Wright Eats

We had perfect weather last Sunday for Dog Mountain Farm’s fourth farm dinner of the season – skies with barely a cloud in sight, and warm sunshine, but not too hot (which was nice since the dinner tables are not shaded!).  We were looking forward to this dinner, since we thought it might be a bit like the Outstanding in the Field dinner we attended back in 2005, which we really enjoyed.  This time, we had the chance to experience the dinner directly on the farm, whereas in 2005 we toured a farm in the Skagit Valley before heading off to eat at a different location nearby.

We arrived just after 3:00 and got ourselves situated with a cool glass of white wine as we wandered the orchard and gardens.  Cindy Krepky, along with her husband David, gave a tour of their farm gardens, duck and chicken coop, and greenhouse.  The variety of products they grow is amazing, given that this is such a small operation, and especially given the harsh weather farmers were faced with this spring.  They supply a number of local restaurants, like Cafe Juanita, Canlis, Andaluca, and the Latona Pub.  Cindy explained how the land is former Weyerhaeuser land that the company sold off when the trees were no longer in good condition.  They’ve been clearing the trees and reviving the soil since they bought the land about seven years ago, and now they have a beautiful view of the Cascades.

Erik Jackson was the chef for our meal, assisted by Chef Tony who makes pies at Serious Pie in Seattle.  We were impressed with the meal, which had all the right elements for a farm dinner in the height of summer – a beautiful poached duck egg from the farm served with brioche and anchovy aioli, a cotechino sausage made by the chef and served Napoleon style with puff pastry and sweet Tiny’s farm nectarines, a delicious refreshing cold green gazpacho, a flavorful pork chop with onion jam and Muscat peach sauce, and three melon sorbets with port syrup.  It was all quite tasty, but a couple people in our party thought there wasn’t quite enough food and left a bit hungry.  My only wish was that they had used a local pork, given that it was the main dish of the whole meal – instead, it was shipped in from somewhere in Iowa, which seemed like an odd choice for a Washington farm dinner.

Dinner was served at a slow leisurely pace, so we had time to wander off to visit the two Percheron draft horses, Ike and Zeek.  Beautiful, and huge, animals!  We fed them big handfuls of green grass, and managed to keep our fingers too.

They’re hosting two more dinners this year, and their web site says they each have six seats left.  All of the previous dinners have been sold out, so if you have a chance to, I recommend signing up soon!

To see more photos from the event, you can view our album.

A recent farm basket from Tiny’s Organics included some beautiful fava beans.  Dawn and I look forward to favas each spring, and we ordered them at restaurants around town whenever we could this past month.  Now that we had our own, I spent an hour peeling them, twice – once for the outer pod, which provides a spongy cushion for the beans, and then again for the shell around each individual fava.  Talk about packaging!  But it’s worth the effort.

Since it was such a nice summer day, I wanted something to snack on while relaxing in the back yard.  I looked at what we had in our kitchen, and decided to make fava bean crostini with pecorino and mint.  It went well with a glass of Commanderie de la Bargemone 2007 Coteaux d’Aix en Provence Rosé (a great recommendation from Catherine while we were shopping at Bella Cosa).

Fava Bean Crostini with Pecorino and Mint
Makes 4 crostini

1.5 lbs fava beans
1 garlic clove
1 lemon
Rustic bread
Mint leaves
Olive oil
Pecorino cheese
Salt
Pepper

Remove the outer and inner fava bean shells.  Blanch favas in salted boiling water for a minute, then strain and run under cold water to prevent beans from cooking further. 

Whisk together 2 tsp lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/8 tsp salt, and pepper.  Taste the vinaigrette and adjust flavor as needed.  Toss the favas with just enough vinaigrette to lightly coat them.

Brush four pieces of 1/2″ thick bread with olive oil, and toast until golden brown.  Slice garlic clove in half, and rub the bread with the garlic.  Chop mint into thin strips.

To assemble: put a single layer of favas on each toast, shave pecorino cheese on top, sprinkle mint strips, drizzle a little olive oil, and crack pepper over each toast.

We’ve purchased our tickets to Wednesday evening’s SIFF documentary Good Food.  This will be the world premiere of the film, but there is another screening Saturday afternoon, too.

This lively tour of various Washington state farms and ranches that have adopted healthier organic methods in raising their products offers several lucid arguments in favor of smaller, more efficient farms, and purchasing locally grown crops. Still, none are as convincing as the marvelous bounty laid before our eyes in this film.

What had I gotten myself into?  Just before our friends arrived, I pulled the meat out of the braising liquid.  It jiggled like jello.  I hope Heath Putnam is right, because this stuff appeared to be almost entirely fat.  And here we were going to serve it to friends and call this dinner.

We have been obsessing about Heath’s Wooly Pigs bacon since it showed up at the U-District market last winter, but we had yet to try the pork belly that everyone has been raving about.  How could any pork be worth $25/lb?  Well, we wouldn’t know without trying, so last weekend we were determined to bring some home from our weekly market run.

When I told Heath that we wanted some of the Mangalitsa pork belly, he rifled around in the coolers and pulled out a package of belly and ribs.  I was about to pay when he said, “You know, if you like pork belly, you should really try the jowl.  I think it’s even better than the belly.”  I paused.  “Ok, I’ll buy some jowl instead.”  I paid up, and as I was leaving, he said, “You’re brave.”  Brave?  What was that supposed to mean?  He said that apparently most people are squeamish about this sort of thing.  I have never cooked with jowl or any of his Mangalitsa pig products, so I had no idea what he was talking about.

He sent me away with instructions to cook it at low temperatures to avoid ruining the pork and said that I could cook it the same way as pork belly.  The recipe I had in mind was the belly recipe Rebekah Denn wrote about at the Seattle P-I.

We prepared the jowl, along with some tiny Brussels sprouts from the market, and carrots.  While the jowl was crisping in the oven, we had a roasted endive salad with orange segments, from The Herbfarm Cookbook.  Then, it was ready.

It turns out that this pig is worth every bit of hype that’s been surrounding it.  What incredible flavor.  The stuff is tender, moist and just melts in your mouth.  It is insanely rich and I can’t recall a more flavorful meat I’ve ever eaten.  Just amazing.

What makes these pigs taste so different from other pork?  Heath has a very unique thing going here.  He imported the heirloom breed of Mangalitsa pig from Europe, raises them on a special diet (including access to herbs in the pastures), and slaughters them humanely.

He only started selling these pigs at the end of last year and has already created a ton of buzz, even in national publications.  A couple months ago, Saveur magazine started a new feature highlighting one U.S. state each issue.  The premier state was Washington, and Wooly Pigs was on the list of ten food items not to miss.  We are lucky because you can’t buy this pork outside Washington at the moment since it’s prohibitively expensive to distribute it.  But Heath is starting to partner with farmers in other states, and has just sold some piglets to a farmer in the Bay Area who will be raising and selling them there.

To complete our locavore menu, we ended with a rhubarb crisp topped with crème fraîche ice cream.  The first rhubarb of the season was at the market on Saturday, and we wanted to try an ice cream recipe from my new Perfect Scoop cookbook.  We picked up crème fraîche, eggs, and raw milk from Sea Breeze Farm, and when we stopped for our morning crêpe from Anita’s Crêpes, she suggested we add some vanilla bean to the recipe.  We figured that a graduate of the CIA who formerly worked at the French Laundry would know what she’s talking about, so we did so.  It was a nice ending.

Market fresh ricotta from Sea Breeze Farm, spread on Tall Grass Bakery bread, drizzled with local honey, and sprinkled with salt and some thyme leaves from our garden.  The weather inspired us to brew up some iced tea (Barnes and Watson Tahitian Blend, our favorite tea for iced).  What could be better on a warm sunny Seattle afternoon?

Queen Anne has become the most recent foodie destination, with new restaurants opening practically monthly.  Queen Anne isn’t very convenient for us to get to, however, so we usually only head up there with a specific destination in mind.  This is why we are envious of all the Queen Anne folks who have ready access to Eat Local.

Eat Local is a great concept, particularly in light of all the good discussion lately around knowing where your food is sourced (such as Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma – a must-read if you’re interested in this subject).  The concept of Eat Local is simple: provide prepared meals for on-the-go families, using organic ingredients that are sourced locally and sustainably.

We’ve managed to pick up a few meals for our freezer.  We love the fact that you can choose either traditional disposable containers, or reusable/returnable pyrex containers.  We always opt for the glass containers, although we’re starting to acquire a small stack of them since we never seem to have them on hand when we’re near Queen Anne.  We’re going to get back a large deposit one of these days.

Anyway, it’s been a bit of a bummer that they’re not conveniently accessible to those not on Queen Anne hill.  Until now.  They just announced that they’ve teamed up with spud.com for delivery!  So now you can get Eat Local meals delivered to your door with your groceries!  This might give us a good excuse to try SPUD.

Eat Local
2400 Queen Anne Ave. N, Seattle
(206) 328-3663

We’re lucky to live close to one of the biggest farmers markets in the area, in the U-District.  Open year round, it’s our favorite place to shop.  During the summer, the place is jam-packed and for some items it’s essential to get there before the 9:00 opening bell.  In the winter, however, the booths are fewer, which gives new vendors opportunity to set up shop while some of the long-time vendors are away for the season.

One new addition this winter is the guy we call the Toffee Man.  Ok, his name is really Pete Brogi, owner of Pete’s Perfect Butter Toffee.  We’ve seen him around at other markets, like Ballard’s, but when space freed up this past fall, he took up a post in the U-District.  He’s generous with his samples, and it’s pretty clear why because after you try a bite, there’s little chance that you’ll walk away without purchasing a container.  This stuff is addictive!

Last week, I walked by and he was offering his samples again.  I demurred, but then noticed a new item on the table.  He explained that he’s experimenting with toffee-chocolate covered pretzels - first a layer of toffee over a hard pretzel, and then a layer of chocolate.  I bought one, and he sent me off with a warning.  He said the first bite is extremely hard, so I should be careful not to break my teeth.

The next day, Eric and I split it.  Pete was right-on about the first bite - you almost need a knife or something to get it started, but after that it’s fine.  More than fine, actually - this thing was just as addictive as his toffee!  The salty pretzel was a perfect complement to the buttery toffee underneath the chocolate.  It was quickly gone and we were left wishing I had bought another.  It’s probably a good thing that we had to wait a week!  Pretzels were top on our market list today.  This time we got one dark chocolate-covered, and one milk chocolate-covered with white chocolate in the middle.

Skagit River Ranch eggs. Everyone gets excited when they get one of the rare green eggs (center).

Here’s a list of our other favorites at the U-District Market:

• Dried pluots and dried apple sticks from Tiny’s. A great snack food.
• Bacon from Wooly Pigs. The shoulder bacon is thicker than normal bacon and perfect with some organic Brussels sprouts.
• Cheese from Estrella Family Creamery.
• Cherry or apple strudel from Little Prague Bakery. We get one on every visit to the market.
• Wild mushrooms from Foraged & Found. The porcini are absolutely amazing!
• Chicken mole pie from Pies by Jenny.
• The best plums ever from Tiny’s. So many types, and free samples so you can choose your favorite. Peaches, too.
• Fresh (squeaky!) cheese curds from Appel Farms.
• Anything from Sea Breeze Farm: chicken, eggs, Pâté de Vashon, cheese, demi-glace, wine.
• Wild huckleberries from Foraged & Found. All of their berries are the most delicious berries you’ll find anywhere.
• Beef and eggs from Skagit River Ranch. The egg queue in the summer starts a half hour before the bell, and they sell out fast.
• Goat milk yogurt from Port Madison Farms. Delicious with some honey drizzled in.
• Jams, chocolate and caramel sauces, and even homemade pickles from Woodring. Free samples of everything.
• Anita’s Crêpes. She has been at the Ballard market for a while, but just showed up this month in the U-District!

What are your favorites?

U-District Farmers Market
NE 50th St. & University Way NE, Seattle
Saturdays 9-2

This almost doesn’t surprise me after reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, but wow.  As Michael Ruhlman wrote today:

How the government actively prohibits small farmers from growing fruits and vegetables so we don’t waste valuable land where subsidized crops might grow.  It’s appalling, and everyone who cares about good food and the farmers who want to grow it ought to know the ways our Department of Agriculture penalizes the small farmer, reducing the amount good stuff grown and elevating the price of what’s available.  It’s not news so much as a reminder that the name Dept of Agriculture is fast becoming an oxymoron. Weekend NYTimes op-ed piece by Jack Hedin, a farmer in the Midwest.