- Washington Grown is made possible by funding from the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

And by The Potato Farmers of Washington.

Learn why Washington is home to the world's most productive potato fields and farmers by visiting potatoes.com.

- Hi everyone, I'm Kristi Gorenson and welcome to "Washington Grown".

Washington is the second most productive state when it comes to agriculture, growing more than 300 crops from Watcom County to Whitman.

In this episode, we're gonna take a look at some of the delicious vegetables grown right here in Washington.

Tomás is checking out a farm with some special asparagus.

- Geez, you're a pro already.

You're not gonna leave here [Tomás laughing] without a basket, man.

- And I'm making king salmon with seared asparagus at Ray's Boathouse.

Love it.

- This might be a dish with salmon, but really the asparagus is the star of the show here.

- Here's the star, yeah.

Plus, our team is trying their hand at packing jars at Foster's Pickled Products.

- It's falling apart quickly.

- Oh no!

[both laugh] - All this and more today on "Washington Grown".

[light bright music] This is my favorite part of the day!

[guest laughs] You gave me this job just to keep me occupied, didn't you?

This is what fine dining is all about right here.

[Tomás barking] [dog barking] - I can eat these all day.

[guest laughs] - You all make this look so simple and easy.

Cheers to that!

[guest laughing] - I only hang out in pretty potato fields.

[laughs] [plane roaring] [light music] Seattle's waterfront offers so many incredible spots to enjoy the natural beauty of Puget Sound.

And here at Ray's Boathouse, they've specially crafted an experience to match the majesty of the view.

For 50 years, Ray's has been bringing natural, fresh, and fishy delights to the people of Seattle.

- This is the place I think of when I think of like, where do I wanna go that's kind of kicking it up a notch a little bit.

- We're from Hawaii, so we've been told five years ago, "You gotta come to Ray's Boathouse."

It's kind of like a Seattle institution I feel like.

It's everything I thought it would be.

[laughs] - Anyone who's lived in Seattle for five years or more has some memory of sitting on the deck at Ray's or celebrating a graduation or a birthday or something like that.

A lot of people have gone through these doors.

- Executive chef Kevin Murray knows firsthand that Ray's is a special place in the hearts and minds of Seattleites.

- I grew up in Houston, but my family's from Seattle, so I used to come up here every summer.

I would come to Ray's, sit on the deck, eat fish and chips and burgers and things like that.

Kind of feel like I've been raised in the kitchen by Ray's.

- Raised by Ray.

- Who would look at this view and be like, "Wow, I'm so happy right now."

Like it's, you know.

- We love it here.

- Obviously, we have an amazing view, but we also have kind of been one of the front runners for Pacific Northwest cuisine, specifically seafood, for the past 50 years.

We kinda stayed real true to our roots and who we are as a business.

So we kind of live on the tradition of where we are.

- If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

- Exactly.

[Kristi chuckles] - Stay tuned for later in the show when Chef Kevin and I make crispy skinned king salmon with seared asparagus.

Hollandaise sauce is not for people on a diet.

- No, it is not.

[Kristi laughs] - Don't just sit there with a spoon.

[laughs] - I have done it before.

- I bet.

[lively music] - Driving by this field, you might think that these are just stocks of crops that haven't grown in yet.

But in reality, these are fully grown, ready to eat asparagus.

Larsen Farms in Pasco has been growing asparagus for decades.

- Call this God's country [Tomás laughs] because, well, when we moved out here there is only us and God at the time.

- Gary Larson and his family have been farming asparagus in Washington for generations.

Now, although these green veggies are colorful, if you take a closer look you'll find a completely natural rare color growing right in his fields.

We're here today because I heard you do something a little special with this asparagus.

I wore my purple shirt because I understand you grow purple asparagus.

- We could sell it, but with purple asparagus you either got too much or not enough.

[Tomás laughs] - Instead, Gary decided to donate the proceeds to the Alzheimer's Association.

And the official color of the Alzheimer's awareness movement, you guessed it, purple.

- Both my parents passed from Alzheimer's.

My sister and myself take my mom's bed out of her assisted living care place.

And as I was leaving, I go, "Oh man, purple.

Purple asparagus."

And I thought, what a great way to raise money.

It was a way of moving this asparagus for a good cause.

First year of COVID, we thought, "Oh man," and we did over $35,000.

We got one acre of purple and we're able to raise that much money off the one acre.

- All right, let's head to the field and check out these purple asparagus.

All right, so check out these guys.

These purple ones are actually pretty thick.

- Oh yeah.

- That is beautiful.

- It's sweeter than the green stuff.

Some people love it and some people prefer the green.

- So why don't you just gimme a couple coaching tips on how to harvest a couple of these if they're ready.

- Okay, so you go to the old guy with the bad back and knee [Tomás laughs] to say, "Okay, teach me how to cut."

You have to be careful because like in this case, if I come down right through here, I'm getting that one.

- Right.

- So you have to maneuver around and hope you get it.

- So I can come in and get a little bit further down into the ground, right?

- You don't wanna get too far, so that's about right.

- So right there.

So I just give it a nice good push.

- Yep, there you go.

- And then when they get it, they're just lopping it off and then you put in your- - Geez, you're a pro already.

- It's in my blood.

- You're not gonna leave here without a basket, man.

- Purple asparagus, baby.

Why is this place so good for asparagus?

- [scoffs] Wow.

God's country?

- That's it.

[Gary laughs] Just, that touch of God, right?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

When we started asparagus, there were 32,000 acres of asparagus in the state of Washington, and now we are about 4,000.

But the interesting thing is 'cause of all the different varieties and the better varieties, we're probably producing as much or more asparagus off those 4,000 than what we did with 32,000.

When you consider how much my parents left for me, I wish that we would've started this sooner so maybe there was some hope for them.

But if I can help one, two families not have to deal with the grief of dealing with an Alzheimer's situation, it's well worth it.

- How do we get people to know more about what the power of purple asparagus can do then?

- You can go to the Alzheimer's Foundation and go on the website and you can read up about it and find the donations.

They do like fun walks and that type of stuff to raise money for it.

- Thanks for doing what you do, and I'm gonna pick some more asparagus and go have myself some lunch.

- You only got three quarters of an acre left to go.

- [scoffs] Dinner maybe.

[Gary laughs] Dinner.

[both laugh] [lively music] [upbeat music] Hey, let's go.

Alright, if you love bread bowls, you've gotta come to Skalka in Seattle.

They're making a special meal that takes the bread bowl concept to the next level.

Owner Mariia Tarasova's from the country of Georgia and she's putting some great twists on a classic Georgian dish to make Washingtonians happy and full.

- Georgian cuisine has a lot of different dishes, but we decided to focus only one dish and make it to perfection.

So we make only one dish.

It's called khachapuri.

You know, if you have only one dish in a restaurant, usually people trust you.

[Tomás laughs] It means that you're a professional if you're doing only one thing and you make it good.

- Today, we're trying out the veggie khachapuri made with Walla Walla onions, eggplant, bell peppers and jalapeños.

- How you supposed to eat it?

So no knife.

- Okay.

- Just remember that.

- Okay.

- We don't have knives at Skalka.

- Okay.

[both laugh] - You use your hands.

It's fun food and you gotta have fun.

Mmm.

- There are so much flavor.

It's got some spice in there.

It got a perfect crunchy crust, but inside it's all warm and fluffy.

- Yes.

- Let's see what Seattle thinks of Skalka's veggie khachapuri.

Ooh, look at that.

- Ooh, that's a big.

- That's my kind of bite, Pat.

[lively music] - It's so good.

- Go.

- First of all, the bread is to die for.

- It's tremendously flavorful.

- It's the veggies.

It's got a lot of like earthy flavors in it.

- Yeah.

- This is healthy, but it's very tasty.

- It is, huh?

- The bread is just cooked perfectly.

Like it's such a good device to get the filling into your mouth.

- Definitely enhances the travel experience coming to Seattle for the first time.

- So where are you from?

- Atlanta.

- So instead of the Georgia state, - Yeah, right.

- you get the Georgian country cuisine.

- Exactly, there you go.

[both laugh] - Tastes healthy, but also filling.

[panel members laughing] - So how do you say, this is delicious, in Russian?

- Vkusna - Vkusna - Vkusna - Vkusna - Yeah!

[laughs] - Vkusna - You're Russian is so good.

[both laughing] - Coming up, I'm making king salmon with seared asparagus at Ray's Boathouse.

Hollandaise sauce is not for people on a diet.

- No, it is not.

[Kristi laughs] - Don't just sit there with a spoon.

[laughs] - I have done it before.

- I bet.

[lively music] We're back at Ray's Boathouse in Seattle.

Seated right on the waters of the sound, Ray's has crafted a menu that perfectly fits both the Seattle waterfront and the fresh Washington produce.

- I kind of feel like there's something for everyone.

- The recommendations on what's good and what's excellent has been fantastic and I think we ordered most it.

- The food is always really fresh and well prepared.

- We told Justin we may have to come back tomorrow night to try the rest of the menu.

[laughs] - It's good enough.

- We like to take something that's really, a really high quality product and then not try to complicate it too much.

- Executive chef Kevin Murray takes a lot of pride in the menu, allowing the natural flavors of fresh ingredients to sing out in the dishes he creates.

- We also really like to use the variety of Washington produce.

We have amazing apples and pomaceous fruit here.

Stone fruits are wonderful.

We get a lot of great asparagus, which is obvious.

What we like to do here is we like to take those things and present them simply and just showcase what we have here.

- It's not snooty at all.

Very approachable.

I mean, you really can't beat the view.

- Nice ambiance.

Very relaxed and chill where it's still nice, but not uptight, yeah.

[laughs] - Like when I wanna have a drink with a friend, this is the place I think of.

When I wanna have a nice dinner, this is the place I think of.

When there's people from out of town, this is kind of the place I think of.

- What are we gonna make today?

- Today we're gonna make some seared asparagus with a crispy skin king salmon, and then we're gonna accompany it with, a kind of a small frisee shaved asparagus and pickled onion salad.

- I feel like asparagus just compliments seafood.

- Definitely.

- Okay, sounds good.

- Yeah.

- You have a nice view when you work here.

- Yes, I do.

I don't always get to see it since I'm back in the kitchen.

- Right.

- There's not too much view from in there, but out here it's beautiful so.

- I know.

And the asparagus is beautiful, too.

What is it about asparagus and salmon that seems to go so well together?

- Well, I think it's just the vegetable note of the asparagus plays really well with kind of the fattiness of the salmon.

This is also some really nice Washington Columbia River King.

I know we're here for the Washington farmers, - That's right.

- but we can't forget our Washington fishermen.

- We shave some asparagus for our salad and put it in ice water to make it crispy.

Then we blanch the rest of the asparagus for 15 to 30 seconds and put them into an ice bath to shock them.

- Yeah, you can see kind of the color change that happened from kind of the lighter green to the brighter a little bit.

- Now it's time to make some hollandaise.

We separate some egg yolks from the whites and whisk the yolks up.

Then we steam heat the bowl, adding some lemon juice and clarified butter while Chef continues whisking.

Hollandaise sauce is not for people on a diet.

- No it is not.

[Kristi laughs] This is a little luxurious.

- Yes.

- for an everyday meal, but.

- Don't just sit there with a spoon.

[laughs] - I have done it before.

- I bet.

We finished the sauce with salt, chives, and cayenne pepper.

Then, sear our asparagus with some lemon juice.

Is that a crunch?

- It's tender but still got a little crunch.

- Right.

- That's just where we want it.

- Now it's time for the Columbia King Salmon.

- When we're gonna put these down, we're gonna make sure that we're gonna kinda try to roll the skin onto it so that we're making sure that every piece of that skin is contacting the hot pan.

We don't want any like air bubbles, so we have a nice, crispy skin.

- Once the salmon is cooked, it's time for the salad.

We start with some blonde frisee, then add our chilled asparagus ribbons, pickled red onions, and lemon oil.

Look at how beautiful that is.

I love it.

- This might be a dish with salmon, but really the asparagus is the star of the show here.

- That's the star, yeah.

[lively music] It's so pretty.

[laughs] - Yeah.

That's nice.

You get the, - So good.

- the richness from the hollandaise, the brightness of the lemon kind comes through.

- I love just the crispness of the asparagus.

- You always wanna, yes, strive to have some balance with your meal.

So when you're going something that's like rich and luxurious, it's nice to compliment it with something bright and acidic to kind of cleanse your palate.

- It's an adventure.

That whole meal is awesome.

And the asparagus, perfect.

To get the recipe for Ray's Crispy Skin King Salmon with Seared Asparagus, visit wagrown.com.

- Farm labor is a hot topic in Washington and it's something we need to discuss in order to really understand the full situation.

That's why today I'm meeting with Brandon Roozen, the executive director of the Western Washington Agriculture Association to talk about the struggles both growers and farm laborers are facing.

- Even though some of the tasks that farm workers have done over the decades is changing, their place on the farm, their place in the operations is still critical.

If you don't think that our farmers value, the workers who are operating a hundred and hundred thousand dollar equipment, - Right.

- and millions of dollars worth of product cumulatively, and they don't trust these folks, you gotta be kidding me.

There's a skill and there's a dedication to agriculture that I think is mutually seen and felt amongst the folks who participate culturally in agriculture.

I mean, that's the culture, agriculture.

- I visited a lot of farms before where I've seen farm workers who have come back year after year after year and they're almost part of the family because they've been there for 10, 15 years.

And now, they bring in their kids and they create these relationships - That's right.

- with their workers.

So it really isn't just a number.

You're just a number on my field.

- Generational farms aren't just generational for the owners.

I think you nailed a point that I think folks in the non-agricultural public maybe don't fully understand and appreciate.

It's always been hard work since day one that we started putting things in the ground with the intention to harvest them.

It wasn't gonna be easy.

And how now do we place the value on that hard work?

How do we keep the generational understanding and perspective alive in communities?

I think our farm workers wanna be there.

They wouldn't be there if they didn't.

And our farmers absolutely want them there.

So now it's just making sure that communication is alive and well and that can be a challenge.

- I'm glad somebody like you is there to lead the charge.

- Well thank you so much.

I appreciate it and thank you for having the conversation.

- Awesome, man.

- It needs to be had.

[light music] - Coming up, our team is trying their hand at packing jars at Foster's Pickled Products.

- This is the difference between a professional and a producer.

[laughs] - And we're in The Kitchen at Second Harvest trying out some French spring soup.

[lively music] [bright upbeat music] - Let's talk onions today.

I love onions.

They're one of my favorite things to add to basically any dish.

If I can throw an onion in it, I'm going to do it.

And did you know, the average American eats over 18 pounds of onions a year?

It's pretty big deal.

So we want to talk about how to preserve and store them so you can use them whenever you need.

Onions can just store in a cool dry place.

You can put 'em in a paper bag.

Just make sure you're not stacking them on top of each other 'cause the weight on top of each other can cause them to have soft spots and then mold.

So we want to avoid that.

That is one of the best ways to store them.

They don't need to be in the fridge unless you've chopped them open, you've used part of it and you're trying to store part of it in the fridge.

Then you can easily do that.

Another great way is freezing.

So freezing is the best to chop it up in little pieces and then throw it in sautés, soups, stews, all the things.

Obviously, chopping can be an issue for a lot of people because onions can make you cry.

One of my favorite tools is this right here because it chops it for you and then it goes right into this and you don't really have a lot of one-on-one contact with it.

So we're just gonna chop it real quick.

We're gonna set that in there just like this.

And so don't feel bad, but you are gonna like, [tool pounding] beat on it a little bit here.

Wonderful little pieces of diced onion, and that was such a time saver.

Use this little secret and you will cry less in the kitchen and have amazing dishes.

- Here in Pasco, there's a small place making some huge flavors happen.

Foster's Pickled Products is well known for amazing pickled vegetables.

With incredible Washington produce like asparagus, carrots, brussels sprouts and more, Foster's is like happiness in a jar.

- Foster's name is really known.

I think that it's been a staple for many years.

A lot of people will use it in Bloody Mary's.

A lot of people will use it at bars.

- Jared Filbrun is the operations manager for Foster's pickling facility in Pasco.

Getting great canned veggies means starting with fresh produce.

- For instance, brussels sprouts.

We get it from Burlington, Washington and we'll pack it within two to three days.

And so it's very fresh and it's getting pickled straight away so that it really contains the flavor, the crunch, and just all the nutrients that's in the vegetable.

- Now let's see what pickling veggies is all about.

- They'll take the boxes of asparagus that comes from the fields.

They'll feed it onto the line, and then we sort out any curls or any unacceptable product for the jars.

And then we'll cut to jar length, send it through for washing, and it's ready to pack from there.

We start out with a simple recipe.

We use dill, we use red pepper for a little bit of a kick, and we use garlic for the traditional pickle taste.

There's no reason to add extra calcium chloride or yellow number five or any coloring.

Fresh vegetables that's packed in an awesome brine, they're tangy, crunchy.

And we process within an hour so you really get crunchy, tangy, awesome product.

Right now we're packing okra.

So we'll bring the fresh product into the packing area and we're hand packing all seven products that we run.

Hand packed, you get better quality, get a better pack.

So right now they do them upside down and then right side up.

And you can get more okra in the jar rather than just having a machine fill 'em.

- Here on the show, our producers ask us to do all sorts of crazy things.

So today, we're turning the tables and making producer Sidney pack some okra.

- We're gonna put ourselves to the test here and we're gonna race to see who can do the best job, - Alright.

- fastest pickling some okra.

- Packing okra.

All right.

- [Production Staff] One, two, three.

- It's falling apart quickly.

- Oh no.

[both laugh] - Those are mine.

Don't steal those.

- We got one in the bottom.

One extra for the customer, right?

- Yeah.

- I know, I'm trying.

- To be honest, he was helping me beforehand and I don't think it helped much.

There we go.

This is the difference between a professional and a producer.

[laughs] But mine's not too bad, I mean.

- Let's see.

- We're almost there.

- That's not bad.

- We're almost there.

- Whoever gets this jar is just lucky.

- Yeah.

- They get extra.

- This one, if you find the one on the bottom on the side, you know I did that for you.

- That's right.

- High five.

[Sidney laughs] - Alright.

Soon as the product is packed, it gets sent down and it goes through our metal detector and immediately into the brine fill, You have the preservative of the vinegar and you also have your vacuum and your sealing so it can stay on the shelf for three years.

We bring it down and bring it through the labeler, print the code on top, then it gets sent to you guys at home.

Using a fresh product to start with is important.

We have rich soil in Washington.

I think that we produce amazing crops and it's important to support Washington's economy.

Washington agriculture is huge and just diverse with the various crops, and I really think it's important to support local farmers and local ag within Washington.

[light upbeat music] - Welcome back.

We are in The Kitchen at Second Harvest Food Bank in Spokane, and I'm joined by my sidekick, Tomás.

- Hey, how you doing?

- Thanks for being here.

- Oh, it's always good to be back.

- As well as Laurent Zirotti.

Bonjour.

- Bonjour, Kristi.

Bonjour, Tomás.

- Bonjour.

- And we get to taste some French spring soup.

- French spring soup.

Right, French spring soup.

- French spring soup.

- You're French.

[Kristi laughs] - What makes it French?

- You know, I don't get too much the french fries, the french toast, but I think this soup, I think it's the base of a potato leek soup, which is called the Pommes De Terre in French and it is a classic French soup.

- Okay.

- So I think that could be that connotation.

- Nice.

- Gotcha.

All right.

- So this was the asparagus episode and you got to go to a purple asparagus field.

- Yeah.

You know, we have so many crops here in Washington and we always stumble across something unique.

And this purple asparagus was definitely one of those.

There isn't many acres of this out there.

But it was just awesome.

It was vibrant.

- And it's purple, but when you cook it, - Turns green.

- It turns green?

Really?

- Yes, yes, yes, it does.

- How about that?

- Only the white asparagus stay white.

- Okay.

So this is French spring soup made by Luanne.

So we're gonna taste it.

- All right.

Sounds good.

- Can't wait.. [bright upbeat music] - Delicious.

And here it is.

It's gorgeous.

- Does it look French, Laurent?

- Well, you know, I think any country-styled soup looks French - Soup.

- because it is the warmth, the comfort food that you want in those months of fall, winter.

Soup is very comfort food.

- It is, and this does look comforting.

- Looks great.

- And delicious.

- It's really country-style soup, hearty.

- And these are one of those types of soups where you can really flare this up.

You can always add all sorts of different herbs and spices to this to just really give it a unique flair that's uniquely your own.

- If you do want a simple vegetarian soup, use your peeling of the vegetable and make a vegetable stock that you will add to your soup and to get more flavor out of it.

But love it.

Maybe a little bit of bacon bits or something.

- Oh yeah.

That would be delicious.

And so leeks, I guess you have to rinse them really, really well, right?

- Yes.

Yes, there were lots of dirt in the leeks.

Every vegetable, and you have to make sure you wash them well.

- Yeah.

That's one of the comments saying that, "This is perfect and delicious as it is," but make sure you rinse those leeks very, very well to get all the sand out.

And then another comment says, "It's so fresh, pretty, and easy to assemble.

I used chicken broth instead of water and fat-free half and half instead of cream."

So even a lighter version.

So, delicious.

So this is French spring soup.

- There you go.

- Love it.

- Very nice.

- We can say, bon appétit.

- Bon appétit.

[Tomás chuckles] I love it.

[chuckles] To get the recipe for French Spring Soup, visit wagrown.com.

Whether you're grilling asparagus on the barbecue or enjoying some pickled brussels sprouts as a snack, we're so lucky to know that our veggies are grown by our neighbors, the dedicated farmers of Washington.

That's it for this episode of "Washington Grown".

We'll see you next time.