Eat First

Caz Tortilla Company, Syracuse

Have you ever tried a food that rocked your world? I'm talking just-brewed, locally roasted coffee. Squeaky cheese curds fresh from a dairy farm. Sourdough bread made by master bakers. It’s the little things.

One local food that recently rocked my world – and makes me want to eat a breakfast taco every day – is the tortillas made by Caz Tortilla Company.

Caz Tortilla is owned by the husband-and-wife team of Casey and Katie Masters. Despite its name, the company is based in Syracuse.

The Masters’ served in the U.S. Air Force and moved to Central New York from the White Sands area of New Mexico. They found they missed the tortilleria in their local grocery store, where they purchased tortillas that were “never more than an hour old,’’ according to Casey. They started making tortillas at home in Cazenovia, and before long they decided to turn their home project into a business. They hoped to find a production space in or near Cazenovia, Casey said, but instead set up shop in Syracuse. The small tortilla production facility is on Burnet Avenue, between Kilian Manufacturing and Visual Technologies.

Casey Masters and Operations Manager Drew Merkel weren’t making tortillas when I visited on a recent weekday, but gave me a quick tour of the place. It features a storage room for ingredients like masa, flour, baking powder and salt, a mixing room, and a production room with separate lines for pressing out and baking corn and flour tortillas. With a handful of employees, they produce thousands of five- and six-inch tortillas weekly.

To see the production process, watch this report by Emily Kenny, who covers food production and agriculture for Spectrum News.

If your only experience with tortillas is grocery store tortillas, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. The local tortillas taste fresh, contain no sugar or artificial ingredients and have more “heft” to them than flimsy (and tear-prone) mass-produced tortillas. I’ve mainly used them for breakfast tacos, heating one tortilla at a time over the slots of my toaster and filling them with pan-roasted pepper and onion, scrambled eggs, cheese and salsa for a weekend breakfast of champions. One of these days I’ll get more adventurous and use them in an enchilada casserole with roasted vegetables.

I purchased my tortillas (10 for $3) at the Central New York Regional Market in Syracuse, and love knowing they were produced the day before a couple miles away. Check the Caz Tortilla Company Facebook or Instagram page to see if they’ll be at the market on a given Saturday.

Want to taste tortillas from Caz Tortilla Company? Restaurants that use them include Alto Cinco, Decir Algo, Steve’s Cantina and Mamacitas in Syracuse, Madison County Distillery in Cazenovia and Mad Taco in Nelson. Retail locations include The Curd Nerd, Syracuse Cooperative Market, Thanos Market and Green Hills Farms, Syracuse; Natur-Tyme, DeWitt; and 20/East and Heartstone Artisan Bakery, Cazenovia.

Last but not least, you can purchase tortillas directly at Caz Tortilla Company HQ, 1622 Burnet Ave., Syracuse. Hours (approximate) are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday. If you see the sandwich board out front, they’re open. The front entry has an honor box and a rack holding packages of tortillas. Bring cash.

Cooking at home with Sara Tong-Ngork

Sarinthra (Sara) Tong-Ngork has logged more than 20 years in local restaurants. Her resume includes stints at Lemon Grass, Bangkok Thai, Alfa Bar and Dining Room, the Century Club and Bellevue Country Club, among others.  Come fall, she will venture out on her own as one of eight merchants at Salt City Market, the food hall scheduled to open at 484 Salina St., across from the Marriott Syracuse Downtown. 

 

Sara's stand, Firecracker Thai Kitchen, will feature Bangkok-style "street food:" soups, curries, noodle dishes, salads and more. Her menu is in development and she has been going through the steps of writing a business plan.

 

Sara, 45, grew up in Syracuse and attended local schools, including SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. After college, she decided to pursue cooking as a profession. "I started in 1997 at Lemon Grass as a prep cook and never looked back,'' she says.  She has worked with and learned from some of the best chefs and cooks in Central New York, including chef Eamon Lee, her boss and mentor at The Century Club. "I leaned from him for over a decade. ... Better than any culinary school education I could have gotten.''

 

Sara's parents are from Thailand and she has spent much of her coronavirus-mandated stay home time cooking with them and for them.  She's looking forward to life resuming a sense of normalcy and to feeding CNY's "Thai tribe'' at Salt City Market.

 

How did you learn how to cook? I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid, maybe 7. My sisters and I would come home from school and I’d make us a snack while we waited for our parents to come home. Eventually I’d help my parents with dinner. They were both excellent cooks and I think that’s why I love food so much. 

 

How would you describe your style of cooking: I gravitate towards simplicity and letting the natural flavors shine. I like to highlight freshness and balance sweet, salty, sour and spicy, which is the key to Thai cooking. I don’t like to measure and I don’t like a dish with a million ingredients. It's pretty rare for me to spend more than an hour making something, unless it’s simmering or braising away.

Do you have a signature dish? My signature dish is Spicy Chicken and Thai Basil. It was a dish the cooks would make for family meal (the staff meal before service) at Lemon Grass. After almost four years of working there, it was the only dish I could still eat every day.  My version is different, not quite as bright, but equally crave worthy. I’ve run some version of it everywhere I’ve cooked.

Favorite cookbook or cooking show? My favorite cookbook is one that Eamon (Lee) introduced me to, "The Best Recipe" (America's Test Kitchen). I love how it incorporates food science and tells you the "why" of a recipe. TV show -- I was a huge fan of "Ready...Set...Cook!" back in the infant years of the Food Network. After school, other kids would be playing outside and I’d run downstairs to catch that and "Great Chefs." 

What have you been cooking during "stay at home life”? I’m quarantined with my parents. We’ve been cooking a lot of Thai comfort food --  noodles, soups and Thai-style congee are family favorites. We had to keep it pretty simple for a while because we couldn’t get Asian ingredients as most of the Asian grocers buy stock from New York City.
 
Favorite place to shop: My favorite place to shop is the Central New York Regional Market and I wish I could get there more often than I do.  That food has been taken care of. Someone took the time and energy to nurture those ingredients. You can taste that in the product. A misshapen, locally grown donut peach with a blemish, enjoyed mid-summer at peak ripeness, will always taste better than the biggest, most perfect looking one from the grocery store. With a lot of produce,  just because something is available year-round, doesn’t mean it’s good year-round.

 

Any advice for people who are new to cooking? Invest in proper tools - you don’t need to spend a lot. I use a sharp knife I got from Amazon for $20.

• Start simple: Make scrambled eggs and figure out how much salt and pepper to add to them to make them taste good. This will help you learn how to season food.

• Don’t give up. Even the most talented chefs have cooked something only to throw it right in the trash.

 

 

Thai Omelet

From Sara Tong-Ngork

 

Sara says: The omelet is often served alongside other Thai dishes, as Thai food is almost always family style. It’s also found at many food stalls and almost every restaurant. For me, it’s comfort food. This recipe serves two as an entrée and four as a side dish to quell any spicy dishes. The optional condiment adds a little extra salt, spice and brightness to the dish.

 

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1/4 cup onion, 1⁄4-inch slices or diced

2 tablespoons scallion, rough chop

1 tablespoon cilantro, rough chop (optional)

1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic (garlic powder)

1 1/4 teaspoon fish sauce or 1 teaspoon soy sauce (to keep it vegetarian)

Freshly cracked white or black pepper (3 to 4 twists of the pepper mill)

2 tablespoons rice bran or grapeseed oil (high smoke point)

Cooked jasmine rice (2 to 4 servings)

For the optional condiment:

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

1 garlic clove, minced

1 Thai chili pepper, minced

 

In a bowl, beat eggs, onion, scallions, cilantro, garlic powder, fish sauce/soy sauce and pepper  together until mixed. Heat up a non-stick skillet on medium- high heat. Wait until the pan is hot, then add the oil. Gently pour egg mixture into pan and

reduce heat to medium. As the egg cooks, pull the sides of the omelet towards the center and allow the uncooked egg to run underneath it. Do this all around the omelet until there’s no more runny liquid (the top will still be uncooked). Check underneath the omelet for a golden brown color, then carefully flip it, using plates if necessary. Continue cooking until the bottom is golden brown as well. You may need to add a few more drops of oil if it becomes too dry or it will burn.

 

Serve the omelet immediately with hot jasmine rice and optional condiment. Makes 2 to 4 servings.

 

Optional condiment: Combine all ingredients and serve with omelet.

 

 

 

Wake Robin Farm is ‘moo-ving on’ from dairy production

                A trip to the Central New York Regional Market isn't complete without Wake Robin Farm yogurt and cheese curds.

There is one local product we are almost never without at our house: Wake Robin Farm cream-on-top, full-fat yogurt. They say that yogurt is a “superfood,’’ offering benefits for heart health, gut health, weight management and more, but mostly we find Wake Robin’s vanilla yogurt, flavored with vanilla extract and sweetened lightly with New York State maple syrup, to be super delicious. Once you’ve had yogurt that fresh, made 20 miles from Syracuse from milk produced by Meg and Bruce Schader’s small herd of Jersey cows, there’s no going back to supermarket yogurt.

In the next few weeks we’re going to stock up on it – and on Wake Robin Farm cheeses. In an email sent to customers earlier this week, the Schaders announced they are “moo-ving on’’ from dairy farming and production to focus on new projects on and off the farm. Bruce will focus his efforts on baking handmade breads and growing small crops and Meg will continue to freelance as a copyeditor, teach yoga and work part-time at Baltimore Woods Nature Center in Marcellus. She'll also be finishing up her Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Environmental Studies at SUNY-ESF next spring and helping Bruce on the farm and in the bakery.

All of this means they will no longer be milking cows, bottling milk and producing yogurt and cheeses. This “life-changing decision,’’ as Meg calls it, comes after almost 14 years of dairy farming and for a variety of personal and business reasons. “We are looking forward to the freedom to travel together to visit our son at college, sleep in on Sunday mornings and take a 21-year overdue honeymoon to Ireland next spring,’’ the eblast noted. “Milking cows twice a day and processing milk several times a week has kept us very close to home for 14 years.’’ 

The Schaders have been farming together in Jordan since 1999, when they plowed up a couple acres off Brutus Road and began to grow organic vegetables and cut flowers. Before long, they expanded to 15 acres, offered CSA shares and had cultivated a loyal customer following. They transitioned to dairy in 2006, starting small with four Jersey cows. At first, they offered just European-style yogurt, which was a big hit with customers. They later started bottling milk and making cheeses.

From the beginning, all products have been made, from start to finish, on the farm. For a time, you could purchase Wake Robin Farm products at places like Wegmans, Natur-Tyme and the Syracuse Real Food Co-Op (now Syracuse Cooperative Market). For the last few years, their products have been sold solely on Saturdays at the Central New York Regional Market and at the farm store in Jordan. Longtime market customers have watched the Schader’s son, Hugh, grow from school-age boy to young man. He’s now a sophomore at Harvard University.

At the end of the summer, the Schaders plowed their hay fields. They’ve started to sell their dairy equipment and will sell their cows at the end of the year. The process has been bittersweet for them, but they stress they are not retiring – just evolving, like any small business.

They will be selling their artisan breads and baked goods (“and some other surprises’’) on Saturdays at the Central New York Regional Market. After December 24, the Wake Robin Farm store will be open Fridays only (3 to 6 p.m.) for customers to pick up fresh bread.

Wake Robin Farm is at 125 Brutus Road, Jordan. Website Facebook

 

 

 

Farm to Fork 101 Community Dinner at Commonspace

Chef Sarah Hassler (background) and Farm to Fork 101 founder Mark Pawliw (back, left) speak to Commonspace residents at a community dinner in August.

If you've attended a Farm to Fork 101 event in Central New York, you're familiar with Mark Pawliw. He's the founder of the series of pop-up dinner events that shine the light on locally grown and sourced food and serves as a conduit between farmers, chefs and diners. He also works in the restaurant industry and is the coordinator of cooking events at the Wegmans Demonstration Kitchen in the Art and Home Center during the New York State Fair.

If all of that isn’t enough, Farm to Fork hosts dinners about once a month at Commonspace, a co-working and co-housing community on Jefferson Street in downtown Syracuse. Commonspace calls itself "a neighborhood in a building.'' The small apartments offer both privacy and opportunities to mix and mingle with other residents. Each apartment has a kitchenette and residents have access to spacious, fully outfitted kitchens on each floor. Commonspace's first apartments made their debut in 2016. The developers have since expanded the concept to two other historic buildings downtown.

Farm to Fork founder Mark Pawliw (left) and Eden chef Rich Strub prep for a community dinner at Commonspace earlier this year. (photo courtesy of Commonspace)

Mark invited me to attend the August dinner at Commonspace Jefferson, which was held on the rooftop of the building on a beautiful summer evening. Guest chef was Sarah Hassler, formerly of The Stoop Kitchen, who's now a consulting chef with her own business, Hassler Hospitality Group.

Mark and Sarah planned the meal in advance and Mark did much of the shopping/procurement of ingredients by visiting Graber Farms, Haas Farms, Main Street Farms and other vendors at the Central New York Regional Market. The ingredient list included kale, tomatoes, peaches, garlic and ethically raised chicken.

Sarah had done chef duty for a previous dinner, so she felt comfortable in the Commonspace kitchen. She kept her menu simple and prepared enough food for 15 people. Any leftovers are stored and left in the common refrigerator for residents to enjoy.

"It feels like cooking for family and it's good to do family-style sometimes,'' Sarah said. "It’s relaxed. You get to cook anything you want, which is pretty sweet.'' Besides, she added, "I like working with Mark. He’s chill.”

Sarah's menu for the evening: oven roasted tomatoes with garlic marinated zucchini, hot honey and fennel seeds (pictured at right); Filipino-style adobo chicken (simmered with vinegar, garlic and other spices); chickpea and kale stew with basmati rice; and peach crisp for dessert. Everything was prepared on site and carried up to the rooftop "dining room,'' where Mark had set a series of tables to create one long table.

Diners enjoyed both the food and the fellowship. Several Commonspace residents said their jobs keep them super-busy, so they "meal prep" on weekends in the common kitchen and enjoy "reheat and eat" meals in their own spaces during the week.

Past dinners have featured chefs from The Mission, Otro Cinco, Eden and other downtown restaurants. Mark gives each chef or chefs the opportunity to explain the dishes they've prepared for the evening and ends the meals with an invitation to meet up with him at the Regional Market on Saturdays.

Ethan Suttner, one of the first Commonspace residents, moved out recently to share a house in the Westcott neighborhood with two other former residents. During his time there, he said, he enjoyed the diversity of the chef-prepared community dinners organized by Mark. "There have been so many good dinners... it's hard to pick a favorite,'' he said.

"The one constant for the history of Commonspace has been the dinners once a month that Mark puts on,’’ Suttner added. “There are some people that I only ever saw at the dinners. That was one social aspect that I appreciated. And Mark is a great guy. He knows where all the best food in the area comes from.’’

Farm to Fork 101 has several events open to the public coming up:

• On October 28, Syracuse University’s Center for Sustainable Community Solutions, in partnership with Farm to Fork and LoFo, will host a zero-waste community dinner at Chuck Hafner’s Farmers Market and Garden Center in Liverpool. The event (6 to 9 p.m.) will team five local chefs with five local farms to create a five-course meal from gleaned produce (that is, produce that has not been brought to market or otherwise used by the farm). For more information and to purchase tickets, CLICK HERE.

• On November 11, Farm to Fork will host a community dinner at Eden, a new restaurant in downtown Syracuse that features foods cooked over a wood fire. The five-course tasting menu-style dinner begins at 6 p.m. For more information and to purchase tickets, CLICK HERE.

Note: Photos by Margaret McCormick unless otherwise indicated.

 

 

Syracuse-area farmers markets

Opening day haul, Downtown Syracuse Farmers Market

Visiting a local farmers market should be part of everyone's weekly routine this time of year. Why go to a grocery store stocked with produce from thousands of miles away when you can go to a market and get purchase fresh produce, in season, sometimes picked just hours earlier? You'll also find eggs, meats, cheeses, yogurt, honey, maple products, plants, baked goods and so much more.

 

Garlic scapes, Haas Farms, Bayberry Plaza Farmers Market

 

Farmers have weathered a wild rollercoaster ride this spring. It's important for us to support them. At the Bayberry Plaza Farmers Market this week, Dale Haas, of Haas Farms, Red Creek, said he missed the opening of the Downtown Syracuse Farmers Market earlier this month because the cool, wet weather has caused delays in planting and growing. On Wednesday, he had garlic scapes, sugar snap peas, black walnuts and other items. He said raspberries are looking good and should be ready in a couple weeks.

 

Haas also offered suggestions on what to do with garlic scapes. They'll keep for a couple weeks in the refrigerator, he said, so a big, tangled bunch, priced at $2, is a good deal. He also suggested chopping them and sautéing them with other vegetables, like sugar snap peas. One of the best things about going to a farmers market is being able to talk to the people who grow our food. 

 

For best selection, go to the market early. Bring reusable shopping bags and an open mind. Try something you've never tried before! 

 

Following is a short list of Syracuse-area markets. If I'm missing something, let me know in the comments.

 

Central New York Regional Market: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, year-round; 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday (through mid-November), 2100 Park St., Syracuse.

Greater Baldwinsville Community Farmers Market: 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesday (through September 10), at Baldwin Canal Square on Denio Street, behind the B'ville Diner.

 

Downtown Syracuse Farmers Market: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday (through October 8) at Clinton Square. 

 

Bayberry Plaza Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday (through Oct. 30) at the shopping plaza on Route 57.

 

Syracuse Eastside Neighborhood Farmers Market: 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at Westcott Community Center, 826 Euclid Ave., Syracuse. 

 

Fayetteville Farmers Market: Noon to 6 p.m. Thursday (through Oct. 24) in the parking lot at Towne Center at Fayetteville (near Bonefish Grill). NO MARKET JULY 4.

 

Skaneateles Farmers Market: 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday (through Oct. 24) and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday (through Oct. 19) in the Austin Park Pavilion parking lot, Jordan Street. 

Cazenovia Farmers Market: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Park, on Albany Street (Route 20).

 

The Brady Faith Farm: an oasis on Syracuse's South Side

The greens in this salad bowl are from the Brady Faith Farm, an urban farm on Syracuse's South Side.

 

So are the "snacking carrots'' I've been nibbling before supper instead of chips and pretzels and other not-so-healthy, munchy-crunchy snack foods. They're tiny carrots plucked from the ground while they're young -- and sweet.

 

The Brady Faith Farm is a project of the Brady Faith Center, a Catholic mission that serves people in need on the city's southwest side. Staff members and volunteers have transformed nearly six acres of vacant land in the 2000 block of Onondaga Creek Boulevard into a farm to feed the community and offer accessible, healthy, local food at affordable prices.

 

The farm is offering community-supported agriculture (CSA) shares this season, and about 50 people have signed up for them, according to Jessi Lyons, urban farm coordinator for the Brady Faith Center. Some qualified families are enjoying box shares for $9 a week, thanks to a grant from Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield to subsidize shares and offer cooking classes to teach people how to use the season's bounty.

 

The list of vegetables planted and coming up on the farm include beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots Swiss chard, collard greens, corn, cucumbers, fennel, kale, okra, peppers, squashes, tomatoes, watermelon and more.

 

You don't have to be a CSA member to reap the bounty of the Brady Faith Farm. Team members sell the farm's produce on Thursdays at the Central New York Regional Market (7 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and most Sundays this summer (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) under a  tent set up at the corner of Midland Avenue and Ballantyne Road in Syracuse.

 

I visited the farm stand this past Sunday on a slightly off week -- much of the available produce had been harvested, cleaned, packed for CSA box shares and donated in the community the week before. Still, Lyons had bags of beautiful salad mix in the cooler, along with herbs, greens, baby beets and snacking carrots. She also had jars of local honey and bags of Salt City Coffee, which recently opened a roastery and coffee cafe on West Onondaga Street and serves as a CSA pick-up point.

 

Looking to share some of your time this summer? The Brady Faith Farm welcomes volunteers. Staff members are at the farm during the day most weekdays and on Saturday mornings. Assistance is needed with planting, shoveling compost and woodchips, weeding, harvesting and washing and packing produce. It's a good idea to call in advance to make sure someone is there. Call 315-420-4521.

 

For more information on the Brady Faith Farm, CLICK HERE.

 

 

Free advice: 10 tips to take to the farmers market

1. Arrive early. Or arrive late. At the CNY Regional Market in Syracuse, this means up and at 'em bright and early on Saturdays for a 7 a.m. shopping spree. This is when the fish monger has his best and brightest selections available. And you'll appreciate the emptier aisles. On the flip side, there are advantages to shopping later, too. The selection might not be the best, but some vendors discount their goods as closing time approaches so they don't have to cart everything away.

2. Case the entire market before making purchases. This might not be feasible at the Regional Market during the spring and summer crush, but is do-able at smaller markets. Make selections based on what looks the most fresh, vibrant and appealing to your eyes.

3. Bring a re-usable shopping bag and a cooler filled with ice or ice packs. On warm summer days, this allows worry-free purchases of items like yogurt, cheese and fish/seafood.

 

4. Carry smaller bills. Farmers will love you for "exact change,'' and you'll keep lines moving smoothly.

 

5. Don't haggle - this is not an auction or yard sale. Farmers work hard to grow the food we eat -- and make a living wage. A quart of strawberries for $4 and three zucchini for $1 is already a good deal. Pony up and pay the price on the sign!

 

6. Don't thump the melons, don't squeeze the tomatoes and peaches and don't peel back the husk on every ear of corn. Want a melon that's ready to eat today -- or one that will be ready on the weekend? Ask the farmer/vendor. They know their produce well.

 

7. Purchase things other than produce, if your budget allows. Markets in Central New York cast a wide net for local producers and vendors with a wide range of items. You'll find eggs, cheeses, yogurt, breads, bagels, baklava, cookies, coffee, shortbread and other baked goods, pasta, granola, hummus, honey, meat, maple syrup, jams, jellies, spices, sauces, salsa, chocolate, peanut brittle -- I'm getting hungry! The list goes on and on and on. 

 

8. Keep your eyes open for new offerings from "old favorite" vendors. At the Fayetteville Farmers Market, for example, the owners of Lune Chocolat are offering homemade gourmet fruit and ultimate chocolate popsicles in addition to their signature artisan chocolates. And Tina Conte McPherson, creator of Primo and Mary's salsa, is offering fresh basil-garlic pesto and fresh bruschetta at the Fayetteville Farmers Market and the Farmers Market at Cottage Lawn at the Madison County Historical Society (Oneida) each week. She started growing hydroponic basil this winter and plans to incorporate fresh produce from both markets as the growing season progresses.

 

9. Mix up your market day and markets on occasion! Every market has its own vibe and local flavor. Feel like a drive on a Saturday? Grab your market bag and head out to the Cazenovia Farmers Market or the Skaneateles Farmers Market. Can't make it to the Saturday Regional Market? Don't forget there's also a Thursday version through November. On Erie Boulevard on a Wednesday afternoon? Check out the Farmshed Harvest Food Hub Farmers Market at Natur-Tyme in DeWitt.

 

10. Know your farmer, know your food … and try something NEW! Never had kale? Kohlrabi? Garlic scapes? Spaghetti squash? Bison meat? Be adventurous! Ask the grower or vendor for advice on how to store, prepare and cook what they're selling. 

 

 

Putting rhubarb from the CNY Regional Market to use

It's only Monday, but I'm already looking forward to the debut of the Fayetteville Farmers Market at Towne Center at Fayetteville on Thursday.

I'm sure I will want to share to share some highlights from the new market. But first, let's have a look at some of Saturday's haul from the Central New York Regional Market. We left the market with Wake Robin Farm yogurt, cheese curds and granola, two dozen clams and a pound of halibut from the fishmonger in Shed A, vegetable plants and other items.

 

But I went to the market, really, looking for one thing in particular -- local rhubarb. 

 

 

I know, I know: Not everyone is a fan of rhubarb. It's a vegetable masquerading as a fruit. It's tart. It starts out crisp and supple and  has a strange, somewhat stringy texture after it's cooked.

 

Seeing those beautiful red and green stalks makes me think of rhubarb pie, my Mother's rite of spring.  I wanted to make something a little more healthy, so I decided to roast the rhubarb. It comes out a little soupy and is delicious on yogurt or frozen yogurt (or ice cream) and in smoothies.

 

ROASTED RHUBARB

 

1 bunch rhubarb, washed and sliced into 1-inch or longer pieces

Zest of one orange (optional)

1/3 cup natural cane sugar (or more, to taste)

Honey

Vanilla extract (optional)

 

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

 

Toss the washed and sliced rhubarb with sugar and orange zest (if using) in a shallow glass baking dish.

 

Let rest for 5 minutes or more, until the rhubarb starts to give off a little juice. Cover dish with foil and roast for about 10 minutes if you want the rhubarb to retain a bit of its shape, longer for more of a puree. Remove foil and continue roasting for about five minutes, if needed.

 

When the rhubarb has cooled a little, give it a taste. Add a little honey, if needed, to sweeten it how you like it. Add a little vanilla extract, too (optional).

 

Serve the rhubarb warm, chilled or somewhere in between. I like cooked rhubarb at room temperature, with a few blueberries, served with yogurt for breakfast or with frozen yogurt or ice cream for dessert. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

 

 

How to make a pizza with (mostly) made in Central New York ingredients

A recurring item on the menu at The Copper Oven, a seasonal, wood-fired pizza parlor at Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery, in Ovid, is the 26-Mile Pizza. All of the ingredients, including veggies, cheeses and finishing oil, are sourced within 26 miles of the restaurant.

 

I found myself thinking about this pizza after receiving a sampler pack of Greenview Kitchen sauces, a brand owned/made by Giovanni Food Company, of Syracuse. The Greenview line includes an organic pizza sauce.

 

The presence of an Italian-style cheese from the Finger Lakes makes this particular pie more like a 50-Mile Pizza. Let's de-construct the whole thing:

 

Crust: Why bother with making your own dough where there is excellent local dough at the ready? The dough for this pizza came from Columbus Baking Co., Syracuse ($2.50). We also like the pizza dough from DiLauro's Bakery, also on the North Side, at 502 E. Division St.

 

Sauce: We skipped our usual Don Pepino pizza sauce in favor of Greenview Kitchen organic pizza sauce.

 

The sauce has a noticeable sweet taste (organic sugar is the third ingredient on the label) so we added a thin layer of Cheeky Monkey "politely spicy'' tomato-garlic dipping oil to the crust before adding the sauce.

 

(See below for more information on Greenview Kitchen products and locations.)

 

 

Cheese(s): Pizza would be incomplete without mozzarella, right? Farm-fresh, handmade mozzarella from Wake Robin Farm, Jordan, took our pizza to a whole other level. The whole-milk mozz, made from the milk of grass-fed Jersey cows, is ultra-rich. It's made occasionally by Bruce and Meg Schader and sold on Saturdays at the Wake Robin stand in Shed A at the Central New York Regional Market in Syracuse.

 

Bel Ceillo, an Italian-style cheese made by Muranda Cheese Company, Waterloo, added depth of flavor. It's a cross between provolone and Asiago and can be used in place of Parmesan in recipes.

Meat: Two links of Syracuse's own Gianelli Italian sausage, casings removed, browned, crumbled and blotted with paper towels.

 

Extras: Sauteed red onion and red pepper, sliced kalamata olives, Penzeys pizza seasoning.

 

Tips: Less is more when it comes to pizza toppings -- you don't want a soggy bottom. Bake pizza on the low rack of a hot oven (500 degrees) for a short period of time   -- check after 10 minutes.

 

Wine pairing: A local red. Lamoreaux Landing Estate Red (Seneca Lake) was an excellent partner for the pizza.

 

Why local?: Sure, it took a bit of work to gather all the ingredients. But buying local builds community.

 

When we buy fresh mozzarella from Wake Robin Farm, we get to talk to the people who raise the cows, milk the cows and use milk from the cows to make cheese -- and we support a family farm. On a subsequent visit, we get to tell the Schaders about the pizza we made with their fresh mozzarella - and learn more about their creamery and the art of cheesemaking.

 

It's refreshing to know your food and know where it comes from.

 

Note: Look for Greenview Kitchen products at Tops stores, Natur-Tyme in DeWitt, Green Hills Farms, Green Planet Grocery, Nichols Supermarket in Liverpool and other locations. For more information, CLICK HERE.

 

Aquaponic farmers: A growing community in Central New York

Inside Aqua Vita Farms, Sherrill

It’s that time of year: The farmers who grow our food can’t wait to get outside on a daily basis, feel the warmth of the sun, dig in the nutrient-rich soil and plant their first crops.

And then there are those who can’t wait to get outside because they’ve been inside all winter, where it’s balmy and 70-something degrees, growing Swiss chard, pea shoots, salad greens, herbs and other produce.

 “It’s always spring in here,’’ says Mark Doherty, the founder of Aqua Vita Farms, an aquaponic farm launched in 2011.

AquaWHAT?

For the uninitiated, aquaponics is a sustainable system of food production that combines aquaculture (raising fish in tanks) with hydroponics (growing plants in water) in an interactive indoor environment. The wastewater from the fish tanks is used to fertilize the plants and the plants, in turn, clean the water. The purified water is then circulated back to the fish.

At Aqua Vita, row upon row of grow beds are stacked in tiered systems resembling bunk beds in a 13,000 square foot building that was once part of the Oneida Limited manufacturing facility in Sherrill.

The advantages of aquaponic growing are many, Doherty says: It uses far less energy and far less water than traditional agriculture. The food is fresh, tasty and pesticide free, designed to be used in surrounding communities, so it doesn’t travel far.

Thanks to aquaponic growers, even if it’s snowing outside – and the first of our local tomatoes are still months away – you can enjoy fresh, local greens in your salad bowl.

The greens on plate or on your sandwich at Turning Stone Resort and Casino and restaurants like Circa in Cazenovia this time of year are probably from Aqua Vita Farms. Aqua Vita's tilapia, meanwhile, has been featured on the menu at The Tailor and the Cook, in Utica.

The “clamshell’’ containers of Boston lettuce you’ve seen at stores such as Wegmans, Tops and the Syracuse Real-Food Co-Op? Those are from Ithaca’s Finger Lakes Fresh Food Hub. The supple spring mix and bright butterhead lettuce that may have caught your eye at the Central New York Regional Market this winter is probably from Main Street Farms, Homer, or Refresh Farms, East Syracuse. 

Jamie O’Hern, who owns Refresh Farms and runs the emerging venture with help from family and friends, harvests her lettuce early each Saturday morning and brings it to the market. She usually sells out before noon.

“It doesn’t get any fresher than that,’’ O’Hern says. “The taste is amazing.’’

Six ounces of lettuce packed in an eco-friendly bag with the root ball still attached costs $3. Stored properly, it will last for almost a week. The whole fish on ice at her market stall is equally fresh: That’s the tilapia raised in tanks as part of the aquaponic process. The tilapia sells for $5 a pound.

“Most people have never seen what tilapia really looks like,’’ O’Hern says.

It’s pretty new to O’Hern, too. Tilapia is firm fleshed, mild flavored and versatile – it can be adapted to many styles of cooking. The tilapia raised in aquaponics reach full maturity (one and a half to two pounds) in about a year.

O’Hern got her introduction to aquaponics at Sunset Hydroponics and Home Brewing in Syracuse, where she worked as a manager. She grew tomatoes, basil and lettuce in the basement of her family’s house in Syracuse before moving to a small space in the building occupied by Syracuse Tile and Marble in East Syracuse.

She says with a smile that she learned how to fillet fish by watching a YouTube video. She recommends that customers bake the tilapia whole. Clean and scale the fish, slit it in several spots and marinate it for a short time in a vinaigrette dressing made with oil, vinegar and mustard. Stuff the cavity of the tilapia with herbs and bake it in a sealed foil pouch (or parchment paper) until the fish flakes easily with a fork – about 18 to 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

O’Hern, who also works part-time as a server at Ironwood Pizza in Manlius, has high hopes for the future of aquaponic farming – and for Refresh Farms.

She would like to build a greenhouse aquaponic system to reduce the use of artificial lighting and add solar panels to the building to help reduce electrical expenses. She also would like to add more grow beds in order to supply restaurants with fresh produce. She also would like to help restaurants grow their own food.

“I don’t have it all figured out,’’ she says, “I’m learning a lot as we go, by trial and error.

“I do think this is a lot better way to grow food. We need to rethink how we farm. This is more sustainable.’’

Note: There are several aquaponic farms of varying sizes in Central New York and the Finger Lakes. Most welcome visitors and offer education programs.  Some, like Aqua Vita Farms, offer aquaponics training and consulting. Call or email to inquire about visitor programs and rates.

Do you know of an aquaponic grower not included here? Please leave details in a comment (below) so I can add them. Thank you!

Aqua Vita Farms, Sherrill

Phone: 315-941-3535; email, [email protected]

Products: Lettuce and other salad greens; Swiss chard, sorrel; basil and other herbs; pea shoots; tilapia

Retail: Oneida County Public Market; Westmoreland Summer and Winter Farmers Markets; Arnie’s Produce and Craig’s Kegs, Oneida.

 

Refresh Farms, East Syracuse

Products: Butterhead lettuce, green and red romaine, basil, pac choi; tilapia

Phone: 315-447-4315; email, [email protected]

Retail: Central New York Regional Market (Saturdays)

 

Main Street Farms, Homer

Products: Lettuces, spring mix, Swiss chard, kale, herbs, etc.

Phone: 607-218-2101; email: [email protected]

Retail: Syracuse Real Food Cooperative, Natur-Tyme, Green Planet Grocery, Central New York Regional Market and other locations.

 

Finger Lakes Fresh, Ithaca

Products: Boston lettuce, romaine, arugula, baby pac choi, salad bouquet

Phone: 607-347-6767; email: [email protected]

Retail: Wegmans, Price Chopper, Tops, Syracuse Real Food Cooperative, Green Planet Grocery

Winter salad with Refresh lettuce