Karen Schuld Photography: NYC Food Photographer

Sprouts in the Hood

Sprouts in the Hood
Exploring My Hood Through Food and Lifestyle Photography

Thursday, September 10, 2015

End of the Summer Tomato Salad at Spice Acres




Heirloom Tomatoes
Charlotte

Located in Cleveland's Cuyahoga Valley National Park, lies Spice Acres:  The Countryside Conservancy farm which supplies farm-to-table food to Spice Kitchen at Gorden Square.   Here, I spent the morning, with the Gates Mill's garden club, admiring the pigs and chickens, in addition to, learning a chopping technique from Spice Kitchen's Chef Ben Bebenroth's.

Ingredients for Salad Dressing

Finely Chopping Herbs

Chopped Herbs with Vinegar

Salad Dressing Pour

Tomato Salad with Cucumbers, and Red Onions
Chef Ben Bebenroth finely chops and crushes the fresh herbs, so the oils release and the flavors of ginger, basil, garlic, and mint merge together.  He then adds a vinegar, which he made from remnants of left over beer to the mix, along with oil and salt.   The dressing is poured it over ripe, end of the summer tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions.

Compost
Charlotte the Pig Finishing her Meal
 
The left over scraps from the meal were were used to both fortify the dirt and give Charlotte,
the pig. an afternoon snack.