By Babs Harrison
Farm-to-table dining requires both good farmers and good chefs to make the concept a success. Eating seasonally, locally, and sustainably is good for the earth and delicious for the soul. At Harvest, Castle Hot Springs’ farm-to-table restaurant, Executive Chef Chris Knouse creates gastronomic masterpieces that reflect the rhythm of the seasons. Here’s what the culinary team is excited about this season, and what you can look forward to on the Harvest menu at Castle Hot Springs.
Herbs
Spring coaxes delicate herbs like French chervil and tarragon back to the garden. Their complex flavors add a distinctive note to food which is why Chef Knouse uses these to make vibrant sauces. One herbaceous example is bright green chimichurri, a classic sauce from Argentina made with parsley, oregano, garlic, olive oil, and some dried chilies. Chef riffs on the classic version by adding French chervil or tarragon as the main ingredient, and serves it as a delicious accompaniment to a tenderloin.
Dill is also flourishing, and is paired with the farmʻs cucumbers to make pickles. A skillful blending of fresh dill with farm onions, garlic, dried chilies, and molasses produces a classic dill pickle that ranges from sweet to hot.
Chef’s signature blend, Herbs de Castlé, is a mix of the farm’s herbs he frequently uses, including Mexican oregano, rosemary, thyme, and lavender. “We add it to every soup base, and it also tastes great on french fries.” The herbal blend has proven so popular with guests that it’s now bottled and sold at the resort shop, a perfect take-home gift that recalls the farm-to-table dining taste of Harvest.
Flowers
The farm’s edible flowers play a significant role in showcasing the kitchen’s skill and creativity, evident in every plate and cocktail presented to the guest. Chef Knouse likes to play with color, and the garden obliges by growing different colors of each flower variety. This allows for mixing and matching flowers to the food.
“If I want a purple, I can choose between a purple Bachelor button flower or a blue-purple bees borage flower,” explains Chef. “I look for the right color first, then the right flavor. Texture is important too. Sometimes I need to disrupt the flower, as is the case with dianthus, and just use the petals.”
Petunias, marigolds, calendula, nasturtium, and sunflowers provide visual appeal, unique texture, and a flavorful accent that can range from a delicate to a peppery flavor. Nasturtiums are doubly useful. “We use the flowers for garnish and make a pesto sauce for pasta from the leaves,” says Chef Knouse. “The leaves have a horseradish background that zips right to the palate.
Vegetables
“I like to use vegetables from the garden that guests may not find at their local grocer,” says Knouse. For example, he makes a sauce for seafood using sea beans, also known as sea asparagus, which are a crisp succulent with a briny flavor. “It’s like bringing the fish back to the ocean.”
He also finds ways to utilize a product’s flavor when it doesn’t look the best. Kale did really well this season, but the leaves don’t always look perfect, so Chef created a hearty chimichurri that mixed kale and green beans with some of the classic ingredients. “Guests often can’t guess what the flavor is.”
Seasonal vegetables are also showing up on the breakfast menu. Sweet Mokum carrots and Carota carrots are featured in Overnight Carrot Cake Oats, topped with Mexican cinnamon, raisins, and brown sugar. A savory Summer Squash Waffle, made with gluten-free flour, includes zucchini, sweet corn, and green garlic topped with sour cream and roasted pistachios.
Citrus
If you’ve visited the resort, you’ll recall the driveway to the yellow lodge is lined with every imaginable type of citrus tree. This seasons’ harvest was especially good, yielding a healthy crop of navel and blood oranges for juicing, so don’t miss savoring that glass of fresh-squeezed juice at breakfast. There’s nothing better color-wise than blood oranges, which are also featured on the lunch menu in the guise of orange popsicles made with sweet cream and fresh fruit. The farm grows 38 varieties of citrus, and Chef is hopeful for a harvest of pink lemons, which are especially fragrant with pink flesh and a yellow and green striped grind.
Salts
Salt is a flavor enhancer, and the kitchen is continually coming up with new flavor combinations like yuzu salt and rose petal salt, used as a delicious sprinkle over blackberries. The recent abundant citrus harvest has inspired a new flavor variation: citrus salt, a nice finisher for fish or salads. Salts are also used for brining beef and pork to impart initial flavor before cooking. Wet brines include salt, sugar and water, fresh herbs, and often citrus like lemon or orange.
Breads
Harvest bakes their own breads and every day there’s something amazing coming out of the oven, like cornbread, garlic pull-apart bread, or naan. This season, the kitchen is playing around with three flavors of focaccia: Mexican cinnamon, muscat raisin, and an “Everything Bagel” with garlic and dried onion blossoms. And stromboli is a big hit, made with roasted summer squashes, cheese, and herbs.
Each farm-to-table dining meal at Harvest takes your palate on a tour of the on-site farm.
It’s no wonder a dinner reservation is one of the most-anticipated activities of the day at Castle Hot Springs. Book your stay now and savor the flavors of the season.