Monthly Archives: August 2009
Outstanding on the Farm
| August 25, 2009 | Posted by admin under Uncategorized |
Executive Chef, Bryan Moscatello
I have only a couple of memories of being on a functioning farm from my childhood and they were sufficient enough for me to realize I never wanted to be a farmer, until today. I am doing an event “Outstanding in the Field” on September 7 (http://www.outstandinginthefield-reservations.com/?p=156) which will feature an outdoor dinner made of all local products, from a fifty mile area, but most being from the host farm.
So I figured lets go see what I will be working with and took a trip to Ayrshire Farm (http://www.ayrshirefarm.com/farm.php). I started the day off thinking it would be like any other farm. I had only ever been to dusty places with a slight off aroma in the air and inadequate facilities to host an event such as this.
I cannot tell you how wrong I was, it was quite possibly the best working farm I have ever been to. With all of my research for our farm-to-table program, there have been many. Ayrshire Farm has it all: the gated entry way, the luxury estate, the shire horses with vintage carriages, and the barn. As if that was not enough there is full poultry, beef, veal, and hog processing plant. Oh yeah and it is USDA certified organic. They even have full composting that makes it fully sustainable. And if this seems like it might wear on you getting from one area to another don’t worry- the farm vehicle happens to be a Range Rover. The best part simply put is that there is probably about 30-45 staff to take care of all of the dirty work for you. So you can sit back and enjoy a leisurely ride on your favorite horse then head to the produce area to pick some ripe tomatoes and clip some basil for lunch. Then stop by the butcher shop and grab a veal tenderloin for dinner. Now that’s my kind of farming.
Who says you can’t go back?
| August 21, 2009 | Posted by admin under Uncategorized |
Executive Chef, Bryan Moscatello
Last week I took a weekend getaway back to my childhood on a trip to the jersey shore, Long Beach Island to be specific. The shore’s fresh seafood was the inspiration for last week’s post about my favorite dish fresh clams with linguine. That first night was all about that simplest of dishes and it was every bit as good as I remembered the only part I hadn’t remembered was the work of shucking 100 or so little neck clams but I worked through it as I drank some Chablis as recommended by Elli and the work was done before I knew it. Since I was already stepping back in time I figured why not go full force to my teenage years on the island?
So the next day was all about getting out there on the water and the first task was bumming another boat ride with my brother and his pals to wherever they happened to be going which as it turns out was to the ship bottom sandbar where about 50 other partygoers were just hanging out in the middle of the bay kicking back some cool libations.
This proved to be a major flashback to the days before fantastic Chablis, when we spent our time throwing back vintage bud and bud light. After a while of meeting greeting and drinking it was time to head to the skiff boat races off parkertown. What day would be complete without a trip to the beach, I could not bring myself to actually try to get on a surfboard again but did just kick back in the sun for a few minutes with some friends that we bumped into.
The last remaining piece of the puzzle was a simple fish dinner on or near the water. We found it in mud city. We had flounder and tuna that had been caught just hour’s prior as well as freshly picked corn and jersey tomatoes. What a day and at that moment is when I truly realized that having the great fortune of spending my childhood summers at the shore impacted my current career path and ideals about food. With the exception of the imported pasta and EVOO everything we ate was from within 25 miles of where we were staying and the flavor and ripeness reflected that.
