A Roaring Fork chef, the Aspen Saturday Market

A chef or restaurateur will endeavor to tell a story or build on a theme when writing the season’s new menu. A source of inspiration for me in menu design stemmed from the ingredients’ “proximity to the soil.”

In the restaurant kitchens I’ve operated over the past 20 years, I referred to our relationships with the farmers and cultivators for the best ingredients. Then wrapping a menu around those choice products. I recall an interview with Thomas Keller when he was asked about his creativity. His response was that he is not a creative. He is simply inspired by his team, staff, environment, and produce. This has been my mantra ever since: “Know your farmer, know your food.”

I spent many a day in the recent past scurrying around the Aspen Saturday Market, elbowing my way through the streets like a mosh pit, trying to locate our restaurant’s order for dozens of free-range eggs from Rock Bottom Ranch. Mine was a mad dash to get back to the kitchen before the lunch rush kicked in. Arriving at the stall, the interaction with the cashier during my egg pickup was brief and matter-of-fact — as usual in the business. My sense of urgency was reinforced by my “hurry up and wait” stance in the queue. The only thing setting me apart from all the people in line was my crispy white cook’s shirt and scuffed Troentorp clogs. It was more of a mission than a hangout.

These days, now that I find myself on the other side of the kitchen, I have the luxury to stop and talk — to get to know our Valley farmers, curators, makers, and growers.

A culinarian knows the joy of conversing with those who hold the knowledge of how things grow. More importantly, to get a chance to highlight their produce on the menus around town. Chefs will build recipes around a certain ingredient just to make it the star.

As I approached the Aspen Saturday Market from Hunter and Hyman, the smell of fresh popcorn was in the air. I noticed all the families and children at the stand. Next to this, a well-placed baby goat petting enclosure. Strategic goats always get the kids’ attention.

This was to highlight the rotational grazing paddock design from Eden Vardy’s Farm Collaborative near Brush Creek. A custom built, open-bottom chicken coop on wheels is another toy in the barn to exemplify the rotational method. Doing more with less seems to be working. I learned that his rhubarb is just coming in through that clay-rich soil. Challenging to till, but once saturated, does hold moisture very well. I was told it’s a balance between tilling and irrigation to achieve the results.

I continued through the stalls until I reached Abundant Life Organic’s incredibly effective and potion-controlled stall. I first met Gus, who was busy caring for the volume of patrons and the goods. His best pick of the table was the Haricot Vert. This reminded me of a buttery French green bean Almondine dish I grew up with in New Orleans. I briefly bantered with Gus about the connection to Cajun Zydeco music and the petite French legume.

Legend says the Cajun “patois” for Haricot was translated to “zy-de-co.” I’d imagine that the snappy pace of shucking the stems off of the bean had an inborn cadence to the fingerwork. A time signature of quickly working through the day’s harvest gave way to a rhythm, timely enough to play an accordion and fiddle to.

Abundant Life Organic is located in Hotchkiss, 10 miles near Paonia, Colorado’s wine country. I ran into Jeff Armstrong on my way out. Jeff developed his cultivation process in the volcanic soil of Hawaii. Interesting to hear that Hotchkiss and Paonia soil are of volcanic loam as well. The porous nature of this foamed rock material provides nooks and crannies for the microbiome to thrive. The results of good bacteria and Jeff’s experience together make today’s market a robust harvest. 

Welcome to summer, come meet your farmers.