Putting a face on local farmers

Emily Brooks, author of the newly published "Connecticut Farmer & Feast," showcasing 50 farmers throughout the state, and their locally grown produce, meats, seafood, cheeses and other specialty items, says she wrote this book to put a face to the food featured at our local farm stands and fine restaurants.

"Our farmers are heroes. Their stories are very valuable," Brooks says. "Farms, agriculture and sustainability is more in our consciousness, but it's painted with the same happy brush-you buy a tomato here or there at a farmer's market, but we still haven't gotten to the point where we know our growers by name."

Brooks is a passionate and active participant in the local food movement. The Woodbury resident is the founder of Edibles Advocate Alliance (edibleadvocatealliance.org), founder and director of Bridges Healthy Cooking School and creator of Buy Local Connecticut.

She's very concerned by the rate at which Connecticut's farmland is disappearing due to residential and commercial development: roughly 8,000 acres a year.

"Once it's gone, it's gone," she notes. "Agriculture is one of the most important revenue generators in the state."

She also points out that eating locally grown and harvested food is healthier and tastier than consuming food that's shipped from long distances.

"Studies have proven that smaller scale tending of the land produces higher nutrient content food," she says. "The closer to you the food is grown, the longer it has to naturally ripen and mature on the vine-and the less care it needs in transport."

Describing farming as an art form, Brooks stresses, "All farms look totally different, the farmers are totally different-their farming values, passions, and how they steward the land is exceedingly different."

The book is divided by county and includes farms in each section that she says "would be diverse enough to sustain you if you were to not venture outside your own county."

In addition to detailed profiles of the farmers, accompanied by full color photos, Brooks has included two to three recipes featuring food grown by each producer that she's personally created and tested.

"I named the recipes after the farmers to celebrate our agricultural producers," she says. "There's a really good mix in the book. If you're a very accomplished cook, a busy mom and have 20 minutes to cook, or don't know how to cook-there are recipes for you. I wanted to make it user-friendly to get the books into as many hands as possible for the sake of our farmers."

For example, Brooks says, the impetus for the easy to prepare but sophisticated recipe for Bomster's Bay Scallops with Smoked Salmon Sauce was the bay scallops that are a specialty of the Bomster's family-owned Stonington Seafood Harvesters, coupled with the "fantastic" salmon they sell in their store.

"They're mandated how many days per year they can fish for scallops, so when they're not out on fishing runs, they pack and store and sell other local fishermen's fish," she explains.

"The (recipe) is a way to marry the two (scallops and salmon). It's rich and succulent and filling enough to have with a salad and be satisfied."

Peter's Curried Egg Salad, using dairy products from Cedar Meadow Farm in Ledyard, is a an updated version of the old standby. Brooks incorporates dried apricots, fresh spinach, curry powder and whole-milk yogurt in her recipe.

"The best way to make egg salad is with yogurt," she says. "You can put anything you want in yogurt; it's a great flavor sponge. And it's so much healthier than mayonnaise-local yogurts have so much calcium, minerals, vitamins and much less calories."

Brooks says one of the reasons she included Cedar Meadow Farm in the book was because it's so unusual. Julia and Brian Cronin didn't inherit a farm or buy an existing property-they built their farm from scratch. After learning that their son Peter had severe food allergies to commercially produced dairy, soy and eggs, they quit their professions, sold their four-bedroom home and started raising food that Peter, now a preteen, can eat without adverse reactions.

"They cleared out a wooded lot, and like a little Garden of Eden, (acquired) animals that all have a specific purpose and built a farm around that like you would have in the 1700s," Brooks says.

Staehly Pear Chestnut Puree, inspired by "the wonderful orchard" at the East Haddam farm, "was a way to bring a little of our Connecticut heritage into the book," Brooks says. "Chestnut puree goes back to the 1800s."

Pears are temperamental to cook with and most chestnut recipes require upwards of 4 to 6 hours of cooking time, Brooks points out, so she wanted to provide people with an easier recipe and open up the interest in chestnuts, as there are quite a few purveyors in the state.

The puree, she says, makes a great side dish-a novel alternative to baked squash or roasted turnips.

"You can serve it with Thanksgiving turkey or in the summer with lamb off the grill."

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Bomster's Bay Scallops with Smoked Salmon Sauce

8 large bay scallops

Sea salt and pepper

4 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 ounce smoked salmon, shredded

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh chives

Generously salt and pepper the bay scallops. Sauté scallops in butter, turning often, until browned and cooked through. Remove scallops to a platter.

In a separate bowl, combine balsamic vinegar, salmon, and chives. Add to the hot pan and cook, whisking vigorously to loosen browned bits, about 20 seconds. Immediately pour over scallops and serve.

Serves 4

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Peter's Curried Egg Salad

6 large eggs

½ cup whole-milk yogurt

¼ cup dried apricots, diced small

2 teaspoons curry powder

2 teaspoons apple cider

¼ cup minced fresh spinach

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Place eggs in 4-quart saucepan; cover with 1 inch of water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes. Place pan in sink and flood with cold running water for about 5 minutes, or transfer eggs to bowl filled with water and ice cubes. When eggs are cool, peel and dice.

In separate bowl, combine all other ingredients. Add eggs, and mix to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until flavors meld and apricots soften.

Serves 4

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Staehly Farms Pear Chestnut Puree

40 fresh chestnuts, shelled and peeled

2 cups low-sodium chicken stock

2 teaspoons maple syrup

1 cinnamon stick

6 pears, cored and diced

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

cup butter

Sea salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine chestnuts, chicken stock, maple syrup, and cinnamon stick in medium stockpot. Simmer over medium-low heat, covered, for about 45 minutes. Drain chestnuts in a colander, reserving the liquid. Set chestnuts aside, discarding cinnamon stick.

2. Dice pears and immediately toss in tapple cider vinegar to prevent discoloration.

3. Melt butter in hot stockpot, and add pears. Sauté until browned.

4. Puree chestnuts and buttered pears in food processor, adding just enough reserved cooking liquid to enable blades to turn. Work puree through wide-mesh strainer with wooden spoon into a serving dish. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Serves 6