Green Lemonade

“ Eat seasonally, and you’ll eat broadly.” – Paulette Satur

On Friday, I was invited along with a small group of women to have lunch with Paulette Satur and Eberhard Müller of Satur Farms – a specialty farm on the North Fork of Long Island cherished by many of New York’s finest restaurants and food critics for their specialty salads, vegetables and herbs. The day featured a celebration of simple, fresh ingredients and an appreciation for the beauty of seasonal eating.

The story behind Satur Farms is a beautiful one and begins back in 1997 with celebrated chef Eberhard Müller (Bayard’s, Lutèce and Le Bernardin) and his beautiful and passionate wife Paulette Satur. What initially began as a simple desire by Paulette to get back to her childhood roots on a farm and ultimately grow a few vegetables and herbs for Chef Müller’s restaurant in New York has flourished into a full time specialty farm. Satur Farms is now run full time by this husband and wife team from their home in Cutchogue, New York.

A Beautiful Day at Satur Farms

I left New York City early on Friday morning and drove out to the farm, arriving at Paulette and Eberhard’s home around noon – just as the day was beginning to warm into the mid 80s. Paulette and Eberhard have a charming home influenced by the work of architect Annabelle Selldorf nestled amongst beautiful rows of crops, with a large entertainment kitchen and a lovely outdoor patio. Eberhard was preparing lunch for everyone when I arrived.

After a few welcoming pleasantries were exchanged and some delightful conversation had, Paulette proceeded to introduce the small group of women and me to the history behind Satur Farm (which was formerly a small pumpkin farm). She also shared an insight into the farm’s processes as well as the couple’s expansion plans and goals for the farm in the future (which include more specialty mixed green bouquets thoughtfully put together by Eberhard). Today, Satur Farms occupies over 180 acres on Long Island with additional acreage in Florida where they also grow produce to ensure a year round supply of micro greens, specialty vegetables and herbs. Satur Farms uses organic processes and artisinal well water to grow all of their herbs, lettuces and fine vegetables. Their food is delicious. In addition to being featured on fine dining menus across New York City, Satur Farms produce is carried in grocery stores locally in the New York area. Fresh Direct serves as the farm’s “roadside vegetable stand.” Often the farm’s fresh lettuces, vegetables and herbs will be harvested in the morning and shipped out to grocery stores and Fresh Direct in the evening, becoming available to local residents of the New York area within one to three short days. Amazing.

In addition to the beautiful scenery, the relaxed mood and the pleasant company, my favorite part about the trip was spending time with Paulette and Eberhard to better understand the philosophy and the love which they have woven into the fabric of their farm. They have three key principles upon which the farm is built upon:

• a love and appreciation for the Satur family who works with them to deliver organically grown foods on a consistent and timely basis (organic farming is incredibly difficult and requires a consistent, trained staff year round). Much of Satur’s product development and expansion has actually been implemented as a way to keep their talented staff employed with year round work.
• quality produce and an appreciation for fresh, seasonal ingredients.
• a lifestyle grounded in bringing fresh, seasonal ingredients to their customers so that they may prepare a good meal eaten in a proper way around a table with family and friends. Each day, Paulette and Eberhard sit down to a proper mid-morning breakfast made from the mornings harvest. This week the two were enjoying fresh, baby asparagus and hollandaise sauce as their mid-morning breakfast meal.

Summer in full swing at Satur Farms

On our visit, during this middle of July, Satur was harvesting big, beautiful leaves of swiss chard, baby heirloom carrots in a rainbow of colors including orange, yellow and maroon, beets, spear onions and luscious white leeks with long white shanks. Satur also has cauliflower, asparagus, cabbage, brussel sprouts and butterhead lettuces, escarole, frisée lettuce, and mache. Mint, thyme, chives, oregano, sage and parsley are also grown. Mint has been especially delicious during the early part of July, and while it is expected to fade a little for the next few weeks, they expect to harvest more beautiful mint bouquets later in August. Paulette and Eberhard have been using the fresh mint on roasted carrots, and in iced teas at the house for the past few weeks. Eberhard has also been drying some mint for use in desserts (he prefers mint to be dried when used in desserts). The harvesting period for Satur Farms in Long Island begins in early May with the harvesting of spicy arugula and mesclun greens, and extends into Thanksgiving with beets and carrots as some of the last crops to be harvested and sold. Last year the farm enjoyed an extended season harvesting the last of their carrots and beets into early December. The harvest season at their fields in Florida begins in September with preparation of the land, and wraps up in the late spring.

Lunch

After a two hour tour of the farm, we broke for lunch at a beautiful vineyard. Eberhard prepared a beautiful yellow and red beet salad, a yellow and purple waxed bean salad, and a baby arugula salad. The beautiful vegetable bounty was complimented with a striped bass escabeche with carrots and baby fennel and a sweet peach and pomegranate soup for dessert with fruit from a friend’s farm nearby. The dishes were dressed simply with good extra virgin olive oil and lemon to retain the natural, just-picked-that-morning freshness of the vegetables and leafy greens.

Around 3pm, the lunch wrapped up and we all drove our separate ways, some returning to the city, others heading to the beach. It was truly a fabulous day. Upon leaving the lunch, with a simple and delicious citrus vinaigrette recipe Eberhard (I will share this wonderful recipe with you all!), I hopped in my car, put the top down and cruised out to Montauk. I left feeling as if I had just spent the afternoon in the fields of Europe, with Paulette and Eberhard as my guides in the world of simple, fresh culinary cuisine.

Thank you to both Paulette and Eberhard for a lovely afternoon. Now when I pick up a bouquet of arugula or a mesclun packet from Satur Farms, I will celebrate the lovely European way you and your farm have about you.