The chefs at Chez Albert in Amherst purée The Kitchen Garden's celeriac to perfection

Celeriac is not the prettiest of vegetables. It's brown, covered in hair-like fibers, and looks a little bit deformed. But its mild celery flavor and creamy texture are two reasons why professional chefs are utilizing it in soups, purées, salads and many other dishes.

Celeriac is just one of the many vegetables grown by husband and wife, Timothy N. Wilcox, 28, and Caroline C. Pam, 32, owners of The Kitchen Garden in Sunderland, Mass. They started their careers as long-time foodies from New York. After farming on rented land for two years, the couple decided to buy their own piece of land, a seven-acre stretch of lush river bottom soil that today they call The Kitchen Garden. Now, two years later, they provide local chefs, like Paul C. Hathaway, 41, executive chef at Chez Albert in Amherst, Mass., with many of their products.

Pam, who studied French cuisine at the French Culinary Institute in New York Ciy, and Wilcox, who studied Social Science and Italian at Hampshire College in Amherst, are now growing the food that they'd expect from a gourmet restaurant. "We grow food because we love to eat food and we love to cook food," said Pam.

Wilcox worked with radicchio farmers in Treviso, Italy for his graduation thesis and Pam spent a summer in Italy working on an organic farm before they opened The Kitchen Garden together. They stress the importance of quality products, noting that if an ingredient tastes good right from the ground, it will taste even better on the plate. This philosophy has helped the couple develop close relationships with many local chefs.

Hathaway has been working with Wilcox and Pam for three years. "The quality of their ingredients, the care they take, and the fact that they like to do unique items," Hathaway said, keeps him coming back for more.



Chez Albert is not a traditional farm-to-table restaurant, but one that believes in using nothing but the best. This sets it apart from the other farm-to-table eateries. "I believe in that philosophy, but I don't use the products just because they're local. I use them because they're good," Hathaway explained. "If the local products weren't very good, I wouldn't use them."

The farmers agree. "Working with the restaurants is a natural fit for us," Pam said. "They know what they want and they appreciate food as much as we do."

Hathaway, who once worked with Pam at Green Street Cafe in Northampton, Mass., says that forming relationships with the farmers is, "a fantastic and interesting journey."

In fact, it's much like the journey celeriac makes on its way from farm to table. It starts as a tiny seed and grows into an oddly shaped bulb. When mature, celeriac, also known as celery root, has a "mild celery flavor with the creaminess of potato and hints of sweetness," Hathaway said. It's adaptable and matches perfectly with many other ingredients.

At Chez Albert it becomes "Crispy Oysters with Celery Root and Leeks." The celeriac is peeled and boiled, then puréed with crème fraîche, the French version of sour cream. The purée creates a bed on the plate which is then topped with a mix of julienned celeriac, leeks and chopped parsley. Five lightly breaded and fried oysters go on next. Add a streak of parsley oil for color and contrast and you've got Chez Albert's motto on a plate: "Good. Simple. Food. Voilà!"

Chef Paul Hathaway's Kitchen Garden Celeriac Purée Recipe

1 ½ peeled celeriac (about 2 unpeeled)
6 oz crème fraîche or plain yogurt
salt and pepper

Boil celeriac in lightly salted water until a knife can run through it.
Then strain, place in a blender and purée with crème fraîche.
Once silky smooth, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.
Great served with roast chicken, fish, meat or even roasted mushrooms and and vegetables.

The Farmstead at Mine Brook's Goat Rising chèvre becomes a masterpiece at Circa in Northampton

“Goat Rising Chèvre Ravioli with Squash and Sage Brown Butter.” If that doesn’t sound like autumn on a plate then nothing does, and the chefs at Circa in Northampton, Mass., transform the already decadent artisanal Goat Rising chèvre from The Farmstead at Mine Brook in Charlemont, Mass. into something even better.

John R. Miller, owner of The Farmstead at Mine Brook, wanted to be a farmer since he was a child. He grew up in a farming family and now makes his award-winning Jersey Maid and Goat Rising artisanal cheeses. “I make the cheeses that I’m passionate about,” he said.

Miller studied cheese-making in Quebec and now makes many French-inspired cheeses. His Goat Rising traditional chèvre has become a rising hit. The cheese is made from the milk of Nubian goats, which has the highest natural amount of protein, milk solids, and nutrients when compared to any other popular goat breed. And because goat’s milk is naturally homogenized, it has smaller fat globules, making it much easier than cow’s milk for humans to digest. All of this together results in a rich, creamy and mildly tangy cheese.

The goats on the farm are grass-fed, but they do have a balanced diet, which includes organic clover hay, wildflowers, and mountain spring water.

“If you only feed them grass, the result won’t be as good," said Miller. "It’d be like feeding a human only romaine lettuce. We make sure our goats have a balanced diet." This, he explains, makes for a better product in the end. And he must be doing something right, because he won two gold medals from the 2008 World Jersey Cheese Competition.

Local chefs have taken notice of the quality of Miller's cheeses as well. Jeremy D. Whitcomb, 31, owner and executive chef of Circa, has made Miller’s cheeses a staple on his menu. One dish, a homemade ravioli stuffed with Miller’s traditional chèvre and farmstead ricotta, is on the menu at Circa throughout the year.

“The ravioli stay the same, but the presentation changes,” said Whitcomb. “So we might do it with chervil or sorrel in the spring, then with marinated tomatoes and a basil purée in summer, and then with squash and maple and walnuts like we have now for fall.” But no matter what the preparation, Whitcomb said that the dish has been a staple on the menu and has continuously earned great reviews.

The menu doesn’t change strictly with the seasons, however. “It changes whenever I feel like changing it,” Whitcomb said. And he finds inspiration from as many local products as he can. “Our motto is quality of ingredients,” Whitcomb explained. “That means everything from the most delicate greens to the wine, and even the butter and the bread. We take a lot of pride in what we do and the customers think it definitely shows.”


Whitcomb said that even Miller himself has been in a few times and has enjoyed seeing his cheeses used in such a variety of ways. This mutual appreciation between the farmers and the chefs that makes the experience so enjoyable. Whitcomb said that he loves the relationship that they’ve developed with Miller and his staff. “It’s really about trust,” Whitcomb said. “I trust that he’ll continue to make his cheese the way he always does, and he trusts that I’ll showcase his products in a way that he’d want them to be.”

Miller and Whitcomb agree that local products deserve public recognition. And so far, they’ve spotlighted these products in a way that’s earned nothing but praise.

Chef Jeremy Whitcomb's Goat Rising Ravioli Filling Recipe

*Make pasta using your favorite fresh pasta recipe.

For the filling:
2 cups fresh Goat Rising traditional chèvre cheese
1 cup fresh Jersey Maid farmstead ricotta cheese

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 egg yolks

Pinch of salt

Freshly grated nutmeg to taste



Mix all the ingredients to fully incorporate and chill 30 minutes to set up. Fill your fresh pasta with the mixture. Pinch and cut into your favorite shape. Cook and serve, or freeze and keep up to two weeks.

Valley Green Feast teams up with local farms to deliver the Valley's best to at-home chefs

Local farms like Old Friends Farm of Amherst, Mass. realize that restaurants are not the only places to find local chefs looking for fantastic products. So they, along with many others, have joined forces with Valley Green Feast of Northampton, Mass., a service that delivers local, organic food right to the door.

Started by Jessica N. Harwood, 30, Valley Green Feast allows its nearly 100 subscribers to get fresh local food in their homes, without ever setting foot in the grocery store.

In Massachusetts, this trend has recently been on the rise. The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources ranks Massachusetts "first in New England for direct sales of farm products to consumers," and Valley Green Feast is one of many contributors to this movement.

With Valley Green Feast, customers can order anything from local produce to meat, fish, cheese and other specialty products online, by email, over the phone or by mail. The prices for produce are comparable to grocery stores and are sometimes even lower. The process is quick, easy, rewarding.

“The food people get is really fresh, and we’ve made it easier for health-conscious people to get good food,” Harwood said. “Doing things this way is also easier for farmers, because we sell it for them so they don’t have to market. And the customers feel good about lowering their carbon emissions.”

By not driving to the grocery store every week to buy food, customers are indeed lowering their own carbon footprints. Valley Green Feast only uses two box trucks to operate, and for deliveries in Northampton, the Pedal People, a bicycle-riding, human-powered delivery service, does all of the deliveries.

The farmers are fans of the partnership with Valley Green Feast as well. Missy Bahret, 33, and Casey Steinberg, 33, co-owners of Old Friends Farm, have been working with Valley Green Feast for almost a year. “I think the connection with the food, that holistic approach, is good for balance. Environmentally, it’s a good start,” Bahret said.

Old Friends Farm has been running for six years, and Bahret and her staff have been doing things a bit differently than others in the area. They provide Valley Green Feast with their mixed organic greens, but their ginger in particular has drawn a great response in the local community. “We pretty much pioneered it a few years ago,” Bahret said.

Now, they’re speaking at conferences and trying to spread the word that they grow fantastic ginger. “It’s harvested at a young stage, Bahret said, “So it’s easier to use. You don’t have to peel it and there aren’t any of those coarse fibers that people often associate with the type of ginger you’d expect to buy in the store.”

Recently, Valley Green Feast started putting some of this ginger into their produce baskets that customers order for delivery. Bahret said that the ginger is a special item that you can’t find everywhere, perfect for at-home chefs. “It’s paired really well with garlic and it’s great in stir-fry,” Bahret said. “But I’ve heard that many people make their own ginger tea, ginger ale and ginger champagne with it. You can also pickle it and use it for sushi, or make crystallized ginger.”

It’s one of those unique ingredients that can spice up any meal, but because of its milder flavor, the ginger from Old Friends Farm is easier to use in the everyday kitchen. “It freezes really well, so it’s something that you can use a little bit at a time and then freeze and have it all winter long,” Bahret said.

By ordering from Valley Green Feast, at-home chefs can be assured that the products they’re getting from places like Old Friends Farm are of the same quality as those used in the upscale restaurants they love. It’s not just farm-to-table, but farm-to-kitchen table, and the result is personal and rewarding for those who take advantage of it.

Missy Bahret's Favorite Ginger Beer Recipe

From the book Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz

TIMEFRAME: Two to three weeks.

INGREDIENTS (for 1 gallon):
3 inches more fresh ginger root
2 cups sugar
2 lemons
Water

PROCESS:
~Start the “ginger bug”: Add 2 teaspoons grated ginger (skin and all) and 2 teaspoons sugar to 1 cup of water. Stir well and leave in a warm spot, covered with cheesecloth to allow free circulation of air while keeping flies out. Add this amount of ginger and sugar every day or two and stir, until the bug starts bubbling, in 2 days to about a week.

~Make the ginger beer any time after the bug becomes active. (If you wait more than a couple of days, keep feeding the bug fresh ginger and sugar every 2 days.) Boil 2 quarts of water. Add about 2 inches of gingerroot, grated, for a mild ginger flavor (up to 6 inches for an intense ginger flavor) and 1.5 cups sugar. Boil this mixture for about 15 minutes. Cool.

~Once the ginger-sugar-water mixture has cooled, strain the ginger out and add the juice of the lemons and the strained ginger bug. (If you intend to make this process an ongoing rhythm, reserve a few tablespoons of the active bug as a starter and replenish it with additional water, grated ginger, and sugar.) Add enough water to make 1 gallon.

~Bottle in sealable bottles: Recycle plastic soda bottles with screw tops; rubber gasket “bail-top” bottles that Grolsch and some other premium beers use; sealable juice jugs; or capped beer bottles. Leave bottles to ferment in a warm spot for about 2 weeks.

~Cool before opening. When you open ginger beer, be prepared with a glass, since carbonation can be strong and force liquid rushing out of the bottle.