Each weekend Jan Costa wakes up around 5 am Saturday morning, to get ready for the Haile Plantation Farmers Market and his customers are there and waiting for him. Jan sees people every day taking back control of their own food system, "They are learning, they do not need mega farms or stores to eat." And Jan has become for many Gainesville residents, the local vendor of locally grown food done right.
In 2009, the Florida Fresh Meat Company was born and has grown and blossomed into a thriving family of local sustainable farms now called, The Florida Fresh Family of Farms. In fact this start-up local grass-fed beef company has grown into the largest independent "one stop shop" of local sustainable proteins.
And did you know that those farms operate chemical, hormone and antibiotic free. Most farms that ask to join this group are rejected because they do not produce the high-quality livestock Jan requires. And those who do qualify, must adhere to very strict feed programs and principles, which include no pesticides, no hormones or antibiotics, clean healthy feed and for cattle, an all grass fed and finished program.
For Jan everything The Florida Fresh Meat Company does is in its own backyard. "We are locally sustainable and since the pandemic, for many of our customers, we are forever more the only way they buy their proteins."
Recipe for Lemon & Herb Roasted Turkey
One 12 to 14 pound
kosher sale and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons finely minced fresh oregano, parsley, tarragon
1 tablespoon ground sumac, finely minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon finely minced shallots
Grated zest of 6 lemons
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Twenty-four hours before cooking your turkey, season the inside and out of the bird with salt and pepper
Grind the oregano, parsley, tarragon, sumac, thyme, shallots and lemon zest together
Add olive oil to form a paste, spread mixture all around the inside and outside of the turkey.
Refrigerate uncovered for 24 hours.
Roasting
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
10 springs of fresh parsley and thyme
3 lemons and 1 shallot halved
3 carrots, 2 celery stalks and 1 onion roughly chopped
water for stock
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Roasting Directions
Remove the turkey from the fridge 90 minutes before roasting. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Season turkey again with salt and pepper. Put parsley and thyme sprigs in the cavity with lemon and shallot halves. Put the carrots, celery and onions in the bottom of a roasting pan fitted with a roasting rack. Add 1 cup water to pan. Baste the turkey with the pan drippings every 30 minutes, until the thickest part of the leg registers an internal temperature of 155 degrees F, for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Allow the bird to rest, tented with foil, for at least 1 hour before carving. The temperature will rise to about 165 degrees F during resting. Pour pan drippings into saucepan, set pan over medium high heat and cook until reduced by one half. Stir in the butter until melted. Pour drippings over carved turkey. Enjoy!
