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Irresistible Little Husk Tomatoes
What are those papery little things Ray has been bringing to market? Delicious husk tomatoes!
Photo by Etienne Frossard
They are a small orange fruit similar in size and shape to a cherry tomato. The fruit is covered in papery husk. Flavor is a pleasant, unique tomato/pineapple like blend.
Can be eaten raw, used in salads, desserts, as a flavoring, and in jams and jellies. Fruits are excellent when dipped in chocolate, and can be dried and eaten.
Long Live The Tomato!
And it will at Bradley Farm – Ray is taking full advantage of the great bounty of tomatoes, creating value added tomato products to extend his selling season, and our ability to enjoy his tomatoes!
Robin Puskas, NYKitchen Co
Working with Robin Puskas, demonstration chef for Greenmarket and owner of NYKitchen Co.,they processed and hand packed Rays’ jimmy tomatoes. Like the man himself, the tomatoes have perfectly balanced pH, so his jarred tomatoes, available later this year will contain only tomatoes, basil leaves and salt,and are shelf stable. Also available will be tomato consomme, puree, and a variety of sun dried tomatoes.
Building a Better BLT
Bradley Farm customer and food writer Regina Schrambling tells of her quest for a perfect local BLT using Ray’s heirloom tomatoes on the Epicurious blog!
Photograph by © Bob Sacha
Mistakes are made for learning, I guess. About the only thing I got right in our BLTs the other day was the tomato, a fat, juicy heirloom from Ray Bradley’s farm (that’s him suggestively hefting two more this morning).
I was feeling pretty smug that everything but the mayonnaise was local, and what follows pride? I started with multi-grain bread from Cayuga Pure Organics, which is amazing stuff but way too sturdy, not to mention flavorful, for a BLT. Now I know plain white toast is always better. I used mesclun for the L when crisp lettuce was needed for crunch (I wouldn’t go so far as to think iceberg, though; zookeepers don’t even feed that to animals because it’s so nutrient-free). And the B in the equation was not smoky enough. Luckily, I fried it to a crisp and laid in plenty of it. You should get a blast of bacon in every bite. At least I’m set for the season; the tomatoes are great this year after last year’s wipe-out.
Funny how sandwiches seem so simple when you really need a streak of architect in you to do them perfectly. I’m sure Elvis was even fussy about the proportion of bacon to bananas and peanut butter in his favorite.
Dabbling in Flowers and Honey Till the Tomatoes Come In
Ray Bradley photographed by Joe Fornabaio for The New York Times.
Wait no longer, the tomatoes are coming! In June of 2005, Ray was featured in The New York Times article, Fresh and Ripe for the Shopping. Read the full article including tips on buying, storing and cooking tomatoes from Ray.
Ray Bradley used to be a sous-chef for David Bouley, a childhood friend, so believe him when he says a perfect tomato needs no embellishment. He grows 10 heirlooms: 7 known successes like Prudence Purple, Striped German and German Green, and 3 wild cards each year…
2010 Bradley Farm Festival and Fundraiser
This year we have two exciting ways to raise funds for Bradley Farm. Still a work in progress, our goal is to help Ray finish and open the barn to hold dinners, cooking classes, a farm stand etc. Help us make the barn what we know it can be – give a gift that will give back to you!
1. Sunday September 26, 2010 – 7th Annual Bradley Farm Festival
Farm Festival Tickets – $10 per adult ticket, kids are free!
Spend a day at the farm (rain or shine) . Party starts at NOON and runs until 6!
Great food showcasing Ray’s products – this year’s food theme is a southern style BBQ
Live music, hay rides and a Succah in the field in honor of the harvest festival
Featuring “Chicken-sh*t” BINGO!
One lucky ticket holder will win their weight in tomatoes!
(*note – this event has passed)
2. Dinner Party Raffle – 1 Great Dinner, 2 Great Men…
Win a 5 Course Dinner by Ray with wines by Daniel Johnnes
$100 per raffle ticket… one lucky winner!
For those of you who have never experienced the joy of a Ray meal, here is your chance. Ray will personally craft a menu and prepare a 5 course meal for your party of four…
Read more about the dinner and purchase dinner party raffle tickets now!
Photos From Previous Farm Festivals
Getting to Bradley Farm from NYC
Take the NYS Thruway to Exit 18, New Paltz. Go through the toll both and make a left and drive through the town of New Paltz, down a long hill continuing all the way. Just after the bridge, make the first right( Springtown RD) – It is 3.2 miles to the farm, just bear right at the fork and stay on Springtown Rd. The farm is located at 317 Springtown Rd.
Turnip and Turnip Green Soup
Thanks to loyal customer Susan Gill for sending in this great recipe from Chez Panisse Vegetables, by Alice Waters. She tells us this soup is wonderful and uses the
greens too. Also, Ray’s current turnips are perfect also because they don’t need peeling.
(Serves 8)
1 yellow onion
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or fat rendered from Ray’s bacon)
2 bunches young turnips with greens (about 2.5 lbs.)
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme leaves
1 small piece prosciutto or Bradley Farm smoked bacon
8 cups rich chicken stock
salt and pepper
Reggiano Parmesan cheese
Peel and slice the onion and garlic thin. Put in a nonreactive pot with the olive oil and butter and 1 tablespoon water and stew, covered, until they are soft and translucent. Trim off the stems and greens from the turnips and reserve the greens. If the turnips are very young and tender, it is unecessary to peel them. Trim off the roots, slice the turnips thin and add them to the pot. Stew them for a few minutes, until they begin to soften. Add the bay leaf, thyme, prosciutto or bacon, chicken stock, and salt and pepper. cover and simmer over low heat for about 1/2 hour.
Wash the turnip greens and cut them into 1/2-inch-wide strips and stir them into the soup. Simmer the soup for another 10 minutes or so, until the greens are soft an tender. Garnish the soup with a few curls of shaved Parmesan.
*Water or vegetable stock may be substituted for the chicken stock and the prosciutto omitted for a meatless version of this soup. A pinch of Ray’s paprika added when the turnips are stewing, before the liquid is added, would make for a nice, smoky touch in place of the pork.
Some of the most sought-after pork at the Greenmarkets
Ray was recently featured in the New York Times article, Suddenly a Stampede of Local Meat:
…Greenmarket veteran Ray Bradley, who a couple of years ago added pork from a breed of pig called Large Blacks to the produce he sells in New York City. It’s some of the most sought-after pork at Greenmarkets.
Read the full article.
Bradley Farm Garlic Harvest featured in The New York Times
This article, Springtime in July for Crunchy Young Garlic, was published in the NY Times on July 19, 2000.
Garlic may be available year-round, but the season for young garlic is terribly short, only a few weeks in spring and early summer. During that time, growers like Mr. Bradley rush to farmers’ markets and restaurants with crates of naked-looking new bulbs, soil still clinging to their roots and stalks, their nearly skinless, barely formed cloves as crunchy as Granny Smith apples.
Want to know about those curly scapes that show up at the market every spring?
In October, Mr. Bradley plants cloves from the biggest bulbs culled the previous year… Come spring, the cloves send up long green shoots, which curl like a pig’s tail. Garlic farmers chop them off to discourage the plants from concentrating on flower production. More important, the shoots yield a by-crop called scapes, which make a nice side dish sauteed in a little butter or olive oil.
You can read more about Ray and the garlic harvest at Bradley Farm in the full article at nytimes.com.
Photos from a Springtime Visit to Bradley Farm
A recent post on the Lagusta’s Luscious Vegetarian Home Meal Delivery Service blog features some beautiful photos of Bradley Farm.
My friend Maresa and I recently paid a visit to Ray Bradley’s gorgeous eponymous organic farm… I couldn’t resist taking some snapshots of the gorgeousness of a working farm in springtime, too.
I use Ray’s super fancy, chef-coveted produce every chance I get. He used to be a sous chef for David Bouley in NYC, so he knows what chefs want to cook with. He regularly sells amazing handcrafted artisanal products like his own paprika, dried hot peppers, pickles, and much more, too.
You can see more photos in the full post at lagustasluscious.wordpress.com.