CELEBRATING THE FARMERS MARKET WITH TORY MILLER

Tory Miller, Executive Chef and Co-Proprietor of L'Etoile, was named Chef of the Year in 2009 by Madison Magazine. When asked about his philosophy of creating beautiful food, he said quite simply that it is about "celebrating the ingredients when they’re in season and when they’re at their best."

And, he lives that philosophy every Saturday morning when he takes his keen eye,  perfect "pitch" taste buds and his wonderful Market Assistants Sam and Gayle, to shop the Farmers Market only steps from his restaurant's front door.

"If it grows in Wisconsin, we use it. If it doesn't, we don't," says Tory, who fashions his menus each week by what is seasonal, fresh and available at both the Saturday and Wednesday Famers Markets. And he always buys in abundance and freezes, cans or dries fruits and vegetables so they can wend their way into his winter menus. "Part of what makes L'Etoile's food taste so wonderful," says Tory, "is that so many people have cared for how it was raised."

He has been celebrating the Market and Wisconsin's amazing farmers for the past seven years and has built wonderful relationships and friendships with the market vendors. "It's all about building relatonships," says Tory, who stops at the loading dock of his restaurant to personally  take delivery of an order of organic chickens. "Those relationships allow me to call a farmer on a Friday and get 240 lbs. of chickens delivered the following morning."

I followed Tory, Sam and Gayle around the Market for three hours yesterday and it is quite evident that Tory is a major rock star of the culinary world; loved by restaurant patrons - who stop him to chat and extol the virtues of their last meal - and vendors alike. He has a very nice way of doing business; he's  relaxed, efficient and always smiling.  So, let me walk you through a morning at the Farmers Market with Tory Miller.

Here's the cast of characters - Gayle, Sam and Tory.

And, the carts which are filled to the brim and emptied back at the restaurant again and again over the 3-hours of shopping.

Tory admits to being a creature of habit when it comes to strolling/shopping the Market. He always starts on the corner by the Best Western where he finds his berries.  -  six flats of blueberries that will find their way into ice cream, croissants and pies.

Then it's cheese. He visits 3 separate vendors and buys bags of cheese, wheels of cheese, and diminutive cakes of cheese.

 "It's scary how much cheese we need," he laughs.

And squash blossoms. "I think I'll stuff then with lobster," he muses, when asked how they'd be transformed once he got them into his kitchen. (And yes, he does get his lobster flown in from Maine, not Wisconsin)

Next -  bouquets of pungent basil...

And a gaggle of gorgeous yellow carrots."I buy what's talking to me and what looks good," says Tory who takes a tentative  bite out of one of the carrots before sealing the deal.

Then it's beautiful French green beans, sugar snap peas, Pak Choi and Daikon radishes.

And, you can't forget the NUTS. He buys bags of lovely Black Walnuts and Hickory Nuts that will be chopped and wend their way onto the top of amazing hot fudge/caramel sundaes. "Hickory nuts actually smell like caramel," says Tory. And he shops for lots more berries. What they don't use, they flash freeze for the winter months, so patrons can still "taste" Wisconsin fruit.

And Mushrooms - Oyster, Portabello and Lions Mane. The latter Tory roasts with clarified butter and says taste exactly like crab.

With some vendors he has standing orders for vegetables and he likes to order lots and lots of delicious taste combinations -

eggplant, cauliflower, kale, peppers, haricot verts, an so on...

"What I love about the market," says Tory, "is that it is always the same and it's always different.  It has a bright, caring and strong spirit."

After 3 hours, I head home, but Tory and his duo of assistants  have really just begun. All the purchases have to be organized in the kitchen, and Chef Tory Miller has to begin his culinary alchemy, taking the exquisitely fresh ingredients and turning them into something L'Etoile sublime.

Here's a list of vendors that Tory "shopped" this Saturday. He says that he frequents about 150 Market Vendors, but only could make it around to eighteen or so before he had to begin "cook'n".

FANTOME FARM, CREEKSIDE FARM, HUMMELS FARM, JONES VALLEY FARM, THE BEE CHARMER, CAPRI CHEESE, MAO VANG FARM, SUTTERS RIDGE FARM, CANOPY GARDENS, DOOR COUNTY FRUIT MARKETS, HOOKS CHEESE, THE NUT FACTGORY, STENRUD FARM, HARMONY VALLEY FARM, HERBAN OYSTER, GOURMET DELIGHT, GITT ORGANIC AND SYLVAN MEADOWS FARM.

L'Etoile is moving into a new and beautiful space, just up the street @ One S. Pickney. All glass and beautiful. They will be open in two weeks - the end of July. Telephone: 608.251.0500
http://www.letoile-restaurant.com/