From Farm to Table

Farmers play such a significant role in the culinary world. They provide the fresh and flavorful ingredients chefs use to create eye-pleasing and mouth-watering dishes. Without them, we wouldn’t have miniature potatoes, candy-striped beets, or geometrically-shaped cauliflower. 

The farmer-chef relationship is often overlooked, but a local culinary school took some time at last week’s market to remind us all how important farming is.

Axel Dirolf is a chef and teacher at the Art Institute of California Culinary School here in San Diego. He studied at a culinary institute in Germany and is now sharing his love of food with aspiring chefs. His class, called “From Farm to Table,” focuses on bringing chefs back to the roots of cooking.

“For 20 years, we’ve had food brought to the kitchen,” Dirolf said. “We’ve lost track of where food actually comes from.”

Dirolf had his students go to a farm and dig potatoes (something market manager does every day) and really learn about the process and passion involved with growing food.

“You can taste the difference when you pick up a or a flower bean and you bite into it on the farm,” Dirolf said. “It’s a completely different taste."

Dirolf brought his students to the farmers market to reinstate the sense of sustainability and promote the movement known as “slow food,” which basically encourages people to shy away from fast food and learn to love food that’s good for you and the planet.

“One of the challenges we took on, with Mary’s help, is to go to a local farmers market to taste the food from the farmers,” Dirolf said.

The culinary students had $20 to spend on fresh market fare and then 15 to 20 minutes to prepare a dish with those ingredients. For anyone who watches the popular show Top Chef, this was the equivalent of a “Quickfire Challenge.” Perhaps the most challenging part of this assignment was the lack of found at the market.

“We’re always looking for a protein to be the highlight of the food,” Dirolf said. “It’s always about the ! But we’re going back to basics and taking some of Mary’s and making something fun with them.”

The chef students pulled their dishes off seemingly with ease. Innovative dishes like zucchini latkes and beet Carpaccio were presented beautifully. One chef made her own pasta and a pastry chef baked homemade macaroons with the fresh that are in abundance at the market right now.

“This is not only for the students,” Dirolf said, “but also for the customers at the market to get inspired.”

And inspiration was definitely achieved. Market-goers flocked from table to table to view all the dishes and ask questions. People got ideas for new recipes and ingredients they wouldn’t normally buy. One customer, Coronadan Michelle Lang, couldn’t resist buying beets for her own beet Carpaccio after viewing the demo.

“To get all of the foods they’re using and be inspired is a great idea!” Lang said.

Hillebrecht says she hopes to have this be a quarterly event, not just for the market customers, but for the actual chef students.

“We would like [the chefs] to be comfortable in a farmers market setting,” Hillebrecht said. “I want them to know they can hit up a farmer for something that’s going to taste good. I want them playing with our food!”

If you missed out on the demo this week, Chef Dirolf will be at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar this summer, teaching a cooking class, so keep an eye out for him in June. We also snagged the recipe for chef-in-training Brandon Janik’s zucchini latkes with almond pesto for you to try out yourself. Hopefully it will inspire you to take ingredients from our local farms to your table.

Zucchini Latkes

• 3 eggs, beaten
• ½ cup flour
• ½ tsp. each salt and pepper
• 3 cups zucchini, shredded (squeeze out any moisture)
• ¼ cup onions, diced
• 1 Tbsp. garlic, chopped
• EVOO, for frying

The How-to

1. Mix all ingredients, except EVOO, together in bowl.
2. Using an ice cream scooper, scoop out balls of the mixture into a hot frying pan filled with ¼-inch of EVOO.
3. Fry for about one minute on each side, or until golden.

Almond Pesto

• ¼ cup almonds
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup fresh basil
• ½ cup grated parmesan
• ½ cup EVOO

The How-to

1. Throw everything but the EVOO into a food processor and pulse until chopped into small pieces.
2. Turn food processor on and drizzle in the EVOO until well combined.
3. Serve on top of zucchini latkes.