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Soil to Service

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May 15, 2019 By Christine Taylor Leave a Comment

The Fabled Fava

Some of the best things only happen once every year and so it is with the fabled fava bean. So many jokes and quite a bit of history come with this podded vegetable, not to mention the “time consuming” task of preparing them.

It’s so worth the arduous task of preparing “horse” beans as they are known in England and even better if the task is accompanied with a good bottle of Chanti! The Italians revered the arrival of the first protein so much that they celebrate with a national holiday and on every street corner fava bean vendors sell big bushels of the raw bean.

A quick internet search on the medicinal benefits of fava shows quite an impressive list: Dopamine production, fighting breast cancer, B Vitamins as well A, C and K. Fiber rich and helps to restore gut bacteria, immune booster and help lower cholesterol and heart disease. High in protein, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, copper, selenium, zinc and magnesium!

To prepare fava beans, cut off the tips of the pods (Step 1) with a sharp paring knife. Press along the seam to open the pod (Step 2) and expose the beans.

Lift out the beans (Step 3), then remove any small stems (Step 4) that remain attached. Each bean is covered with a tough skin that must be removed. This is much easier to do when the beans are blanched in boiling water for 30 seconds, then drained and plunged into ice water. (If the beans are boiled more than a minute they become mushy.)

Slit each skin with your fingernail; the bright green bean will pop out (Step 5). Fava beans may be added to soups or stews, buttered and served as a vegetable or tossed with vinaigrette for a salad.

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March 6, 2019 By Christine Taylor 1 Comment

Delicious Revolution

Alice Waters is more than the famed chef of Chez Panisse, she is a vocal advocate for the rights of seasonal real produce. The reason I admire her so deeply and resonate with her message is the way she opens to the public authentically and boldly speaks of a “delicious revolution”. Her book entitled The Art of Simple Food is the fundamental building block of cooking, and in my opinion an important force in the “delicious revolution” movement which is sweeping the globe. Simplicity is the key and underpins the fast paced, exhausted lifestyle we are trying to escape but don’t know how.

As the “delicious revolution” movement unfolds it uncovers a depth of flavor and intimacy that steam rolls deep into the belly of the beast. To create a simple meal from simple ingredients is an art that doesn’t require knowing how to make fancy sauces at all. Simple ingredients may simply be referred to as whole ingredients like vegetables and fruits, the building block of good health.

Taking the full effects of this “delicious revolution” into our kitchens we begin to weave back into our lives a thread of connection to the land and through the art of cooking express the seasonal abundance to it’s fullest, with benefit to all.

It’s common knowledge that vegetables are packed full of vitamins and minerals, but now we know through science that fruits and vegetables contain many important compounds that fight cancer, heart disease, diabetes and blood pressure. The “delicious revolution” puts eating at the fore front of your lives and quietly causes ripple effects in many directions. Good health is the most important affect that we can measure over time. Healthy soils equal healthy vegetables equal healthy people and food is medicine.

National Geographic researchers discovered and published recently that the average vegetable travels 5000 miles from source to consumption. Eating seasonally and sourcing from within your regional food shed is a radical revolutionary act to mitigate this serious environmental crisis. A tread lightly footprint is fueled by the delicious nature of the food that is procured in season, fresh and full of the health giving properties that your body needs, resounds of sustainability and creates true wealth.

With gratitude to Alice for bringing us the humility to look at ourselves and get back to simple living, not as a way to “pinch pennies” but as a way to greater abundance and freedom.

Filed Under: Restaurant Tagged With: delicious revolution, food as medicine

October 21, 2017 By Christine Taylor Leave a Comment

Honing inward

Simplifying life, as I understand it to be, is not about giving up but about honing in. Eric and I acquired chef’s knives for what lay ahead to be a busy season of catering that began in May with a graduation party and culminated throughout the summer season with 8 weddings and a handful of other celebrations. We maintained our two acre plus garden, kept the farm stand open three days a week, and continue to distribute over a 100 boxes of produce weekly to our surrounding communities in three counties. Phew!

It’s now fall, and the first rains have calmed the electrified air to a manageable tone. It’s time to simplify and begin to hone inward.  Meditating on all of this without attachment has been challenging. Turning off the mind and taking time to just “be” is the kind of deep meditation we need right now.

I have come to understand through years of entrepreneurship that change is the key to thriving and staying the same is the key to mere survival. We are committed to a “soil to service” approach that goes beyond farm to table, in much the same way that we are committed to a “beyond organic” approach with our farming. Once one enters into the food system literally through the act of planting seeds and emerges serving tasty, nourishing food it’s hard to ignore the connection. And in many ways, cooking has allowed us to come into full circle with what has been for us a 25 year farming journey of discovery.

Chef’s knives honed we are ready to embark on a food exploration journey and through the introspective time of winter we shall see what emerges.

For some of you more intimately connected on a regular basis with us through the purchasing of food you’ll be interested to know that as we move into the slower months we will be switching up to an every other week schedule. The farm stand will be paired down to open every other Thursday beginning November 2nd. CSA deliveries will coincide with this bi-weekly schedule as well. In addition we will be available for venue bookings and party catering opportunities into December.

Christine

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Soil to Service

Soil to service; microbes to microbes. Earth centered action inspires seasonal creations. Whether planting seeds, weeding crops, harvesting the abundance or creating seasonally inspired menus you'll find the thread of soil to service woven in our artistic expression. It's all about pure enjoyment with the highest most nutritious ingredients known to humanity!

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164 Highway 4
Murphys, CA 95247

(209) 728-9112
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Outer Aisle saved the day!! We needed a caterer for my mom’s memorial service that was being held in six days. Every caterer said they were totally booked due to the Grape Stomp event. Outer Aisle said they were involved in that event, but still would be able to provide food for our event. Christine was very easy to work with and she accommodated changes that I made throughout the week. I wish I would have taken pictures of the food because it was AMAZING! They set up everything, served, and cle…
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