I only made it out to my favorite farm one time this season for a farm dinner. But I’m glad I made it out at all! It was a rainy day and did not seem promising for night out at what was sure to become a very muddy farm, but moments after my bestie Leah picked me up the skies cleared and the sun came out. It was going to be a lovely dinner alright.
We showed up right on time for appetizers (I wanted to write h’ors doerves here, but clearly I do not know how to spell in french). I didn’t get any pics of the food because it was twilight and I refuse to use the flash on my camera. But let me tell you about it…
There were pork belly tacos and bacon wrapped figs…there was also some kind of duck confit on bread which sounded amazing, but I kept missing. And there was a mushroom soup, which was rich…too rich for my blood, but Leah seemed to love it.
I am trying not to drink these days (wha?!) because it just doesn’t make me feel good. And my doctor has suggested I lay off the bread and other wheat-filled items to give my system a reboot. I am slowly working on this. And I’ll write more about it later…I’m just mentioning this to explain why I had the lemonade, virgin-style.
And then it was dinner time
The tables were a bit wide so we didn’t get to chat with our neighbors as much as we wanted to, but the ones we did meet were awesome and just as excited as we were to be there.
This is the only photo of food that I took…the sweet potato gnocchi
But let me tell you about the rest (taken from their website…)
- Sherry vinaigrette splashed Spinach salad with Howling Hound's Farm eggs, bacon and shaved red onion
- Port wine braised Beef Short Ribs in a reduction of the natural braising juice
- Apple cider marinated and roasted Howling Hound's Chicken with smoked apple butter finished poultry glace
- Roasted root vegetables and heirloom potatoes on a bed of farmstead braised greens
- Sweet Potato gnocchi with apple vinegar and walnut oil dressed spinach
- Cinderalla pumpkin bread pudding with brandy spiced creme anglaise and whipped caramel crackle creme
oh.my.yum. that pumpkin bread pudding was THE BEST. I want to eat it again. The chef came out at the end of the night to talk about how much he enjoyed cooking our meal and working for Heritage Prairie Farm. He told us how recently the produce had been harvested (all within that day, the greens within the hour of our eating them). He also told us that he’d used about 8 sticks of butter to make this meal. It’s about BALANCE people.
There is a sense of peace and belonging I feel whenever I’m out at this farm. I need to explore that a little bit.. And keep my eye open for job openings. :)
see last year’s harvest dinner blog post here.
