I join three young farmers who are now running one of the oldest family farms in the country.

Then, Alex and I are creating a farm table for our "Fresh Grown" culinary event.

Our first stop is known as the emerald jewel, Shelter Island, to see what fresh at Pete's Farm Stand.

And, tips for planting fresh herbs.

In the kitchen, a luscious asparagus coconut milk soup and a fresh light asparagus pasta, topped with Long Island duck pastrami.

Finally, a sweet for anytime of the day, asparagus quick bread.

(gentle music) - Long Island Farm Bureau is a proud presenter of George Hirsch Lifestyle.

Long Island farmers continue their commitment to providing abundant, fresh commodities.

Supporting farmers and the local agriculture community for over 100 years.

(gentle guitar music) - So something tells me, you all have access to some really good asparagus.

(laughing) At night, what's on your plate during asparagus season?

- I usually eat it for maybe the first three or four weeks and then I kinda fade off and can't quite hold it down anymore.

(laughing) But it is delicious.

- Well, I'm honored to be with the Wells kids.

- We're honored to have you.

- And what generation would you be, or what generation are we up to right now?

- We're the 12th generation.

- You're the 12th.

- Yep.

- And I think saw a couple 13s running around.

- Yeah, they enjoy farmin' as much as we do.

- They do?

- So far, yeah.

(laughing) - When are we going to the farm?

- Well they can pick the low asparagus.

- Exactly, they don't have far to bend down.

So it's way easier.

Yeah, they enjoy going on the tractors, doing all the work, yeah.

- On how many acres is asparagus planted?

- We have 70, between 65 and 70 acres.

It rotates a little bit, some fields finish up, and then other fields will come in.

We haven't planted anymore in about four years.

But the idea is to plant some more soon.

- Now, you say planting it.

Asparagus it's not like, "Oh, okay, it's February.

"We'll just wait until it thaws and put a seed out."

(laughing) Oh, we have instant asparagus.

How long before maturity?

- So, we buy crowns, which are usually about two years old to begin with.

And then once you plant it, we're not picking it for another four years, usually.

And we gotta maintain the fields, keep 'em clean, keep the weeds out, keep the fertilizer down.

So about four years is when we start pickin'.

- Now, Matt, what is the claim to fame with the Wells Farm and Wells family?

- Absolutely.

- If you could share that?

- So we've been here for over 350 years now, since 1661.

This land, this specific 40 acres has been in our family since 1661.

Part of the land still has development rights.

And other parts are preserved.

And eventually this whole farm will be preserved to stay as farmland forever.

That's the plan.

- One of Dad's goal.

- Yeah.

(laughing) - Maybe, would you mind sharing something about Lyle?

- Yeah, absolutely.

His passion was unwieldy.

He didn't push it on us, but he showed us what it was to love farming and to enjoy it as much as he did.

He never pushed us to do it if we didn't want to.

I, myself, I moved to the city and started a business there.

I was there for about six, seven years.

And then came back when we passed away.

Started workin', taking over the land.

I've always envisioned myself comin' back one day.

This is just how it worked out.

- How has farming changed from when you were a kid?

Where it is now, to where it might be going?

- I remember, I was always on the farm as a kid.

I feel like there was a lot more local farm stands and people coming out here a little bit more.

It's become a little bit more commercialized.

- More developed.

- More developed.

Yeah, definitely.

We've had to adapt and sell to bigger clients and find as we grow we have to find other clients.

But try to keep it local still.

We sell to the local farm stands as much as we can.

Local supermarkets and stuff like that.

Luckily we have the Farm Bureau behind us, we have the local community is behind us, but it takes a lot to keep it coming.

- And chefs are behind you.

- And chefs-- - Chefs are certainly behind you.

- Absolutely they are.

- Well, very well said, then.

Very well said now.

Thank you very much, all of you.

- Thank you.

- Farm and family go hand-in-hand.

Since the beginning of agriculture, families working together have provided the food for people in their communities.

I'm honored to have many farmers as friends.

And this I know, tragedy, in whatever shape it takes, builds great character.

But it takes great perseverance to push through.

Lyle Wells has passed on, but he is not forgotten.

His lessons can be seen in the smiling faces of his children who are taking one of the oldest farm lands in the country and adapting some of the traditional practices using updated techniques.

So there will be farming for the future.

(upbeat rock music) It's time to talk spears, asparagus spears.

Now when choosing asparagus you wanna know which is the best and which is the freshest.

But you wanna squeeze the end, the stem end, and you can see how moist it is as the end.

That's telling you it's really, really fresh.

Now, as far as storing it when you get home, you don't need to clog up the fridge.

You can simply put it in a glass or a container with a small amount of water, small amount of moisture, on the bottom.

Because the spear is a grass and it needs to remain nice and moist.

Now, on this big spear, where do you begin to cut it?

Where do you begin to throw it away?

Well, it will tell you what to do.

Just take and snap it, this is your stem.

You can use this for a stock or broth.

And this part you can just chop up.

Asparagus spears, you can steam 'em, you can poach 'em, you can boil 'em.

Basically, you can do anything you want, just enjoy 'em.

And that's good to know.

(upbeat guitar music) There's nothing better when the season is right for an asparagus soup.

Now this asparagus soup just has about four main ingredients.

Of course, the main item is the asparagus itself.

I've cut about one bunch of asparagus stalks with the stems.

And shaved some leeks, some garden leeks, sweet onion.

And to give the soup a little body, is some Yukon potatoes which are very small diced.

And that's going to help give it a little bit of creaminess and a little bit of body to this soup.

Once you have the four main ingredients prepared for your soup, preheat a soup pot to a low to medium temperature, and begin sweating the onions and the leeks.

Once the soup pot is preheated to low-medium temperature add two tablespoons of olive oil.

Then add 1/4 cup sweet onion.

And a 1/2 a cup of leeks.

Now add one bunch of asparagus with the stalks and stems and stir.

Now add eight cups of warm vegetable broth.

Then add two cups Yukon potatoes.

Season with a teaspoon of dried thyme, pinch of salt, fresh ground black pepper and finish with one cup of coconut milk.

Bring to a boil, stir, cover and gently simmer for 30 minutes.

(gentle guitar music) So now we have our beautiful, refreshing, refreshing and good for you asparagus soup.

All in under an hour.

And the best part of this soup right now is, it's vegetarian, it's vegan, and it's good for everyone!

So we're just gonna ladle up the soup.

I have the beautiful Yukons, the asparagus, sweet onions, the leeks.

And to dress it right up, I'll put on a little dollop of yogurt.

A couple asparagus tips with some radish sprouts to keep the vegetarian feel.

And there you have it.

Asparagus soup under an hour.

(gentle guitar music) So the essence of this dish is really simple but the flavor is really full.

Now what I have here is a local claim-to-fame.

A Long Island duck.

This Long Island duck has been cured and processed into a prosciutto.

And you can see that nice, white cap on it.

That's it's prize, that's the fat.

That's where all the flavor is going to come through.

And what I have here is some rendered duck fat.

Which adds a silky, creaminess to sauces, soups, I think it might go to far if you put it on toast.

But it works wonderfully well instead of an olive oil or butter in dishes.

Now you can see the prosciutto, the duck prosciutto, the slices of prosciutto that were thinly cut, and that line, cap of fat.

I'm gonna use this prosciutto as a flavoring within the pasta dish.

Now, in choosing the pasta, I'm using gemelli, 'cause the nice twists are going to actually mix in with the light sauce.

And then our star, from the local farm, some fresh chopped asparagus, 'cause it's in season.

A little bit of shallots, just to give up a little perk to the dish.

And it's basically as simple as that.

Heat a saute pan, or a low casserole pan, to a low-medium temperature.

And then we'll add the ingredients one-by-one.

Once the pan is preheated to a low-medium temperature, add two tablespoons of duck fat or olive oil, followed by 1/4 cup chopped shallots.

Next, two tablespoons, or to taste, of chopped duck prosciutto.

Stir and add one cup of chopped asparagus.

(gentle guitar music) Toss in four cups of cooked gemelli pasta.

(gentle guitar music) Mix and add one cup of hot chicken broth.

Once pasta has been mixed with the sauce, add a half cup of shredded Parmesan cheese, two chopped sage leaves.

Everybody loves a good pasta dish.

When it's full of flavor it's even better.

So here you can see the steamy gemelli pasta.

And let's top it off right now with some beautiful shredded Parmesan cheese, with some beautiful shredded Parmesan cheese, oh my goodness.

With the duck in there.

Add a few poached asparagus tips on top.

Some fresh, ground black pepper.

So here we have a pasta that's full of flavor.

And we'll cap it off with our local, Long Island duck prosciutto.

Does pasta get any better than that?

I don't think so.

(gentle guitar music) It's so convenient to be able to go to Pete's, which has been on the rock on Shelter Island now, for 30 years.

Also, as chefs, we're able to just go seasonally and see, "Hey, what's good?"

We're goin' there today, we don't know what we're getting.

We have this event this weekend, comin' up... - We don't even know the menu either-- - We don't even know the menu because-- - Neither do the people we're cookin' for!

(laughing) - We gotta see what's happening with Pete, what's off the farm, the weather conditions dictate.

- Something tells me we might be making some beet salad, some potato salad.

- And there's never a shortage of anything to roast.

With baby carrots, rainbow carrots, abundance of herbs.

It's kind of magic what you can do in roasting.

The simplicity is just taking your basic ingredients, and if we're talking roasting, you're keeping the integrity of the flavor, of the carrot, of the beet or the leek, or whatever you're doing.

And letting those flavors kinda macerate together.

Just simple olive oils, just simple vinaigrettes.

- A lot of times salt and sugar are added to foods to make them taste better.

But the thing is, if you're buying the best ingredients that were picked that day, you don't need to add all of those things to make the food taste good.

The natural sugars in the carrots will just pop.

And it will taste like a concentrated carrot when you eat it, as opposed to one that may have been shipped from another country and spent weeks on a tractor trailer.

- All right, we're at Pete's.

- There we are.

- We're at Pete's Market.

See we knew we'd get the beets.

- Yeah.

- Look at this.

Beautiful, beautiful golden beets, arugula, would be good seasoning.

Flat beans, my gosh.

The flat beans, we've done tons of bushels of these over the years.

- It wouldn't be summertime either if there wasn't a nice cucumber salad.

- Cucumber salad and I think we might have some pickling in our future-- - Definitely, absolutely.

- With some gherkins.

- Yep!

- I think there's corn somewhere around here.

That's the rumor-- - Let's go get us a couple bushels.

- Okay.

There's so much in a recipe that goes far beyond a pinch of this or that.

As a chef, I have been blessed with an abundance of beautiful locations that have influenced so many great dishes.

Producers in my own backyard allow me the freedom to adapt menus seasonally and base my dishes on the inspiration that the land provides.

(upbeat rock music) The essentials of a good, basic kitchen garden is as easy as one, two, three.

Whether you're doing potted herbs, whether you're doing herbs out in the garden, it's basically all the same.

So these herbs here are a little tight, you can see the root ball.

Which means they've just been a little bit over-developed in the pot, but that's quite all right.

Now the pots, itself, is just a transition point.

What I'm going to use these pots for is a presentation on an upcoming event.

So I want them to be small, and I want them to be able to fit on a food table or a buffet table.

And then from there, they can be transitioned into much, much, much larger pots.

So I'm breaking these pots up into three basic areas, they're going to be annuals, which are very, very delicate and light.

And then the second one is going to be something that is a little bit more flavorful and aromatic, but can be thought to be a little bit of an evasive.

Such as lemon verbena.

I'll add in some mint.

The event that I'm doing is tomorrow, so these are going to actually bloom up and grow up and spring up in one day.

And the third one is the perennial, the perennial going to be the most aromatic.

The one that grows all the seasons.

So for the third one I will put sage and rosemary.

And again, of course, these will need much bigger, bigger, bigger pots.

Now if you wanna take it one step further, you can myrtle.

It's just such a beautiful, beautiful grass and vine.

And gives you beautiful berries.

Or, something a little bit more aromatic such as Greek oregano that will really spring forward.

And speaking of Spring, what could be better in Spring than some spring garlic chives.

Okay, if you plant these now and you take care of them, and need to mulch over them, you'll thank me come April and May next year.

(upbeat guitar music) Okay, let's get started with our sweet.

We're making an asparagus bread.

You've heard of, of course, zucchini bread, carrot bread.

Well, it's the same thing.

The asparagus actually is a wonderful vegetable that you can add into your breads or your cakes.

Because it will give, not only a little bit of crunch, and a little bit of texture, but it will give that same beautiful flavor that it gives other dishes.

So the first thing I wanna do is, I wanna grate some fresh ginger.

(ginger grating) Grate about a teaspoon of that fresh ginger right into the brown sugar.

Now I have about one cup of brown sugar, already in the bowl.

And to that I'm going to add in one cup of vegetable oil.

And we'll just let that brown sugar just melt lightly, with the oil.

Let's add in about a half a teaspoon of cinnamon, and a half a teaspoon of nutmeg.

For flavoring, about a teaspoon of vanilla.

Two farm fresh eggs.

(eggs cracking) (ingredients mixing) Just break up those eggs.

And you see everything is one liquid right now.

So now we'll add in our asparagus.

Is one cup of finely chopped asparagus and to that one cup of finely chopped asparagus... We'll add in two tablespoons of pure cane sugar.

We're gonna add half a teaspoon of baking soda.

(clank) And a half a teaspoon of baking powder.

We'll add a cup and a half of all-purpose flour, but we'll add it in 1/3 at a time.

Okay, now that it's all mixed in, all blended in together.

We'll add it into our pre-greased cast iron casseroles.

You could also use a 9x13 inch pan.

I prefer using individual cakes, this way, maybe I can give a couple to some friends.

Divide the batter up into thirds.

Now that the batter's been divided amongst my three pans here, I want to put a little bit of a finish on top.

And what I have is three pieces of asparagus.

You might have seen something like this with muffins and if you're using fruit and blueberries.

Where I'm just dusting the top of these asparagus to place on as a garnish on top of the batter.

So what's really important is we want that asparagus to be on the top.

So after it's baked, they clearly know it's an asparagus bread.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.

And it will be anywhere from 35 to 45 minutes, depending upon the size.

Now that the asparagus bread is been well-chilled for at least two hours, we can unmold it.

And you can see how beautifully it's baked on the bottom.

And to serve our luscious, luscious sweet that we have here, and it's definitely gonna be an eye-opener, especially with the asparagus on top.

We'll cut some nice slices.

Right before we plate up, I wanna show ya' the beautiful inside to that asparagus.

That wonderful, tender and flaky bread.

Totally a wonderful sweet.

And we'll put a nice little drizzle of maple syrup on the bottom.

Just so the guests get a sweet finish, because I know you're gonna wanna show this dessert off.

Three slices.

The three luscious slices of bread.

(knife scraping) And what would really pick up the flavor, in this dessert, is a blood orange.

And if they're in season, and they are available, it always makes a dramatic presence.

Three slices of orange, don't miss any of the juice.

Juice is so important, especially with the blood orange, mixing in with that maple syrup.

A little lemon verbena.

And you have a perfect ending.

So there you have it.

A quick, good-for-you asparagus and coconut milk soup, a light pasta dish, tossed with asparagus and duck, and a very versatile asparagus quick bread, served as a savory or a sweet.

I'm George Hirsch, remember, if I can do it, you can do it.

I'll see ya' real soon.

For more on recipes, entertaining lifestyle tips, TV series blog and selected video clips from today's show, join me at chefgeorgehircsh.com.

(upbeat piano music) - To download and own episodes of George Hirsch Lifestyle, containing inspiring lifestyle segments, original recipes and complete how-to, visit Amazon.com.

Or chefgeorgehirsch.com.

(gentle piano music) (upbeat guitar music) - Long Island Farm Bureau is a proud presenter of George Hirsch Lifestyle.

Long Island farmers continue their commitment to providing abundant, fresh commodities.

Supporting farmers and the local agriculture community for over 100 years.

(dramatic chord) (dramatic music)