The setting is the Valley Oaks Farm of Fetzer winery in Hopland, about 100 miles north of San Francisco, where grapes and other fruits and vegetables are grown. The event (held last September) is a two-day “celebration of the organic harvest.” It includes a banquet, farmer’s market, cooking demonstrations and tastings of wine and food prepared by restaurant chefs.
Its significance, as we look forward to eating our way through 1993, is that growers who practice small-scale, ecologically oriented “sustainable” agriculture have forged, along with marketers and chefs, an informal, still limited but viable and vital alliance to improve (or at least purify) the quality of the raw materials available to chefs and winemakers.
“Support the people who look after the land,” Alice Waters tells attendees at the banquet. Waters, who launched the new American cooking movement at her Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse two decades ago, has become an outspoken advocate of small, artisanal food producers in the intervening years. She prepared a course of the meal, as did chefs David Bouley of New York City, Fetzer’s culinary director John Ash and Charlie Trotter of Chicago.
These cutting-edge chefs and others like them are seen as a vital link in increasing awareness as well as consumption. “Organic farmers need an informed, impassioned urban constituency,” one speaker said. “The involvement of (prestige) restaurants is critical to making this happen.”
“At least 50 percent of a concerned chefs’ time is spent seeking ingredients,” Ash responded. “More dependable sources of quality products will make our lives easier.”
At the mainstream supermarket, meanwhile, it is still easier to sell processed organic products (such as applesauce, fruit juices and perhaps wine) than fresh produce. One cause, the organic crowd believes, is the role of cosmetics in judging fresh fruits and vegetables. “People buy tomatoes on the basis of how they look instead of how they taste,” a farmer said, “then they throw them in a blender.”
In the year ahead, California’s organic farmers will be trying to make supply and distribution more consistent and will participate in more in-store tastings to convince sales personnel and consumers of the quality of their organically grown products.
Meanwhile, at Fetzer, there has been a change of ownership. Brown-Foreman, a Kentucky-bases spirits producer, has promised “continued commitment” to the bold program that led to 1,400 acres of grapes being certified organic or awaiting certification. The winery’s first “naturally farmed” wines, a chardonnay and a red blend will be available in the Chicago marketplace this spring. (Although made from organic grapes, the wines are not called organic because of the use of sulfites in processing.)
Here are several recipes served at the celebration.
GRILLED NEW POTATO SALAD
4 servings
1 1/2 pounds new potatoes
Light olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/2 pound fresh beans (green, yellow wax) to yield about 2 cups
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1 small head frisee or a handful of salad greens (optional)
2 tablespoons vinegar, champagne preferred
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup basil leaves
1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
12 black olives, nicoise or gaeta preferred
1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees. Toss potatoes in a baking dish with just enough olive oil to lightly coat them and sprinkle with pinches of salt and pepper. Cover and roast until tender, about 30 minutes. Set aside to cool. Cut the potatoes in halves, or quarters if large. (Slide onto skewers for grilling if grates are widely spaced.)
2. Meanwhile, snip stem ends from beans and cut in half if large. Blanch in a pot of boiling salted water for 3 to 4 minutes, or until just tender. Plunge into cold water to stop the cooking, drain and set aside. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Wash and dry the salad greens.
3. Combine the vinegar, extra-virgin oil, basil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and chopped garlic in a blender and puree until smooth. (Recipe may be done ahead to this point.)
4. Prepare a grill. When hot, place potatoes on the grates, cut side down, and grill until golden and crisp with defined grill marks.
5. Transfer hot potatoes to a mixing bowl. Add beans, cherry tomatoes and the sauce. Toss well, taste and, if desired, season with additional vinegar, salt and pepper. Arrange greens loosely on a platter, spoon the vegetables over them and garnish with the olives.
-from Annie Somerville, Greens restaurant
BLACK BEAN GAZPACHO SALAD
10 to 12 servings
2 cups sliced red onions
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
2 cups peeled and seeded cucumbers, cut on the bias
2 cups seeded and diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups each diced red, yellow and green bell peppers
2 teaspoons seeded and finely minced serrano chili
1/2 cup julienned tomatillos, fresh preferred
1 cup corn kernels, fresh preferred
2 cups cooked black beans
1/3 cup lime juice, freshly squeezed preferred
2 teaspoons vinegar, raspberry preferred
1 tablespoon hot-pepper sauce, Tabasco preferred, or to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup tomato juice
1. Combine onions, garlic, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, chili, tomatillos, corn and black beans in a large bowl or pan. Toss to mix.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, vinegar and hot-pepper sauce. Slowly add oil, whisking constantly. Stir in cilantro and oregano and season with salt and pepper.
3. Dress vegetables with the sauce. Toss well, then add tomato juice. Refrigerate for a least 2 hours before serving on chilled plates. Garnish with cilantro sprigs.
-from Jeff Madura, John Ash & Co.
EGGPLANT-TUNA TART
4 servings
1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds)
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 large ripe tomatoes, roma preferred
1 tablespoon each minced fresh basil and flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons drained capers, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, roasted, skinned, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3/4 pound fresh tuna, ahi preferred, cut in a single steak
1 teaspoon each fennel seed and black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced basil or mint
1 teaspoon minced lemon zest
Optional garnishes: balsamic vinegar reduced to a syrup and basil oil
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Slice eggplant into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Brush slices lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake until lightly browned and cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes. Slices should still hold their shape. Set aside 4 largest rounds. Chop remainder.
2. Meanwhile, sauteoion in 1 tablespoon olive oil until just starting to soften. Season lightly and set aside. Cut tomatoes in half, remove seeds and dice flesh. Combine with the onions, chopped eggplant, basil, parsley, capers and red pepper. Season lightly. Set aside.
3. In a grinder, combine fennel seed, black peppercorns and 1 teaspoon salt. Trim tuna well, then coat it lightly with olive oil and the fennel mixture. Heat a frying pan quite hot, add a glaze of oil and quickly sear tuna on all sides until it is well browned on the surface but still uncooked in the center. Remove from heat, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled.
4. In a small bowl, combine garlic, basil and lemon zest. Set aside. (Recipe should be prepared ahead to this point.)
5. To assemble the dish, slice chilled tuna into 12 or 16 thin strips. Spread the chopped eggplant mixture evenly over the reserved eggplant rounds and place one on each of four plates. Arrange 3 or 4 tuna slices on each round, drizzle lemon juice over the tuna, then add a sprinkling of the garlic-lemon zest mixture and salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle optional balsamic vinegar and basil oil onto each plate.
-from John Ash, Valley Oaks Food & Wine Center
