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At nearly 15, the Red Stick Farmers Market is lush with vendors these days, but a few have been there from the beginning. Annabel Servat is one. Her venture, “Le Potager,” translated as “kitchen garden,” specializes in hand-crafted breads, muffins, cookies, homemade soups, fresh herbs and more created with homegrown ingredients. She’s also known as the “Egg Lady,” for her coveted, pastured fresh eggs that seem to vanish not long after the market’s 8 am opening bell. Click here to read more.

A veteran English teacher at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Servat became a market vendor by happenstance. She found herself without summer classes in 1997, and ventured to the open air event one Saturday for a pleasant diversion. Servat noticed no one was selling fresh herbs or breads, so she approached market founder Chris Campany about applying for a booth. In short order, Servat’s stand opened, featuring a signature line of baked goods, and fragrant fresh-cut herbs.

Farming and baking had come naturally for Servat. She grew up on 125 acres near Prairieville, where her family cooked and gardened with passion and respect. Her father, a research chemist for then-Exxon, taught her about low-impact, sustainable farming. Her mother, a talented cook, decided the garden’s composition based on what she planned to serve and prepare that season. Servat carried on the farming life, raising Angora rabbits, and weaving their fur into sweaters and blankets. She always kept a garden, and when her sons, now 25 and 28, wouldn’t eat mass-produced sandwich bread as children, she started baking. It worked, even though she approached it with trepidation.

“I had always been scared of bread,” Servat recalls. “But a friend told me, there’s nothing to worry about. The worst you can do is throw it out.”

Servat’s breads remain a hit with market customers. She makes “oreganato” with fresh oregano, polenta and cracked black pepper. Her five pepper bread features a balance fresh red pepper, white pepper, Cayenne pepper, black pepper and just enough chipotle to give a subtle kick. She combines cheese and nuts in her popular Gorgonzola walnut bread, and features a French baguette that almost always sells out. Her muffaletto loaf is studded with savory veggies and olives, and her summer sandwich bread includes lots of fresh basil.

Servat’s eggs have also been popular. Raised from 60-120 pastured chickens on her Walker, La. farm, the eggs come to market in high quality recycled plastic cartons Servat orders from Quebec. Early on, she asked her Green-minded customers to return the cartons when they finished the eggs, and they’ve done so faithfully – some recycling the same carton 10 times.

“Our market is so attuned to the whole phenomenon of Slow Foods and the basic farm values that Louisiana’s agrarian society is based on,” says Servat. “It’s really wonderful.”

Le Potager’s volume has expanded considerably since Servat first began. One oven has morphed to five, and a lowly countertop mixer has been replaced by a 20-quart commercial one. By mid-week, she’s decided what breads she’ll bring on Saturday, inspired by what her garden’s producing. She often brings soups, and in the summer, homemade ice cream,created from fresh strawberries and peaches.

“Most of my stuff is based on what I grow or what I can buy from the farmers,” she says.

To read previous Du Jour features on local chefs and other culinary experts, click here.

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