The Current Farm Stars

This is our favorite time of year for many reasons. 

The warm Sonoma weather lets us hold on to summer a bit longer 

and the tomatoes that continue to ripen

encourage us along in this summer mindset.

still more to ripen on the vines at the farm

one day they look like this and then the next time we check

we are bringing this bounty to the kitchen

And there are other summer stars at the farm that continue to inspire the chefs. 

We have beautiful eggplants in several varieties ranging from Taiwan's Ping-Tung  

that produces 12-16" long glossy purple-red fruit

Ping-Tung Long Eggplant at the farm 

To the Heirloom Black Beauties, the ones you consider a "standard eggplant," 

which has  been around since 1902 and is popular 

since it ripens earlier than most other varieties. 

Black Beauty Eggplants can grow to 1-3 pound fruits

And then the Rose Bianca, a light and pretty eggplant from Italy. 

The Rose Bianca is mild and sweeter than other varieties, very creamy and delicate.

But perhaps the real reason we love this time of year 

is that it is one of the two times of year for figs, which obviously is "our time." 

There are many varieties of figs and frankly we love them all.

Our fig tree at the farm is a Celestial Fig 

Did you know that "there are almost 200 cultivars of figs, thus they grow 

in a wide range of shapes, colors and textures. 

There are dozens of Green fig varieties including the Celestial Fig...

there are others including the Adriatic fig, which 

is the one commonly used to make fig bars. 

The chefs at the girl & the fig are featuring Black Mission figs 

in a Fig Clafouti with Orange Caramel Sauce 

as the finale to this week's Plats du Jour meal. 

As our namesake, it is no surprise that we hold figs in high esteem. 

But it has been this way for thousands of years. 

Did you know that "the fig tree was considered sacred in all countries 

of Southwestern Asia, Egypt, Greece and Italy?

 And figs were mentioned in a Babylonian hymnbook about 2,000 BC?" 

Here's a bit more about fig's history and nutrition.

We just know they taste good!

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

Do you have a favorite fig recipe?

Garden "Picks"

Lots to pick at the farm now and every week there are changes. 

The beds planted with winter squash are growing so fast—we just might 

be incorporating those varietals onto the menus 

while we are still getting creative with the summer squash. 

winter squash bed in early July 

and the same bed as August begins

Chef John recently talked to The Huffington Post about 

how the farm tells us what is in season rather than what we expect. 

He recalls: "Nature does not always work in accordance with a chef's schedule. 

You can't predict much. Normally, rhubarb means spring, 

 strawberry is spring and summer, delicata squash is fall. 

There was point last year I was harvesting all those in the same time.

Now, at the height of summer abundance, I'm hauling in tomatoes. 

Every day. We're putting them everywhere on the menu. 

Eggplant? 'Learn to love it,' I tell the sous chefs."

And with eggplant as beautiful as these Black Beauties, what's not to love?

did you know this variety of eggplant is over 100 years old?

these go directly from the farm to the kitchen to your table every day!

Sunset Magazine has a "no fail" guide for when 

to harvest the vegetables in your garden.

This is helpful with so much growing at this time of year. 

What are you harvesting now in your garden?

abundant cucumber bed

Along with our squash,cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, herbs and eggplant, 

we are also still picking chard and kale.
Here's some "super food" info on kale.

This is a delicious leafy green sautéed or in salads. 

Food writer Melissa Clark offers some delicious ideas for kale, 

including creating kale pesto and a great tip for "cheater's" blanched kale: 

"Before you add your pasta to the pot, grasp a small handful of whole kale 

by the stems, and simply dunk them into and swirl them around 

the bubbling pot for a few seconds. The stems make handles, 

which obviates the need for dropping the leaves into the pot 

and then having to drain said pot and then boil even more water to cook your pasta."

sunchoke plants loom over the squash beds

But what is really growing at the farm are our sunchokes.  

Sunchokes, also called Jerusalem artichokes, are an edible tuber 

that grows underground, much like a potato. 

They look a little bit like large knobs of ginger, and taste slightly nutty, and savory
like a cross between an artichoke heart and the best potato you've ever had.
There are reports of sunchokes growing in Cape Cod in 1605.

Since sunchokes were first cultivated by Native Americans 

and are not from Jerusalem, the reason they are also
called Jerusalem artichokes is unclear.
Does anyone know how they got that name? 

Sondra features a pan roasted black cod with roasted sunchokes in her new book, 

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

and served it this spring at a dinner we cooked at the James Beard House. 

photo by Phil Gross for James Beard House 

What's the best pick from your garden these days?