More Fun Playing with Slow Food

Last night, the Northeast Ohio Convivium of Slow Food held its first "From Page to Plate" potluck supper. We were asked to each make a dish from a favorite cookbook, and to bring the book (and the dish) to dinner. We had a grand time, and learned a little something too.

First - the prep. One of my favorite cookbooks is China Moon Cookbook by Barbara Tropp. And one of my "go to" recipes from there is for "Light-Style Peanut-Lime Noodles." One reason that this seemed appropriate for a Slow Food event is that the recipe asks you to create a number of pantry items from scratch to use in the final dish. Previously, I had cheated on some of them, but this time, I made all but two of them prior to assembling the salad (and I had one on hand, so I only "cheated" on one).


China Moon Chili Oil Bubbling on the Stove



The oil contains red chili flakes (I used several varieties we had in the house, including Thai hots, piquin, and generic Chinese red), Fermented Black Beans, Garlic, Ginger, Peanut Oil, Sesame Oil.


China Moon Five Flavor Oil

Seasonings for this batch of peanut/sesame oil included chili flakes, scallions, Sichuan Peppercorn, Black Peppercorn, and ginger.


China Moon Serrano-Lemongrass Vinegar

This rice vinegar was heated with ginger, Serrano Chilies and lemongrass.


Finished Chili Oil (the "Goop" at the bottom is the best part!)


Finished Five Flavor Oil

Sunday was a mad dash to put the whole salad together - I had decided to replace the Daikon Radish with fresh waterchestnuts I found at CAM Supermarket (21200 Miles Rd., N.Randall OH (216) 518-1600). Waterchestnuts are sublime, but a pain in the tuchus to prep!

Anyway, having gotten everything together, we headed for the home of our hosts. Though I will try to describe the dishes accurately, I am doing this from memory, so I offer no warranties!

Arriving in a pouring rain at our destination, this lovely punchbowl awaited us:




Garlic & Onion Dip (served with home-made Pita chips)


Mister Brisket's Thai Veal Sausage with Jalapeño Jelly


Beet Salad Topped With Shaved Horseradish

Pretty enough for a second picture, don't you think?




Quinoa Salad


Assorted Salad

The salad started with a bowl of carrots and olives to the left, then the mushrooms, then the greens (most of which came from the contributor's garden) and dressings.




Papaya, Corn, Tomato, Red Onion Salad




Smoked Pulled Pork, Served with BBQ Sauce (but delicious without!)


Russian/Uzbeck Rice Pilaf



That is a stack of white napkins de-composing my photo. This dish was intriguingly spiced. I think the meat was lamb.


Roasted Portobello Mushroom and Rosemary Salad




Smoked Brisket, also served with a homemade BBQ Sauce


Cheesy Onion Bake (this was simply amazing!)


Three Pasta Pesto


Grilled Chicken Skewers from Miller Livestock Company


Assorted Peppers (and Mushroom) Bake


Ratatouille


Corn Muffin w/Ohio Honey (Made by Ohio Honey - Lucy Wellhausen!)





Oh yes - my contribution - the Light-Style Peanut-Lime Noodles. The white things are the waterchestnuts. There is also carrot, bell pepper, scallion and lime zest mixed into the noodles, as well as the spicy-lime-peanut dressing.

I think that there was only one entree I did not get a photo of - a lovely pasta-tomato bake. I apologize for that, and if there were any other items I missed.

Since the desserts were in another room, I neglected to photograph them (shame on me!). We enjoyed flourless brownies, Banana Cake, Pistachio Cake and Pineapple Cobbler. They were all delicious!

This blog is in part an outgrowth of my participation in Slow Food - learning where our food comes from and how to make it better both for us and the Earth has also led to opportunities to play with some wonderful food and fabulous people. Looking forward to the next Slow Food event, which I hear is going to involve some powerhouse local chefs and take place at Bar Cento on Bastille Day (Monday, July 14). It will be a benefit to fund our Terra Madre representatives' trip to Italy in October.

More Fun Playing Slowly with Bar Cento's Appertivo

Last Wednesday, we joined about a dozen members of the Slow Food Northern Ohio Convivium at Bar Cento. The event was billed as a two hour service of appertivo and a glass of Chianti Montespertoli from Castello Sonnino ($20 for the general public, $15 for Slow Food members). Barone De Renzis of Sonnino attended, and seemed to enjoy how much we enjoyed his wines (everyone at our 8 top ordered a very reasonably priced flight of tastes of several other varietals in addition to the Chianti). Our table fully expected to stay for dinner after enjoying the appetizers.

Well, Slow Food has attended a previous event like this at Bar Cento, so we should have known better than to think we wouldn't be completely sated after the appertivo (that one was so crowded, I didn't take any photos, but you can see Stuart's photos of it here). Once again, on Wednesday, Chef Jonathon Sawyer and his wonderful crew fed us a magnificent meal of light (and not so light) bites. I would appreciate if Chef Sawyer, or anyone reading this who knows more about the specific types of olives, salumi, cheese, or anything else, would please jump in with comments identifying the goodies better!

The spread included no less than six varieties of olives. Before I became involved with Slow Food, and the only olives I knew came from cans, I despised them. Now, even though the green ones still don't really float my boat - I appreciate the real thing, and I tasted them all:






Figures - the ones I liked the best photographed out of focus







And there was so much more!


Almonds with Sliced Dates

And of course, a large and varied selection of Salumi. Not all of it was to my taste (but my husband took care of any slices I tasted and didn't care for), but it was all clearly top quality:














This was my favorite - with almost a pastrami-like peppery crust













Whew - that was a lot of pork fat!


Date Bark with Almonds

Sort of an inside-out take on the dish of almonds and slices dates - a lovely sweet foil for the oily salumi.


Pepperoncini

Three varieties of cheese also graced the serving area; I'd love to know what the second two were:



The Amarelo was a little too strong for my taste, but a lovely cheese nonetheless.



This was my favorite cheese (favorites did not fair well with focus this night).





The third cheese, a hard cheese, is in better focus behind this lovely plate of eggplant (was it grilled or sauteed?) and scallion.




This assortment of bread was lightly toasted



I believe that these breads came from Mediterra Bakehouse in PA - the one to the right was lightly toasted, and delicious served as Chef Sawyer suggested, with the prosciutto wrapped around it. I'm not a huge prosciutto fan, but the suggested combination was heavenly!



These crisps had a mild cheese (or was it lardo?) melted on them, together with a bit of ramp. Yum!


Dates


Spring Peas

My first peas of spring - fantastic. And again I ask - sauteed or grilled (both the peas and the eggplant had a smoky aroma and flavor, so I think the latter - but what do I know)?


White Beans Sauteed with Ramps

Another simple, yet extraordinary dish.


Local Beef Tartare with Olive Oil and Basil


Mussels


Tempura'd Broccoli Rabe



Light, crisp and warm - and not a bit greasy! This was a table favorite.


Ramp Pizza

With ramp season nearly over, we marveled that Chef Jonathon had three items on the buffet containing them. This pizza was every bit as amazing as I'd heard - the spiciness from the ramps is so very close to chili pepper! And the creamy garlic - this was a seasonal treat that I am glad I did not miss.




Close up of the Ramp Pizza


Braised Lamb Pizza

Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of a whole pie. Chef Sawyer brought these around to the tables as they came out of the oven - around 6:30pm - just as people were saying that they couldn't eat another bite. Oh yes you can - don't pass this lovely up (a couple of us practically begged Chef to put this on the regular menu). Tender, melt-in-your-mouth morsels of lamb resplendent atop a crunchy crust, accompanied by scallion and gooey cheese - food just doesn't get any better than this.


Prunes aka "Dried Plums"


Chestnut Cake

I was too full to try this Chestnut cake, but it looked wonderful.


Olive Oil Pound Cake

I did taste a bit of this, topped with a few of the liquor-soaked Italian cherries pictured below.





These fabulous appertivo constituted a complete dinner for all eight of the Slow Food folks at our table - the best kind of dinner - the kind where you get to play with delicious slow food, in the company of wonderful friends and a friendly staff, then go home happy until it is time to play with your food again!