Salad Theory: Think Outside the CSA Box with Lee Davenport & MX Morningstar

Did you sign up for a CSA share (Community Supported Agriculture) in the doldrums of winter, anticipating the bounty of local farms only to wonder what to do with so much lettuce in these early days of spring? The excitement of those first boxes can often be tempered when seasonality becomes all too real. Learning how to really use this food wisely and deliciously, while expanding your ability to create great meals in the moment is key. But how?

In this hands-on class (the first in a seasonal series) Lee Davenport partners with MX Morningstar Farm, whose glorious CSA boxes will be cracked open as the class begins. Lee will show how to be nimble in the kitchen, teaching how ingredients that feel limited can expand into limitless possibilities. Maximizing the flavors of the available produce with basic pantry items while considering the usefulness and storage potential of all the alluring ingredients to avoid waste is an important part of the game. Once a clear menu has been forged all hands will help prepare the meal enhanced by several salad dressings including Smoked Tea Vinaigrette and Farm Fresh Ranch. Lee will share her Salad Theory as we co-create delectable salads – using skills not only for spring, but extending to all seasons, opening up your mind as well as the CSA box possibilities as our beloved local farms expand their offerings.

Discussed in this class will be ways to preserve and utilize everything in the box through freezing, drying and making quick condiments like herb sale and refrigerator pickles that keep the overwhelm at bay while setting you up for a whole CSA season of mouthwatering meals.

This hands-on workshop is limited to ten people and will be followed by lunch.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER A TICKET.

About Lee:

Lee Davenport left NY at the age of 23 and immediately connected her love of food with farming in the Midwest. Signing up to be a worker share member at a CSA farm in Madison sparked many culinary adventures: working farmers’ markets and farm-to-table restaurants, delivering produce for a collective of organic farms to Chicago area restaurants, owning a food cart and a jam business, and serving as farm chef on two different CSA farms. After relocating to Portland, Oregon to live in an Ecovillage and try her hand at growing food in community, a cross-country road trip completed the circle with a move back to upstate NY. Here she is connecting with farmers and chefs again in her work at Zinnia’s Dinette and HGS Home Chef. Lee is grateful for the opportunity to share her lifetime experience of creating tasty meals from the freshest local produce.

About MX Morningstar Farm:

MX Morningstar Farm, established in 2014, is a vegetable farm on 30 acres in the in the heart of Claverack, NY. They are dedicated to bringing the highest quality produce to local customers. Through their farm store, CSA and restaurant customers they serve the communities of Eastern New York, Western Connecticut, New York City, and the Berkshires with a wide variety of crops. MX Morningstar Farm believes that managing a farm in a holistic and balanced way improves the flavor and productivity of the food grown, benefitting the community and society as a whole.

Cancellation policy: We do not offer refunds on purchased tickets.

Cooking class attendees receive 10% discount on kitchenware and cookbook purchases on class day.

HGS Home Chef is a member of TheWorkshopExperience.org, a group of friends who produce exceptional experiential learning through classes and workshops on a wide variety of topics in and around Hillsdale, NY – at the crossroads of the Hudson Valley and Berkshires.