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 It’s a typical day in late August for farmer Billy Connolly of Connolly’s Organics in York, Maine. Beds of lettuce that have been on hiatus for a few scorching weeks are lush and green again, plump heirloom tomatoes hang heavy and ripe on the vine, and just beneath the ground, rows of sweet, earthy potatoes lie ready to be boiled and perhaps tossed with crisp bacon and Dijon mustard for a warm potato salad. Billy will literally be busy from dawn till dusk harvesting and packaging the vibrant vegetables and carting them off to the farmers’ market or to a nearby produce store.
Meanwhile, several miles away in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Chef Gary Caron of the Dolphin Striker is in need of tender greens for his house salad, and would love to get his hands on some golden heirloom cherry tomatoes and perhaps a few pounds of freshly dug fingerling potatoes for a Nicoise salad to go with the pristine day boat scallops that were just delivered.
Sounds like a match made in heaven, but getting locally produced items from the supplier to the chef sometimes proves to be quite a challenge, and that’s where George Carpenter, of Farm2Chef, comes in. Back in 2004, the then forty-six-year-old ex-chef and restoration carpenter was moonlighting behind the cheese counter at an area food shop when New Hampshire goat cheese maker Valerie Davies noticed a significant increase in the sales of her cheese whenever George was behind the counter. She happened to observe George in action one day and soon understood why.
“It was obvious that he knew a lot, not just about cheese, but about food in general,” says Valerie. “As customers would come in, he would educate them, give them suggestions beyond just ‘put it on crackers,’” she says. Valerie was encouraged by the increase in sales, as she had begun to question her ability as a small-scale cheese maker to successfully market her product while tending the herd, taking care of the milking, and most importantly, crafting the cheese. George agreed to help Valerie with marketing, and he began to visit local restaurants with samplings of Valerie’s cheeses. Within four months, says Valerie, he had doubled her sales.
George, whose grandparents were Italian immigrants, also happened to know a lot of farmers. He had studied agriculture and dabbled in farming over the years. He knew that the same obstacles that had restricted Valerie’s ability to get her product onto restaurant menus was also true for farmers. The majority of a small-scale farmer’s time, says George, is spent in the field or with the animals, leaving little time for the networking required to make chefs aware of what a farmer has to offer and then orchestrate the logistics of taking orders, making deliveries, and managing accounts. Likewise, most restaurant chefs, says George, simply don’t have the time to get to the farmers’ markets or produce stands where some of these local items might be available, and chefs certainly don’t have the time to drive from farm to farm collecting produce, meats, and cheeses.
 And so it was that Farm2Chef was born. Since that initial effort to help Valerie, three years ago, George has built a network of roughly two dozen Maine and New Hampshire suppliers, including produce farmers, livestock farmers, cheese makers, and bee keepers. He connects these suppliers to fifty restaurants in Maine and New Hampshire, acting as the liaison between supply and demand.
“George is that crucial link,” says Gary, who has been working with George since the first year. “He is the communicator. He sounds out what type of products we’re interested in and what volume we’re looking for, and he helps us understand what the farmer is capable of producing seasonally, so that we can really plan our menus around what’s available.” Gary says George tries to give the chefs advance warning as to what will be coming off the fields in a given week, and he works to help farmers coordinate their plantings to meet supply. With the unpredictability of New England weather, however, flexibility is key. “Pretty much everything he’s got available, I’m buying,” says Gary, even if it’s a substitution or a bonus offering.
Chef Pierre Gignac, of 98 Provence in Ogunquit, Maine, has also been working with George since the beginning of 2005, and Pierre says the element of surprise is half the fun. “When George comes around, it’s a treat; it’s like Christmas,” he says. Before he started working with George, Pierre found that receiving deliveries of local products was a challenge. “Some of my purveyors were starting to get local stuff, but mostly tomatoes and mixed greens.” Now Pierre can count on a variety of items, like the broad beans he likes to sauté with a pesto-like mixture of fresh herbs, olive oil, garlic, and bread crumbs, or the buttery Bibb lettuce salad he pairs with one of Valerie’s Heart Song Farm cheeses.
It is not uncommon to find ingredients from several of George’s suppliers coming together in a single dish. In late summer, Gary will feature a soup made with buttercup squash from Jordan Farm in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, which he garnishes with a foam made from Valerie’s cheese and honey from beekeeper Matt Haas, of Harecrest Acres, in Biddeford, Maine.
In addition to letting the chefs know what a farmer has to offer, George lets the farmers know what the chefs would like to see coming off the field, and he says it is important that the farmers be flexible, too. “It works better if the farmer is able to adapt,” George says. “If a farmer says, ‘I grow squash, and only squash; how much can you sell?’ that’s not going to cut it, no way."
 George understands that a farmer might not be in a position to invest valuable acreage and resources into an experimental crop, so he often ends up leasing land and testing a few crops himself each season. The requests change from year to year, depending on trends. This year, he says, “The number one request is for greater variety in braising and salad greens—collards, oriental mustards, Nero kale, chards, and anything else you can show heat to and put on a plate.” Last year, Penny Jordan, of Jordan Farm, successfully harvested the leafy tops from her Brussels sprouts crop, and “it took the world by storm,” says George, resulting in numerous requests for more of the hearty braising green.
In spite of the seeming success of Farm2Chef—the list of farms and restaurants has grown by 70 percent in three short years, and the majority of George’s producer clients credit him directly with increasing their sales—there’s still a long way to go, he says. The venture requires a tremendous amount of legwork and networking, with little material payoff. “I make enough to cover expenses,” says George, who still works part time at a graphic arts company. Ultimately the success of the Farm2Chef model will depend on multiple liaisons working smaller areas. “Realistically,” he says, “a person could cover a fifty-mile radius,” rather than the one-hundred-mile radius he is currently trying to cover. But financial gain is not a primary concern at this point. “It’s a mission from God, you know, like Jake and Elwood,” he says laughing, referring to the famed Blues Brothers duo.
In the meantime, George draws gratification from the notion that he is making farmers’ lives a little easier, one restaurant at a time. Referring to dishes like Gary’s squash soup, George says: “Right there, I’m seeing three different farmers benefit, and in the long run, that benefits the community. If you spend money locally, it’s going to stay local.”
Recipes
Sautéed Broad Beans with Herb and Bread Crumb Pistou
Serves 4
This recipe comes from Chef Pierre Gignac of 98 Provence in Ogunquit, Maine.
Beans
About 28 broad beans (6 or 7 per person), washed, stems removed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons Bread Crumb Pistou
Salt and pepper, to taste
Bread Crumb Pistou
1⁄2 cup finely minced flat leaf parsley
1⁄2 cup finely minced mixed herbs (basil, rosemary, and thyme)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1⁄2 cup toasted bread crumbs
Salt and pepper, to taste
1. Blanch the broad beans for 2 minutes in a large pot of boiling, salted water. Strain beans and shock in an ice bath. Drain well.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beans and sauté for about 5 minutes, until they are heated through
and tender.
3. For the Bread Crumb Pistou: Mix all of the ingredients together.
(Pistou can be stored, refrigerated, for up to one week.)
4. Add the Bread Crumb Pistou to the beans and toss well to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Honey Tart Tatin
Serves 6–8
This recipe comes from beekeeper Matt Hass of Harecrest Acres farm in Biddeford, Maine.
1 tablespoon butter
1⁄2 cup honey
1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tart apples (such as Granny Smith or Pippin), peeled, cored, and cut into quarters
1 batch pie dough (enough to form a 9- or 10-inch single-crust pie)
1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. With the butter, generously grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch ovenproof skillet or pie pan.
2. Drizzle the honey evenly over the bottom. Sprinkle the cinnamon evenly over the honey.
3. Arrange the apple wedges, peeled side down, in the pan.
4. Roll out the pie dough to form a 10-inch circle and lay evenly over the apples. Fold and tuck the edges of dough down between the apples and the edge of pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
5. Let cool for 5 minutes, then invert onto a serving platter. Let cool slightly before serving. Serve with whipped cream.
Buttercup Squash Soup with Honey Goat Cheese Foam
Serves 6–8
Executive Chef Gary Caron of the Dolphin Striker in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, uses seasonal squash to make this simple but elegant soup.
Buttercup Squash Soup
1 small buttercup squash, about 1 to 11⁄2 pounds
1 cup blanched, peeled fresh chestnuts
2 tablespoons red Miso paste
3 whole cloves
Salt and pepper, to taste
Honey Goat Cheese Foam
4 tablespoons Heart Song Farm or other fresh goat cheese
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon goldenrod or wildflower honey
1 whipped cream dispenser*
2 nitrous oxide cartridges*
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and place in a roasting pan, skin side down. Arrange the chestnuts in bottom of pan and add enough water to come up about 1⁄8 inch on the sides of the pan. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 2 hours until squash is tender and some browning has occurred.
2. While squash is roasting, bring 1 quart of water to a boil. Add the miso and whole cloves, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Set aside.
3. Remove the squash from the oven and set aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, scoop the squash out of the skin and add, with the chestnuts, to the miso broth. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for
10 minutes.
4. Puree the soup in a blender and strain through a sieve. Bring back to a simmer and adjust the seasoning. Serve with a generous dollop of Honey Goat Cheese Foam.
5. For the foam: In a bowl, gently whisk together the goat cheese, heavy cream, and honey. Strain the mixture to remove any lumps. Pour into the whipped cream canister and dispense according to manufacturer instructions, using 2 nitrous oxide cartridges.**
*Whipped cream dispensers and nitrous oxide cartridges are available at most cookware shops.
**As an alternative to using the nitrous oxide canister, the mixture can be made by whipping the cream to stiff peaks, then gently folding in the goat cheese and honey.
Paula Sullivan’s Warm Potato and Bacon Salad
Serves 4–6
I like to use farm-stand new potatoes to make this wonderful side dish.
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 shallot, sliced very thin
2 pounds small red potatoes, halved
4 slices slab bacon, cooked until barely crisp, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons bacon fat
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons each minced fresh basil and thyme
Salt and pepper, to taste
1. In a small bowl, mix together the Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, and shallots. Let set for 10–20 minutes.
2. Place the potatoes in large pot. Cover with water, add salt to taste, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer potatoes for about 10 minutes or until very tender.
3. Drain potatoes and add back to the pot. While still quite hot, add the Dijon mixture, bacon, bacon fat, olive oil, and herbs. Toss well to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
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