What does Slow Food and Slow Fashion have in common? Everything! Just as we want to know where our food comes from and how it’s grown, the same applies for the clothing we wear and textiles we use. Just as industrial farming has an impact on the environment, so does the clothing and textile industry.

In the Spring, Stone Edge Farm teamed up with Sasha Duerr from the Permacouture Institute to present a collaboration entitled ” Foraging for Fashion:The Slow Food Connection” presented at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. Sasha and I spent an afternoon at Stone Edge foraging for wild and cultivated plants to use in the demonstration.I created wonderful and natural things to eat such as acorn pancakes, ricotta gnocchi with Calendula petals, and foraged wild greens and flower salad. Sasha used the same plants to create beautiful natural dyes for napkins, tablecloths, and runners.

Sasha has recently released a book entitled “The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes”. It is filled with photographs and recipes for making the dyes. In fact, it is very much like a cookbook except you don’t eat what you prepare! That’s where I get involved and is why the combination of food and fashion resonates so well together. It is an easy alliance that draws from the same source-the natural world.

We recently combined our efforts to further explore this connection at Stone Edge Farm on a recent brilliantly clear fall day.A small group of serious natural dye aficionados and textilistas showed up at the farm to take Sasha’s class “Fall Color Harvest”.Our new gardener, Colby Eierman, joined the search for fruits and plants to use in the dyeing while I scoured the landscape for enticing ingredients to use in the preparation of lunch.While the participants were cooking up the dyes from grapes, olives, and oaks, I was creating lunch that included the same ingredients. In the end we all sat down to an alfresco lunch under the trees enjoying some Stone Edge Farm Cabernet!

Zucchini Fritters and Curry Crème Fraîche

Serves 6

Fritters:

1 pound zucchini, grated

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 bunch spring onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon chopped mint

1 teaspoon chopped cilantro

1 roasted red pepper, finely diced

1/3 cup oil for frying

salt and pepper to taste

Mix zucchini with the kosher salt and let rest 1/2 hour. Drain, and squeeze out all excess water. Spread out on a paper towel to dry. Mix zucchini with eggs, red pepper, herbs and onions . Add flour and mix well. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Heat a large, non-stick skillet over a medium high heat. Add oil. Drop heaping teaspoon size of the mixture in the oil and flatten slightly. Fry 2 minutes on each side and drain on a paper towel.

Crème Fraîche:

Start at least one day ahead. Sterilize a pint jar. Heat 1 cup cream to 85° F. Pour cream into the jar and stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons cultured buttermilk. Cover the jar loosely with foil and set in a warm place for 24 hours. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before using. When ready to serve, add 1/2teaspoon curry powder, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and 1 clove minced garlic.

Ok, now to balance out the fried little nuggets of goodness, here is my recipe for shaved raw zucchini salad.It’s not really a recipe, more of a technique for using up an overabundance of summer squash. First, I wipe clean a pound of zucchini with a towel and trim both ends, keeping the shape intact.Place zucchini in a bowl of ice water and let thoroughly chill in the refrigerator. Remove from water and dry. Shave into very thin slices on a Japanese mandoline, called by Benrinner. Place in a large bowl. Sprinkle with sea salt, pepper, 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, juice of one lemon, 1 tablespoon of capers and several julienne slices of preserved lemon. Toss it all up and serve or artfully arrange on a platter to create a piece of food art! There are many variations possible including adding chopped fresh mint, arugula, toasted almonds and a little piment d’espelette.

Here is a recipe I created for my upcoming class at the cooking school at Rancho La Puerta in Mexico.

Asparagus and Arugula Salad with Roasted Mushrooms

This is actually a warm salad that needs to be served promptly when assembled. Like all warm salads, timing is crucial so the delicate leaves of salad don’t wilt. Also, with warm salads, a light touch with dressing is imperative to its success.

Serves 4:

Preheat oven to 375ºF

Roasted Vegetables:

1/4 pound of mushrooms such as shiitake, oyster, crimini, or champignons-wiped clean and thickly sliced

1/4 pound of thick asparagus spears, cut into 2 inch pieces on the bias

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon Stone Edge Farm Manzanillo olive oil

1 teaspoon chopped thyme

2 teaspoons chopped flat leaf parsley

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Mix well and roast in oven for 10-15 minutes, keep warm

Salad:

1/4 pound arugula

2 ounces of shaved dry cheese such as Parmesan, dry jack, or pecorino

Dressing:

1 tablespoon Meyer lemon juice

1 tablespoon orange juice

1 tablespoon tamari

2 teaspoons champagne vinegar

2 tablespoons Stone Edge Farm  Manzanillo olive oil

Shake dressing ingredients in a glass jar vigorously.Lightly dress vegetables with some of the dressing and arrange on salad plates. Dress arugula separately and mound on top of vegetables. Shave cheese on top.

There is nothing more enticing than the aroma of slow cooked meat on a cold winter day.

. The principles of braising are the same for any kind of meat and mastering this form of cookery is attainable for every cook. Seasoning the meat the day before deepens the flavor and helps insure a more succulent result. After several hours in the oven, this hearty pork shoulder is fork tender and virtually makes its own sauce.

Serves 6

1 -3-4 pound pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and membrane

1/2-tablespoon kosher or 1-tablespoon sea salt

1- 1/2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper

2 tablespoons oil

2 medium onions, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 medium carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped

4 garlic cloves, peeled

1/2 bunch fresh thyme

1 sprig fresh rosemary

2 bay leaves

1-quart rich chicken stock

2 cups Surround

The day before:

Rub salt evenly on meat and season with the pepper. Cover and store covered in the refrigerator. The next day take out of the refrigerator a few hours before cooking.

To cook the pork :

Pre-heat oven to 350º F

Place a heavy roasting pan or enameled braising pot over medium high heat. Add oil and brown meat evenly on all sides. Transfer pork to a plate. Reduce heat to medium-low and add vegetables. Cook slowly until vegetables are nicely brown, stirring often. Add wine, stock and herbs and bring back to medium high heat. Scrape bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to dislodge any brown bits. Boil until liquid is reduced by 1/3. Return pork to the pan and cover with foil and place in oven. After 15 minutes reduce temperature to 250º F. Let meat braise undisturbed for at least 3hours. Begin checking doneness by inserting a fork in the meat and gently twisting. There should be only slight resistance. Continue cooking meat until it is fork tender. Carefully remove meat to a plate and cover with foil, Strain the cooking liquid and discard the vegetables. Bring to a boil and skim fat off the top with a ladle. Slice pork and serve with the sauce and white bean puree.

White bean puree:

1 pound white beans, soaked overnight and drained

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut in half

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, peeled

2 bay leaves

6 cups chicken, vegetable stock, or water

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Combine all the ingredients except the pepper in a large pot over a high heat. Bring to boil and then turn down to simmer partly cover for 1 1/2 – 2 hours or until beans are soft. Drain bean in colander, remove bay leaves, onion and garlic. Place beans in food processor and puree. Add any reserved cooking liquid to thin puree to desired consistency. Season with pepper and more salt if needed.

Chef’s notes:

If time is an issue, pre-seasoning the day before can be omitted, just season the meat and leave at room temperature for a few hours before cooking. Slow cooking is essential to the end result of this dish, however it is possible to shorten the cooking time by leaving the oven at 350º . The meat will be somewhat less succulent , but still delicious. Lamb shoulder or shanks would make a good substitution for the pork.

Acorns from oak trees was a staple of the diet of the Ohlone who lived in this area. Our resident naturalist, Kevin, has been collecting and processing acorns for a few years and I have been happily experimenting with cooking dishes with the finished acorn flour. It has a nutty and rich flavor with a hint of bitterness.I have found that mixing the flour with other ingredients such as potato or celery root round out the flavor. My favorite dish is a potato,celery root, and acorn rösti-I serve it with some smoked salmon or trout,sour cream, and apple-horseradish compote.

This year, with Kevin’s help, I decided to learn to make acorn flour myself. It was not difficult-just a little time-consuming.I started by collecting the biggest acorns I could find. The quality,size, and condition varies from tree to tree and year to year. Next, I used a small paring knife to make a small cut lengthwise on each acorn and then removed the shell.

It is important do cut away any part of the acorn that is damaged by insects.I then ground the acorns in a food processor,but not too fine. I put the ground acorns into a pot, filled it with water, brought it to a boil,and then turned off the heat and let it cool.I repeated the process three more times,changing the water each time. This process leaches out the tannin that occurs naturally in acorns. I drained the acorn meal one last time and spread out on a sheetpan and let dry overnight in the oven set at 150℉. The next day I ground the rock hard acorn nuggets into flour in my grain mill. I was rewarded with nourishing wild food that adds something truly unique to the Stone Edge experience.

We set aside two full days just for canning tomato sauce. This has been a very cool summer in Sonoma-so cool that we didn’t get ripe tomatoes until late July. Besides eating fresh tomatoes in every way possible, I like to conserve their fruity goodness through canning. I prefer making sauce instead of the whole tomatoes because the flavor is more concentrated and when you have a pantry full, space is at a premium. We have a few other preservation methods for tomatoes-one is to cut them in half and put them in the dehydrator for several hours until dry but still soft and leathery. The other is to slow roast cut tomatoes with olive oil and salt for several hours and then freeze in plastic bags.

We acquired a new steam juicer mostly to make apple juice. We have a dozen or so beautiful apple trees that give us way too many apples all at the same time. Eduardo is busy making apple juice in the most efficient and simple method for turning fruit into juice. The apples are gently steamed for about 30 minutes in a special double boiler. When the fruit is soft, the juice flows out . We collect the juice and can it so we have a ready supply the rest of the year.

DUKKAH

Yield: 4 cups

Ingredients
1 cup sesame seeds
1 3/4 cups coriander seeds
2/3 cup blanched and skinned hazelnuts
1/2 cup cumin seeds
1 tablespoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F. Roast all seeds and nuts on a sheet pan for 15 -20 minutes until they just begin to get lightly colored. Allow to cool,add the salt and pepper and grind in small batches in a spice grinder or mortar. The idea is to grind them until crushed, but not so pulverized that it turns into a paste. You can try a food processor, but I couldn’t get the mixture fine enough. Add more salt if you desire.

]]> http://stoneedge.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/dukkah-recipe/feed/ 0 John McReynolds CIMG5011 http://stoneedge.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/stone-edge-open-house/ http://stoneedge.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/stone-edge-open-house/#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:18:27 +0000 John McReynolds http://stoneedge.wordpress.com/?p=354 ]]> We had our first open house at the winery recently and it was a big success. We joined with eight other wineries on Sonoma’s east side to offer a glimpse into our winemaking operation and pour some wine. Of course we can’t offer wine without something fresh from our farm to eat, so I was busy cooking and grilling all day.

It was a beautiful day that brought out the crowds who were eager to try some wine and stroll around to the different wineries. We were pouring our flagship estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Stone Edge Farm as well as a vertical tasting of our Surround blend-2004 through 2006. Michael from the shop created a beautiful table using a slab of wood from a single tree and our winemaker Jeff Baker explained the finer points his winemaking craft.

What food goes perfectly with our wine? Everyone agreed that the Moroccan marinated lamb chops with a slightly sweet and spicy red pepper-walnut sauce were a perfect match. We also made several salads with Stone Edge Farm organic vegetables including a beet salad  with Meyer lemon dressing and an arugula salad with citrus vinaigrette.

By the end of the day we had many new fans who were thrilled to discover  us. We will be doing it again on August 7th at our winery on Eighth Street East along with all the other Eighth Street Wineries.

]]> http://stoneedge.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/stone-edge-open-house/feed/ 0 John McReynolds Open House grilling SEF_MG_1628 the bar SEF_MG_1580 SEF_MG_1651 http://stoneedge.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/meyer-lemons/ http://stoneedge.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/meyer-lemons/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:11:00 +0000 John McReynolds http://stoneedge.wordpress.com/?p=298 ]]> Winter is the time for Meyer Lemons and citrus of all kinds, and our trees are at their peak of flavor right now. Unfortunately, we had some frost damage and some of the yellow orbs were damaged, but most of them survived beautifully. Meyer lemons are from China were “discovered” in 1908 and so named after Frank Meyer, who worked for the US Department of Agriculture as a plant explorer. The slightly sweet Meyer Lemon is a cross between the regular lemon and the Mandarin Orange. The skin is smoother than a regular lemon and has more juice and sweetness. In fact, I have chopped up whole Meyer Lemons, skin and all, and made a wonderful relish with our olive oil, shallots, and parsley, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper.

Preserved Lemons
Years ago, I worked in a kitchen with a woman from Morocco and I asked her what favorite cooking technique from her country she could teach me. So, I learned to make preserved lemons, which have become a favorite ingredient of mine and a perfect use for Meyer Lemons. Her recipe was somewhat time consuming, so I’m passing on Sonoma cookbook author Paula Wolfert’s recipe for seven day preserved lemons, which is quicker and easier. I use preserved lemons chopped in salads, salsa, and relishes.

Paula Wolfert’s Seven Day Preserved Lemons

Ingredients
4 large Meyer Lemons
2/3 cup kosher salt
1 cup fresh lemon juice
olive oil

Preparation
Dry lemons well and cut each into 8 wedges. In a bowl, toss wedges with salt and transfer to a 1 quart Mason jar. Pour lemon juice into jar, put on lid, and gently shake jar. Let lemons stand at room temperature 7 days. Shaking jar each day to redistribute salt and juice. Add 1/2 inch of olive oil and store in refrigerator for up to 6 months.