Celebrating the Food Culture of Santa Barbara County
Sustainable Seafood Fairview Gardens
A Culinary Journey The Pod Squad Whitcraft Winery
For almost 30 years, we’ve sought out the best selection of local products from the communities where we do business. We work closely with local farmers and producers because buying locally helps to preserve our connection to food, reduces fossil fuel consumption, and supports the local economy. We’re thrilled to continue supporting local farmers and producers
edible SANTA BARBARA spring
FOOD FOR THOUGHT D
Iam very excited to be bringing you this first issue of quarter we’ll be telling the stories of our local food culture, season by season. We are interested in the farmers, the chefs, the food artisans, the wine makers and the many heroes of our community who are involved in bringing sustenance to our tables. We want to let you know what is going on in the food world as well as share with you some fabulous recipes and ideas for using all the wonderful food products that our community offers.
If this concept sounds familiar to you, it’s because we are one of the latest additions to the Edible network of local magazines. Although we are independently owned and operated, we are members of Edible Communities, which started in Ojai seven years ago and now has over 50 magazines throughout the United States and Canada. This amazing group of publishers is dedicated to communicating the local food stories of each of their communities, and the impact is being felt everywhere. It is so encouraging that the idea of local food is starting to enter mainstream consciousness. Whether people are concerned with food safety, loss of farmland and traditional foods, environmental consequences—or whether they simply want to experience the pleasure of eating the best quality, fresh and seasonal food—more and more people are interested in local food. Locavore may be a trendy new word, but eating local isn’t a trend, it’s a shift in how we eat, whose time has come.
Like many, I first came to the locavore concept by reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. I read the book in the summer of 2006 after it was recommended by two people whose opinions I trusted. After reading it, I immediately put my name on the waiting list of the local community-supported agriculture fresh produce subscription service (CSA). It wasn’t so much that the information was new to me. After all, I had been shopping at farmers markets and buying organic for years. It was that there was something about the book that made me want to do more. I started really researching the local food movement. And it eventually led my husband and me onto the path of starting Edible Santa Barbara.
So please join me on this culinary and literary journey as we explore all things food related throughout Santa Barbara County. We hope this is the type of magazine that you will curl up on a comfortable chair with the local beverage of your choice and read cover to cover. The writers in this first issue are to be commended for their inspiring stories. I would like to thank our charter subscribers. And the advertisers deserve our special thanks for supporting us in this premiere issue and making it possible to bring this quality publication to you. Each of them believes in these values, and, in turn, deserve our support.
Edible Santa Barbara is published quarterly and distributed throughout the Santa Barbara County. Subscription rate is $28.00 annually. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without written permission from the publisher. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings, and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please accept our sincere apologies and notify us. Thank you.
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edible
Notables
OstrichLand USA
A cross between a gift shop and a petting zoo, OstrichLand USA in Buellton is also a great stop for some unusual food finds. With over 50 ostriches and emus, visitors are invited to feed the animals, take photos or just pick up something for dinner.
Fresh Ostrich and Emu Eggs
Ostrich eggs have made appearances on Iron Chef and Top Chef. An exotic egg makes a great gift for a foodie or an unusual addition to an Easter basket. OstrichLand USA has fresh ostrich eggs nearly year round and fresh emu eggs during winter and spring. Each ostrich egg is equivalent in size to 18–24 chicken eggs and the emu egg is the equivalent of 10–12 chicken eggs. Since these eggshells are so stunning, the proprietor will demonstrate the technique for removing the contents of the egg while preserving the shell. The cost of the eggs is $20–$30, depending on the size.
Frozen Ostrich Meat
They also sell ostrich meat jerky and frozen ostrich meat, a very low-fat, low-cholesterol meat with a flavor similar to lean beef. It is high in calcium, protein and iron. The ostrich meat is not from their birds. They bring in the meat from ranches that raise ostriches exclusively for meat.
Ostrichland USA is located at 610 E. Highway 246 in Buellton. They are open daily, 10am–Dark. Hours can vary depending on the season, so it’s a good idea to call ahead. (805) 686-9696. www.ostrichlandusa.com
Los Olivos Café and Wine Merchant
A Menu for a Locavore
On the front cover of their menu, Los Olivos Café lets you know right up front where your food comes from. Listing the names and locations of eight area farms, they demonstrate their commitment to local, organic, wild and sustainable foods. Los Olivos Café’s Chef Nat Ely prepares handcrafted California-Mediterranean cuisine made with the freshest seasonal ingredients.
And what is local food without local wine? With the Wine Merchant, they feature over 500 local and international vintages, and they are the exclusive distributor of owner Sam Marmorstein’s Bernat Wines. They also have a selection of gifts, gourmet foods, cookbooks and wine-related items.
Lunch and dinner are served daily from 11:30am–9pm. (805) 688-7265. 2879 Grand Ave., Los Olivos. Check the website for Wine Tasting Wednesdays and other events: www.losolivoscafe.com
Spiritland Bistro
BYOB Wine & Dine
Spiritland Bistro has created a wonderful concept to combine local dining and wine tasting. The last Wednesday of each month they hold a wine theme dinner. Here’s how it works: You bring a wine matched to the theme for that night for all to sample (no corkage), and the restaurant will prepare a gourmet organic four-course meal to match that particular wine. Seating is family-style to encourage interaction and promote a community feeling of fun. An industry expert (usually a local winemaker) speaks between courses to provide some background on the wine theme and the food pairing. Cost is only $45 including tax and tip. Since seating is limited, advance reservations by credit card are required.
April 29: Italian Big Reds from Piedmont (Barbera, Barbaresco, Barolo, Dolcetto, Nebbiolo) with Brett Escalera of Consilience and Tre Anelli
May 27: Loire Valley Whites (Sauvignon Blanc/Chenin Blanc) with Fred Brander of Brander
June 24: California Sparkling Wine with Norm Yost of Flying Goat
Spiritland Bistro is located on the corner of Victoria and Garden St. and is open Wednesday through Sunday: 5:30–9pm and Friday and Saturday: 5:30–10pm. (805) 966-7759. www.spiritlandbistro.com
CAROLE TOPALIAN
CAROLE TOPALIAN
From left: Ostrich, emu, emu egg.
Retroville
One-of-a-Kind Vintage
Whether it’s authentic vintage or a modern take on vintage, Retroville has the coolest finds for you and your kitchen—from Bauer pottery to curvy rattan furniture to vintage-inspired Northstar appliances and an amazing array of accessories. They also have a great selection of kitchen linens and even offer modern oilcloth fabric by the yard. We especially love their own line of aprons in retro and edgy fabrics. They are on the same block of State Street as the Tuesday Farmers Market, making it a convenient place to pop in to say hello. Chances are that either of the local owners Slade or Jettie, or their daughter Lindsey, will be on hand to answer questions or tell you what’s new.
Open Monday through Thursday from 10am–6:30pm, Friday and Saturday 10am–8pm, Sundays 11am–6pm. 521 State Street, Santa Barbara. (805) 845-7910. www.retroville.com
Grow Food Not Lawns
Santa Barbara Food Not Lawns is the grassroots group based in Santa Barbara, and loosely affiliated with a growing collective of grassroots gardeners promoting urban sustainability. Their goal is to encourage people to grow food and to share that food with their neighbors and the community as a whole.
It all started with a simple neighborhood exchange group on the Mesa in March 2007. People brought their surplus vegetables and made friends with their neighbors. Other garden exchanges soon started up including the Westside, Goleta and Carpinteria. In October 2008 further inspiration came from Heather C. Flores author of Food Not Lawns, who came to Santa Barbara to give a talk and a workshop in conjunction with Fairview Gardens. The Santa Barbara group decided that that they should begin even more neighborhood garden groups and associate themselves with the over 30 Food Not Lawn groups that had formed internationally. If you haven’t been to a garden exchange, it’s time to seek one out. You don’t have to come with surplus produce, come with your questions or simply some curiosity about turning our urban and suburban environment into fruitful garden spaces.
For more detailed information, including a list of upcoming neighborhood exchange days, go to: www.sbfoodnotlawns.org. Also check out www.foodnotlawns.net, started and moderated by Heather C. Flores, author of Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community.
vertical TASTING
We asked C’est Cheese to select four cheeses that would fit the old saying “Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue,” and they came up with this terrific line up. This would be the perfect theme for a wedding, engagement or bridal shower cheese platter. You can have fun decorating the platter and making tags for each cheese. And don’t forget to accompany these cheeses with an assortment of crackers, freshly sliced baguette, nuts and dried fruits. Almondina (Italian style almond raisin wafers) are particularly nice with the blue cheese.
Something Old
Vella Dry Jack
Animal: Cow
Origin: California
Rind: Inedible
Rubbed in cocoa and pepper, this aged, hard Jack from Sonoma County is a true original. The flavor is nutty and sharp and slightly sweet with a firm, flaky texture.
Something New
Mt. Tam
Animal: Cow
Origin: California
Rind: Edible
This is a luscious triple-crème cow’s milk cheese from Marin County’s Cowgirl Creamery. Made in the style of a classic French triple crème, it has an edible bloomy rind with a rich buttery flavor and slightly salty finish.
Something Borrowed
Ossau-Iraty
(oh-so-ear-rah-tea)
Animal: Sheep
Origin: France
Rind: Inedible
Borrowed from France, this is a deliciously buttery, semi-firm sheep’s milk cheese made in the classic Basque style of Southern France.
Something Blue
Point Reyes
Animal: Cow
Origin: California
Rind: Edible
This is a smooth creamy blue cheese with a fresh, crisp tanginess and crumbly texture.
Season in
Almonds
Apricots
Artichokes
Arugula
Asparagus
Avocados
Basil
Bay leaf
Beans
Beets
Blackberries
Blueberries
Bok choy
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Chard
Cherimoya
Cherries
Chives
Cilantro
Collards
Dandelion
Dates
Dill
Fennel
Garlic
Grapefruit
Honey
Kale
Lavender
Leeks
Lemons
Lettuce
Limes
Mint
Mustard greens
Nectarine
Onions, green bunching
Oranges, blood
Oranges, navel
Oregano
Parsley
Peas, English
Pistachios
Potatoes
Radish
Raisins
Raspberries
Rosemary
Sage
Snow peas
Spinach
Sprouts and Legumes
Strawberries
Sugar snap peas
Tangerines/Mandarins
Thyme
Tomatoes
Turnips
Walnuts
Also available year-round
Fresh Flowers
Potted Plants/Herbs
Local Cheese
(full selection of certified organic goat- and cow-milk cheeses, butters, curds, yogurts, and spreads)
Local Meat
(antibiotic-free chicken, duck, Cornish game hens, grass-fed/ hormone-free beef and pork)
Local Seafood
(Santa Barbara seasonal catch includes shrimp, lobster, crab, mussles, oysters, seabass, halibut, sole, etc.)
Locally Produced Breads, Pies and Preserves
(bread produced from wheat grown in Santa Ynez; pies and preserves)
Recipes seasonal
Asparagus
Roasted Asparagus
Makes 2–4 servings
Roasting the thicker stalks of asparagus brings out the best in this already delicious vegetable. Serve it as a side dish or put it on top of a salad.
1 bunch of asparagus, approximately 1⁄ 2 pound
1⁄ 8 cup olive oil
1⁄ 2 teaspoon of kosher salt, or your favorite fancy sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Put a medium sized shallow roasting pan in the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Rinse the asparagus and dry completely. In a large bowl combine the asparagus with the olive oil, salt and pepper, toss to coat the asparagus with the olive oil and to evenly distribute the seasonings.
When the oven is up to temperature, carefully put the asparagus mixture into the hot pan, spreading it out into one layer. It will sizzle. Roast in the oven until the asparagus is soft and the ends are slightly brown and crispy, approximately 10–20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the asparagus.
Spring Greens
Spring is a great time to pick up greens from the farmers market or a store that stocks local produce. Organic greens often have a bit of organic dirt, which may be a healthy sign, but the grit can be unpleasant to eat. So wash all greens carefully before use. Fill a very large bowl or your clean sink with cold water and put the greens into the water. Swish them around a bit and lift them out of water allowing the dirt to settle to the bottom. You can then dry them in a salad spinner, a colander or on some clean dishtowels. Use them right away or store them in a plastic bag lined with a dishtowel. They will keep for several days this way, and the plastic bag can be reused. Each of these easy sauté recipes for greens can be used as a side dish or can be tossed with pasta as a main course.
Sautéed Chard
Makes 2–4 servings
1 bunch of chard, washed
1⁄ 8 cup walnut oil (you can find La Nogalera Walnut Oil at the farmers market and at specialty stores)
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 clove of garlic, minced
1⁄ 2 teaspoon of salt or to taste
Chopped toasted walnuts for garnish, optional
Stem the larger leaves of the chard by folding each large leaf in half and cutting or pulling away the rib. Reserve the ribs for another use (they make a great substitute for celery in soup recipes). Slice the chard leaves into a chiffonade of slender strips.
Heat a large, deep sauté pan over medium heat. Pour in enough of the walnut oil to coat the bottom and add the red pepper flakes and minced garlic. Add the chard, a generous sprinkling of salt and cover the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes and then uncover and cook away any extra moisture. Serve with a sprinkling of finely chopped toasted walnuts.
CAROLE TOPALIAN
Sautéed Collards or Kale
Makes 2–4 servings
You can use collards or any variety of kale for this recipe, but the thicker the leaves the longer the cooking time.
1 bunch of collards or kale, washed and stems removed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion or 2 shallots, minced
1⁄ 2 teaspoon of salt or to taste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
Chop the collard greens or kale coarsely. Heat a large, deep sauté pan over medium heat. Pour in enough of the olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the onion or shallot and cook until translucent. Add the kale, salt and a couple tablespoons of water and cover the pan. Cook for 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the leaves. Check frequently to make sure the pan does not get too dry, and add more water if it needs it. When the greens are tender, remove the lid and add the vinegar. Stir and cook away any excess water. Add freshly ground black pepper to taste and serve.
Strawberries
The season for strawberries grown here in Santa Barbara seems to get longer and longer each year. But there is no doubt that they are at a peak in the spring. Can you resist eating them right out of the basket after you picked them up at the farmers market or your CSA? If they make it home, here’s an easy and elegant dessert.
Rinse strawberries and roll on paper towels to dry. (It’s important not to introduce water into your chocolate.)
Melt butter in microwave and set aside. Set aside about 1⁄ 4 to 1⁄ 3 of the chocolate. Chop remaining chocolate into approximately 1⁄ 4 -inch pieces.
Melt chocolate in bowl in microwave on 50 percent power, stirring at 30 second intervals until melted. When melted, stir in melted butter.
Chop or break the chocolate you set aside earlier into larger (about 1⁄ 2 inch) pieces. Stir these into the melted chocolate. When the chunks are melted, your chocolate will be ready for dipping your strawberries.
Put chocolate into shallow bowl and draw strawberries across the surface. Let excess drip off, and put onto waxed paper or parchment-lined pan.
Reheat the chocolate briefly in the microwave at 5 second intervals if it becomes too cool to dip. Stir to distribute the heat. (Your chocolate should feel slightly cool to the touch but not be too thick to coat the strawberries smoothly.)
Put dipped uncovered strawberries into refrigerator for about 5 minutes. After that they can sit at room temperature for several hours, or be eaten immediately.
*You can use all dark or all milk chocolate if you prefer. You can also drizzle lines of melted white chocolate onto the darker chocolate and draw the strawberries across the surface to get a multicolored effect.
Season herbs in
How well do you know your herbs?
From left, first row: Basil, Marjoram, Lavender, Chives.
Second row: Mint, Cilantro, Dill, Lemon Balm.
Third row: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme.
Fourth row: Spearmint, Oregano.
THE EDIBLE GARDEN GREAT ANNUAL HERBS
by Joan S. Bolton
Growing annual herbs from seed is one of the easiest, most rewarding tasks you can tackle in the garden.
Annual herbs grow fast. In a matter of weeks you’ll be able to snip your first flavorful leaves. From seed you’ll find a greater selection than from transplants, and the seed packets will cost less. Sow a few plants every few weeks, and you’ll have your favorite herbs—fresh—until next winter. And up close, many annual herbs bear beautiful leaf colors, patterns and textures. Let some flower, and beneficial insects will be attracted to your garden as well.
A Need for Speed
Unlike perennial herbs, which are in it for the long haul, annual herbs do their business in a season. Theirs is a simple life. They germinate, send up stems, branches and leaves, then produce buds and flowers. Soon after, they go to seed, collapse and die.
One advantage to this brief dance in the spotlight is that most annual herbs don’t take a lot of space. That’s why they flourish in cute little pots; they don’t typically produce much root mass. Another plus is that you don’t have to make a lifetime investment in an herb that you might not like. With such fast results, it’s easy to experiment without risking much time, money or effort.
Getting Started
Fast-draining, fertile soil and plenty of sunshine are key. The easiest way to control the planting medium is to grow your annual herbs in containers. Fill with premium potting soil then add a balanced, slow-release, granular fertilizer. On a windowsill or table, you can use small, terra cotta pots. Or fill larger bowls or containers with an assortment of herbs. In the ground, unless your bed is already rich and loamy, plant in raised beds or mounds. Supplement the existing soil with generous amounts of loose, well-aged organic material to create a fine, crumbly mix.
The Best
Basil. If you grow only one annual herb, let it be basil. The tender herb is the most exquisite complement to homegrown tomatoes. From seed you’ll find an array of flavors, including sweet, lemon, anise, cinnamon, Italian, Thai and Greek, each with a different leaf shape and fragrance. Most varieties grow a foot tall and wide. They perform best with heat, fluffy soil and frequent water. Seeds have a high germination rate, so sow them a few inches apart then thin the seedlings to 12 inches apart. Harvest the foliage throughout the growing season. Or wait until the flower buds begin to form, which is when the leaves will contain their most concentrated oils.
Borage. This fuzzy, blue-blooming herb hit the big time when edible flowers became fashionable a decade ago. Both the flowers and leaves taste like mild cucumber. In the ground, the knee-high plants may run rampant, seeding out exuberantly into poor, dry soil. Instead, contain your borage in a pot, where it will happily bask in full sun or part shade. Honeybees love the flowers, too.
Chamomile. This soothing sun lover comes in two flavors. Annual German chamomile (Matricaria recutita) is an upright herb that bears white, button-sized daisy flowers for brewing a mild tea. (Discard the narrow white petals and brew the yellow button centers.) Perennial Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) forms a low, fragrant mat and fits well between stepping-stones. Its pungent flowers may taste bitter and are better in potpourri.
Cilantro. The fresh, chopped leaves of this dual-purpose herb are a must-grow for salsa, while its coriander seeds are a key component in curry. Cilantro is best suited for sowing directly in the garden, as it sends down a deep taproot at the same time that it quickly stretches 1 to 3 feet tall. Plants may look weedy, especially if they get blown about by the wind or go dry. Harvest the newest, freshest leaves and plan to sow new plants every few weeks through the end of summer. Let a few specimens flower, to attract beneficial insects. Harvest the coriander when the seeds turn brown.
Dill. Related to cilantro, dill also sends down a taproot. Sow it where you’d like it to grow. Have patience; seeds may take a few weeks to sprout. Dill will bolt if it’s too hot or too crowded. Provide some shade and thin the seedlings to 6 to 8 inches apart. Harvest the wispy leaves for everything from fish to potatoes then gather the seeds for pickling cucumbers.
Parsley. This wavy-leaved herb prefers cooler spots, too. Be warned that its seeds can be balky to germinate. You may have better luck buying transplants. Curly parsley is an attractive, ankle-high edging in partial shade. Flat, broad-leaf Italian parsley yields stronger flavor and grows up to 3 feet tall.
Summer Savory. With dainty pink flowers lining its upright stalks, summer savory is one of the prettiest annual herbs. Its slender, aromatic leaves and flowering tops complement perennial oregano, rosemary and thyme in herbes de Provence mixes. It grows about a foot tall and prefers full sun.
Joan S. Bolton is a freelance writer, garden coach and garden designer who confesses to a lifelong love affair with plants. She and her husband, Tom, have filled their four-acre property in western Goleta with natives and other colorful, water-conserving plants. They also maintain avocado, citrus and fruit trees and grow vegetables and herbs year-round. www.SantaBarbaraGardens.com.
EDIBLE VOICES RELISHING THE RADISH
by Kate Adamick, JD
My first childhood food memory isn’t a dazzling birthday cake or a melting ice cream cone, as one might expect. Rather, it’s a small blue bowl of bright red radishes.
When I was growing up, my grandfather ate radishes at every summer supper. As a devoted five-year-old who wanted to be just like him, I tenaciously set out to do the same. That year, I began to mimic his every move as he methodically reached for a newly stemmed radish, dipped it gently into sprinkled salt, and unceremoniously popped it into his mouth. I’d sit at the table next to him and unconvincingly exclaim, “Mmmmmmmm! These are good!” even as my mouth burned and tears ran down my face. If eating them would make me more like Gramps, I would happily endure the pain.
would mean the world to Gramps. As my grandmother had predicted, Gramps’s face beamed when I presented him with my work, and the feeling I experienced that day of delighting others with food has never left me.
“Unfortunately, in our neverending efforts to give our children more of what we think they want, our frenzied schedules often prevent us from providing them with more of what they really need.”
Within a few days, my grandmother asked me if I’d help her as she washed the dirt from that evening’s radish crop. I vividly recall my pride at being entrusted with such an adult responsibility as I pulled the step-stool from the utility closet and dragged it to the sink for my first experience in meal preparation. My grandmother stood by my side praising my cooking skills and telling me that my efforts
My childhood relationship with the radish evolved still further when I returned home later that summer and excitedly told my mom of my new favorite food. She promptly bought a package of radish seeds and helped me plant them in the foot-wide flower bed between the house and driveway. As I watched over the tiny plants during the next few weeks, I learned not only of their need for water, sun and weeding, but of my own intimate connection with my planet and my food. The simple radish had taught me to appreciate the fundamental links between growing, cooking and eating.
Today, 40 years later, our nation’s children seem to have fewer opportunities for such personal contacts with their food. Instead, most of their food mysteriously arrives in sterile stores encased in flashy packages bearing a laundry list of unpronounceable ingredients, most of which have been “grown” in corporate science labs. Their
contents have been freeze-dried, pre-cooked, concentrated and vacuum-packed. And even the whole foods they consume have often been genetically modified, sprayed with myriad pesticides or derived from animals injected with a virtual pharmacy of antibiotics and hormones.
Our children now live in a world in which more than 25 percent of their meals are eaten in front of a television set and another 25 percent in the car. Fully one-third of American children eat in fast food chains every day. Under such circumstances, rarely do children learn that meals are an opportunity for leisure, conversation and hospitality. Rather, millions of media messages each year scream out to them that food is about convenience, image and instant gratification.
But there is hope. In the past year, I have had the good fortune to observe a classroom full of six-year olds shout “Me! Me! Me!” when asked who wanted more of the beans they had just sautéed together as a group, to hear an eight-year-old exclaim, “It has veins just like I do!” when examining a leafy collard green under a magnifying glass, and to witness a teenager utter in amazement, “It’s magic!” after pulling a carrot from the ground.
But while certainly magical, these children’s experiences are hardly magic. Rather, they are nothing more than opportunities diligently discovered and passionately pursued. With a little imagination and initiative, classrooms become makeshift kitchens, city balconies become urban vegetable gardens, family field trips become agricultural adventures to farmers markets and farms, and narrow suburban flower beds become miniature patches of radishes.
Unfortunately, in our never-ending efforts to give our children more of what we think they want, our frenzied schedules often prevent us from providing them with more of what they really need. As a result, we all too quickly fall into the habit of picking up ready-to-eat meals on the way home from work or stopping for burgers on the way home from soccer practice. But as adults, the responsibility for shepherding our youth through the perils of our modern industrialized society, and reconnecting them to their own roots in the natural world, rests squarely and unequivocally on our shoulders. Perhaps the best way to accomplish this overwhelming task is by exposing our children to food in ways that not only feed their growing bodies, but nurture their very souls. Perhaps the best way is by teaching our children to relish the radish.
From Appenzeller to Zamorano,
French truffled pâté to Spanish chorizo, artisan salumi to hand-crafted chocolates, aged balsamics, wine, beer, gourmet sandwiches, tastings & classes, party platters and more, C’est Cheese is your local source for the finest cheeses and artisanal foods from Europe, California and, of course, our own bountiful Central Coast. Please stop in to experience all we have to offer.
825 Santa Barbara St. Santa Barbara, CA 93101 805-965-0318
Mon – Fri 10-6 • Sat 8-6 • Closed Sun www.cestcheese.com
Kate Adamick is a New York City-based food systems consultant specializing in school food reform, the director of the Orfalea Fund’s s’Cool Food Initiative, and the former director of New York City’s SchoolFood Plus Initiative.
Locally owned and operated since 2003
EDIBLE HEROES DOUG HAGENSEN TO THE RESCUE
by Nancy Oster
As I look out my kitchen window at a tree full of ripening kumquats, I’m wondering what I’ll do when they all ripen at once. How could I possibly use that many kum quats in a month, or even a year?
Sure I’ll make some marmalade, but how many jars can I actually use or give away?
Thanks to Backyard Harvester Doug Hagensen, we now have another option for harvest over load. Doug comes to your home to harvest your fruits or vegeta bles and transports the excess to Unity Shoppe for distribution to local families in need of food.
Doug and his wife, Stephanie Hagensen, began forming Backyard Harvest in early 2008, then they joined forces in June with Unity Shoppe Executive Director Tom Reed to make Backyard Harvest an official project of that local nonprofit.
Doug says, “We have provided 30,000 pounds of produce that they would never have had, giving clients a solid stream of nutritious produce to put on their tables.” Unity Shoppe, started by Pearl Chase over 90 years ago, provides food, clothing and other household necessities free of charge to people facing personal economic crisis, including our recent Tea Fire victims.
Doug collects and delivers two-thirds of all the produce Unity Shoppe distributes. Donors currently include about 75 homeowners, 3 local farms, farmers market vendors and the Humane Society. This is community working at its best.
Moving here from the San Francisco area in 2002, Doug went to work in the construction industry. Two years ago he began managing projects for Skyeline Construction, a local residential and commercial contactor focused on environmentally conscious building practices.
Doug says, “While working in construction, I constantly noticed the abundance of food growing on residential properties going to waste
or under-utilized. I also became increasingly aware that, despite the general affluence of our community, many people are struggling to make ends meet and likely not eating very healthy food. I felt a need to create a link between these two elements.” Concerned about the bigger issues of energy costs, climate change and the world food crisis, he wanted to give people an opportunity to participate in a local food movement.
Researching online, Doug discovered other gleaning organizations existed, so he worked with Backyard Harvest founder Amy Grey in Idaho to create a Santa Barbara chapter and set out to develop a community network for his program. His first support came from his employer Skye McGinnis of Skyeline Construction, who donated full-time use of the Backyard Harvest truck. Collaboration with Fairview Gardens has brought in over 11,000 pounds of produce. Shepherd Farms and Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Organic Market Garden also donate food regularly.
On a visit to the Humane Society to adopt a dog, Doug noticed avocado and orange trees growing on the property. When he told Executive Director Peggy Langle about his program, she offered the produce from their trees. That’s currently about 4,500 pounds of ongoing harvest.
The Fund for Santa Barbara recently awarded Backyard Harvest a grant to help further develop the program. He plans initially to expand his volunteer base. At present he does about 95 percent of the harvesting and transportation himself, mostly unpaid. But there are perks, such as a donor who offered him a swim in her pool with her two golden retrievers on an especially hot day, or the motherly German woman who invited him in and conversed with him in German over a homemade lunch.
Doug foresees harvests of over 100,000 pounds and would like to develop a Backyard to Pantry program, to teach people how to make
LAUREN WILSON
juices, preserves and dried fruit to extend produce shelf life. Doug says, “I’d like to collaborate with agencies both in development and running the program with an at-risk population such as adults with developmental disabilities or youth at risk. These products could be distributed throughout the community under the Backyard Harvest label, re-localizing our food.”
He would also like to work with local school children. He says, “Educating the community about the food movement and the importance of localizing food production that includes growing more in our backyards (lower carbon in-puts and out-puts, keeping our dollars in the community, improving our relationship with our food) is a fundamental principle of Backyard Harvest.”
Word-of-mouth has been his best resource since picking his first peaches, tangerines and lemons from the Montecito home of Judy and Bob Cresap. I learned about his service from Lucy Thomas, who harvests a prolific persimmon tree her neighbor shares with her on the Westside. Lucy says, “We called Doug back to pick a second time when none of us could eat one more persimmon.”
So you can bet I’ll be calling on Edible Hero Doug Hagensen soon to help me make sure all my kumquats find their way onto a plate, not into a trash can.
If Nancy Oster isn’t writing, baking or eating, she is probably sleeping. She developed the recipes for Chet the Gecko’s Detective Guide (and Cookbook) and writes the Starlight Bakery blog.
8 Markets, 6 Days a Week
Sundays
Camino Real Marketplace
In Goleta at Storke & Hollister 10:00am – 2:00pm (Year Round)
1100 & 1200 Block of Coast Village Road 8:00am – 11:15am (Year Round)
Saturdays
Downtown Santa Barbara Corner of Santa Barbara & Cota Streets 8:30am – 12:30pm (Year Round)
A FISH ON YOUR DISH: HOW TO MAKE AN ETHICAL PICK
by Rick Moonen & Clare Leschin-Hoar
By all accounts, it was a disaster. In early May, when commercial salmon fishing should have begun along the California and Oregon coast, the season was canceled for the first time in its history. There simply were not enough wild king salmon left to push and grapple their way upstream. But it didn’t come as a complete surprise. There were gloomy signs of this in the fall, when counts of young adult fish were low. Very low. These young fish, called jacks, usually number near 157,000 along the Sacramento River. This time officials had counted only 6,000. The stocks had collapsed.
But would the crash be loud enough to provide the wake-up call most Americans needed to start thinking more about that tasty pink fillet sitting proudly in the middle of their dinner plate?
Salmon is ranked third in popularity of seafood, right behind shrimp and tuna.
We love it for its satisfying flaky pink flesh, its healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and it’s versatile and easy to prepare.
Go Ahead and Grill ‘em—How To Ask Those Burning Questions
There’s no argument that fish is complex and confusing. Before taking the first bite, we encourage you—the consumer—to ask questions.
To help you make the best decision on what to purchase, here are some of the best questions you can pose. Don’t be shy! Your questions go a long way toward getting fish buyers to understand that these issues are critically important to all of us. So before you order, here’s exactly what you should be asking:
While nearly 90 percent of the salmon we consume is actually farm raised (which has its own troubling problems like sea lice infestations or pollution caused by open-net caging practices), the close of salmon fishing in part of what’s affectionately known as “Salmon Nation” was loud and clear to anyone who stopped to listen to the alarm bells.
But this isn’t a story about doom and gloom, though we freely admit we could easily slip into that. This is a story about what you can do. That’s right. We want you to take action—whether that’s in the form of Michael Pollan’s mantra of “vote with your fork” or of Mark Powell’s drumbeat of activism.
What type of fish is it? Is that tuna over-fished bluefin or the better choice of albacore?
Where it was caught? Was the halibut caught in the Pacific, where it’s still well managed, or was it an Atlantic halibut, which is in dire need of relief?
How it was caught? Was it caught using a hookline, which is a good choice? Or a longline, which sounds similar, but it’s not. Longlines can run 60 miles in length and can carry literally tens of thousands of hooks.
Or was the fish actually farmed? And if so, how? In open-net ocean pens, which carry the risk of sea lice infestation, pollution and escape? Or was it farmed in a closed circulating system?
And is the fish vegetarian or carnivorous? Does it take four pounds of ground fish meal to produce one pound of farm-raised fish for our consumption? If so, that’s a good one to avoid.
While the questions can seem straightforward, there are plenty of opportunities for confusion. One type of fish can go by many different names, and—worse—either by accident or through unscrupulous practices, fish are frequently mislabeled. And let’s face it—too often, the person manning the fish counter or the wait staff
The Santa Barbara Harbor is home to a number of local fishing boats.
Limit consumption due to concerns about mercury or other contaminants. Visit www.edf.org/seafood. + Some or all of this fishery is certified as sustainable to the Marine Stewardship Council
at your nearby restaurant may be stumped by your questions. Don’t let that discourage you. The more customers ask, the more fish purveyors and chefs are taking note.
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There are plenty of handy pocket guides to help assist you with your decision-making, too. Our favorite? The list put out by the Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program, which is updated twice a year. Fish are listed regionally and are divided into three columns— Best Choices, Good Alternatives or red-labeled Avoid.
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We also like Blue Ocean Institute’s Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood, the pocket Seafood Selector by the Environmental Defense Fund and the Seafood Choices Alliance guides, but each can give slightly different advice, so the more you educate yourself on the issues, the more confident you’ll be at the fish counter.
Diversify Your Eating
Chilean Seabass/Toothfish *
Cod: Atlantic
Crab: King (imported)
Dogfish (US) * Grenadier/Pacific Roughy
Lobster: Spiny (Caribbean imported)
Mahi mahi/Dolphinfish (imported)
Marlin: Blue* , Striped*
Monkfish
Orange Roughy *
Rockfish (trawled)
Salmon (farmed, including Atlantic) *
Sharks *
Shrimp (imported farmed or wild)
Sturgeon* , Caviar (imported wild)
Swordfish (imported) *
Tuna: Albacore Bigeye Yellowfin (longline)*
Tuna: Bluefin *
Yellowtail (Australia or Japan, farmed) * +
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One of the best ways to eat fish that’s healthy for you and more environmentally sound is to diversify your eating habits. We all like tuna, shrimp and salmon, but think about these items as a special occasion meal instead of everyday nourishment. After all, there are other tasty fish in the sea.
For example, substitute farmed-raised Arctic char for Atlantic salmon, or check out wild-caught sockeye salmon from Alaska, which is plentiful and well managed. Oysters are a terrific option too. Not only are they farmed sustainably, but they also help keep our coastal waters clean as they grow. Seek out and purchase U.S.-farmed shrimp over less sustainably raised alternatives. Sardines, anchovies, mackerel and most smaller fish, both fresh and canned, are abundant and are low on the food chain, which means unlike tuna or swordfish, they carry less risk of containing mercury while still providing you with plenty of omega-3s. Even better, you’re consuming fish that can reproduce at a younger age. Another step is to choose vegetarian farmed seafood such as tilapia, catfish, abalone and sturgeon.
Making good choices about seafood means you’ll need some understanding of how the fish is raised or caught and how it is handled afterwards. It’s also about keeping abreast of current news. For example, imported farm-raised shrimp from Asia has played a large role in destroying millions of acres of important mangroves which protect shoreline and habitat, and trawling methods used to catch shrimp kill more than 1.8 million tons of marine life each year including sharks and turtles. Last year, restrictions were imposed by FDA officials on Chinese-raised shrimp, catfish, eel, basa and dace, which had traces of carcinogenic chemicals. Currently, the FDA is considering loosening those restrictions, which means that your role in asking questions about where your seafood is from and how it is raised is still crucial.
Pathways to Activism
We agree that voting with your fork is a powerful way to reach the ears of the restaurateur or fishmonger who is making the initial fish purchase and helps create awareness with the public, but Mark Powell, Vice President of Fish Conservation at the Ocean Conservancy argues that in the end it’s not all that effective:
“People who are willing to self-sacrifice say, ‘I’m going to deny myself the pleasure of eating this fish because I’m ethically sound.’ It’s something they can do, but the real question is, does it help?”
What needs to change, says Powell, is the real issue of bottom trawling, which is done by large industrial fishing operations and is a method used to drag heavy nets across the seafloor. Bottom trawling destroys hundreds of square miles of important habitat and deep-sea coral and fish every day. The result is devastating to the sea environment and results in high levels of by-catch and waste.
“Put it this way,” says Powell, “if you choose not to eat a contaminated food product, you’re exerting your values and you feel good about reducing contamination. It’s meaningful on an individual scale, and that makes sense. I’m not going to eat farmed salmon because I don’t
think there should be fish farms in the ocean. But if you’re trying to send a signal to the world that results in less harm from salmon farms, that tactic may not work. It’s not as simple as taking it down to a species level. If we’re going to get bottom trawling stopped, it’s through political action.”
He has a point.
Brad Ack, regional director for the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), disagrees slightly with Powell’s point that denying yourself a plate of Atlantic salmon won’t go far. Instead, he says expressing your political views through your pocketbook is activism of a different form.
“What’s important is being aware that there is great disparity in the worldwide fisheries. Being an informed consumer about the fish you buy, and asking for and demanding sustainability is very important for the longer-term health of our oceans and fisheries. Don’t just assume that because it’s being sold that it’s good to buy,” said Ack.
For those who want to make a statement with their purchasing power, groups like the MSC make it easy by putting their stamp of approval on sustainable fisheries. MSC certifies things like Oregon pink shrimp, all five species of Alaskan salmon or Pacific Cod.
But MSC-certified seafood isn’t always easy to find, which means that for many of us, time actually spent contemplating the fish for sale at the local market may just have gotten longer as we try and work out which fish is not only best for dinner, but the best choice all around
A nationally recognized champion of the sustainable seafood movement, Rick Moonen is chef and co-owner of RM Seafood at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and author of Fish Without a Doubt. He lectures frequently on the topic of fish and ocean conservation.
Freelance writer Clare Leschin-Hoar frequently covers issues surrounding sustainable seafood. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe and many more. Read more at: www.leschin-hoar.com.
So, just how do you get involved?
There are plenty of groups eager for your help. Here’s a short list:
Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program: www.seafoodwatch.org
The Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program wants to shift our community’s seafood consumption to sustainable sources, consumer by consumer and restaurant by restaurant. By helping restaurants and markets replace unsustainable seafood items with sustainable ones, they hope to shift thousands of dollars spent supporting unsustainable fisheries to supporting the new sustainable seafood movement.
Participating restaurants and markets pledge to take steps to avoid offering unsustainable seafood. They display a certificate showing their support for sustainable seafood and may also provide educational materials to their patrons. In return, the Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program will help promote these restaurants by spreading the word that they provide consumers with an alternative to unsustainable seafood and help them make the switch to sustainable seafood.
Currently Participating Restaurants and Markets: Aldo’s
Arts & Letters Café
Blue Agave
Bouchon
Downey’s
Elements Restaurant and Bar
Epiphany
Fresco Café
Julienne
Kanaloa Seafoods
Santa Barbara Fish Market
Seagrass Restaurant
State & A Bar & Grill
Look for the Sustainable Seafood logo sticker in the storefronts of the participating restaurants and markets. And please patronize these businesses to show support for their dedication to sustainable seafood.
Restaurants and markets that are interested in joining the program or anyone who would like more information can contact Kim Selkoe at selkoe@nceas.ucsb.edu or visit www.sbnature.org/seacenter/sustainableseafood.php.
Shrimp Fritters
Makes about 24 fritters
Recipes from Fish Without a Doubt
by Rick Moonen and Roy Finamore
FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE
1⁄ 3 cup fish sauce
1⁄ 3 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 small habañero chile, cut into thin rings (or 2 serranos, minced, with seeds)
FOR THE FRITTERS
2 large eggs
1⁄ 3 cup cold seltzer or club soda
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 ⁄4 cup self-rising cake flour plus more if needed
(NOTE: You can substitute regular cake flour, but add
1⁄ 2 teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon coarse salt.)
11⁄4 pounds large shrimp (21–30 count), shelled and chopped, or 1 pound rock shrimp
1⁄ 2 cup minced red onion
1⁄ 2 cup minced red bell pepper
1⁄4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Peanut or vegetable oil for deep-frying
FOR SERVING
1 head Boston or other tender lettuce
Fresh mint or cilantro leaves
FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE: Stir the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, garlic and chile together in a small bowl. Let the sauce sit for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.
FOR THE FRITTERS: Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl to break them up. Pour in the seltzer or club soda and lime juice and whisk until smooth. The mixture will foam up. Add the flour and whisk until you have a smooth batter. Stir in the shrimp, onion, red pepper and cilantro.
Heat at least 3 inches of oil in a wide deep pot (a cast-iron Dutch oven is ideal) to 350 to 365 degrees. Set a rack over a baking sheet next to the stove.
When the oil is hot, drop in heaping tablespoons of batter. Don’t crowd them, or the oil temperature will drop too much and the fritters will be greasy. Fry the fritters, turning them with a spider or slotted spoon so they cook evenly, until golden brown and cooked through, about 3 minutes. Remove with the spider to the rack to drain. Spoon out any little bits of fritter from the oil before adding the next batch.
If the fritters really break apart when you add them to the oil, it means the batter is a bit too thin, so stir in another tablespoon or two of flour.
To serve, set out the bowl of sauce. Pile the fritters onto a platter and surround with the lettuce leaves and a pile of herb leaves so everyone can wrap a fritter and some herb leaves in lettuce and dip into the sauce.
Where To Get Local Seafood
J.R. and Dee Gorgita
Seasonal shrimp and seasonal fish at the Saturday and Tuesday Santa Barbara Farmers Markets.
Sam and Sherri Shrout
Seasonal crab, lobster and seasonal fish at the Saturday Santa Barbara Farmers Market and Fishermans Market.
Bernard Friedman
Oysters and mussels at the Saturday Santa Barbara Farmers Market.
John Wilson
Crab, lobster and seasonal fish at the Wednesday Solvang and Thursday Carpinteria Farmers Markets.
Salmon Burgers with Green Tartar Sauce
Makes 4 servings
ACCEPT SUBSTITUTES: Char and rainbow trout make great burgers. You can also try bluefish, striped bass or swordfish.
4 pita breads
Olive oil
11⁄ 2 pounds skinless wild salmon fillet, chilled in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes
1⁄ 2 cup diced red bell pepper
1⁄ 2 cup diced green bell pepper
1⁄4 cup chopped scallions
1⁄4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
2 teaspoons salt
Freshly ground white pepper
1 large egg white, whipped to soft peaks
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
FOR SERVING
1 ripe Beefsteak tomato, cored and cut into 4 thick slices
Green Tartar Sauce (below)
A handful of tender salad greens
Heat the broiler. Using a pastry brush or your fingers, coat each side of the pita breads with a thin layer of olive oil. Place on the broiler rack and broil for about 2 minutes, until brown. Turn and broil another 2 minutes. Wrap in a kitchen towel.
Sharpen your knife and cut the salmon into a fine dice. Place the salmon in a medium bowl. Add the bell peppers, scallions and cream and combine gently with your hands. Season with the Tabasco, salt and white pepper. Gently fold in 1⁄4 cup of the beaten egg white. Form into 4 patties.
Heat the canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the burgers. Lower the heat to medium and put 1⁄ 2 teaspoon butter next to each burger. Cook for 3 minutes, and flip until browned. Cook for another 2 minutes or until nicely browned on the second side.
Split the pita breads open. Set each burger on one pita half and top with a slab of tomato, a dollop of tartar sauce, some of the greens and the other pita half.
Green Tartar Sauce
Makes about 2 ½ cups
This sauce is best made ahead. Letting it sit in the refrigerator for about 24 hours gives the flavors time to develop.
Drop the cornichons, capers and shallot into a food processor. Process for a few seconds just to combine. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, herbs, lemon juice and white pepper and process for about 8 seconds to blend well. Scrape down the sides. With the motor running, add the oil in a slow, steady stream.
Scrape the tartar sauce out into an airtight container, cover and refrigerate for 24 hours before using.
Recommended Reading List:
Bottom Feeder: How To Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe
End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat by Charles Clover
Tuna, A Love Story by Richard Ellis
Fish Without a Doubt by Rick Moonen
Fish Forever by Paul Johnson
the pod squad
TRY THIS TRIO OF FRESH VEGGIES FOR YOUR OWN RITE OF SPRING
by Carol Penn-Romine
Ahh, springtime! It’s a joy to kick off our socks and shoes and dig our toes into the first green grass of the year. And a treat to sink our teeth into the fresh green peas and beans that signal winter’s end.
Not that I’m knocking those delectable slow-cooked pots of dried legumes and grains, but after a winter of dried fuel, the whole multisensoried aspect of spring’s bounty is a pleasure: the fresh aroma, flavor and crunch of the season’s first veggies and the delight of whipping up dishes that incorporate them. Sugar snap peas, green peas and fava beans are all rich in protein and miserly in fat. The peas require little if any cooking at all, while the favas allow you to catch up on your daydreaming while you prepare them. So put away the soak-’em-overnights of winter and say hello to spring with this trio of fresh green lovelies.
Sugar Snap Peas
Sugar snaps are ready for eating before the peas themselves have developed, so the pods are quite delicate. The ultimate in lazy cuisine, sugar snap peas are convenient because all they need is a quick rinse before you begin snacking. They’re great raw or introduced to just the merest bit of heat, topped with a pat of butter, a sprinkling of sea salt and a grinding of black pepper. Or give them a quick blanch, about three minutes in boiling water, drop them into an ice water bath so they retain their color and then add them to your salad or stir fry.
When you buy sugar snaps, be sure to look for plump, firm, shiny pods that are deep green, all characteristics of a well-developed and ready-to-eat pod. Leave the dirt on until you’re ready to use them and they’ll last for about three days in the refrigerator—if you can keep your hands off them that long!
Green Peas
Did you know that wintertime’s split peas started their lives as the debutantes of the garden? Green peas in their fresh form are finicky little darlings, so treat them with respect. Essentially, don’t pick them until you’re ready to use them, for within about six hours of harvesting, their sugar will turn to starch if left at room temperature. This won’t hurt you, but it diminishes their fresh appeal, their crispness
and sweetness. If you buy them from the farmers market, be sure they were just picked that morning and then rush them home and either eat or refrigerate them right away. Select medium-sized pods that are bright green and obviously fresh, not dried out or tough.
Most green peas consumed are canned or frozen, but if you have access to fresh ones, why bother with their weary, excessively handled brethren?
Fava Beans
One of the most storied of foods, the fava bean has quite an amazing body of lore surrounding it, including tales from ancients who decided that favas were shaped like the doors of hell and said they contained the souls of the dead. Well, that’s a stretch, but could those early prejudices be responsible for the relative scarcity of fava beans in the American diet? Or could it have to do with that Silence of the Lambs quote about “fava beans and a nice Chianti?”
Find this reference off-putting? Then just call them broad beans like the English do. These are tasty, versatile legumes that admittedly require some work to prepare. When you’re in the mood for a little Zen activity, fava beans will do the trick. They must be shucked, then cooked and then peeled before you begin your recipe, but the flavor will amaze you. Favas have a more complex taste than their cousins, nutty and buttery and rich.
If you can find favas in their not-quite-ready-to-pick stage—or if you grow them yourself and harvest them early—you can actually eat them pod and all—one of those rare springtime treats!
Chef and food writer Carol Penn-Romine is a Tennessee farm girl who is still trying to get the hang of playing in the Southern California soil. She is editor of Edible Los Angeles and a contributor to a number of magazines within Edible Communities. Her essays have appeared in publications including Cornbread Nation IV: The Best of Southern Food Writing and The Christian Science Monitor.
FRESH GREEN PEAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS IN SESAME DRESSING
This recipe combines sugar snaps and green peas in a light and flavorful Asian salad. Recipe courtesy of Bon Appétit Makes 6 to 8 servings
3 cups fresh, shelled peas (from 3 pounds of peas in pods)
12 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed and rinsed
Sesame Dressing
2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cook shelled peas in large saucepan of boiling salted water until almost tender, about 1½ minutes. Add sugar snap peas to same pan and continue boiling for 30 seconds. Drain, rinse under cold water and drain again. Transfer to large bowl and set aside.
Whisk vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, salt and pepper in small bowl to blend. Pour dressing over peas in large bowl; toss to coat. Season salad to taste with more salt and pepper, if desired. Serve at room temperature.
Note: Peas and dressing can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Let stand separately at room temperature.
FAVA BEANS WITH RED ONION AND MINT
Recipe courtesy of Gourmet
Makes 6 small-plate servings
3 cups shelled and peeled fresh fava beans (about 2 1⁄ 2 pounds in pod)
1 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided 2 medium red onions, chopped
Fine sea salt, to taste
Generous handful of mint, roughly chopped, about 1⁄ 2 cup
Cook fava beans with 1 teaspoon oil in boiling unsalted water until tender, 6 to 8 minutes, then drain.
Lightly sauté onions in remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a medium skillet over medium heat, stirring, until just crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Add beans and cook until just heated through, then season with sea salt and pepper. Toss in mint. Serve immediately.
Note: Fava beans can be shelled and peeled (but not cooked) one day ahead and chilled, covered.
THE CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS
by J. Elizabeth Goffin
STEVEN BROWN
Even on that rare rainy Santa Barbara day, the Fairview Gardens
CSA (community-supported agriculture produce subscription program) distribution goes on undisturbed. Bordered by the busy Fairview Avenue, Goleta Library and a prolific subdivision, Fairview Gardens has remained farmland for over 100 years. To the side of the produce stand with its familiar green and white awning is a generous overhang buzzing with people, beneath which are tables displaying the farm’s bounty for the week. Members glance at whiteboards listing their share items as they gather and weigh their produce before picking up a newsletter with recipes for the week.
When I first started as the distribution volunteer, the list of 125 names was just that: a list of names. But with each successive week the names match the faces, which become familiar, and before long picking up produce for the week becomes a social activity. I learn which members trade their cilantro for something else or finish their strawberries in the car before arriving home. The children either help their parents with gathering the week’s food, climb the mulberry tree or visit the goats and chickens. Chatting with people becomes as much a part of my job as restocking arugula. “What did you do with your kale last week?” I inquire, hoping to gain an idea for my own burgeoning crisper drawer. “Oh, I made a green soup,” replies one woman. Another answers, “I toasted it in the oven with a little olive oil. It crisped right up and the kids ate it like it was chips.” Having never eaten greens in my life before joining the CSA, I’m excited to give these suggestions a try.
to re-engage with your local economy. Members pay up front for a share of the farm’s crops for the entire season. This mutually beneficial arrangement assures the members that they are getting the freshest local seasonal produce while lowering their carbon footprint and investing in the local economy. The farmers benefit because they receive funds at the start of the growing season to pay for seeds and equipment. This also guarantees a specified amount of food will be placed during the growing season. CSAs also encourage farms away from mono-crop farming and toward a diverse crop rotation method that benefits the soil.
The ritual of coming to the farm where your food is grown and connecting to the source of your food is just one of the advantages of joining a CSA. Another is that it forces you to try produce that may be out of your comfort range. For example, kohlrabi or green garlic for more advanced cooks, mustard greens or Japanese turnips for those brought up on conventional grocery store fare. A CSA is a good way
This model is gaining in popularity, and consequently CSA programs are cropping up all over the country.
Fairview Gardens has had its CSA program for many years but has recently greatly expanded the program. Two years ago they had 85 members and an extensive waiting list. This year they have 300 members and no waiting list. They have also built some flexibility into the program so that members can sign up for as few as eight weeks or as many as 45 weeks. To accommodate all household sizes, Fairview Gardens offers both small and large shares, beginning at $20 per week. All the produce in the CSA is grown at Fairview’s 12½-acre farm (or on their newly leased 10 acres up the road) and is certified organic.
Fairview Gardens’ location may at first seem out of place—a farm in the midst of an urban subdivision—but it represents one of the last remnants of Goleta’s agricultural history. The original farmhouse, built in 1895, still stands and was once the single, lonely dwelling among many fields and orchards. These days it is the 12½ acres of fields that stand out amid the sea of rooftops. In 1994 the Chapman family decided to sell the farm. The natural choice would have been to sell it to Michael Ableman, who had been the farm manager for more than a decade. When Ableman was unable to come up with the funds, he and a committed group of local activists formed a nonprofit organization to buy the farm and enter it in the Land Trust for
CAROLE TOPALIAN
Rachael Caine, one of the interns in Fairview’s Apprenticeship Program in 2008.
The wisdom of California family farmers in every carton.
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Santa Barbara County. This trust guaranteed the farm’s preservation as an organic educational working farm—the first of its kind. That organization, the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens, continues the educational and agricultural goals of Ableman, who left the farm in 2001. Expanding the CSA to include more families in the local food system is exactly the kind of mission this urban farm seeks to fulfill.
Seated beneath the mulberry tree at a rickety old picnic table, I observe the now-familiar faces of Fairview Garden’s CSA members as they pick up their weekly share. I rarely need to ask names anymore when they come to check in, and I mark them off the list. We are all a part of a community. We trade tips and recipes freely and even know whose children dislike strawberries and which people tend to munch a carrot on the way to their car. I may not know them intimately, but I do know what they’ll be having for dinner this week.
J. Elizabeth Goffin is a freelance writer, mother and regular volunteer at Fairview Gardens. She is likely to be found trolling through numerous cookbooks during naptime, finding new recipes to try out on her family.
Farm Manager Toby McPartland.
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Fairview Gardens CSA
A community-supported agriculture produce subscription program, or CSA, brings consumers and farmers together in a relationship of mutual support. The CSA at Fairview Gardens began in 1988 with just a handful of dedicated shareholders. Now, 20 years later, CSAs are more widely known and Fairview has 300 shareholders of the farm. You too can become a member. Go to www.fairviewgardens.org to sign up online. Small shares are $20 per week and large are $36.
More Than Just a CSA
Fairview Gardens hosts a number of events throughout the year. This spring visit their booth at the annual Earth Day Celebration in Alameda Park on Sunday, April 19, 10 am –1pm, or help out around the farm on one their monthly Worker Bee Days. They also have the following summer programs for kids: from June 22– 26 Summer Farm Days for ages 5– 7: 9 am – noon is Farm Life and 1– 4 pm is Flower Power; and from June 29 – July 1 Summer Farm Days for ages 4 – 6: 9am –noon is Sprouts Farm and 1–4 pm is Bugs, Slugs & More. Summer Farm Days run from June through August. Check the website for more information. www.fairviewgardens.org
A CULINARY JOURNEY THROUGH A SPRING GARDEN
by Pascale Beale-Groom
The drizzle and sometimesgray sky of winter is fading behind us, mirroring an ebbing tide, retreating into the distance. Left in the tide’s wake are all sorts of ocean-going creatures that take this twice-daily break as an opportunity to hunt for food or doze in the pools. The turn of the season is similar to this. The first of the spring flowers peek their stems and heads above the ground as the weather warms up, only to retreat a little when a final winter blast streaks across the sky.
Then, as the days lengthen, the garden picks up steam. Shoots sprout and peas spring, their tentacles curl on climbing frames. Pods grow and ripen. Spring showers nurture the soil where the raw materials for culinary marvels dwell. There are fronds of fresh fennel, sweet green garlic bulbs, a sudden bloom of morel mushrooms and the fruit trees fill with blossoms. Meandering through an early spring garden one senses the new year’s crop emerging from the earth. Long dormant plants have pushed their way into the fresh air. Tulips dance in the wind. A pot of daffodils in the kitchen brings a ray of sunlight—fresh clear sunlight that is an echo of the new season.
The spring garden yields some of the great treasures of the kitchen, among them white asparagus. There are a few passionate gardeners who will tend these fragile stems, carefully mounding the earth around their stalks as they grow, ensuring that they never see daylight, thus preserving their pale creamy color. As much as I love growing fruits and vegetables, I admit that I have never mastered this one. However, coming across them in a local farmer’s field was a revelation—akin to discovering a hidden, precious gem.
Asparagus, a royal treat, has grown in Europe and Egypt for more than 2,000 years. The green variety graced the tables of Roman emperors and was a particular favorite of King Louis XIV, Le Roi Soleil. White asparagus made its first appearance in France in the mid-1600s and has become a specialty of many European cuisines, particularly in France, Belgium, Germany and Austria, where it is served in myriad ways. I have always felt that the simpler
the better—with vinaigrette perhaps or warm butter or a light herb sauce, any of which would complement the delicate flavor of this vegetable.
Hanging above the delicate rows of asparagus in this nascent garden, a harvest of fava beans and spring peas waits to be plucked from their bright pods. These hidden, tiny orbs—a riot of vibrant greens— married in a zesty and crisp salad, are the perfect complement to a dish that evokes the season: spring lamb. The latter is now a misnomer, as lamb is now available year round due to the advances (if one wishes to call it that) in animal husbandry, and yet few dishes are as tied to a season as lamb.
Lamb dishes are steeped in centuries of culinary traditions, notably as a central part of Easter celebrations. However, predating Christian customs, lamb served at this time of year has its origins in Judaism where it is one of the traditional foods served during the Passover Seder. My family has a penchant for lamb, and it has always been featured as the main course of our Easter repasts. It is usually in the form of a leg of lamb, often served with a dish of flageolet beans. This was a hearty dish that complemented the often-freezing weather that occurred as we celebrated the spring holidays in France. Our milder Californian climate calls for a lighter touch; hence the salad and the fava beans are a tender tribute to the flageolet.
If my savory taste buds are captivated by white asparagus and fava beans in this embryonic season, then the sweet ones are enthralled with a fruit whose season is, alas, far too short. The poet Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote, “Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems.” I like to think that earth’s poetry is perfectly encapsulated in this fruit. Its pale pink and milky white blossoms are one of the first to emerge in our springtime gardens. It is a floral hint of the treats to come. It is the simple apricot. Yet these small golden-orange spheres offer a plethora of gustatory choices. Eating them freshly picked off the tree is a delight, particularly when perfectly ripe. They are juicy, succulent, tender and sweet. They can be poached, roasted, dried and made into preserves.
My admiration for all things connected with apricots stems from my grandmother’s garden in the French Alps. She had half a dozen apricot trees, which bore a staggering number of fruit, all dutifully turned into compotes and jams. The children of the house hauled the
Pascale Beale-Groom.
laden baskets up from the garden and into her kitchen. Preparing the fruit for apricot jam was an all-day project. We usually ended the day with sticky fingers, smiles on our faces and the promise of her apricot clafoutis for dessert. We would also ceremoniously carry back to London (where we lived at the time) two jars of this extraordinary jam— truly the essence of apricots, captured in a glistening amber-hued mélange that was her trademark. We made it last for as long as we could, for it would be months before we could get our hands on any more.
Years passed and I began making my own jams. Frustrated by my inability to recreate the flavor she had in her preserves, I scoured many a farmers market to find organically grown fruit that were similar in taste and fragrance to hers. I am delighted to say that our local markets have a wealth of apricot growers who will flood our tables with these precious gems and whose fruit make wonderful preserves. However, don’t wait too long—apricot means early-ripening or precocious, stemming from the Latin word praecoquus —or the season will be over!
Pascale Beale-Groom grew up in England and France surrounded by a family that has always been passionate about food, wine and the arts. She was taught to cook by her French mother and grandmother. In 1999 she opened Montecito Country Kitchen, a Mediterranean cooking school in Santa Barbara. Her first cookbook A Menu for All Seasons— Spring, was published in 2004, and her cookbook Summer was released in early 2008. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and lives in Santa Barbara with her family.
Menu:
White Asparagus with a Herbed Mousseline Sauce
O
Herb-Crusted, Roasted Racks of Lamb
O Spring Pea and Fava Bean Salad
O Apricots in Baumes de Venise
O Citrus Cookies
WHITE ASPARAGUS WITH A HERBED MOUSSELINE SAUCE
Makes 8 servings
2 pounds white asparagus, bottom half of the stems peeled and trimmed (see note)
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Large pinch salt
10 ounces butter, clarified
4 tablespoons crème fraiche
½ bunch parsley, finely chopped
½ bunch dill, finely chopped
White pepper
Place the asparagus in a shallow pan filled with boiling water and cook until tender—about 10 minutes. Check the asparagus before removing them to make sure they are cooked correctly— the white variety takes a little longer to cook than the green ones, which unlike the white ones, can be eaten al dente.
When they are cooked remove them, drain and set aside on a platter.
While the asparagus is cooking, prepare the sauce. Place the egg yolks, half the lemon juice and the salt in a medium-sized stainless steel bowl and whisk until the mixture is thick and creamy.
Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Whisk the egg mixture until the egg just begins to thicken, being careful not to overcook the eggs—they will turn to scrambled eggs quickly otherwise.
Remove the bowl from the pan and very slowly whisk in the butter until it is all incorporated. Add the remaining lemon juice and the crème fraiche and whisk well so that the sauce is homogenous. Add the freshly chopped herbs and the pepper and stir again. Serve immediately.
Note: White asparagus need to have their stalks peeled. And since the stalks break easily, the easiest way to do this is to place them on your work surface with the tips facing towards you. Then using a vegetable peeler, peel the stalks, starting about 2 inches from the tip, making sure you hold the asparagus flat on the surface as you work.
back only to the time of Cortez in 1519. Sheep later became a central part of many of the Californian Missions, raised not just for their meat but also their wool. Over the last two decades small-scale sheep farmers have had an increasingly difficult time running viable businesses due to the influx of less expensive New Zealand and Australian lamb and combating predators.
However some smaller, organic, natural farms have managed to carve out a niche market, supplying a small but growing clientele of restaurateurs and gourmets eager to have naturally, locally raised, hormone-free meat.
You can find lamb (as well as goat and pork) from the Jimenez Family Farm at the farmers markets on Saturday and Tuesday in Santa Barbara, as well as Sunday at Camino Real and Wednesday in Solvang. Another source is the James Ranch in Penn Valley, California, located on 200 acres of green rolling pastures north of Sacramento. More information about the farm and their products can be found on their website at www.thejamesranch.com or by calling (530) 432-3306.
HERB-CRUSTED, ROASTED RACKS OF LAMB
Makes 8 servings
2 racks of lamb, Frenched if possible or trimmed of almost all the fat
4 cloves garlic, crushed
11⁄ 2 tablespoons coarse salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1⁄4 cup fresh rosemary, chopped
1⁄4 cup thyme, chopped
Olive oil
1⁄ 2 glass red wine
2 tablespoons cold butter
With a sharp knife, score the back of each rack of lamb in a crisscross pattern, cutting ¼ inch into the meat.
In a small bowl mix the remaining ingredients together except for the wine and butter. Spoon the paste over the racks of lamb, rubbing it thoroughly into the skin and into the cuts. Leave for 30 minutes to 1 hour before cooking, as the flavors will permeate the meat.
Preheat the oven to 400°.
Pour a little olive oil in an ovenproof skillet and heat over medium heat. Sauté the racks in the skillet for 5 minutes meat side down, then place the skillet in the oven and roast for a further 15 to 20 minutes for pink meat. Remove from the oven and place the racks on a wooden chopping board and cover them loosely with foil—let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting.
Place the skillet back on the stove top and deglaze the skillet with a little red wine, reducing the pan juices by half. Add the 2 tablespoons cold butter to the pan and let it melt slowly. Cut the racks and place two chops onto each plate and pour a little of the pan juices over the chops. Serve with the salad.
SPRING PEA AND FAVA BEAN SALAD
Makes 8 servings
Olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon
1 pound spring peas, shelled
3 pounds fava beans (once shelled, this will yield about 2 to 2½ cups, see note)
4 stems green onions, thinly sliced
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and diced
1⁄ 3 cup fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced
1⁄4 cup fresh dill, chopped
4-inch long piece daikon radish, diced
Freshly ground pepper
Lemon juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar
Pour a little olive oil into a large pan placed over medium heat. Add in the lemon zest, a good pinch of salt, spring peas and fava beans and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.
Place the green onions, apple, radish, mint and dill in a salad bowl. Add the lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil and tarragon vinegar over the top. Add the cooked spring peas to the salad bowl and toss gently so that all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
Note: Fava beans need to be shelled twice. Do not let this put you off as the end result is worth the extra effort. First pop them out of their long pods by running your thumb down the length of the seam. Check the pods beforehand to make sure that they are indeed filled with beans. They can sometimes be half full. The beans have a pale green membrane that also needs to be peeled. You can either do this with a small paring knife or plunge the beans into a large pot of boiling water 45 seconds, remove them from the water and then use your fingers to ease them out of the second shell.
APRICOTS IN BAUMES DE VENISE
Makes 8 servings
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and the beans scraped out with a knife
1⁄ 2 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup Baumes de Venise, or another sweet white wine like an orange Muscat or late harvest dessert wine
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon orange flower water
1⁄ 2 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
16–24 apricots, cut in half
Place all of the ingredients except the apricots in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over
medium-high heat. Once it has boiled, lower the heat and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes to reduce and thicken slightly.
Turn to low heat and place the apricots in the saucepan. Cook for 5 minutes. The apricots will begin to soften. Turn off the heat but leave the apricots in the syrup, as they will continue to cook. They can remain in the saucepan until you are ready to plate the dessert.
When you are ready to serve, spoon the apricots and some of the syrup into small bowls, serving the cookies (see recipe below) alongside.
CITRUS COOKIES
Makes 30 cookies
6 ounces (1 1⁄ 2 sticks) butter
2 teaspoons lemon olive oil
4 ounces (just under 1⁄ 2 cup) sugar
Zest of 1 large orange (you can also use blood oranges, when in season)
1⁄ 2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
10 ounces (2 1⁄4 cups) flour
Preheat the oven to 300°.
Place the butter in a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until soft and fluffy. Add in the lemon olive oil and sugar, and beat again until well combined, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl occasionally.
Add in the orange zest, pepper and half the flour and mix together at slow speed. Add in the remaining flour and mix again until the dough has just come together. Remove the dough from the bowl and combine into a ball.
Lightly flour a countertop or clean work surface and place the dough in the center. Gently roll out the dough until it is approximately 1 4-inch thick. Using a round, fluted cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and then place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Cook the cookies for 35–45 minutes in the center of the oven. They should be a pale golden color. Place them on a wire rack to cool. They will keep for several days in a sealed container.
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Organized by the Central Coast Vineyard Team,
“Pinot Noir, not just for breakfast anymore.”
Left: Chris Whitcraft with his 1991 Martin D-41 and Drake Whitcraft at right with his 1967 Gibson ES335.
LIQUID ASSETS
PINOT NOIR AND THE WHITCRAFT WAY
by Shannon Essa
Pinot Noir. Before the film Sideways became a smash hit in 2004, how many people—even in areas where the grape is grown and the wine is made—knew these words? It’s amazing how this film, featuring Pinot Noir as one of its stars, put the name of this particular wine on virtually everyone’s tongue for a couple of years. Almost instantly, there were thousands of new Pinot aficionados all ready and willing to taste, buy and drink up all the Pinot Noir in California—much of it produced in Santa Barbara County.
But it hasn’t always been like this. While the grape has been grown and wine made with spotty success since the birth of California’s wine industry, it was in the 1980s that Pinot Noir began to really take off commercially. Then, in the 1990s, it started to become downright fashionable to drink Pinot Noir. Many of my wine-loving friends were Pinot junkies, but I didn’t get it. I just didn’t get the hype. A lot of Pinot Noir was wasted on me.
Until one day in 1997 in upstate Vermont. I was on a date in a restaurant with a picture window overlooking a lush garden. The guy is a distant memory, and I can’t remember the name of the restaurant. What I do remember is the wine I drank—a Whitcraft Pinot Noir of who-knows-what vintage. Lush and full of bright flavors, it had a profound effect on me. Suddenly I realized what all that hype was about, and that wine turned me into a Pinot junkie as well.
Fast forward 11 years and many thousands of dollars spent on Pinot Noirs I could not really afford but bought anyway. Back in August I was in Santa Barbara to see the band Radiohead at the Santa Barbara Bowl. I have visited Santa Barbara many
times, and I don’t know why it did not occur to me to visit Whitcraft Winery before. In the end, it turned out to be a perfect choice for that sort of day, not only because of the wine but also because of founder and winemaker Chris Whitcraft. I have worked in the wine business for a long time, and I have met a lot of people. Out of all those people, I would definitely have to say that Chris Whitcraft is one of the most interesting. He’s also one of the funniest. He entertained us for hours, and his stories took the edge off the post-show anticlimax and our mild hangovers.
Chris Whitcraft got his start in the wine business working in several southern California liquor stores, and in 1975 at the age of 25 he took a position at the Mayfare Wine and Spirits in Montecito. It was here that he developed a taste for Pinot Noir in the form of a steady supply of fine Burgundy. He soon started making his own wine, going commercial in 1985. He started the first legal on-premise tasting bar in California at Mayfare; he had his own daily radio show called “The Wine Show” from 1978 to 1989; and he hung out with California winemaking legends like André Tchelistcheff and Joe Heitz.
It’s a pretty impressive resume. When I asked him how he got so much energy to accomplish all this in such a short period of time, his first (unprintable) answer was so blunt and hilarious we all burst out laughing. Then he got serious, shrugged and said “I was young.” And he loved wine.
continued on the next page
In the beginning days of Whitcraft Winery, Chris wanted to make sparkling wine. It was too expensive to produce, though the wine was very good and highly praised by contemporaries in Europe and in California involved in Champagne and sparking wines. He tried Pinot Noir in 1979 and 1984 but gave it up because it just wasn’t working for him with the way the grapes were grown at that time. He produced mainly Chardonnay until he got burned out on it and set his sights on Pinot Noir again in 1990. Now the majority of wines he makes are Pinot Noir, from grapes purchased from some of California’s best Pinot Noir vineyards. “Pinot Noir is a captivating grape,” he told me when I asked him what got him back into that particular wine. Lucky him, he gets to drink his all the time.
The winery is located in an industrial-looking building in downtown Santa Barbara. Someone expecting glamour or rustic charm is probably not going to find it here. There are no gifts for sale or comfy chairs. You may see Chris’s son Drake at the winery, as he has taken over a lot of his dad’s responsibilities—including winemaking. If you hear someone playing Radiohead on an electric guitar, it’s probably Drake. Drake is very committed to his craft. Chris tells us his son showed promise in his palate at the age of 4 and that while Drake helped him with the 2006 vintage, he merely helped Drake with the 2007 vintage. Looking at Drake, you see the future of the wine—what will it be like, talking to him in the tasting room in 20 years time? What changes will he have seen? If he is anything like his father, he’ll be involved in plenty. “This is a family winery,” Chris
Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Festival
tells us. “There aren’t too many like that anymore.” Well, definitely not like this one, where father and son hang out on the weekends playing music and watching football.
The bottom line? These are laid-back, local people making these great wines in this industrial park. They do so with very little modern technology (the electric guitar notwithstanding.) The grapes are footstomped. The winery uses no electric equipment in production—no filters, no pumps. There is nothing unnatural added to the wine. It’s pure and exceptional Pinot Noir juice, and that is what the winemakers want to come through in the finished wine. Chris’s philosophy is: buy excellent grapes, crush them and get the juice into the barrel, and then don’t mess with it. Modern technology doesn’t work with Pinot Noir. There are a few other wines available—Chardonnay and Syrah were being poured on our last visit. While the wines are not over-thetop expensive, they are not cheap either, ranging from $25 to $75 per bottle—and are well worth it. It’s craftsmanship, not mass-produced crud. Craftsmanship with a history.
Whitcraft Winery is located at 36 S. Calle Cesar Chavez in Santa Barbara. Tastings are $10 and are offered from noon–4pm Friday–Sunday and by appointment. The winery can be reached at (805) 730-1680. www.whitcraftwinery.com
Shannon Essa is the co-author of the restaurant guidebook Chow Venice! and is a moderator and contributor for the Slow Travel website. Her other interests include music and wine, both of which she experiences daily. She has been working in the wine business for the same family-owned company since 1986.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Over 100 member wineries River Park, Lompoc 1-4 pm
$75 each. To purchase or for more information visit www.sbcountywines.com or call 805-688-0881 The Ultimate Wine & Food Festival
Michael B. Damen BRIGHT & POWELL ATTORNEYS AT LAW
4299 Carpinteria Avenue, Carpinteria, CA 93013 • (805) 684-8480
LAURENCE HAUBEN FEEDS BODY AND SOUL
by Nancy Oster
“French women don’t get fat, unless they start eating like Americans,” says Laurence Hauben, thinking back to 1982 when she arrived in California from Northern France. “In the first three months of living here, I put on over 12 pounds.”
“My first taste of U.S. food was a piece of toast the morning after I arrived. I spread butter on it and took a bite. I couldn’t taste the butter. I spread more butter on the toast. I still couldn’t taste the butter. I cut a smidge of butter and put it on my tongue.” Expecting the taste of fresh cream, a silky texture and a slightly nutty flavor, Hauben says, “This butter had no taste aside from too much salt.”
Working as an au pair for a family in Los Angeles, she found most food she ate here bland in contrast to French food. It was usually too salty or too sweet. Hauben says, “Produce at the supermarket looked like it had rolled off an assembly line, perfectly even and clean, as if it had never touched the earth. Meat, poultry and fish were pre-sliced and packaged so you got no sense that this was the flesh of animals and cheese came only in chunks of Swiss, Monterey Jack and cheddar.” Hauben adds, “I was used to displays of at least 30 cheeses, even in modest French supermarkets.”
The real crisis came when she decided to make chocolate-covered orange peels at Christmas. “The only dark chocolate in the store was Hershey’s baking chocolate. I took one bite, spat it out and had a fit, ‘You are the richest country in the world, and this is what you call chocolate?’ It made no sense to me that a country that could afford the best would accept such low quality.”
Hauben attributes her unexpected weight gain to two factors. “One,” she says, “the food had no taste, so I kept eating more to try and relieve not hunger, but the boredom of my taste buds.” She also noticed that the family she worked for sat down together only at dinner. “The rest of the day everyone ate alone, and when you are alone you eat more and faster, because there is no one to talk to.”
Fast forward to 2008: Hauben invites me to join her Saturday morning Market Foray starting at the first pier past Brophy Brothers. I am there at 8am and so are five other participants—two men and three women.
Hauben greets us with warm freshly baked scones from a towel-lined basket and takes us down the pier introducing us to fishers selling fresh fish from their boats. Hauben buys rockfish from a fisherman while we watch a couple of live swallowtail sharks swim around a pool he has set up to show kids who walk by. We move down further
to buy live ridgeback shrimp from another fisher and his family, their infant daughter playing nearby. “It’s important to get to know the people who grow, catch and raise your food,” Hauben tells us. “Not only is it more fun, it is also a whole lot safer.”
Hauben has been getting to know our local food producers since she moved to Santa Barbara in 1983. For 12 years she wrote a food column and monthly food features for the Independent. From 2003 to 2005 she was executive director for the Santa Barbara Certified
Farmers Market Association. She is currently the Food and Wine Editor for Food & Home magazine. She is also the leader of our local Slow Food convivium.
Leaving the pier, we make a quick stop at the Santa Barbara Fish Market to buy some fish for a Sunday brunch at Roblar Winery. Hauben oversees their menus and helps source ingredients from local suppliers.
Our next stop is the downtown Farmers Market. Hauben guides us through the crowded market with our list of ingredients and recipes, reserving the right to change a recipe if she sees an exceptional ingredient on display.
We meet farmers, taste local olive oil and goat cheese and nibble on a little purslane. We buy juicy, sweet spring garlic, purple speckled dragon’s tongue beans, fresh zucchini blossoms, crisp Persian cucumbers, a spicy lettuce mix grown in Hope Ranch, Ojai Pixie tangerines and dark red cherries.
Gus Sousoures from Olive Hill Farm tells me, “While I appreciate the sales, I feel the greatest contribution Laurence makes for all of us at the farmers market is that she educates people on the different products, flavors and especially the freshness of all that is brought to the market. She truly seems to understand what goes into being a small farmer competing with mass farming and inexpensive imports.”
Hauben’s daughter, Julia, picks up the ingredients her mom has purchased and takes them home for us.
After a short detour to Chocolate Maya to taste a little chocolate, we meet at C’est Cheese to choose the cheeses for our cheese plate and buy some freshly baked bread from Our Daily Bread. C’est Cheese owner Michael Graham tells me, “Laurence’s market forays introduce people to the sense of community that takes place at the Santa Barbara Farmers Market and in the general food community as a whole.”
After that stop, we grab our maps and head for Hauben’s home to fix a gourmet lunch, blending the best of French and California cuisine.
Hauben explains her motivation behind these forays. “I would like people to realize that cooking delicious, healthy food is fun, not difficult. My mom taught me that good food is an affordable luxury. We were a working-class family with no extra cash, but she always bought the highest quality food. She used to say ‘I’d rather spend it at the grocer’s than at the hospital.’ Looking at how much illness in the U.S. is related to bad eating habits, I think she was right.” Hauben teaches us that high-quality ingredients have depth of flavor that needs to be only lightly accented with seasonings.
She sends me to the patio with a woman visiting from Los Angeles. We pit and slice a bowl of cherries to make ice cream. We add sugar and heat the cherries on the stove. Hauben adds a little fresh lemon juice to balance the sweetness and bring out the cherry flavor.
“Cooking should be creative and relaxing,” she says as we all work together stuffing zucchini flowers with goat cheese and finely chopping rockfish to mix with olive oil, lime juice and cucumbers.
Recipe from Laurence:
PEARL
BARLEY RISOTTO WITH ASPARAGUS, BABY TURNIPS AND ENGLISH PEAS
Makes 4 servings
A delicious vegetarian entrée for spring. Pearl barley is more forgiving than rice, so it won’t get mushy if you overcook it a little. You can also use farro, also known as spelt, or, of course, the classic Arborio or Carnaroli rice. Vary the vegetables to suit your taste and current availability. Add shrimp stock and ridgeback shrimp for a local seafood risotto.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter or mild olive oil
2 tablespoons minced shallot or one trimmed minced leek
1 bunch baby turnips, cleaned and diced
2 cups pearl barley
1 cup good dry white wine
5 cups vegetable or chicken broth, heated to simmer
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into slanted 1-inch pieces
11⁄ 2 cups trimmed shelled English peas
1⁄ 2 cup heavy cream
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped chives
1 teaspoon chopped tarragon (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Heat the oil or butter in a heavy saucepan and sauté the shallot or leek until barely colored. Add turnips and the barley and stir for about two minutes.
Pour in the wine and stir until evaporated. Add the broth, a cup at a time. Keep stirring and tasting. The barley will take about an hour to cook. When the barley feels almost cooked, add the asparagus and peas. Stir in the cream, half of the herbs and half of the grated Parmesan. Taste and correct seasoning as needed.
Serve in bowls, topped with the rest of the herbs and grated Parmesan.
She seasons the mix until the flavors strike the perfect balance. We taste it before seasoning and after. Wow!
After lightly sautéing the dragon’s tongue beans (“best eaten almost raw”), we are ready to dine. First we toast each other with wine-filled crystal glasses. Hauben serves us each course separately, allowing us time to appreciate the colors and textures and to savor the flavors.
She shows us how to eat our quick-fried ridgeback shrimp so that nothing is wasted. These shrimp are unique to our part of the ocean
and don’t ship well, so they are best eaten right here in Santa Barbara. We talk as we eat, sharing personal histories and interests. We are just finishing our cherry ice cream in homemade tulip cookie cups when Hauben’s partner, Jeff Rieger, arrives.
Rieger has driven down from their 41⁄ 2 -acre orchard in the foothills of the Sierras. At Penryn Orchard they grow native pecans and an array of unusual fruits. Hauben helps Rieger tend the orchard, market to local chefs and sell their produce at the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market.
Rieger shows us a giant bamboo shoot he has grown. We taste the tender outer leaves. Hauben is already planning ways to use these bamboo shoots in future recipes, but we’re happy with the sweet crisp contrast to those bland rubbery canned bamboo shoots we’ve tasted in stir-fries. None of us has ever tasted a fresh bamboo shoot before.
Too soon our lunch is over and it’s time say goodbye. I leave with a deeper understanding of what Hauben means when she says, “Cooking with fresh local ingredients connects you to your community and enriches your life on a daily basis.” Yes!
If Nancy Oster isn’t writing, baking or eating, she is probably sleeping. She developed the recipes for Chet the Gecko’s Detective Guide (and Cookbook), translating recipes beloved by geckos into versions human children can make and serve to their siblings. Nancy’s Starlight Bakery blog keeps her friends up-to-date on what she is currently baking at http://community.icontact. com/p/starlightbakery.
Jam Sessions (beginning in March 2009) www.marketforays.com/letsjam.html
Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market
Downtown Santa Barbara Corner of Santa Barbara & Cota Streets Saturday, 8:30am–12:30pm www.sbfarmersmarket.org
Saturday Fisherman’s Market
Santa Barbara Harbor (pier across from Brophy Bros.)
About 7:30–11:30am
Penryn Orchard Specialties
Jeff Rieger and Laurence Hauben jeff@penrynorchardspecialties.com penrynorchardspecialties.com
Slow Food in Santa Barbara
In 1986 Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini staged a protest against the opening of a McDonald’s in Rome, Italy. Petrini’s public reaction to the spread of industrialized fast food gave birth to the Slow Food movement. Slow Food promotes sustainable food systems featuring regional food traditions, the pleasures of the table and a slower and more harmonious rhythm of life.
Membership is over 80,000 worldwide, representing over 100 countries. Santa Barbara’s chapter (called a convivium), is led by Laurence Hauben. Events include an annual mushroom hunt with SBCC mycologist Bob Cummings coming along to identify mushrooms discovered under piles of leaves while hiking up the trail behind Stevens Park. A lunch at Via Maestra 42 afterwards features a mushroom entrée paired with wines chosen by Antonio Gardella, representative for the Henry Wine Group.
In support of continued biodiversity, Slow Food rediscovers and catalogs food products in danger of disappearing from the marketplace, then works to strengthen the production of those products. The Japanese massage-dried persimmon called hoshi gaki is such a product. During persimmon season, the local convivium offered classes in the art of Japanese persimmon massage. In Santa Barbara, where trees laden with persimmons produce in abundance, this class provides a welcome alternative to a freezer filled with frozen billiard ball-sized persimmons. Local Slow Food members also help with projects like school gardens at Cesar Chavez Elementary School and Montecito Union and a healthy snacks program to help children develop an appreciation for real, wholesome food.
To become a member and participate in events such as those described above go to www.slowfoodsantabarbara.org.
PROP 2—A VICTORY FOR FARM ANIMALS
by Valerie De Lapp
Have you ever thought about the history of your food? You know, beyond the fact that it was in a package in the market, you bought it and took it home? Long before your eggs were scrambled, your bacon crisped and your veal became piccata, it did indeed have a history, a life—and not a very pleasant one at that.
The sad truth is that over 20 million animals on industrialized factory farms live in horrific, cruel conditions. They live in tiny crates and cages so small that they are unable to stand up, sit down, turn around or stretch their limbs—conditions so nightmarish, some animals actually lose their minds. Wouldn’t you? Somehow animal welfare and humane farming went by the wayside as factory farms took over, their primary goal being maximum profit and productivity. Until now—until the atrocities and abuse were so blatant they could no longer be ignored.
Proposition 2, the California Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which was sponsored by Californians for Humane Farms, passed on the November ballot with 63.2 percent of California voters approving the act; 67.9 percent said yes in Santa Barbara County. It is a stellar victory for our pigs, egg-laying hens and veal calves—one which allows them the right to move, the ability to flap their wings, stretch their cloven legs and, most wonderfully, turn around. These animals are denied the most basic of necessities, and they suffer silently in conditions which are shocking, abusive and all about the mighty dollar. We wouldn’t dare subject our companion animals to this kind of torture, and there are even laws against it, but because they are used for food, farm animals aren’t protected under these laws.
For many, the term farm conjures up images of Old McDonald and his menagerie of happy pigs and chickens humming a tune under sunny skies, not a cage in sight. The reality is much bleaker and
downright cruel. Hens are kept in wire battery cages smaller than a sheet of paper. They are stacked in rows on top on one another, sometimes up to 15 high, with their feces freely falling from cage to cage. Many suffer from injury to themselves after being caught in their wire cages. Some even go mad and peck others to death. Veal calves are taken from their mothers soon after birth and are tethered by their necks in crates so small they cannot turn around, sit down or stretch their limbs. Pregnant sows are treated similarly, forced to live in metal gestation crates barely larger than two feet, which is supposed to accommodate a 400-plus-pound pig. The suffering these animals endure is despicable, shameful and disheartening.
You’ve probably seen products labeled as “cruelty-free,” “cage-free” or “free range” in the markets. But have you seen any eggs with stickers that read “crammed so tightly they all went insane!” Probably not; most people remain unaware of this kind of treatment. I volunteered as a signature gatherer in order to get Prop 2 on the ballot. I spent many hours in front of Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods trying to educate people, trying to get the word out and trying to get their signatures. I met people completely ignorant about their food before it reached the table, and the majority was totally unaware of the abuses on farms. I was ignored by others who were too busy to sign; some wouldn’t even look my way. I even met one colorful lady who thought veal calves were “small veals.” I kid you not. I was also called a “vegan freak,” a “bleeding heart,” “hippie-dippie” (odd, considering I use deodorant on a daily basis) and my favorite, “one
of those radical PETA weirdos.” Obviously, people have opinions, but I found that after a brief conversation, most were willing to learn about their food and also willing to sign my petition. It took 650,000 signatures to get Prop 2 on the ballot.
I live in Los Angeles, and living in a big city often reduces our choices for buying family-raised or organically bred pork, egg and veal products. We rely on the convenience of supermarkets, and when we feel the need to “do organic,” we go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. If we’re really adventurous, we’ll find a farmers market or perhaps even drive up the coast to a family-owned farm. However, all this requires effort. There’s a space issue, a time issue, and, quite honestly, there’s an apathy issue. However, when Prop 2 goes into effect, we won’t have to search for cruelty-free products; they’ll be produced on a mass scale and available in our local supermarkets.
For those of us willing to go the extra mile now, there are family and organic farms committed to humane animal keeping (see the sidebar “What You Can Do Now”). When Prop 2 goes into effect the problem will be addressed at its core. Currently there is no industry standard with regard to the confinement of farm animals—just for the humane transportation and slaughter of them. Prop 2 is really a very modest measure, and the farms have until 2015 to implement them. With these changes come good things—things like jobs, a cleaner environment and, of course, less animal suffering.
Industrialized factory farming is interested in efficiency, profit and productivity. Because of their endless pursuit of the bottom line and disregard for humane farming practices, these corporate farms have caused tremendous water, ground and air pollution. Conditions have become increasingly unsanitary as they try to generate maximum profit per square foot. This kind of greedy thinking has only escalated the abuses of animals, put people out of jobs and raised the contamination of egg products with salmonella.
When the Prop 2 changes are put into effect, farming conditions will become more sanitary and our food will be safer to eat. With the elimination of battery cages, the risks of salmonella exposure decrease. It was found that battery cage operations were 20 times more likely to be infected with the disease than cage-free facilities. This means a marked decrease in consumer exposure to salmonella poisoning, especially in infants and small children, who are particularly at risk. As for other diseases, there is no proof that modern housing systems keep the birds any safer from Avian Influenza, Exotic Newcastle Disease or any other diseases. The chances of cage-free hens contracting disease from migratory birds are very slim, something like the chance of me marrying Tom Cruise.
Prop 2 means good things for the economy as well. Cage-free egg producers employ five times as many people per bird as battery cage-using farms. In our current recession, this is welcome news for unskilled laborers, who were the first to lose their jobs. So, this all sounds great, but what’s it going to cost us? The changes will cost less than one penny per egg. One penny is certainly affordable and a small price to pay for animal welfare. Also, fines generated by violators will help offset the costs. Any person who violates this law will be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and/or imprisonment in county jail for up to six months. The revenue generated by these fines should considerably help to offset the state fiscal impact, which is unknown but estimated to be in the range of several million dollars annually.
I am proud to have helped make this happen. And I can (in 6 years) eat my breakfast knowing no animals went insane.
She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a B.A. in English and currently lives and works in Los Angeles.
What Can You Do?
The best way you can support the humane treatment of farm animals is to patronize stores that carry organic and cruelty-free animal products and when you buy directly from the producer, you can ask questions about how their animals are raised. Here is a list of farms that provide meat and/or eggs locally:
Lily’s Eggs (Chickens, Eggs)
Available at Saturday Santa Barbara, Tuesday Santa Barbara, Wednesday Solvang, Thursday Goleta (eggs only), Thursday Carpinteria, Friday Montecito and Sunday Camino Real Farmers Markets
Healthy Family Farms (Chickens, Duck, Game Hens)
Available at Saturday Santa Barbara and Tuesday Santa Barbara Farmers Markets
Peacock Farm (Eggs)
Available at Saturday Santa Barbara, Tuesday Santa Barbara, Wednesday Solvang and Sunday Camino Real Farmers Markets
Rocky Canyon Ranch (Pork, Beef)
Available at Saturday Santa Barbara Farmers Market
Jimenez Family Farm (Pork, Lamb, Goat)
Available at Saturday Santa Barbara, Tuesday Santa Barbara, Wednesday Solvang and Sunday Camino Real Farmers Markets
Rancho San Julian (Beef)
Available at Saturday Santa Barbara and Tuesday Santa Barbara Farmers Markets and on their website at www.ranchosanjulianbeef.com
For More Information:
Californians for Humane Farms www.humanecalifornia.org
The Humane Society www.hsus.org
The Humane Farming Association www.hfa.org/about/
Valerie De Lapp is a member of Californians for Humane Farms and an animal rights activist.
WHAT THE KIDS ARE EATING
by Maria Diaz
Feeding over 100 children with ages ranging from 2–14 years is no easy feat. In my position as chef at a small private school, I have a challenge that many parents can relate to: pleasing picky palates while using the healthiest food possible. Not only do you have to consider the expanding palate of a growing child, but also the fact that children have several thousand more taste buds than adults. As a result, they are more sensitive to flavors of different foods, particularly bitter flavors. Not only do they know what they like, but they really know what they don’t like!
One thing that I have found is that Santa Barbara kids love Mexicanstyle food. In fact, three of my eight original meals contain very similar ingredients such as salsa, cheese, tortillas and beans. Kids really don’t seem to mind the repetition of ingredients. Here’s a recipe that’s a variation on the classic enchilada. Layering all the ingredients in a casserole dish makes this one-pot meal not only easy to prepare but also easy to serve and reheat.
Enchilada Pie
Makes 4–6 servings
½ cup prepared long grain brown rice
2 large chicken breasts
2 cups frozen corn (or fresh when in season)
2 cups enchilada sauce (recipe below)
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
15-ounce can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup salsa (store bought is fine)
8 (6-inch) whole wheat or corn tortillas, cut into 2-inch-wide strips
Fresh cilantro and sour cream to garnish
Enchilada Sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 clove of garlic finely minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
11⁄ 2 cups water
6 ounce can tomato paste
Preheat the oven to 350°. Cook the rice. Add 1 cup rice to 2 cups boiling water. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 40 minutes. Set aside ½ cup rice to cool. (Save leftovers for another time).
Coat each chicken breast with a teaspoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Place on a lined sheet pan and bake for about 20 minutes or until juices run clear. Once cool, shred the chicken by hand.
Meanwhile toss frozen corn with a tablespoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of salt and a half teaspoon of pepper. Cook corn in a separate sheet pan alongside the chicken until kernels are slightly brown and caramelized, about 20–25 minutes. Combine enchilada sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Set aside. Mix shredded chicken, rice, beans, 1 cup cheese and 1 cup enchilada sauce in a medium-sized bowl.
In a 9 x 12 or 2-quart shallow casserole dish coat the bottom with some of the remaining enchilada sauce. Place a layer of tortillas strips side-by-side along the bottom. Spread half of chicken mixture over strips. Cover with another layer of strips and a little more sauce. Top with roasted corn and salsa. Cover with another layer of strips and then top with remaining half of chicken mixture. Layer with more strips, remaining sauce and remaining cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with sour cream and chopped cilantro.
Maria Diaz is Head Chef and Instructor at the Santa Barbara Montessori School. She received her culinary certification from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City and holds a Nutrition Consultant certification from the Global College of Natural Medicine.
STEVEN BROWN
Center: Chef Maria Diaz, Duncan Stewart, Amy Cregan, Jamie Benedetto.
WHAT THE GROWNUPS ARE DRINKING
by Diane Murphy & Laura Lindsey
In honor of the inaugural issue of Edible Santa Barbara, we convened a group to taste and discuss the ultimate in grownup drinks, the fruit of the vine. It was an eclectic group, four women and two men, ranging from confirmed oenophile to confirmed Diet Pepsi drinker. For this first outing, we turned to Foxen Canyon Road, the home of many fine wineries, including today’s subject: Tres Hermanas Winery.
Founded in 2001 and named for the three sisters who were the children of the founders, the winery really came into its own in 2007 with the addition of winemaker Luke Lindquist. Luke was born and bred to make wine. The son of Qupé winemaker Bob Lindquist, Luke studied under wine icon Fred Brander to hone his winemaking skill. He brings an Old World style of making wine from his experience in France and New Zealand and believes in letting the wines do what they need to do without a lot of technical interference. So, let the tasting begin!
2007 Dos Blanc
(60% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Chenin Blanc)
This was “a winning wine,” one of the favorites of our tasting group. A complex and interesting white, we could taste both the Sauvignon and Chenin, complementing each other nicely. Fruity but not too sweet, it went well with Thai food as well as with spiced nuts for dessert.
2007 Rousanne Demetria Estate
Right out of the refrigerator it was “flavors of honey without the sweetness.” As it warmed, the wine emerged as deep and layered though still refreshing. One taster found it to have a slight bite, like arugula, and we agreed that it went well with sharp cheeses.
2007 Viognier Santa Barbara County
Los Alamos Vineyard
The Viognier emerged as our “picnic wine” that went well with cheese. Fruit forward and floral with hints of spice, it is a mediumbodied wine that fell in the middle of the spectrum between the light Dos Blanc and the deep Roussanne.
2006 Rosé of Syrah Santa Maria Valley
This wine was a real surprise. Tasting more like Syrah than rosé, it convinced one taster she should not be biased against the humble rosé. Though it did not pair well with cheese, it was fantastic with Thai food, and the spicy food really brought out the raspberry and mineral flavors of the wine.
2005 Syrah/Sangiovese Central Coast
Nothing but positives for this red—“yummy,” “smells good,” “very rich,” “full bodied,” “complex” and “luscious.” We all agreed that this wine had broad appeal and a lingering finish. It also went well with food (except the strong cheeses!).
A true blend, the Cuvee is “lighter,” “rounder,” “rich” and “easy.” A very pretty ruby color, it had a more Italian flair with a lush mouthfeel of plum and spices and went well with all the food we tried.
As one taster summed it up, “This is wine with a pedigree. I would feel confident bringing it to a dinner party and knowing it would be a hit.” And that pretty much says it all. Until next time, cheers!
Diane Murphy and Laura Lindsey are the co-owners of Classic Vines, specializing in distribution and online sales of small production wines.
2009 Local Her oes
Ever y year the readers of Edible Communities magazines vote for the “Local Heroes” in each of their regions. e winners represent those individuals and businesses that make sig nificant contributions to their local food communities.
edible ASPEN
FARM / FARMER: Borden Farms
CHEF / RESTAURANT: SIX89
FOOD ARTISAN: Ryan Hardy
BEVERAGE ARTISAN:
Kevin Doyle • Woody Creek Cellars
NON-PROFIT: Slow Food Roaring Fork
edible AUSTIN
FARM / FARMER: Boggy Creek Farm
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Eastside Cafe & Wink (tie)
FOOD ARTISAN: Full Quiver Farms
Farmstead Cheese
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Tipsy Texan & Zhi Tea (tie)
NON-PROFIT: Urban Roots, a Program of YouthLaunch
edible BROOKLYN
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Fette Sau
FOOD ARTISAN:
Mast Brothers Chocolate
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Six Point Craft Ales
edible BOSTON
FARM / FARMER: Verrill Farm
CHEF / RESTAURANT:
Garden at the Cellar
FOOD ARTISAN: Liz & Peter Mulholland, Valley View Farm
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Alfalfa Winery
NON-PROFIT: Federation of MA Farmers’ Markets
edible BUFFALO
FARM / FARMER: Promised Land CSA / Oles Family Farm
CHEF / RESTAURANT:
Hutch’s Restaurant
FOOD ARTISAN: White Cow Dairy
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Flying Bison Brewery
NON-PROFIT: Foodbank of WNY
edible CAPE COD
FARM / FARMER: Tim Friary / Cape Cod Organic Farm
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Michael Crowel / Embargo
FOOD ARTISAN: Peter O’Donovan / Nantucket Wild Gourmet
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Cape Cod Beer
NON-PROFIT: Cape Abilities Farm
edible CHICAGO
FARM / FARMER: City Farm / Tim Wilson
CHEF / RESTAURANT: North Pond Restaurant
FOOD ARTISAN: Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Goose Island Brewery
NON-PROFIT: The Land Connection
edible EAST BAY
FARM / FARMER: Moraga Gardens
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Manzanita Restaurant
FOOD ARTISAN: June Taylor / June Taylor Company
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: St George Spirits
NON-PROFIT: Oakland Food Connection!
edible EAST END
FARM / FARMER: The Farm
CHEF / RESTAURANT:
Jennifer Meadows / Fishbar
FOOD ARTISAN: Jennifer Halsey Dupree / The Milk Pail
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Wölffer Estate
edible FINGER LAKES
FARM / FARMER: Peacework Farm
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Willow
FOOD ARTISAN: Finger Lakes Farmstead Cheese
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Red Jacket Orchards
NON-PROFIT: Finger Lakes Culinary Bouty
edible FRONT RANGE
FARM / FARMER: Community Roots & Abbondanza Organic Seeds & Produce
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Sugarbeet Restaurant & Potager Restaurant (tie)
FOOD ARTISAN: MouCo Cheese Co
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: New Belgium
Brewing Company
NON-PROFIT: Slow Food
edible GRANDE TRAVERSE
FARM / FARMER: Pond Hill Farm
CHEF / RESTAURANT:
The Cook’s House
FOOD ARTISAN: Crooked Tree
Breadworks & Pleasanton Brick
Oven Bakery (tie)
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Short’s Brewing
NON-PROFIT: Farming for Our Future
edible HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
FARM / FARMER: Ma’o Organic Farms
FARM TO TABLE RESTAURANT: Chef Alan Wong, Farm Series Dinners
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Chef Jim Moffat / BarAcuda Restaurant
CHEF / RESTAURANT: The Red Tavern & Moonstone Bistro (tie)
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Chico Chai & New Clairvaux Vineyard (tie)
NON-PROFIT: GRUB
edible SACRAMENTO
FARM / FARMER: Soil Born Farms
CHEF / RESTAURANT: The Grange
Restaurant
FOOD ARTISAN: Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Bogle Winery
NON-PROFIT: Soil Born Farms
edible SAN DIEGO
FARM / FARMER: La Milpa Organica
CHEF / RESTAURANT: JSix Restaurant
FOOD ARTISAN: Jordan Stone / Delaney’s Culinary Fresh
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Greg Koch / Stone Brewery
NON-PROFIT: Slow Food San Diego
edible SEATTLE
FARM / FARMER: Skagit River Ranch
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Maria Hines
FOOD ARTISAN: Estrella Family Creamery
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Rockridge Orchards
NON-PROFIT: Cascade Harvest Coalition
edible SANTA FE
FARM / FARMER: Shepherd’s Lamb
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Torino’s At Home
FOOD ARTISAN: Sweetwoods Dairy
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Brad Kraus / Brewmaster
NON-PROFIT: Santa Fe Independent Business Alliance
edible SOUTH SHORE
FARM / FARMER: Summer Dreams Farm
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Martha’s Stone Soup
FOOD ARTISAN: Artisan Kitchen
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Rockin K Cafe
NON-PROFIT: Marshfield Agricultural and Horticultural Society
edible TWIN CITIES
FARM / FARMER: Ploughshare Farm
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Restaurant Alma & Brasa Premium Rotisserie
FOOD ARTISAN: Legacy Chocolates
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Alexis Bailly Vineyard
NON-PROFIT: Second Harvest Heartland
edible VANCOUVER
FARM / FARMER: UBC Farm
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Rocky Mountain
Flatbread Company
FOOD ARTISAN: Sebastian & Co
Fine Organic Meats
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Ethical Bean
NON-PROFIT: FarmFolk / CityFolk Society
edible WOW
FARM / FARMER: Earthworks Urban Farm
CHEF / RESTAURANT: Vinology
FOOD ARTISAN: Avalon
International Bakery
BEVERAGE ARTISAN: Arbor Brewing Co
NON-PROFIT: Forgotten Harvest
edible Marketpl ace edible Marketpl ace
edible Source Guide
BREWERIES
Telegraph Brewing Company
Telegraph Brewing Company handcrafts unique American ales that embrace the heritage of California’s early brewing pioneers and uses as many locally grown ingredients as possible. Visit the tasting room on Thursdays and Fridays from 4–6pm, Saturdays from 1–4pm. Telegraph beer is available at many restaurants and grocery stores in Santa Barbara County and throughout California. www.telegraphbrewing.com
CATERERS AND CHEFS
Fresh Foods
Private chef, cooking classes and catering by Kim Schiffer. (805) 455-9713.
World Cuisine Express
World Cuisine Express provides healthy gourmet food delivered to you. Their entrees are fresh-cooked to order, never frozen. They also specialize in personalized dietary preferences for diabetic, low-carb and low-fat regimes. Chef Harold J. Welch. Cell: (805) 403-7100 and Fax/Telephone: (805) 969-5270. www.worldcuisineexpress.com
FARMERS MARKETS
Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market
Eight markets, six days a week. See schedule on page 15. (805) 962-5354. www.sbfarmersmarket.org
FOOD PRODUCTS
Full of Life Flatbread All Natural Pizza
We are proud to present our frozen line of artisan Flatbread Pizzas. Each pizza is handmade by our bakers in small batches. Almost all of our ingredients are sourced local to us from growers and artisans. Buying the ingredients for our pizzas close to home reduces food-miles, helps the environment and ensures high quality. Available at grocery and natural food stores throughout the country. www.fulloflifefoods.com
Organic Valley
This farmer-owned co-op produces organic milk, organic cheese, organic butter, organic eggs, organic juice, organic soy beverages and organic meats. Available at most major grocers and health food stores. www.organicvalley.coop
GROCERY STORES
Isla Vista Food Co-op
A community-owned food co-op highly regarded for its sustainable business practices and high quality foods. Highlighting local, organic, fair trade, shade-grown, farmer-owned, vegan, vegetarian, kosher, raw, gluten free all around sustainable ways of being. Open daily to everyone 8am–1pm. 6575 Seville Road, Isla Vista. (805) 968-1401. www.islavistafoodcoop.blogspot.com
Whole Foods
Selling the highest quality natural and organic products. Santa Barbara store at State Street and Hitchcock coming soon. www.wholefoodsmarket.com
HOTELS
Ojai Valley Inn & Spa
The orchards, ranches and farms of the Ojai Valley yield the finest seasonal food the earth has to offer. Inspired by this rich, regional harvest, our chefs have mastered locally derived cuisine. 905 Country Club Road, Ojai. (805) 646-1111. www.ojairesort.com
LOCAL ORGANIC PRODUCE DELIVERY
Plow to Porch Organics, Inc.
Delivering a weekly box of delicious organic produce picked fresh from local farms and extras including local organic honey, local organic eggs, local organic pies and quiches, organic meals, organic fair trade coffees... and more to your doorstep, school, business or designated drop-off spot. Joyfully serving Ventura, Carpinteria, Montecito, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Santa Ynez, Solvang and Buellton. www.plowtoporch.com
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Bright & Powell, Attorneys at Law 4299 Carpinteria Ave. Carpinteria, CA 93013 (805) 684-8480.
Founded in 1946 in Santa Barbara, Haagen Printing has long been known as one of Southern California’s premier printing companies. 420 East Cota Street. (805) 962-7621. www.haagen.com
RESTAURANTS
Full of Life Flatbread Restaurant
On weekends we convert our production bakery space into a restaurant and offer a menu based almost entirely on what is grown locally and in season. Open Friday and Saturday 5–10pm and Sunday 4–8pm. 225 West Bell Street, Los Alamos, California. (805) 344-4400. www.fulloflifefoods.com
Sojourner Cafe
Serving unique dishes created with wholesome natural ingredients for over 30 years. We purchase organic produce from local growers, and we carry local wines and beers. Open 11am–11pm., Sunday 11am–10pm. Lunch, dinner, weekend brunch. 134 E. Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara. (805) 965-7922. www.sojournercafe.com
SPECIALTY RETAILERS
C’est Cheese
C’est Cheese is your local source for the finest cheeses and artisanal foods from Europe, California and the Central Coast. In addition to cheese, they offer a host of gourmet foods such as salamis, fine cured hams, olive oils and vinegars, wines, handmade chocolates, catering services, gift baskets and picnic coolers. Monday through Friday 10am–6pm. Saturday 8am–6pm. Closed Sundays. 825 Santa Barbara Street, Santa Barbara. (805) 965-0318. www.cestcheese.com
Montecito Country Kitchen
Montecito Country Kitchen is Santa Barbara’s unique Mediterranean-flavored cooking school and online culinary boutique. From delicious classes showcasing the seasonal produce of local farmers markets to an enticing line of cookbooks, herbs, spices, exotic salts, olive oils and more, Montecito Country Kitchen brings you the essence of cooking in California. www.montecitocountrykitchen.com
WINERIES AND WINE RETAILERS
Alma Rosa
With over 100 acres of certified organic vineyards in the Sta. Rita Hills, Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards focuses on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, as well as Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir-Vin Gris. All wines are food friendly and display the high acid and extraordinary balance for which Richard Sanford’s wines have been known since 1976. The tasting room is open 11am–4:30pm daily. 7250 Santa Rosa Road, Buellton. (805) 688-9090. www.almarosawinery.com
Classic Vines
Classic Vines is your online connection to the best of the boutique and family wineries’ wines. We offer a vast selection of top quality, hard to find, small production wines. www.classicvines.com
Amy Franceschini is an artist working with notions of community, sustainable environments and a perceived conflict between humans and nature. Part of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center “Food Matters” series. Free. www.ihc.ucsb.edu/foodmatters.html
TUESDAY, APRIL 14
Artist Talk: Fritz Haeg: Welcoming the Wild 5pm; UCSB, 1610 Broida Hall
Fritz Haeg works between his architecture and design practice Fritz Haeg Studio, the happenings and gatherings of Sundown Salon, the ecology initiatives of Gardenlab (including Edible Estates), and other various combinations of building, designing, gardening, exhibiting, dancing, organizing and talking. Part of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center “Food Matters” series. Free. www.ihc.ucsb.edu/foodmatters.html
THURSDAY, APRIL 16
Panel Discussion: The Landscape of the Maya Forest—A Friendly, Local, Community Store 4pm; UCSB, McCune Conference Room, 6020 HSSB
Photographer Macduff Everton, Archaeologist Anabel Ford, Herbal Coffee Expert Caroline MacDougall. Part of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center “Food Matters” series. Free. www.ihc.ucsb.edu/foodmatters.html
SATURDAY, APRIL 18
The Earth Day Food & Wine Festival
1–5pm; Santa Margarita de Cortona Asistencia, Santa Margarita, CA
The Earth Day Food & Wine Festival is an intimate celebration featuring earth friendly cuisine, sustainably produced wines, live entertainment and educational exhibits highlighting innovative products. Enjoy unlimited tastings in a historic and festive setting. Proceeds support sustainable agriculture research and farmworker outreach programs conducted by the Central Coast Vineyard Team. Free shuttles to and from the event from San Luis Obispo and North County. Cost: $100 Premiere, $75 General, $25 DD, $500 VIP Table of 8. For more information visit www.earthdayfoodandwine.com or call (805) 369-2288.
The 26th Annual Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Festival 1–4pm; River Park in Lompoc
To celebrate the incredible diversity of Santa Barbara County’s wines and the arrival of the 2009 vintage, the more than 100 members of the Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Association are once again hosting an annual rite of spring—the Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Festival. The vintners’ will present and pour their vast array of wines, two dozen local chefs will feature the local and seasonal dishes of the region, along with live bands, wine related exhibitions and a silent auction. In addition, member wineries are planning open houses, winemaker dinners and special tastings throughout the weekend. www.SBCountyWines.com. (805) 688-0881.
SUNDAY, APRIL 19
South Coast Earth Day Festival
10am–5:30pm; Alameda Park, Santa Barbara
Last year’s festival featured more than 11,000 attendees and 200 booths, as well as a full day of music, entertainment, and special guests. In its new location, this year’s
festival expects to surpass those attendance figures with an expanded Green Car Show, large interactive children’s area, expanded free bicycle parking and checkups, solar and biodiesel powered activities, product and technology demonstrations and a healthy food court. Organized by the Community Environmental Council. www.communityenvironmentalcouncil.org
FRIDAY, APRIL 24
Screening: Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel, 1972, 102 min.) 8pm; IV Theater
Part of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center “Food Matters” series. Free. www.ihc.ucsb.edu/foodmatters.html
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29
Screening and Discussion: Performing in the Kitchen: Performance Artist Bobby Baker’s “Kitchen Show”
4:30pm; UCSB, McCune Conference Room, 6020 HSSB Ruth Hellier-Tinoco (UCSB, University of Winchester). Part of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center “Food Matters” series. Free. www.ihc.ucsb.edu/foodmatters.html
FRIDAY, MAY 1
Graduate Student Conference: Food Matters: Arts, Activism and Research 9am–5pm; UCSB, McCune Conference Room, 6020 HSSB
The Interdisciplinary Humanities Center at UCSB will host a graduate conference based around the theme “Food Matters: Arts, Activism and Research.” The day’s activities will feature academic panels, a community roundtable, art installations, a film screening and a lunch and reception featuring locally grown food. Free. www.ihc.ucsb.edu/foodmatters.html
THURSDAY, MAY 7
Talk: NPR’s The Kitchen Sisters 4pm; UCSB, McCune Conference Room, 6020 HSSB Part of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center “Food Matters” series. Free. www.ihc.ucsb.edu/foodmatters.html
FRIDAY, MAY 8
Screening and Talk: An Evening with Filmmaker Les Blank
8pm; IV Theater
Screenings of All In This Tea (2007) and Yum, Yum, Yum! (1990) Part of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center “Food Matters” series. Free.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13
Talk: Rebel Without a Cuisine: Julia Child and the Making of the American Cook 4pm; UCSB, McCune Conference Room, 6020 HSSB
Laura Shapiro, author of Perfection Salad. Part of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center “Food Matters” series. Free. www.ihc.ucsb.edu/foodmatters.html
TUESDAY, MAY 19
Performance: The Cooking Show: Karimi y Comrades
8pm; MultiCultural Center Theater
Part of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center “Food Matters” series. www.ihc.ucsb.edu/foodmatters.html
THURSDAY, MAY 21
Screening and Discussion: The True Cost of Food 7pm; Santa Barbara Faulkner Gallery
The Sierra Club of Santa Barbara kicks off its True Cost of Food (TCOF) campaign. A screening of the 15 minute film The True Cost of Food follows, along with a discussion with a local farmer and a presentation by Kim Selkoe, Ph.D., marine biologist with Santa Barbara's Sustainable Seafood Program. For additional information, please contact gerrifrench@cox.net.
FRIDAY, MAY 22
Screening: Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007, 111 min.) 8pm; IV Theater
Part of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center “Food Matters” series. Free. www.ihc.ucsb.edu/foodmatters.html
SUNDAY, MAY 31
Taste of the Nation—Santa Barbara 3–6pm; Montecito Country Club, 920 Summit Rd., Santa Barbara
Guests will enjoy tastings from an array of select wines and special dishes prepared by over 20 of Santa Barbara’s top restaurants. With magnificent panoramic views of Santa Barbara’s coastline, fantastic food, live entertainment, and one-of-a-kind silent and live auction items, this event benefits the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County. Tickets $55 online at www.strength.org or $75 at the door.
SATURDAY, JUNE
27
The 22nd Annual Santa Barbara Wine Festival 2–5pm; Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
More than 60 wineries will be here. Members $50, Non-members $75. Tickets: (805) 682-4711 x443 or www.sbnature.org/tickets
SBCC Adult Ed Classes
From the Earth to the Table / Shiffer
April 14 / 7 Tuesdays, 9:30am–12:30pm or 6–9pm
Organic Gardening: Mastering the Techniques / Ebner
April 15 / 8 Wednesdays, 5:15–7:15pm
Walk with the Farmer and the Cook / French April 16 / 4 Thursdays, 9:30–11:30am
Blueberries and Broccoli: Foods To Help Protect Us From Cancer / Oster
April 16 / Thursday, 5:15–7:15pm
Spring, Light & Elegant / Molony
April 17 / 8 Fridays, 10am–1:30pm or 6–9:30pm
Edible and Medicinal Plants / Reinhart
April 18 / 8 Saturdays, 9–11am
For more classes, additional information and to enroll online go to www.sbcc.edu/AdultEd
THE LAST BITE
BD Dautch of Earthtrine Farms
It seems particularly fitting that we devote our Last Bite to BD Dautch of Earthtrine Farms in our first issue of Edible Santa Barbara After all, he was profiled in the first issue of Edible Ojai in the spring of 2002. Of course BD has been a fixture in Santa Barbara and Ojai for a lot longer than that. He started farming in 1973 in Isla Vista. Later he acquired land in both Carpinteria and Ojai on which to work his magic. He grows a full array of herbs and greens along with vegetables and fruit and is a connoisseur of heirloom and heritage varieties. His knowledge of everything from epazote to Persian cress is impressive, but it’s his broader philosophical viewpoint that leaves an impression on you. BD has the kind of dedication to the earth and to life that reminds us of why we need to stay connected to farming and to farmers.
