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Couple's Dreams Unite, Grow
Couple's Dreams, Unite, Grow
Farmers' Markets
DENISE MILLER
For the Albuquerque Journal
Jeffrey Lee knows baking. Elaine DiFederico knows horticulture.
This husband-and-wife team, also known as Hand to Mouth Foods, knows how to serve the best of both worlds to people at Albuquerque-area growers' markets.
"We're being driven by the market," explains Lee. "People are demanding fresher, tastier and interesting food, and it shouldn't only be possible to get this kind of food in restaurants."
They are happy to try to provide exactly what people want -- be it heirloom variety plant starts, pre-washed and ready-to-cook produce or beautiful baked goods made with their gardenfresh selections or purchased from other local producers.
Because they have a greenhouse, the cool weather doesn't stop the couple from springing into a season of fantastic, fresh food.
This month Hand to Mouth expects to have lettuce and salad mixes, arugula, cress, spinach, kale, collards, mustard greens, carrots, radishes, beets, kohlrabi, turnips, herbs, broccoli rabe, Chinese broccoli, radicchio, bok choy, pak choy, herbs and many starter plants.
If their fresh vegetables don't stop you in your tracks, Lee's pastries should. Consider his freshly baked galettes -- round, handformed French pastries packed with sweet or savory fillings. How about a sweet, gingerberry galette, or one filled with curried collards and tomato chutney? Perhaps you would rather take home some pecan biscotti or indulge in a cream scone.
Garden successes
Their passions for these pursuits are evident.
"Everyday when I'm cooking or baking, I'm thinking about what can I do with the materials that I have. It is incredibly stimulating and creative, sort of a mystery box exercise every day. When the materials are at their peak flavors they are so authentic. It's really a satisfying way to cook," says Lee.
DiFederico is equally as excited by greenhouse and garden successes. She enjoys offering market shoppers starter plants of everything they grow. "Part of the role of the market is to introduce new items to people and if we can help them grow things themselves, all the better," she says.
They moved to New Mexico from Oregon about two years ago and are just completing their first full market season.
Different direction
The two met while working as international economists in Washington, D.C., but they soon changed directions.
DiFederico was first, going to medical school and becoming a perinatologist. A teaching job at the University of New Mexico medical school was the impetus for their move. They live in Corrales on 1½ acres with an irrigation ditch nearby.
Lee, too, left economics to follow his dreams, first attending the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and later working at Ken's Artisan Bakery in Portland. Upon arriving in New Mexico, he learned about goat cheese by spending a kidding season with Nancy Coonridge at her farm in Pie Town. Now he buys local goats' milk to make fresh cheese filling for his galettes.
Currently Lee bakes at the South Valley community kitchen, but by summer, the commercial kitchen being built on their property should be complete.
At market Lee says he most appreciates frank customers. "Immediate feedback is wonderful, especially when I try making unusual things like putting summer squash in cookies or chocolate chip biscotti with zucchini," he says.
The parents of three grown children, Lee and DiFederico acknowledge that it takes patience and persistence to eventually turn their hobbies into their primary vocation. "Logistically, we have to use a very sharp pencil to make sure it works financially, but we would like to make this a long-term way of supporting and enjoying ourselves," says Lee. Market customers familiar with their products probably couldn't agree more.
SWISS CHARD PIE
When swiss chard is fresh, this tart makes a scrumptious light meal. Use your favorite pie pastry recipe or a pie shell from your grocer's freezer section.
Serves: 6
2 pounds swiss chard leaves, washed and drained
1 small onion, chopped in ¼-inch pieces
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup ricotta cheese
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg
Dash ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 8- or 9-inch pie shell, chilled or frozen
Preheat oven to 375F. Remove any tough stems from chard. Slice across leaves into ½-inch strips.
Sauté onions in butter until golden. Add garlic and chard. Cook with occasional stirring for about 5 minutes, All the liquid should evaporate. Set aside and cool to room temperature.
Combine ricotta, ¼ cup Parmesan, egg, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Add cooled chard mixture, combine. Fill pie shell.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons Parmesan over top. Bake at 375F for about 30 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is hot.
Put in a sub
Replace ¼ cup Parmesan with ¾ cup homemade basil pesto. Add ½ cup browned merguez (spicy lamb sausage) or other loose sausage
FEATURED GROWERS
Who: Elaine DiFederico and Jeffrey Lee of Hand to Mouth Foods
Featured foods: variety of vegetables, baked goods, starter plants
Where to Find Them: Corrales Growers' Market and Los Ranchos Growers' Market
