Field to Feast: Garden Pho & Tea with Pelican Gardens

This week, Field to Feast spent an amazing day in the garden with Mark LaMaire. Mark is a local New Orleans musician who grows hard-to-find ingredients used in Asian and Indian cuisines.

Why Asian ingredients? Mark told me, “The connection with growing Asian ingredients stems from a non-profit I started in 2010 which sponsors Burmese refugee children to attend school in Thailand. It’s called One World Family International. I started Lahpet, a Burmese food popup, to raise funds for this work. Lahpet grew its own following and I started doing it as a means for supporting myself as well as One World Family.”

As Mark was working with his Burmese food popup, he became obsessed with using authentic, ethically sourced ingredients which led him to start growing his own ingredients and eventually purchasing a small plot of land in Old Algiers which has become Pelican Gardens.

When we visited Mark, he made us his delicious Garden Pho, a staple dish here for volunteers helping out in the garden. It is made entirely with ingredients that were either grown at the garden or traded with restaurants and markets in exchange for produce. It incorporates Louisiana rice in the way that Vietnamese Pho uses rice noodles.

On this beautiful day at Pelican Gardens, the dish was delicious and the company divine. Many thanks to Mark, Sophie, and Brian for the wonderful hospitality and the inside scoop on how to make the perfect Garden Tea.

Garden Pho

Jasmine Rice, substituting for rice noodles
Asian Eggplant
Okra
Wood Ear Mushrooms
Mexican Tarragon Flowers
Mint
Basil
Roasted Pork
Thai Watercress
Australian Finger Limes
Choice of soup broth

Pour soup broth into a large pot and begin bringing to a boil.
Crop all leafy vegetables except for basil and mint and add to your broth. Bring to a simmer and cook until flavors are combined.
In a separate skillet, add your rice and begin making a stir fry with the eggplant, okra, mushrooms, or any non-leafy vegetable you want in your pho.
Once your broth is finished, add it to a bowl.
Top it with the rice stir fry and roasted pork. Add extra flavor, by topping your soup with basil, mint, or any herb growing in your garden.

Garden Tea

Lemongrass
Mint
Raw Honey

Step lemon grass in hot, purified water for 30 minutes.
After the lemon grass cools down, add mint to the water.
Once the water is cooled down to room temperature, add raw honey.

Disclaimer: These are estimated measurements, and are flexible to your needs. Content and photographs are protected. We encourage you to share this recipe with family, friends and online. Post your photos with #fieldtofeast and tag us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.