Holiscious

A Visit to an Organic Farm

I don’t know how many of you have visited an organic farm but, if you haven’t, you might want to visit Blooming Hill Farms in Blooming Grove, NY (pictured here). They have a website if you’d like to see what they’re all about…. www.bloominghillfarm.com. And, I must say, it’s an amazing place to shop for the freshest, cleanest and healthful foods you can imagine. Not sure if you know how hard it is to work an organic farm. It’s hard, hard work to keep the little (and big) critters away from the plants. It’s much easier to spray with insecticides and other chemical products. But, who wants those chemicals in our bodies! If they kill the bugs, imagine what they can do to us!! Alan and I went to Blooming Hill on Sunday which was a cold, raw and rainy day. As we approached the front door of the barn, a gust of wind splashed water in our faces just in time for the wood burning stove to envelop us in a blanket of warmth as the barn door closed behind us. I cannot tell you how good it felt to hear the crackling of the flames dancing on the wood and to see so many people huddled around wooden crates filled with vibrant colored organic vegetables. There were purple and cranberry colored carrots, purple, yellow and light brown potatoes, green, orange, beige and yellow squash, pumpkins, turnips, too many greens to mention, apples the names of which you’ve never heard of and stalks of celery that spanned the length of the backseat of my car! Of course, I couldn’t resist buying one of just about everything I spotted. Oh…. and the garlic! I just can’t seem to get enough of it. They’re so much easier to peel than the garlic I buy in the supermarket and I can’t figure out why. And, some of the cloves are HUGE. If you’re like me, garlic is basically in every dish I make. And, it’s so healthy for you!

I know we all like recipes, and since cauliflower is abundant right now, here’s a simple recipe that everyone in your family will love. We keep passing down this recipe because you just can’t seem to get enough….

I’ve just been roasting it long and slow, letting it crisp up with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and sometimes garlic. Roasting really brings out its flavor. Cauliflower is somewhat of a neglected vegetable – maybe those big heads intimidate people. Cauliflower is really so easy to prepare, and it can work with lots of different flavors. This is a great recipe for easily using up a whole head, and a good introduction to this vegetable if you never know what to do with it.
Ingredients
1 head cauliflower, cut into chunks
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and pepper to taste
Method
1. Toss the cauliflower florets with olive oil, salt and pepper and arrange in a big baking dish. You can add some sliced or whole garlic cloves if you like.
2. Roast at 250F for about an hour, or until cauliflower is as done as you like it!
ENJOY!