now on the menu. 

photo by Steven Krause for
Plats du Jour: the girl & the fig's Journey Through the Seasons in Wine Country

While we are thrilled to have this popular salad
back on the menu during "tomato time,"
what's especially exciting is what new dishes
have been inspired this summer.
The chefs at the girl & the fig created a special that is only available this week:
Albacore tartare(chives, roasted garlic, lemon zest, basil) 
and served with a garden tomato & chili sorbet.

Also, this week's bistro plats du jour features 

our heirloom tomatoes in the ENTRÉE of herb grilled albacore 

with garden tomatoes, leeks, french bread crumbs.

And, our tomatoes share billing with beans from the farm 

in a new addition to the regular menu: crispy Rocky Jr chicken thighs 

and a summer succotash of fresh beans, corn, bacon and heirloom tomatoes.

What will inspire the chefs next week?

And what are you creating in your kitchen with goodies from your farm 

or what you discover at your local Farmers Market?

two of our busy chefs at the girl & the fig