Rhode Island 100 mile

…we hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving! Ours started out at 7 AM with a little prep…

…cutting potato slices on the mandoline for the sage potato chips.

…threading the sage into the blanched potato slices.

…ready for the hot oil!

…by 1 PM everyone was here, the table was set and we were ready to go. We had nine of us total and over five hours of dining and conversation, this is what we had:

- Duck Confit Rillett, Wild Boar Sausage, Bread and Assorted Condiments

- Cheese, In Cracker

- Pumpkin Oil Sweet

- Dehydrated Bacon, Butterscotch, Apple Leather and Thyme

- Salad Trio

- Spherical Beet

- Tobacco Cream, Blackberry and Mint

- Pheasant, Shallot, and Apple Cider Gel

- Duck and Butternut Squash soup

- Salmon, Truffle and Celery

- Braised Watson Farm (RI) Beef Short Rib, Kale

- Green Apple Ice Cream

- Liquid Popcorn

- Assorted Pies

…the Duck Confit with Wild Boar Sausge.

…crackers ready to be filled with cheesy goodness.

…the pumpkin oil sweet. These were giving us a headache to make. The isomalt shell kept deteriorating, causing them to break open…we had to make a second batch to rescue enough to serve.

…the finished sage potato chip.

…dehydrated bacon, apple leather, butterscotch and thyme.

…the “salad trio:- beet salad with ricotta salada, celery root remoulade and carrot and  with chickpeas.

…spherical beet.

…tobacco cream, blackberry and mint.

…pheasant, apple cider gel and shallot on an ok leave skewer.

…salmon on a brioche crouton with white truffle sauce, celery and black truffle shavings.

…beef short rib.

…and to top is off, pies made by Laurie! We didn’t get pictures of the duck, ice cream and liquid popcorn, unfortunately…

                                       -Ingrid and Josh

…the calm before  the storm. In the next 24 or so hours, these two knives (and a host of other tools) will be the epicenter of my 20 square foot space that will be home to dicing, slicing, chopping, peeling, smashing, grating…etc., etc.,etc….stay tuned to see what comes out of the kitchen! We hope all your culinary and gustatory experiences are happy ones tomorrow…happy Thanksgiving everyone!

                                               -Josh and Ingrid

. . . then I’ll eat leaves.”  This is a quote from our friend Andrew (aka Squid) from this past weekend’s dinner.  Andrew, Denise, and their son Matty joined Carolyn, Jon, Josh, and I for another one of Josh’s cooking extravaganzas!  At one point in the night Andrew – who had a full view of the stove – was saying – Are those leaves?  Are you frying leaves?  Are we eating leaves?  He’s cooking those leaves.  Well – if Josh tells me to eat leaves, I’ll eat leaves.

Needless to say Josh outdid himself again and we all had a great time eating, drinking, and visiting.  There were some surprise hits – Jon couldn’t eat enough of the butterscotch and he did get “smoke” as requested, Carolyn couldn’t get enough of a particular cheese filling (there was spontaneous clapping when that dish appeared), Denise loved the “popcorn” (but did get enough duck), and obviously Andrew was quite taken with the leaves!  I can’t give away too much right now because Saturday was a practice run for a number of plates we’ll be serving for Thanksgiving.  And as many of you know, we don’t tell anyone who’s coming for Thanksgiving dinner what they are having until they get here.  It’s become a bit of a joke over the past couple of years – everyone tries to wheedle it out of us but we like the “unveiling” on Thanksgiving day.  We’ll have pictures and details after Thursday!

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, this was posted by Ingrid.

No, we’re not talking about the “punt that never happened” during last Sunday’s Patriots game vs. the Colts (Bill, 4th and 2 on the 28…whaddaya thinkin’!) , but some lamb shanks that we bought at the Wintertime Market up in Pawtucket…these little morsels were browned up in the pan and then braised with some onion, carrot and tomato to form succulent, falling off the bone goodness…which we served up on a bed of wilted kale. Gotta love the “cheap cuts”!

- Josh

…for food, that is. Ingrid had been helping me study for the Beer Judge Certification Exam over the last six or so months and it has been my main focus for the last few weeks. I took the exam on Saturday out in Deerfield, MA and was tested on my knowledge of 22 beer styles and 70+ substyles, fermentation, adjuncts, recipe formulation and sensory skills, just to name a few. The exam was two parts; a tasting section where you had to judge four beers and an essay section with 10 essay questions…all with a three hour time limit…the exam was rather exhaustive, but with it now out of the way, beer can just be beer and now I can focus on food (beer IS food, right?) and the upcoming events and holidays that we have planned…oh yeah, I’ll get my results in 4 months!

                                       -Josh

The past week has been a whirlwind of local food activity for Josh and I but it’s been great (it’s me Ingrid).  Last week, I went to a panel discussion called “Building and Maintaining a Local Food System” at URI.  The speakers were Jennifer Corbin-Huntley (Jen’s Dish), Matt Jennings (Farmstead, La Laiterie at Farmstead), and Don Minto (Watson Farm) – and the moderator was Rick Rhodes (URI).  It was great having all those superstars of the Rhode Island food scene in one place – talking about food, food policy, food systems, local food, what food they would want on a desert island (chocolate, cheese, and wild boar came up more than once).  And as Josh wrote about earlier this week, we went to the Brooklyn Brewery dinner at La Laiterie at Farmstead – amazing food and beer.  I even liked one of the beers!

Last night Josh and I went to a talk put on by Slow Food Rhode Island and Southside Community Land Trust.  It was Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer and Rich Pederson from SCLT talking, reading, and making us all laugh about urban farming.  I’ve mentioned Novella’s book before but in case you missed it – get it – read it – and enjoy!  It still makes me laugh when I think about it.  It was a very fun, entertaining night, but also a thought provoking discussion about urban farming.  The audience ranged in ages and walks of life but everyone was so engaged – it’s hard not to be with Novella and Rich.  And Amy‘s cookies (that she was crazy enough to make with all the stuff she has going on) were fabulous!!  We also stopped back at La Laiterie after the talk to have a couple of drinks and some food – I had the apple crisp with burnt caramel ice cream which is made on premises – oh, it was so delicious!!

And tomorrow is the second week of Wintertime Farmers’Market in Pawtucket – I’m looking forward to a chocolate almond croissant from Seven Stars Bakery and some cider from Hill Orchard.  It would be great if I could track down some oxtail as well but the vendors typically sell out of that pretty fast (I’m sure our friend Denise will be very happy to hear that!).   Lots of fruits and veggies to buy as well but really – right now – it’s the croissant that’s calling my name!

This past Monday, Ingrid and I had the pleasure of attending a beer dinner with Garrett Oliver, the brewmaster for Brooklyn Brewery providing the libations and Matt Jennings of La Laiterie creating some culinary magic to finish off the pairings. The event was held at the newly expanded La Laiterie in Providence and this was the first time that both Ingrid and I have dined in the new space. The event kicked off with a reception in the new addition…appoximately 30 of us were treated to a series of hors d’oeuvres paired with Brooklyn’s Local 1 Beer. Everything was impeccable and paired nicely with the beer…some standouts were the house smoked pork jowl and salami and the potato and beer waffles topped with onion jam, black pepper, creme fraiche and maple syrup…all while soaking in the views of the store’s new cheese cave! After the last rounds of hors d’oeuvres, we made our way to our table and to our surprise, we were seated with Jennifer and Michael from Last Night’s Dinner and A Dash Bitters. I’ve been reading their blogs for a little while now (I suggest that you do the same!) and it was nice to finally meet them and put a face to the name(s). Over the next two hours, we were treated to a number of amazing beers and foods…most notably Brooklyn’s Manhattan Project and Wild 1 beers and Matt’s main course- beer brined pheasant, leg confit roulade with butternut squash, roasted fall vegetables and pheasant jus…the Manhattan Project is a draft-only limited edition beer that was created to taste like the Manhattan cocktail…and what an approximation indeed! It had all the subtle notes of it’s model and all the qualities of a well-built beer as well…sounds confusing, but it wasn’t and it went extremely well opposite the warm autumn salad that was paired with it. The Wild 1 beer is something that was apparently a by product of some shipping issues and based on the Local 1 beer that we had during the reception. It had some sour notes, but not overwhelming, quite pleasing on the palate and it complimented the pheasant without overwhelming it…and oh, the pheasant! The leg confit roulade was one of the best things I’ve had in a while (not to outshadow the rest of the plate) and was probably my favorite of the night! All in all, it was a great experience and it looked as though everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly!

                             -Josh

…it looks like purple was the popular color at last Friday’s market. Along with the purple cauliflower from the last post, I also picked up some purple cabbage…I braised it in some white wine and thyme and it came out rather sweet. Cabbage is not always in the forefront when it comes to my vegetable selection, but it does have a lot of bang for its’buck…this head of cabbage filled a rather large pot! We’ll be having it throughout the weekend to accompany our various dishes…

                                        -Josh