Wisconsin Foodie

Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters for their support. Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, and the daily farm families of Wisconsin. Illing Company. Outpost Natural Foods Co-op. Potawatomi Hotel and Casino. Society Insurance. Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, representing the dairy farm families of Wisconsin, who fostered a proud history, with generations of family owned dairy farms, working to sustain the state's economy through job growth, and providing acclaimed cheeses and other dairy products. Every product tells a story, and every story starts with a seed. Your story, your product, your company, all started with an idea. Illing company ensures you have the right packaging to help you proudly take your harvest to market. Illing company is dedicated to packaging your vision.

This week on Wisconsin Foodie

You didn't mean to get into the sunflower business when you and your brother just planted about an acre of potatoes to see if you kinda' thought farming (laughter) would be a thing, right? What you can see here is that the pollen falls off as these kind of mature a little more. These'll dry down for another six to eight weeks. Mm-hmm. It's a lot of work, dude. Yeah. (laughter) You know what I'm digging is-- Everything is pesticide-free. Yep, that's correct. 350 acres. (laughter) That is rock 'n' roll. In the Driftless region of Wisconsin. Yeah, totally. Yeah. So these first Thursday dinners, they're all ethnic-themed, because that's what a small town lacks is ethnic food, I think. So this time, we're doing Portuguese food, and I've never been to Portugal, but I really, really, really want to go! I would have all these giant parties in college when I was supposed to be studying and instead I'd be putting on 10-course Ethiopian meals, and everyone had to sit on the floor and eat with their hands. So my architecture degree just didn't really go anywhere. High five, yeah! - Woo! Yeah! - Yeah! (jazz music) (car driving by) (chickens clucking) (filling glass with fizzy liquid) (chopping) (cork popping) (pan sizzling) (lively bass and guitar music) (upbeat rhythmic acoustic guitar) (loping acoustic guitar) Those fields of sunflowers tell me that I'm getting close to Driftless Organics where I'm gonna meet Josh Engel, who's one of the three farmers that run it. Got this great CSA, make this incredible sunflower oil, and they're part of the beauty of these rolling hills that is the Driftless. Look at all this lush land with beautiful things growing out of it! Yeah, well, we're trying to grow some stuff here. You got a couple of vegetables, and your CSA, and there's trucks over there with your name on it, and you're in business. Yeah, we're here, we're farming full-time, and just going for it. How long are your days this time of year? Oh, probably about 10 hours, 10, 12 hours. Oh, that's easy! (laughter) Especially in farm life. This is our packing shed. All the produce comes in and out of this shed. Basically it runs year round, roots all winter and fresh produce all summer. We're just getting done with a CSA pack. We packed about 240 boxes this afternoon that will be destined for Viroqua, La Crosse, and the Twin Cities, so. So this is the epicenter of your CSA. Yep. - Right here, this room. Yep, the CSA is about half our gig on this farm, and so every Wednesday afternoon, we're packing boxes and every Friday afternoon we're packing boxes. So if I'm looking for you midweek or end of the week, I can find you here. - Yep. (folksy banjo) What are you guys looking for? Well, we're just trying to get like a nice variety of colors, I guess. This is my first day, so... I think the younger folks, we bring a new energy to it, a new passion to learn how to farm sustainably, to learn how to do something a little different that's maybe not the conventional way of farming. And for me personally, it's just a good, honest work that at the end of the day, I'm tired, I feel good about what I'm doing, I have a clean conscience about the fact that I'm farming in a way that's really trying to help sustain the resources that we have available to us. Makes me feel like I'm being responsible. So I'm snitching these tomatoes off of their vines, which I probably shouldn't be doing, but the good news is, I don't have to fear about being poisoned by pesticides, 'cause it's organic! (mellow acoustic guitar) This farm was bought in 1981 by my parents, who were first generation farmers. They got into dairy farming for one of the first seven, eight farms that were part of Organic Valley's milk pool. That kind of has just taken off as everybody knows. Off to the right here, we got cucumbers and zucchini, a few potatoes. This, I know, is lacinato kale, and I love it. We feed it to our kids, we probably-- I don't know. We eat a salad or two a week with this stuff. You didn't mean to get into the sunflower business when you and your brother just planted about an acre of potatoes to see if you kinda' thought farming would (laughter) be a thing, right? Yeah, sunflowers is something that's kind of come over the time, you know. When we really decided to do this full-time as a career, we really tried everything under the sun, growing, and sunflowers is one thing that worked. So pineapples were a failure, but sunflowers took? Well, the three years just kills you with the winters, you know? (laughter) Ah, does Vincent van Gogh know you've got this going? It's just exquisite. - Yep. I want to just-- I want to wade into it and then do a Nestea plunge into all that gorgeous-- Give her a try. It's not like there's institutional knowledge in farming, in doing sunflowers. Well, more of it came about with getting a partnership going with another place that would press and bottle the oil for us, 'cause we weren't set up to do that. And that's a whole 'nother business and game itself, so. I found this place, and I kind of had this idea about oils and what we could do in the Midwest, and so I was thinking, well, there's soybeans, there's sunflowers, and different things, and started thinking about vegetable oil, and the base of most junky vegetable oil is sunflowers, you know? I was like, well, maybe we can do something with sunflowers, and all this vegetable oil's super refined and......really yucky, you know. So, we're like, "Well, let's try sunflowers," and we tried a few acres, and most of 'em got flooded out that first year in '07. What you can see here is the pollen falls off. As these kind of mature a little more, these'll dry down for another six to eight weeks. These are the actual seeds. They're the same as a black oil seed like you'd see in bird seed or anything else. We just come through here with a regular combine, and that shells the heads off, and you got a combine bin full of sunflower seeds. We dry 'em down in our grain bins, we have a big seed cleaner that we clean 'em all with, and then we ship 'em up to the place that processes it for us, and they press and bottle it, and it comes back like that. It's a lot of work, dude. - Yeah. (laughs) It's a lot of work, that's for sure. I don't have to tell you! - Yeah! (laughter) Across 70 acres. - Yeah. Yeah, but you know who's saying that's really not that much work is these bees. Oh, they're loving it. This is their bread and butter, so to speak. 'Cause they're thinkin', "You want to know about hard work buddy..." You know, we've only been doing this since 2007, the sunflowers, so it's still something we're figuring out. On a four-year rotation, we haven't even come to two full rotations on the land here, so we're really figuring out what works the best, and trying to make it more of a cash cow, so. I love the time paradigm that farmers have, and I wish every American had it, instead of checking their phone every 20 seconds. It's like you're talking about an eight-year window......and you're saying, "We're really just getting going." Yep. Like this is kind of-- we're just starting. It's a whole new project and concept for Wisconsin, growing sunflowers in a rotation organically to make 'em sustainable and profitable, and not a lot of other farms have done it, and we're really trying to figure out how to do it, so... You're like a mix of the weirdest stuff! How do you even manage a farm dog? You can't see higher than most of the vegetables that are growing, dude! Kiss? No, not so much. You know what I'm digging is everything, every vegetable, every root vegetable, every sunflower, every-- we walked past some rosemary, everything is pesticide free. Yep, that's correct. 350 acres. (laughter) That is rock 'n' roll. In the Driftless region of Wisconsin. Yeah, totally. - Yeah. (bright ukulele music) We're here at the Viroqua Co-op, which has been a cornerstone for the Driftless region for over 20 years, and I'm going to meet chef Dani Lind of Rooted Spoon. She's picking up just the last couple ingredients for the dinner she's gonna have tonight. Dani, Dani, Rooted Spoon! -Hey, Kyle, nice to see you again! How are young? Good to see you! So you were the buyer for all of this for a decade? Yep. But you're not an original Driftless lady, are you? Nope, I moved here from Minnesota, about 16 years ago. We're happy to have you. We accept you now! Thank you. - Yeah. I married... Wisconsin person. - All right, yeah. So I'm like Wisconsinite by honor, now. So does this say pickles? Paprika. - Paprika. I only have smoked paprika in the kitchen. Being Hungarian, I love that you are buying paprika. I love paprika! This is my favorite, though. Oh, you're killing me! The Spanish? So, should I go with the Hungarian or the plain? Well you know what I'm gonna say! It's gonna be better with the Hungarian! Is it hot? - Not necessarily. Look at-- I love the way that you buy paprika. None of this little teaspoon, penny-any stuff. We gotta feed 70 people tonight! Right, exactly! You're gonna need some flavor, lady! What's it like to walk these aisles as this place has just grown from the tiny little, you know, community-sustained-- Well still is. - Yeah. But it's, you know, it's all grown up now. It's cool. - Yeah? - Yeah. Lots more room for lots more product. There's some sort of electric, like positive life force, Bermuda triangle thing with the Driftless region. I know, it's creepy sometimes! I've seen so many people just- (sucking noise) and they're like, "You don't get it, but I'm never leaving!" You know, it's vibrant things like this that are bringing young people who grew up in this community moving back to this community. Right. - Tons of them. That looks really good. I want to take those groceries home. It is really good. Well this, this is food that's gonna be served out of my kitchen tomorrow. Dani, we landed at $17.84. Oh, that's right, I have to pay for it! (laughter) We used to have a tab. And I sometimes, I think we still do. So where to next? To our kitchen. - To the kitchen to cook. We've got some work to do! - Yeah? Right on. You're gonna have me-- - Yeah, You gonna help? Oh, I'm all about it, yeah. - Awesome. (mellow acoustic guitar) So these first Thursday dinners, they're all ethnic-themed, 'cause that's what a small town lacks is ethnic food, I think. So this time we're doing Portuguese food, and I've never been to Portugal, but I really, really, really want to go! So we're taking some traditional Portuguese things but using local-- mostly local ingredients to sub in there. Portugal has this tradition of petiscos, which are kind of like Spanish tapas. It's like little plates, small bites, like it's like recreational bar food, like get a bunch of little plates of fun stuff to snack on while you're hanging out with friends and drinking. So that's what we're doing, but we're doing it family style, so it's big little plates. Since I don't want to run a restaurant, I'm not gonna do plated food. I don't like doing plated food, especially when it's all the same menu, so it's all family style. People sit around a table and we just bring them food. They just sit there, everyone eats at once. So the meal I'm about to have at the Rooted Spoon over my shoulder here is a perfect way to cap off this tour through the Driftless. This chunk of land that they call the Driftless, it's a state treasure, it keeps paying forward, and this meal, as a composite of all of that, with these people coming together, it's the perfect conclusion. Hey Kyle! We need help getting the grill out of the van. Okay, pause. Make a little room for Eleanor, one, two, and the eagle is off! - Yep. That was easy. And the eagle has landed! - Yeah. So, we bring this grill to like all of our off-site catering jobs and cook stuff on site. - Sure. I can tell by the decorative edge. Yeah. - Yeah. Turn it around this way. We're gonna go right about there. All right. Are you qualified to do that? We're gonna use that in a minute, gonna do deep frying. I just want to peek. Oh yeah, there's a lot of love! It's got lava rocks, and it's got cast-iron. Look at all of the barbecue love that has happened here. Today we're just grilling zucchini. (laughter) It's kind of overkill, but... I loaned out my smaller grill to a friend's wedding, so this is what we got. It's gonna have essence of andouille in it. Okay, we got some zucchini. So these are gonna be rolled around something? Yeah, we're gonna attempt to......stuff them a little bit with that cheese mixture, that ricotta. Oh yeah, yeah, right. And herb. I should have got another set of flippers for you! Tongs, you mean? - Yeah. Technical term, tongs. Flippers, I like calling them flippers! (laughter) Okay, that's done. We're gonna light up the deep fryer now. Whoo! - Oh boy, oh boy. All right. - Now we're in Wisconsin. Oh yeah. So we're looking for 350, 360 in here. And then we're gonna drop all those yummy fritters in. We're gonna do batches of the fritters, yep. It's got that trout and Driftless Organics potatoes and onions and garlic and egg, that's it! Simple! It's the first time we ever made 'em! (laughter) That's sort of how we roll. Is this whole Portuguese dinner just one long experiment? - Always. Challenging your boundaries. - It always is. I'm going for it. - All right, here we go! Wow, the smell of trout coming out of that oil is so acute and direct. Ooh, yeah it is! - Right? It's gonna be so delicious. Okay, they look pretty ready, eh? They look perfect. Dynamite. Lookit, Liz! Your trout fritters look beautiful! What's next month, if this is Portugal? I have no idea. - No idea... Fiji? The fun thing about those is-- Go island cuisine! Well, 'cause usually I cater, so I do like what other people want, so a lot of times, these dinners is what I want to cook. So I usually decide it like a week ahead of time. I'm mainly doing Portuguese 'cause I got some yummy Portuguese wine. That's not a bad way to shape a menu. It's pretty much why I did it, sorry. You know, I've honestly never like worked in a professional kitchen. I've like always done my own thing. Yeah, I was a home cook and then I ended living in a giant house in college that had a commercial kitchen in it and I did a little bit of catering out of it just for fun, 'cause I would have all these giant parties in college when I was supposed to be studying, and instead, I'd be putting on 10-course Ethiopian meals and everyone had to sit on the floor and eat with their hands. Yeah. So my architecture degree just didn't really go anywhere. The cafe I ran in Minnesota, I mean, it was-- 'A' it was like 18 years ago or something, but......we didn't have as much access to great ingredients. Like there was one organic farm within an hour and a half radius, you know? And it just wasn't as fun. Like this is fun. Like I don't really know why anyone would do this. I mean, that's just me speaking, but like for me, it's like so much about all the inter-connectedness and like when I'm cooking a dish, I'm thinking about like the Song family who grew these mushrooms, and like my friend Dan Bedtke who raised this pork, and like all the vegetables from Driftless that like Liz helped plant, and you know, that my husband cultivated and helped harvest, and I don't know. It just makes it more interesting, and it just feels like you're part of something bigger than yourself, I think. And it makes it taste better, too. But yeah, so the first course is gonna have......some marinated olives. I'm gonna put some parsley and marjoram and garlic and lemon zest in there. And then there's gonna be a mushroom dish. We're gonna like saut up some of these mushrooms with some La Quercia prosciutto from Iowa. I made these-- kind of like a quick pickle out of a bunch of Driftless vegetables that has......Driftless sunflower in it. Normally, it's made with olive oil, but that one, I did make with sunflower oil, 'cause it's all their vegetables. You want a little nasturtium on each one of these, chef? Yeah, stick a little nasturtium like right there. Sure! Little edible flowers. - Everybody loves nasturtium. Come on. How beautiful is that? Kyle, will you tell me if this needs anything? That's nice. It tastes like really good Chinese food. What can we put in there to make it more-- Maybe-- - Portuguesey? It has lots of sherry in it, which is also-- I would throw-- I would like keep it simple, throw in some lemon. - Yeah. Hmm, that little bit of acid, good call. Right? It's not my first rodeo. Thank you so much for helping us plate that first course! That's the most important part, give them their food! Go team! Thank you. - No, it was a pleasure. All right. Now go sit down and eat. Just-- I want the fritters! Warm those fritters! They will be there in two courses. Okay. I'm gonna take these with me so that I can be useful. You are awesome! - On the way to the dining room. Awesome. Hello, everybody. If we can do that with-- Well, nice. Hello folks. How are you? (diners chatting) So I'm joining the Driftless Organics folks for dinner, and I think I got the end cap. Hello, people. - Hello. Can I cozy in with you? - Yeah! Right on. So how's the first course, how's the cocktails? Oh, excellent, amazing. Good, good, good. I already know how this tastes because we had it back in the kitchen, so here goes a lot of something. Isn't it beautiful? The pickling and the veggies, it's perfect, it's perfect. The secret of the shiitake is a little bit more lemon juice. Okay, we're gonna get some toothpicks. So this is the grilled zucchini, and we're stuffing it with a mix of Organic Valley ricotta cheese and Nordic Creamery, Westby, from Westby, their sheep milk feta, a bunch of different fresh herbs and orange zest. I'm gonna hand that to you, you get to start. All right. This is the ideal culmination. It's a dinner with friends. The ingredients are so fresh that you can practically taste the dirt that was just cleaned off of them. This is all you need. My husband wooed me with Sungold tomatoes. I came for a tour, but mainly I came to see him. We had this really long, super shy courtship. I was really, really, really hungry, 'cause it turns out the lunch was after the tour, (laughing) but we were in the Sungold field so he was driving the tractor with the hay wagon on it pulling the people, but he heard me say I was hungry, he jumped off and he ran and picked me a bunch of Sungold tomatoes. Handful of tomatoes. And he won your heart! I know. Yeah, so it's pork shoulder that got cut up and marinated in chilies and white wine for 24 hours. And then it got seared, and then it got like-- we pulled it out of the marinade and seared it and then put the marinade back in and slow cooked it for like the last three hours with bay leaves. I have a bay plant at home. It looks kind of ugly, but it tastes delicious. They seem happy. There's a-- yeah. It's a fun meal to have all the little, like, little dishes. Makes it fun. (applause) Hi, everybody! I just want to say thank you to everyone for coming. I sort of take for granted like what we do with the whole farm-to-table thing in this community, 'cause it's just sort of what you do, but it's really special, and that's it. And thank you all for coming, or I wouldn't have anyone to cook for! (applause) So, you grew the vegetables. Yep. - You cooked 'em. We both kind of ate 'em. We all ate 'em. - I was sayin'-- I'm gonna eat a bunch more of 'em. This is a pretty successful dinner. Yeah. Very tasty. I liked it. Let's do it again next month! (laughter) Hi five! - Whoo! Yeah! - Yeah! Yeah! (jazz rhythm) So this is the locally famous bathtub springs. Been here forever. I know a lot of people who don't have running water who get all their drinking water here. So I'm getting water here for a really old, traditional Portuguese bread recipe that I'm making today and tomorrow for this dinner we're doing, and the old, traditional recipe calls for natural spring water, very important. So instead of using chlorinated local water, I'm gonna use some beautiful, natural spring water. Yeah, I don't know who put it in originally, but, everybody says it's been here forever, so. Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank

the following underwriters for their support

Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, and the dairy farm families of Wisconsin. Illing Company. Outpost Natural Foods Co-op. Potawatomi Hotel and Casino. Society Insurance. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. WMSE 91.7 FM Frontier Radio Wisconsin Milk Marketing B oard representing the dairy farm families of Wisconsin, who fostered a proud history with generations of family owned dairy farms, working to sustain the state's economy through job growth and providing acclaimed cheeses and other dairy products. Every product tells a story, and every story starts with a seed. You story, your product, your company all started with an idea. Illing Company ensures you have the right packaging to help you proudly take your harvest to market. Illing Company is dedicated to packaging your vision. (lively jazz music)