A Trip To The Farriss Family Farm

I came back from Seattle revitalized and inspired as ever. Pike Place Market in July was like a dream for me with all the beautiful produce and bounty of summer. Stand after stand of gorgeous cherries, all sorts of berries, dairy farmers… Endless. I even tasted my first tayberries this weekend.

All of this reminded me of the trip we took to Farriss Family Farm a few weeks ago. Not much really grows in Florida in the summer, but their chickens are still laying beautiful eggs and you know how much I love eggs.

“We are going to go see the pregnant goat”, I told J. I don’t really know that he understood where we were going that morning. We arrived early, but the heat and humidity were already in full bloom. None of the animals seemed to be too bothered as the turkeys, chickens, roosters and goats were roaming around the property very content.

J. was quite taken by the turkeys and their loud sounds. Fascinated and frightened at the same time, he kept chasing them trying to finding out what all that skin hanging from their necks was. “It changes color”, he kept shouting.

We saw the pregnant goat who since then, has had her babies. We also watched a chicken lay an egg. Even got to hold it in our hands right afterwards, still warm. These are some of the things that were so normal to us when we were growing up and nowadays seem like such a luxury. What happened, I wonder. How did we get to this place where finding neighborhood eggs is so elusive.

The farm is best known for their amazing eggs. Making tortilla de patatas with those beautiful orange yolks puts me right back in my grandmother’s kitchen. But they also have gorgeous tomatoes, avocados, pineapples, large assortment of herbs and many fruit trees.

First thing I did when we got home was to slice a tomato, drizzle it with olive oil and some sea salt and serve it with a fried egg. That’s luxury. The perfect snack.

All these eggs had to go into a beautiful custard tart that I made with goat’s milk and local raw clover honey. I used some of the frozen leftover quinoa pate brisee for the crust. Always make sure you have extra tart dough in the freezer. Will make your life so much easier.

I served the tart at room temperature with some raspberries. I love watching my little boy just dig his finger in the baked custard. Skipped the crust and raspberries, but loved his custard.

Instead of the traditional tortilla, which I always make when I have lots of fresh eggs, I made a quick lunch snack of zucchini and potato pancakes. Grated zucchini and potatoes with some eggs, rice flour and chives served with aioli and a simple salad. My kind of lunch.

The Farriss’ new website is live now! If you live in the area, you should stop by and purchase some of their eggs, herbs and beautiful produce.

I will be working with them on a fun story soon and will keep you posted. Can’t wait to share it.

Goat’s Milk and Honey Tart

Quinoa pate brisee
120 grams goat’s milk
60 grams heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
Zest of 1/2 lemon
80 grams raw honey (I used clover)
30 grams cornstarch
3 eggs

Roll out the quinoa pastry to about 1/8″ thickness and fill the tart molds. Refrigerate for about 1 hour, then blind bake them at 350F.

In a small saucepan, heat the goat’s milk, heavy cream, vanilla bean and lemon zest. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, cornstarch and honey. Temper the warm liquid into the egg mixture. Strain it through a fine sieve.

Fill the partly baked tart shells with the custard. Bake at 325F for about 20 minutes or until set. Let them cool slightly and serve warm or at room temperature.

Zucchini and Potato Pancakes

1 small zucchini, grated
1 small potato, grated
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup rice flour
pinch salt
pinch of pink peppercorn
chives
olive oil

Squeeze out most of the moisture from the grated zucchini. Pat dry if necessary. In a bowl combine grated zucchini, potato, egg, rice flour, salt, pink pepper and chives. Heat some olive oil in a pan. Add about a tablespoon of mixture and flatten it. Cook till golden brown, flip and finish cooking. Serve with aioli.