Vicki Emlaw of Vicki’s Veggies and a healthy head of Napa cabbage. (Jason Parks/Gazette Staff)
The talented chefs creating delectable prix fixe Countylicious menus for both lunch and dinner can craft excellent table fare from just about anything delivered to their door via the Toronto Food Terminal.
But when produce can be picked that morning, to be feasted on the same evening, that’s pretty special.
The chefs and restaurants participating in Countylicious know this because their business and their reputations depend on it. Word-of-mouth reviews travel like lightning around here. A new creation featuring local fruits and vegetables unveiled on a Tuesday can have a restaurant’s phone ringing off the hook for reservations by Friday afternoon.
Judging by the lushness of the late fall harvest on display at Vicki’s Veggies, lots of rain made its way to Morrison Point Road this year.
On a mid-day visit to the Black River farm, Ms. Emlaw and her staff were busy harvesting produce for a pair of Countylicious participants.
Gather at Wander the Resort is using her European slicing beans in a roast duck and local corn signature dish. Executive Chef Justin Daniel Tse had just put an order through for Vicki’s final 30 pounds of this season’s long beans.
“They are like a scarlet runner bean except they are more tender and they love the growing conditions here. They have really taken off, they’ve become very popular and I need to consider growing more of them in 2025,” said Ms. Emlaw.
For two decades, a trip through the southern part of Prince Edward County by way of Black River hasn’t been complete without a stop at Vicki’s Veggies for a quart of fresh heirloom tomatoes and other goods derived from varieties of the past.
Not too long ago, she would cart her goods to the Big Smoke and sell to restaurants in the city via farm markets.
“It was fun. I met some great people, made awesome connections, but now those restaurants and their chefs know where to find me,” she said with a chuckle. “They can come to me now.”
Local chefs clearly know where to find her, too. Vicki’s mixed greens are the base for Bocado’s Ensalada Verde, which chef Stuart Cameron dresses with lemon vinaigrette, pistachio oil, radish, 12-month Manchego and puffed grains. Likewise, Mr. Cameron’s Repollo features Vicki’s Napa Cabbage roasted with tonnato, hazelnut, sesame and chive oil.
Vicki holds up a huge Napa Cabbage. “We used to take these to Toronto because they are a very nice and healthy crop and they last very well. They are versatile, you can use them for all kinds of salads and other dishes. I’ll eat one in the field because it tastes so good.”
Even into the tail end of the growing season, her stand is bursting with her trademark tomatoes, greens and fresh meat. The stand features Leavitt’s beef, Vader’s lamb, Nyman suasages and turkey from Oma Acres.
Nearly everything you could possibly need from a grocery store run can be found in Vicki’s charming Morrison Point Road stand, all produced on two acres among a patchwork of tidy, manicured fields, green houses and cold frames.
“We’ve got everything but bagged milk!” she says with a laugh.
Chef Cameron spreads the local produce love around. As part of his Countylicious offering, he’s roasting beets from Fiddlehead Farms in his Pan Con Stracciatella, which features stracciatella cheese, Island Bees honey, and black pepper.
Stephanie Laing and Heather Coffey have been growing organic produce on ten acres near the shores of Fish Lake in Sophiasburgh since 2012. There’s no farm stand in sight, though. Fiddlehead uses a Customer Supported Agriculture subscription model. They take in online orders at www.fiddlehead-farm.ca. Custom picked and packed containers are delivered to locations across Quinte for pick up. Over 200 families take part as well as restaurants including Bocado and Stella’s. Delivery is bi-weekly in the spring, weekly in the summer and monthly during the off season thanks to their cold frames and green houses.
There’s always something good growing at Fiddlehead no matter the time of year.
“Getting mentioned in the menus and having that name recognition has definitely helped us,” Ms. Laing said. “It’s tough to quantify, but we hear about what restaurants are doing with our produce when we are out in the community.”
Bocado worked with Ms. Laing and Ms Coffey this summer to exclusively grow Baby Gem lettuce — halfway between romaine and butter lettuces, it is a both sweet and crispy.
“Baby Gem was a big hit on Bocado’s summer menu,” Ms. Laing added.
Bocado’s seasonal and Spanish-inspired menu gets a massive lift from locally sourced and grown produce, honey, mushrooms, meat, and a variety of cheeses. Chef Kevin Paquette notes he works closely with both Vicki’s and Fiddlehead Farms throughout the seasons on a variety of produce to ensure Bocado can offer consistently innovative and locally sourced meals.
“We determine with Vicki’s, Fiddlehead and others what is going to be available during Countylicious and that gets our juices flowing to craft the menu,” he said. “County produce is by far the most consistent and best produce I’ve worked with in my career. It’s so fresh and when it’s at its peak in the growing season, there’s nothing like it.”
Bocado’s Flor Riccotta fills yellow zucchini flowers with strained ricotta cheese, a dash of salt and lemon zest. The cheese mix is stuffed into the flower, soaked in tempura batter, and then fried. It is finished with a generous drizzle of local honey, manchego cheese and fennel pollen. This summer hit didn’t quite make it to the fall Countylicious menu. The flower harvest has, sadly, come to an end.
“It’s my favourite dish of all time and I had tons of people coming throughout the summer to the stand for zucchini flowers because of their dining experience at Bocado,” Ms. Emlaw noted.
“When people can connect with their food like that, it’s such a positive for everyone — the farmers, the customers and the restaurants.”
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