Last Sunday harkened the beginning of a fresh new culinary offering in Fairfield County…a dining experience without walls and without rules. It represents the next generation of the "family" table, bringing people together with just their love of food as the communal bond. Is your interest piqued? It should be. When you make THIS reservation, you won't have an address. You definitely won't know what's on the menu. But you will know one thing for sure…this surprise dinner party is going to be extraordinary because Bill Taibe of LeFarm gastronomic fame is the man behind "Souterrain." For those of you who need brushing up on your High School French, underground dining has finally made its way out of the urban centers and into Fairfield County.
Don't miss the second annual Easton Farm Tour. This celebration of Easton's local and sustainable farming community is a self-guided tour taking place on August 14 from 10am to 2pm.
This free event begins at the Easton Firehouse Green on Sport Hill Road (Route 59) where visitors will sign in and receive a copy of the beautiful Easton Farm Map – “Easton is a Farmers’ Market.” This great guide will serve as your road map and pass to enjoy the many farming delights that Easton has to offer. Gilbertie’s, Sport Hilland Sherwood Farms are a few of the highlighted destinations.
Skinny Pines – the Easton-based wood-fired pizza truck - will be on site with their mobile wood-fired oven, using locally sourced Easton produce. Who doesn't love that?
Come have lunch, listen to music and learn where your food comes from.
Tis the season for farm-to-table dining as the CT farms are reaching peak harvesting. We've promised to keep you in the loop on these exciting events, so here is one dinner you might want to check out.
On Sunday, August 8. starting @ 3:00PM, The Litchfield Saltwater Grille’s Farm to Table Inspired Wine Dinner Series will host “A Neighborhood Affair” at March Farms in Bethlehem Featuring Certified Biodynamic Benziger Wines.
This dinner will feature local produce from March Farms, Windswept Farm, Beltane Farm Artisan Cheese, Urban Oaks, Gazy Brothers Farm, Mountaintop Mushrooms, Bantam Bread, local grass fed beef and more.
It's a few hours before your guests arrive for that big family BBQ. You're scrambling to get the prep done before the doorbell rings….and oh no…you realize you forgot the dessert!! Fear not my brave Fairfield County residents. Stew Leonard's has the perfect solution for you…and you'd never guess it wasn't homemade.
Named "best pie in America" by Gourmet Magazine as well as the Wall Street Journal (a dubious food critic, but we'll go with it), Stew's is now carrying The Elegant Farmer's "Apple Pie Baked In A Paper Bag." I know what you're thinking. 1. Stew's? Really? and 2. Doesn't the bag go up in flames? Yes and no.
We were introduced to this gem by a CTbites reader, and had to check it out for ourselves. This Wisconsin based pie shop uses apples fresh from their farm, and they make their pies just how I like them.
Photo: Michelle Parr PaulsonEven if you don't make it to Dinners At The Farm this season, you can still capture some of the culinary magic that Chef Jonathan Rapp brings to each and every meal. Jonathan is the chef and owner of River Tavern in Chester, CT and the creator of Dinners at the Farm. This recipe for Seared Stonington Scallops with Fresh Corn "Risotto" is a dish you may find on the menu at one of his unique local dinners.
Sure, you may not have the candlelit white tent glowing brilliantly against the farm backdrop, or the truck outfitted with a kitchen in which to cook your dinner, but set up a communal table and enjoy this delicious seasonal dish.
Seared Stonington Scallops with Fresh Corn "Risotto"
My friend Lloyd Allen is crazy. At least that’s what people said years ago when he decided to go into the fashion business (yet wound up igniting a rage for trendy rain ponchos), publish a book about former neighbor Martha Stewart (despite the fact that she had just been indicted) and, two years ago, re-open his 1980s farm stand, the Double L (in a ramshackle red-barn structure in Southport).
Still, when Lloyd gets an idea into his head, there’s no stopping him. Perhaps it’s his “just do it” quality that makes people root for him against all odds.
So when the rickety red building that housed the Double L was finally too dilapidated to be useful, Lloyd teamed up with Michael Van Haaften and set out in search of a site where they could create a year-round indoor farm stand
Chef Jason Hall spends each Tuesday driving from farm to farm in and around Northern Fairfield County looking for the bounty that will fill his menu at Stepney Kitchen. Located strategically at the intersection of Rt. 59 and Rt. 25 in Monroe, CT, Stepney Kitchen is in the epicenter of what may be some of Fairfield County's most bucolic and farm-dense townships. The neighboring towns of Easton, Newtown, Oxford and Shelton enjoy a deep agricultural heritage that is being honored today by dedicated farmers and chefs such as Jason Hall at Stepney Kitchen.
On a recent evening, the kitchen was bursting with rhubarb as it enjoys its seasonal peak, arugula, ripe and delicious strawberries and piles of garlic scapes. In fact, after my meal Chef Hall sent me packing with my very own bag of garlic scapes. "Right now we are getting lots of beautiful late spring items like sugar snap peas, really nice lettuces, baby vegetables like turnips, squash blossoms and we are running through the end of a very prolific strawberry season- the strawberry gazpacho w/ fennel and grilled shrimp has been a staple item for the last couple of weeks," said Chef Hall.
On June 19th, BEACH STREET SANDWICHES, the Shoreline’s first gourmet sandwiches truck, operated by Chef Gregory McCarty, ex- Nobu and Jean Georges Chef, opens for business during Madison CT's Flea Market on the Green.
Beach Street Sandwiches is Chef Gregory McCarty’s latest project, a shop on wheels serving sandwiches, because everything is better on bread." The chef is best known for his menu development and execution at Nobu 57 and Jean Georges Vongerichten’s Bahamian outpost, Dune.
For the next month, Beach Street Sandwiches will be running truck-less, setting up a table at various shoreline events, the first of which is June 19 ’s Madison Lions Club Flea Market, taking place from 9am-3pm on the Madison Green.
The home cook versus a trained chef. There are thousands of reasons that separate these two knife-wielding gourmands in the kitchen. And I'm not even talking about dicing technique, the battle scarred hands or the colorful vocabulary. I'm thinking more about the dozens of small things that only chefs can learn from years spent in kitchens developing and preparing dishes hundreds of times under the pressure of executing them perfectly for customers, that forces insight and knowledge.
The Clarke Culinary Center in Norwalk is giving us entree into the world of the trained chef, allowing voyeuristic home cooks throughout southern Connecticut the chance to watch, smell, taste and touch alongside some of the best chefs in the area. This series launched in September 2009 and features some of the most talented and well-known chefs in our area including Matt Storch of Match in Norwalk;
Chef Nicole and I have been eagerly awaiting the opening of the Westport Farmers Market all Winter, and finally the day had arrived. The weather held up, and under the new leadership of Market Director Lori Cochran, we were delighted to see some exciting new vendors in the mix. Chef Nicole made the rounds looking for ingredients for a Memorial Day market fresh lunch, and while gathering the goods we chatted with a few of the vendors who made this menu possible.
Check out the video to hear about a new sustainable coffee roaster, buying your milk straight from the cow, backyard chickens, and a great reason to clean out your pantry every Thursday.
You've waited all Winter. You've been patient. You've eaten produce flown in from countries far away, and had daydreams involving fresh blueberries. But now, your wait is over. It's time to rejoice with fresh local farm fare. The Farmers Markets are back in session!
Throughout the season, we will bring you coverage from Farmers Markets around Fairfield County, but we wanted to make you aware of an exciting culinary opportunity that can only be found at The Westport Farmers Market this Summer. Under the new leadership of "market master" Lori Cochran Dougall, this year's great roundup of 30 farms and vendors will be accompanied by a weekly "Guest Chef," and wait till you see the lineup. Mark your calendars people. I don't know about you, but some of my favorite chefs in Fairfield County are on this list. Don't miss your chance to meet and greet the people who make your mouth water.
The Westport Farmers Market will be held every Thursday from 10-2 at the Imperial Avenue Parking Lot adjacent to the Women’s Club through mid November. For more information about opening dates and vendors at the Farmers Markets near you, check out The Fairfield Green Food Guide.
Read on for the complete Guest Chef Program Schedule:
On Monday night, I joined the 1,900 person throng that descended on the new Whole Foods store in Darien for a "Sneak Peak Party." My two boys and I were treated to dozens of tastings, all from local vendors, that spanned the perimeter of the store, from appetizers to desserts.
First up was raw oysters, handed over by Captain Northrop, a local aquaculture farmer who informed us that the shellfish were pulled from the water in Westport just an hour-and-a-half ago. They were large, fresh and worthy of any reputable raw bar. Other raw offerings at the store include clams and other oysters, plus tuna, salmon, eel and shrimp sashimi.
We sampled sashimi tuna steak, served Tataki syle with Whole Food's wasabi aioli
If you discover sweet potatoes and spinach in your fudge brownies at Green Gourmet to Go don't be surprised. OK, you can keep that a secret from your kids because the veggies are not detectable in these moist, chocolatey bites or in the Blondies with a sweet potato base. The chocolate (anti oxidants a plenty!) masks the veggies and you will be better off for having added a few more to your daily intake. My fave desserts were the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and the almond oaties. They tasted most like what I would expect (read: crave) from a cookie. Imagine eating your veggies in your dessert! I didn't mean to jump to the end first but I was so enthralled by the ingredients list that I did exactly that!
Linda Soper-Kolton has been open in Black Rock for only 5 weeks but she is well on her way to establishing herself as a resource for healthy meals and nutrient dense foods.
I came across this post from a local blogger, Lauren Fister of chatNchow.com. The words "excellent dinner at leFarm" caught my eye, and I read on to find out that Lauren and I shared a common obsession with a new appetizer featured on leFarm's menu, the Beet & Lentil Salad. In fact, she liked it so much, she went home and tried to re-create the dish in her own kitchen. From the looks of it, she did a pretty good job. Mind you, we're not promising Bill Taibe here, but check out her recipe for a deliciousGolden Beet Salad (Nature's Candy) With Lentils & Feta.
Golden Beet Salad (Nature's Candy) With Lentils & Feta
Sarah Galluzzo waits with great anticipation for the ground to thaw and the spring to arrive in CT. OK, we are all yearning for spring.... but her product depends on it! GourMom's USDA certified organic salsa and simmer sauce is her scrumptious creation. She is committed to using LOCAL and CERTIFIED ORGANIC ingredients for this chunky, choc full o'flavor salsa. As a salsa enthusiast, I was enthralled by her story and her product. We chatted at the Pantry in Fairfield, one of her retail outlets, and she explained about the launching of this super local, super delicious product. Her excitement was contagious as she shared her story.
In 2008 Galuzzo decided to get serious about selling her salsa and test the market. She had been dubbed "GourMom" by friends and family
Last Sunday harkened the beginning of a fresh new culinary offering in Fairfield County…a dining experience without walls and without rules. It represents the next generation of the "family" table, bringing people together with just their love of food as the communal bond. Is your interest piqued? It should be. When you make THIS reservation, you won't have an address. You definitely won't know what's on the menu. But you will know one thing for sure…this 
surprise dinner party is going to be extraordinary because Bill Taibe of LeFarm gastronomic fame is the man behind "Souterrain." For those of you who need brushing up on your High School French, underground dining has finally made its way out of the urban centers and into Fairfield County. 
