Bacon, Poached Egg, Asparagus and Brie Toast

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This recipe was created for the Mill City Farmers Market as a part of their Farmer’s Stories. It follows my previous post A Visit to the Shepherd’s Way Farm where I visited the Read’s family and their Shepherd’s Way Farm. I was beyond excited and honored to be able create something for my most beloved Minneapolis Farmers Market as the Mill City Farmers Market has been my place of joy, my community, and my source of amazing local foods and goods. It was a true pleasure for me to work with the Read’s family and their Shepherd’s Way Farm, and I hope you enjoy my story about them and this recipe.

The ingredients of this recipe celebrate both the abundance of the Shepard’s Way Farms and the Mill City Farmers market. Bread from Baker’s Field. Cheese, bacon and eggs from Shepard’s Way Farms – alternatively, eggs and bacon from Sunshine Harvest Farm. Asparagus from Bean Market, Prairie Hollow Farm or many of the other farmer’s stands at the market.

This recipe is so easy to make and it feels luxurious at the same time. The melted morel mushrooms brie over the crunchy toast compliments the lemony-roasted asparagus so well. And the smoky bacon and soft poach egg on top make the whole experience so decadent and worth savoring every bite.

Bacon, Poached Egg, Asparagus and Brie Toast

Makes 4 large toasts

Ingredients:

• 4-6 bacon slices
• 1 bunch of asparagus, ends trimmed
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt and black pepper
• Juice of 1 lemon, divided
• 4 sourdough slices (such as Baker’s Field Table Bread)
• 1 large garlic clove, peeled and sliced in half
• 1 chunk of Shepherd's Way Farms Morcella cheese (or another brie-style cheese), sliced in 4 slices
• 4 eggs
• Fresh thyme leaves for topping

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F

2. Place bacon on a foil-lined baking tray and bake for 9-10 minutes. Flip bacon slices over and bake for additional 2 minutes, or until lightly golden and crispy. Place cooked bacon on a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.

3. Increase oven temperature to 450F

4. On a baking sheet, toss the asparagus with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and
   pepper. Transfer to the oven and roast for 15 minutes, or until asparagus edges are slightly browned. When done, pull the tray out the oven, pour half of the lemon juice over the asparagus and toss to evenly coat. Set the asparagus tray aside.

5. On a separate baking sheet, place the bread slices and lightly brush them with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Transfer to the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Flip the bread slices over, with your fingers, rub the top of each toast with the garlic clove. You will see the cloves get smaller as the garlic is dispersed, pushed into the bread. Add a slice of brie to each toast, return to the oven and cook 5 more minutes or until the brie is melted. 

6. While the bread and asparagus are cooking, make the poached eggs. Heat a medium saucepan of water over low heat until just simmering. Add the remaining lemon juice, a couple of pinches of salt and use a wooden spoon to create a gentle whirlpool. Crack 1 egg into a small bowl and gently add to the water. Poach for 4-5 minutes or until the egg white is cooked and the yolk is still runny. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Repeat with the remaining eggs by heating the water up again until simmering after each egg.

7. To serve, top each toast with asparagus and bacon pieces torn in thirds. Add a poached egg, and sprinkle with fresh thyme, salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

A Visit to the Shepherd's Way Farm

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This article was written for the Mill City Farmers Market as a part of their Farmer’s Stories. I was beyond excited and honored to be able create something for my most beloved Minneapolis Farmers Market. Mill City Farmers Market has been my place of joy, my community, and my source of amazing local foods and goods. It was a true pleasure for me to work with the Read’s family and their Shepherd’s Way Farm, and I hope you enjoy my story and images.

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It takes a special person to be a farmer. It takes someone who can see and appreciate the wisdom and the beauty of nature. Someone who can see themselves as part of nature and not as the center of it. A person that can think creatively and use that creativity to share nature’s gifts with the world. Someone who is passionate and determined. And someone who chooses to see all the good things that come with the work, without denying the hardships and the challenges of the calling. It’s a balancing act of having one foot in reality and making smart business decisions, and another foot in passion and creativity – two opposite worlds that most of us find very challenging to balance.

Jodi and Steven Read from Shepherd’s Way Farms embody these qualities and live them out on a daily basis. Their passion for farming, their animals, and the cheese that Jodi makes is evident in everything they do – from how freely their animals roam in the open green fields, to the grass the sheep eat and the life they live. Everything on Shepherd’s Way Farms goes through the creative path of transformation. It starts with the air and land, back to the animals and the milk they give, all the way to Jodi – who like a magician transforms the milk to an amazing cheese, which in return with Steven’s marketing skills makes its way to our homes and tables. As the Read’s say: good milk makes good cheese. And good cheese is good for our bodies. 

The Read’s farming journey started in1994. They left their nine-to-five jobs and created a new life for themselves. Neither of them came from a family of farmers, or knew how to farm. They learned on the go as they fully dove into farming. The Reads started as milk farmers and out of necessity in the years to follow Jodi took the plunge of cheese-making. Talking to Jodi one can feel her passion and excitement for cheese-making. She has such a great sense of curiosity for learning, which combined with her creativity gives life to the Shepard’s Way Farm’s award-winning cheeses. 

Transforming milk to cheese is a process unknown to many of us, and it’s so fascinating to learn that what turns the same milk into different types of cheeses is a combination of many factors such as, temperature, size of curds, type of culture, different salting and aging processes. Change, add, or subtract one of the steps and you get different cheese. One can feel Jodi’s respect for the milk her sheep give, and when asked how often she attempts to make a new cheese she explains that “When I want to make a new cheese I go through extensive research beforehand. I don’t want to waste any milk by making a mistake. Even if I make a mistake, I want it to be an edible (by my family) mistake.” It is striking and humbling to see how Read’s respect and appreciation of nature’s gifts keeps being the guiding philosophy in everything they do, small or big.

The Read’s choose the farming life as a way to be close to nature and to witness the growth of their sons. Everyone is involved in helping with the family business as their three sons work around the farm or sell the cheese at Farmers markets. It is hard not to notice how much pride they have in the fabulous cheeses that Jodi makes. And Steven Read, as the other half of the Shepherd’s Way Farm, has been the balancing force between great farm products and smart business decisions. He has been the face at their stand at the Mill City Farmers market for many years, and it is hard not to notice how proud and passionate he is about all their farming goods. His passion is so contagious when talking to him it makes you want to buy all of the cheeses as well as their recent additions of chicken and duck eggs, honey and meats. 

To meet the Reads and chat about cheese and anything farming, stop at their stand at the Mill City Farmers market where you can find their full selection of farm goods. And if you want to experience their deliciousness in all its forms try the recipe in my next blog post which includes their seasonal Morcella Cheese, bacon, and eggs.

Turnip Rock Farm / Part 2

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This is the second part of the Turnip Rock Farm visit that Eliesa Johnson and I did back in July (I am slow to post...sorry my dear blog and lovely Turnip Rock people). Eliesa Johnson who is a wonderful photographer and a relentlessly positive and energetic person took the beautiful photos. And Josh and Rama, the warm hearted owners and farmers of Turnip Rock farm, opened their farm to us to explore and photograph.   

This is a special project for me mainly because I feel such a strong connection to the Turnip Rock Farm people. I have always believed in nature’s wisdom, natural processes and balance, where everything has its purpose and all the elements are interdependent. That is why I support and admire Turnip Rock farm’s mission where Josh and Rama strive to create an organic, sustainable farm with a whole ecosystem where each element of their farm is interdependent. They farm by balancing annual vegetables, natural habitat, grasses and trees with animals integrated into the fold. They grow 6 acres of produce and get supported by 160 CSA members. They also raise pigs, sheep and cows and from the milk Rama, the magician cheesemaker, makesa beautiful selection of soft and aged cheeses. Their love for growing and sharing their own food is so strong and anyone who encounters them feels that. They are a family of people who have a tremendous respect for the soil, their natural environment, resources, their produce and their lifestyle is a reflection of that. 

It always makes me happy to see Rama’s and Josh’s smiling faces at the farmers market. They radiate warmth and genuineness that are always present and that is what makes them wonderful to be around (I could sit and chat with them for longer than they probably want). While at their farm, I realized that they attract people with the same qualities to work with them. Everyone on the farm was so kind and welcoming to us. They even invited us to join them for a home-cooked farm lunch prepared by Liberty. In the world we live today I so often get disconnected form what is real and important and I feel that food has been one of them – it’s easy to forget how it is made and to take its vast availability all for granted. What I loved about that farm lunch (which I will always remember) was that it was made from produce picked fresh from the farm minutes before it was to be enjoyed. The lunch was fresh and seasonal and it showed the loving and respectful relationship that every member of the Turnip Rock Farm had with the land and the gifts of nature. Liberty made us zucchini cakes with yogurt and cucumber sauce; arugula, potato and pesto salad; cucumber and quinoa salad all accompanied by a huge plate of Cosmic Wheel feta cheese, and to finish it Rama indulged us with the most amazing, finger-licking quark cheesecake (you can find the recipe in the previous post). I had eaten these dishes before but that day I felt like I discovered their taste all over again. Maybe it was the air, maybe the people or maybe the love and the care surrounding us is what made them so memorable and yummy. In the days after, I kept thinking about these wonderful people, their farm, the lunch and how lucky I was to be part of it. And every time this summer when I felt like being transported back to that day at the Turnip Rock Farm I made myself a huge batch of zucchini cakes, a plate of feta cheese and a big bowl ofthe wonderful warm potato, pesto, and arugula salad.

Photography by Eliesa Johnson

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To honor Turnip Rock Farm and their wonderful produce I picked a few of the vegetables that grew in season on their farm as well as some of Rama’s Cosmic Wheel soft and aged cheeses. I used the produce in 2 different ways to create 2 recipes that tell the story of the farm. One is a fresh beets and carrot salad with honey-lemon on a quark cheese crostini. And the second one is a savory bacon, eggs and kale tart with a cheese crust. 

This story is about community and being a part of one. And I hope with all my heart that you can find the strength to do the not-so-easy task of supporting and giving your time and energy to what is important to you. We are all connected in a beautiful web of people and their gifts of labor. And either that gift of labor comes in a form of a cheese, or vegetables, or a product, a service or a gesture of kindness, we all benefit from it. So support your community and you will be rich.

xoxo

Photography by Eliesa Johnson

Recipes

Beets and Carrots Salad Crostini

Makes about 20 crostini

Ingredients:

Dressing
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp caraway seeds

Crostini
• 1 baguette, sliced, brushed with olive oil and toasted in the oven
• 4 medium red beets, peeled and thinly sliced on a mandoline
• 3 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced on a mandoline
• 6 oz Cosmic Wheel Garlic Quark cheese (Goat cheese works too)
• A few sprigs of fresh dill

Directions:

1. Place all the dressing ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake until creamy.

2. In a medium bowl place the beets, carrots and dressing. Toss and let sit for 10 minutes. Taste and add more salt or honey if desired.

3. Assemble the crostini by spreading a dollop of Quark cheese on each piece. Top with a small amount of the beet salad and sprinkle with dill.

Bacon & Kale Tart with Cheese Crust

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

For crust
(Adapted from Donna Hay)
• 2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 150g cold unsalted butter, cut in small cubes
• 1/2 cup (60g) grated aged Cosmic Wheel cheese (any kind)
• 1/2 cup (40g) grated Parmesan
• 1 egg

For filling
• 10 strips of bacon
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 bunch of Dino kale, center vain removed and chopped
• 3/4 cup (200ml) cream
• 3/4 cup (200ml) milk
• 5 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup grated aged Cosmic Wheel cheese (any kind)
• 4oz (100g) Cosmic Wheel Garlic/Dill Quark
• Salt and black pepper

Instructions:

1. Place all crust ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process until the pastry comes together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.

2. While the cheese dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

3. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil (this will ensure easy clean up) and lay the bacon strips. Bake for 10 minutes, flip the bacon and bake for additional 5 minutes. Remove the bacon and lay on a plate lined with paper towel. Reserve 2 tbsp of the bacon drippings. When the bacon is cool, chop roughly and set aside.

4. Lightly grease the base and sides of a 9-inch (23cm) springform pan. Grate the pastry and press into the base and sides of the form going all the way to the top. Line the pastry with non-stick baking paper and fill with baking weights or uncooked rice or beans.

5. Place on a large oven tray and cook for 25 minutes. Remove the paper and weights and cook for another 5–10 minutes or until the pastry is lightly golden.

6. While the pastry is cooking, heat the preserved bacon fat in a medium non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 4–6 minutes or until soft. Add kale and cook for 2 more minutes or until wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

7. Place half of the kale, bacon and quark cheese in the pastry shell. In a medium bowl combine the eggs, cream, milk and grated aged cheese. Pour the egg mixture in the pastry shell and top with the remaining kale, bacon and quark cheese.

8. Reduce heat to 325°F (160°C). Bake the tart for 1 hour 15 minutes or until golden and set. Set aside to cool for 30 minutes before removing from the spring form to serve.