East Bay Appetizer: Farmers and Authors

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Farmers & Authors

The weekend is packed with enticing events, from inspiring urban farm tours to a book festival with plenty of food for thought.

Pullet eggs from Shelly's Farm Fresh are featured in this week's recipe.
Photo by Calley Prezzano.

In this newsletter:

● Get the buzz on how to make good bee habitat - June 6
● Celebrate oceans at the Monterey Bay Aquarium - June 6 & 7
● Meet food writers and foragers at Book Fest - June 6 & 7
● Tour local urban farms and gardens - June 6 & 13
● Recipe: Grilled Asparagus with Charred Lemon and Pullet Egg

Don't miss our Summer issue, where you can read about urban farmers who grow fruits and veggies for local restaurants.

Cover photo by Robin Jolin

Dr. Frankie (left) and two workers at Frog Hollow Farm install bee plants at the end of orchard rows. Photo courtesy of UCB Urban Bee Lab.

The Buzz on Native Bees

Join UC Berkeley professor Dr. Gordon W. Frankie, author of California Bees & Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists, for a presentation on native bees commonly found in California gardens. Books available for purchase at the event. Learn more about Dr. Frankie’s work at the UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab in our Spring 2014 issue. Event is free of charge. Info: Call Rebekah Eppley at 510.482.7844.

Saturday June 6, 1pm
Book Talk with Dr. Frankie
Dimond Branch Library
3565 Fruitvale Ave, Oakland

Can Our Food Choices Serve Our Oceans?

With a focus on sustainable and organic food from land and sea, this weekend event explores ways in which everyday food choices can support the health of the oceans. Learn about the aquarium's conservation programs during the Sustainable Foods Celebration, and enjoy food events, tastings, and cooking demos. Family friendly. Cost varies by event. Info and tickets: h ere

Cooking for Solutions World Oceans Day Weekend
Saturday and Sunday, June 6 & 7
Monterey Bay Aquarium and surrounding locations

At the Wild Edible session sponsored by Verlasso, chefs William Dissen and Nico Romo are joined by Verlasso sustainability expert Scott Nichols. Photo courtesy of Verlasso/Monterey Bay Aquarium

Food Writing Panel at Book Fest

Downtown Berkeley is a haven for readers, writers, and foodies this weekend at the Bay Area Book Festival. The 150 exhibitors include indie bookstores, writing programs, publishers, and authors from the Bay Area and beyond. Don’t miss the Sunday panel entitled Writing Food, Making Books: The Perils, Joys and Practicalities of Great Food and Cookbook Writing moderated by Jenny Wapner of Ten Speed Press. Speakers include Chez Panisse chef Cal Peternell and authors Sandra Gilbert and Dan Jurafsky. Two other panels sure to interest food lovers are The Science of Booze and Into the Wild: Foraging Sustainably in Today's World. The festival is free, but reservations are recommended for some events. Info: baybookfest.org

The festival includes a number of local food writers whose books we’ve enjoyed and featured in Edible East Bay magazines and newsletters:

Sandra Gilbert, author of Culinary Imagination: From Myth to Modernity (WW Norton and Company, 2014), is a Berkeley resident and Professor Emerita of English at the University of California, Davis. Read the review by Kristina Sepetys.

Cal Peternell, author of Twelve Recipes (William Morrow Cookbooks, 2014), is a long-time Chez Panisse Chef and Berkeley local.
Read the review by Kristina Sepetys.

Dan Jurafsky, author of The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu (WW Norton and Company, 2014), is a Professor of Linguistics and Computer Science at Stanford University.
Read the review in Edible Silicon Valley.

Bay Area Book Festival
Saturday and Sunday, June 6 & 7
Civic Center Park and 9 surrounding blocks, Berkeley

Urban farm tours demonstrate varied ways to use land for growing food and raising animals.
Photo courtesy of Institute of Urban Homesteading.

Farm in the City: Urban Farm Tours

Join the Institute of Urban Homesteading to tour an impressive array of urban farms and gardens. In addition to the fruit and vegetable gardens, you'll get to view and learn about inventive composting, greywater, and water catchment systems, animal husbandry, food forests, pollinator habitat, and more. See how established home-scale urban farmers use space on different-size lots. For Walnut Creek and Concord tours, staging area at Mt Diablo High School offers morning coffee and a simple organic lunch. Pay-as-you-go option available in Oakland. Full or half-day available in Walnut Creek. Info and pricing: here

Saturday June 6, 9am–3pm in Walnut Creek & Concord
Saturday June 13, 10am–4pm in Oakland

Recipe: Grilled Asparagus with Charred Lemon and Pullet Egg

Enjoy the late days of asparagus season with this recipe from Bay Area chef Calley Prezzano. She uses pullet eggs as a perfect creamy topping for a summer crostini. The large and luscious yolk combined with grilled lemon is reminiscent of a light hollandaise. Prezzano recommends the eggs at Shelly’s Farm Fresh in Brentwood, where they sell large chicken eggs as well as the smaller pullet egg from the first few months when a young hen begins to lay. Prezzano serves this dish warm as an appetizer or as part of a savory brunch.

Serves 4

4 slices of rustic bread
1 bunch asparagus, ends removed
1 lemon, cut in half
4 ounces chévre (goat cheese)
4 pullet eggs from Shelly’s chickens
1 pint fresh blackberries

Preheat grill to medium heat. Place lemon halves on the grill, flat side down. Grill for about 10 minutes, until caramelized. Meanwhile, lightly oil and season the bread and asparagus. Grill bread on both sides until toasted, and asparagus for about 7 minutes, until tender. Spread goat cheese on toast and set aside. In a small pan with a thin layer of oil, individually fry the eggs. Place the toast on four plates, top each with a quarter of the asparagus and one pullet egg. Squeeze the grilled lemon over the top of each dish and sprinkle with salt and fresh blackberries.

Chef Calley Prezzano serves up a delicious and inventive dish using pullet eggs and asparagus.
Photo by Calley Prezzano.

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