👩‍🌾 a great lunch for great farmers

notes from a happened-to-be-vegan feast

A couple of Wednesdays ago I picked up the donations from Long Season Farm, which I do nearly every Wednesday afternoon. These donations include whatever produce LSF didn’t sell at their weekend markets (if you’re in the Hudson Valley, find them in Kingston on Saturdays, Beacon on Sundays and Ellenville on Wednesdays*).

I usually bring these donations to our local food pantry and/or to Emmet’s kitchen to turn the produce into meals for one of the free fridges in Kingston.

But a couple of week’s ago, there wasn’t a ton of produce to donate and I had a free afternoon, so I decided to just turn it all into lunch for the LSF crew.

So today I thought it’d be fun to walk you through what I brought from the farm to my kitchen, and then back to the farm for lunch.

All of the way down, below the paywall, are more specific cooking notes for what I cooked!!

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*FALL WEDNESDAYS IN ELLENVILLE, NY!!

Just some fun news!! Starting next week, I’ll be running Long Season Farm’s Ellenville market booth for the rest of the season. If you happen to be in the area on a Wednesday this fall, please come say hi! We can chat all things farming and cooking (and if you want to bring a cookbook for me to sign, I’d be delighted to).

The market is right in the center of Ellenville at 11 Market Street and is from 4p until 7p every Wednesday. There are other great vendors, fun music + SNAP benefits are welcome.

Want to make a real day out of it? Go visit the Borscht Belt Museum, buy a book and have a snack or a sandwich at The Common Good, check out the very cool Alpana Bawa, take a hike up at Sam’s Point (the ice caves!)….there’s a lot to do in Ellenville!

Me at last week’s Ellenville Farmers Market representing LSF! I don’t know why I was leaning back so far?! Anyway, I’ll be there every Wednesday starting next week through the end of October (4p - 7p). Come by!

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BACK TO THE FARM LUNCH I MADE WITH FARM LEFTOVERS!

» WHAT I WAS WORKING WITH

PICTURED ABOVE

• 1/2 dozen bunches of rainbow chard

• 1/2 dozen cucumbers

• 1/2 dozen bunches of scallions

• a heaping quart sheet pan’s worth of small eggplant (a few different varieties)

• not from Long Season Farm, but pictured here: 1 pound of Rancho Gordo chickpeas I happened to be soaking with no plan of what I was going to make with them….

NOT PICTURED BUT ALSO USED

• also from LSF: red and yellow spring onions, garlic, a bunch of parsley

• a few other things: olive oil, spices, vinegar, tahini, za’atar, lemons, ingredients for rice pilaf (rice, spaghetti, butter, BTB)

» WHAT I ENDED UP MAKING

• a big pot of spiced rice pilaf

• cucumber, chickpea + pickled onion salad

• braised chard with scallions + chile flakes

• grilled eggplant with za’atar

• tahini sauce with parsley + lemon

And a quick note about something that’s always on my mind and I’m sure on yours, too: I can’t cook + share Levantine-inspired food (za’atar! baharat! chickpeas! tahini!) without thinking about the places these flavors come from. And all of the people currently trying to survive in those war-torn places, not to mention the thousands of people who have lost their lives in truly horrific ways. It costs me nothing to acknowledge that, plus it reminds me that cooking is a tether to the rest of the world. It also catalyzes me to give money to organizations that are feeding people on the ground (like PCRF and WCK) and to try my best continue to feed the communities I am part of.

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SOME MORE LUNCH PHOTOS FOR YOU!

» THE GREENS!

» THE RICE!

» THE SAUCE!

» THE CUCUMBER + CHICKPEA SALAD!

» THE EGGPLANT!

» MY PLATE!

» DESSERT!

Some other farmer friends picked up ice cream, cones and sprinkles…heaven!

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And today for paid subscribers: notes on everything I cooked!!

• a big pot of spiced rice pilaf

• cucumber, chickpea + pickled onion salad

• braised chard with scallions + chile flakes

• grilled eggplant with za’atar

• tahini sauce with parsley + lemon