A trip to Satur Farms on the North Fork
As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, Andrea, my garden editor from television and I went on a field trip to the North Fork of Long Island in search of plants and inspiration for new television segments. I called my friends, Eberhard Müller and his wife, Paulette Satur to ask if we might stop by their farm in Cutchogue for a visit. I first met Eberhard when he opened the famed New York City restaurant, Le Bernardin, along with Gilbert LeCoze. His fabulous work in the kitchen earned him four-stars from the New York Times. He later was the Chef of Lutece after Andre Soltner retired and then became the Executive Chef at Bayard's. Paulette was working successfully in New York City in the wine business.
Their lives began to change when they purchased a farm on the North Fork where they grew vegetables and herbs for Eberhard's restaurant. Friends and colleagues began asking if they could buy some of their beautiful produce. Paulette, who grew up on a farm and has a background in horticulture, decided to move to the farm and expand this new business and Eberhard eventually retired from the restaurant world to join her. Today, they farm 180 acres on the North Fork and have 150 acres in Florida. They are dedicated to growing the finest vegetables and culinary ingredients and it's admirable and so much fun to see how their business has grown.
I was so thrilled that Eberhard offered to cook lunch for me and my travelers. As you can imagine, lunch was fabulous with only the freshest of ingredients used. After a most pleasant dining experience, Eberhard and Paulette took us on a tour of their farm and facilities, which, by the way, are always expanding. Please enjoy these photos taken with my Canon G10.
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- Eberhard is so proud and happy with his farm.
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- This special machine chops lettuce into bite-size pieces.
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- This salad blend is all cut and ready for packing.
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- Paulette, Eberhard, and me outside their home
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- Braised leeks from the farm is an amazing vinaigrette
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- Perfect red radishes freshly pulled
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- Colorful local tomatoes
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- Eberhard sliced the radishes so thinly for this salad.
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- Pan seared sea bass – Eberhard bought the bass from Charlie, his favorite fish monger at Southold Fish Market.
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- Oven roasted Yukon gold potatoes from the farm, nicely seasoned with fresh herbs.
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- Eberhard baked this gooseberry desert – a recipe from his childhood in Black Forest, Germany. We debated whether to call it a pie or a cake.
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- Large jars of currants macerating in vodka – Eberhard will use these in his creations.
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- Impeccably fresh crisp cut salad blend was the base for our first course.
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- I admired these glasses that Paulette served water in. She laughed and said that they were from a Living magazine shoot when we did a story there.
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- The greens were tossed with a lemony vinaigrette and the radish salad was placed on top.
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- Here is Eberhard slicing bread for our lunch. The bread is from the Blue Duck Bakery blueduckbakerycafe.com in nearby Southold.
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- Eberhard topped the salad off with herbed goat cheese from the award-winning Catapano Dairy www.catapanodairyfarm.com in nearby Peconic.
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- Voila! The composed luncheon plate – on the left side of the plate are braised cippolini onions. The food was fabulous!
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- The gooseberry desert – It had a wonderful tart flavor and texture from the addition of pulverized almonds.
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- This machine is called a vacuum cooler. It chills newly picked greens to 34-degrees within 15 minutes, keeping them as fresh as possible for shipping.
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- Bins of greens are placed in this chamber for chilling.
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- This is a refrigerated packing room where produce is packed into boxes.
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- The Satur Farms logo
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- The size of this lettuce is amazing!
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- Bins and bins of tender mache
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- A gorgeous mound of chervil – I love this herb.
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- The quantity of fresh produce is astounding.
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- These little white domes are called blanching caps. They are placed on top of chicory heads to keep the centers of the plants white. Eberhard imports these caps from Europe.
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- Here are beautiful lettuces growing in the 140-acre field.
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- Row after row of very healthy vegetable plants.
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- This tractor is pulling a planting machine. The two workers sitting upon it position the seedlings, while the person following, sets them firmly in the ground.
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