For anyone who loves local food, picking up a community-supported agriculture (CSA) share box is exciting. But for subscribers to the Cerulean and Hawkins Family Farm CSA program, it is a veritable party.
Each Tuesday this summer, CSA subscribers were invited to the Cerulean Garden, a beer and wine garden adjacent to the restaurant, to pick up their shares—vegetables, chicken, beef and eggs from the farm, plus coffee and fresh bread from Light Rail Café and Roaster—and sample the contents prepared by the Garden’s chef, Neil Park.
“CSA subscribers,” farmer Zach Hawkins enthuses, “can come and watch, get ideas for their own kitchen, meet their farmer and grab a beer.”
Hawkins Family Farm began supplying eggs, meat and vegetables to Cerulean in 2012. This summer, Cerulean and Hawkins launched the joint CSA program. Restaurant staff help to harvest and pack the CSA boxes and get first-hand experience with the food they will serve at Cerulean.
Hawkins, for his part, enjoys sampling his own produce prepared in a professional kitchen. On a recent evening, he says, “Neil made a grilled broccoli and cabbage coleslaw with a classic Southern dressing, cayenne and buttermilk. He served it with a piece of grilled chicken. It was just so delicious!”
Ask Caleb France, owner and chef of Cerulean Restaurant in Winona Lake, Indiana, to describe his food and he will use...
Copyright ©2024 Edible Michiana. All rights reserved
