Pan Fried Eggplant

This super simple 3 ingredient (yes, salt&pepper is one ingredient, shush) recipe is a good way to get get picky eaters to eat eggplant. You can peel the skin (it's thick!) if you want but that's just a pain. So here we go:

Victory wash, dry, and cube up your eggplant into dice-sized pieces. Discard the top bit with the leaves. In a large pan heat basting oil a bit. I use about 1/4 cup for 1 small eggplant. Add salt & pepper mix. Add eggplant cubes and sautee until eggplant soaks up the oil (it will, it's basically a mild tasting sponge) and gets nice and soft. Serve in paper cups with sporks and sprinkle some shredded parmesan cheese on top at the end.

Good size for the eggplant 

Merchandising: I put the eggplant in the cold case and put basting oil (16 oz. & 8 oz.) and parmesan (OWC) on top of the case. Showcasing knives and cutting boards is a good idea too if GM wants to.

Spiral Path Farm

What is Spiral Path?

Spiral Path is where we get most of our local organic products from. They have a 255 acre farm up in Loysville, PN. Terra and Mike Brownback have owned it in 1978. It started out as a conventional pig and grain crop farm, but in 1991 they transitioned to all organic produce. Now they supply Wegmans with their best crops of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, collards, baby spinach, baby arugula, baby romaine, mixed greens, kale, romaine, green and red leaf lettuce, zucchini, goldbar squash, dandelion greens, beets, herbs, swiss chard, and more! Anything that doesn't make the cut for Wegmans high standards but is still good is put into CSA boxes, a variety box of super seasonal veggies (and some fruits), which are sold to the community. They recently bought even more land to meet the ever-increasing demand for produce from Wegmans stores.

Their Philosophy

They strive to support and nourish the soils that their crops grow in. Healthy soil creates healthy plants. They do not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. They use an all plant compost "processed" by red wigglers, a worm that stays in the top strata of the soil, to nourish extra sensitive plants.  The use of even organic pesticides is limited, and usually come from plant extracts that naturally repel the invasive insect. The Brownbacks use nature's foodweb to naturally reduce their pests. Every year they send of soil samples to be evaluated by a lab to check the levels of crucial minerals. Carefully maintaining the soil chemistry allows their produce to be successful and plentiful. They have open fields and hothouses for the seedlings, baby greens, and extended season growing. They use cover crops to replace nutrients sapped from the soil and to reduce erosion, and they practice crop rotation so as not to deplete a field of all of 1 or 2 nutrients.

Here are some photos from my trips to the farm:

Beefsteak Tomato BLTs!!

I just got back from Spiral Path farms tonight and Will Brownback told us that beefsteak tomatoes are coming our way very shortly. They are going to hit hard and fast. They are gigantic, ruby red, and super juicy. A good way to ease wary customers into eating raw tomato is BLTs.

Organic BLTs

Wegmans Organic Sourdough Loaf, sliced 1/2 inch thick (ask the bakery)
S.P. Beefsteak Tomatoes
S.P. Green Leaf Lettuce
Wegmans Organic FYFGA Uncured Apple Wood Smoked Bacon (meat)

Wegmans Organic Mayonnaise (NM/grocery)

cracked black pepper (optional)

Tools needed:

salad spinner

toaster

Cutting board

serrated knife

dinner knife for spreading mayo (plastic will do)

Baking pan + parchment sheet from kitchen

Victory wash the tomatoes and lettuce. Spin the lettuce dry and remove extra water with a paper towel. Remove core tops of tomatoes and slice them ~1/3 inch thick. Place in a cambro w/ lid. Bake the bacon on 400 F until crisp but still pliable. It shouldn't just snap when you bend it. The fat should no longer be chewy. Toast slices of the sourdough and immediately spread mayo on one side. Crack the pepper onto the slices. Build the sandwich. Bread mayo side up, lettuce, tomato, bacon slices, bread mayo side down. Slice into bite sized pieces and serve in paper cups. 

Merchandising: 

In a 2ft case: bacon ($8.99) 

Beside you: lettuce ($1.99) and tomato ($3.49?)

In a basket: bread [make sure they slice it for you] ($4.50)

On top of case: mayo ($3.69)

Crispy Mini-Sweet Peppers w/ Creamy Salsa Dip

This no cook, quick dish can be whipped up in minutes for a snack or appetizer. The recipe is easily scaled up or down to accommodate 1 person or 100 people. These peppers are good sized, and have very few seeds that are very easy to remove in 1 go.

Crispy Mini-Sweet Peppers w/ Creamy Salsa Dip

1 clamshell Spiral Path Yummy Mini Sweet Orange Peppers

8 oz. Wegmans organic cream cheese

4 oz. (1/2 c.) Wegmans organic salsa, hotness is up to you (any non watery kind will do, our Pico de Gallo works well too)

Victory wash the peppers. Chop off the tops. Look down at the top of the pepper and slice it like this:

This way you will have a sort of flat "chip" for dipping. Take out any seeds and the white "matrix" that holds the seeds. Customers would stop here but KBS sellers can cut it into bite-sized squares for serving in the paper cups.

Mix the salsa and the cream cheese together. Stir well until most of the bits of cream cheese are broken up. Customers can microwave theirs slightly at home to be easier to mix. Serve the dip on the pepper with a spork to reduce messiness. 

This recipe is so super easy and it gets kids and people who aren't big fans of peppers to eat them. It's also a great football finger food.

Merchandising:

In a 2ft case: 8 oz. org. cream cheese bricks, $2.49 (regular is ok too, depends on what you have...regular is $1.69)

On top of case: mild, medium, and hot organic salsa, $2.69-Nature's M.

Next to you: S.P. mini sweets clamshells, $3.99

Caprese Salad

Caprese Salad

Ingredients:
4 bags Spiral Path Plum Tomatoes
2 BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella, family pack (32 oz)(OWC)
Organic Basil (coventional is ok too)
Wegmans Italian Classics Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil ("WIC Org EVOO") (grocery)
McCormick Black Peppercorn Grinder (grocery)

Wash tomatoes and basil in Victory wash. Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise, then slice into 3rds. Place in a cambro w/ lid. Dry basil well and finely chop. Store in a cambro w/ lid. Slice mozzarella in cubed centimeter size. I usually cut it into 4 long fat strips, then cut those into thinner strips, then cut those into cubes. Store in a cambro w/ lid. To serve, place a spork in the paper cup, place tomato skin side down in cup, place mozzarella slightly to side of the tomato, sprinkle on a bit of shredded basil, drizzle over a spork-ful of oil, and sprinkle on a 1/2 turn grind of pepper.

Merchandising: WIC Org. EVOO on top of cold case, BelGioioso Mozzarella (8 oz and/or 16 oz) in case, basil in cold case (any basil works but most people want a small container), tomatoes next to you on the table. You can merchandise the pepper if you want.

This is a very pretty demo, and customers like that there's no cooking required, especially in this hot August weather. Honestly it's all about the presentation. If you really want, you can skewer them with toothpicks and serve them like that.