Last night's theme was buy local, eat local, so most of the food (about 90%) was bought locally within a day or two of being served to us. That which was unavailable locally mostly due to seasonality was still predominantly purchased along the east coast within a state or two (Maryland, North Carolina). The wines were from a Virginia vineyard called the Philip Carter Winery, and they were there to tell us about all the wines as we drank them (the wine master was 25 years old! how do I get THAT job?).
Dinner started with a social hour. There was a lovely selection of cheeses, including a hyper flavorful bleu, a manchego, a brie and something else I can't remember (a harder white cheese). Accompanied by kalamata olives, artichoke hearts and a summer sausage, this was a great start while we mingled and sipped the first wine of the evening, a Chardonnay. It occurred to me to snap some pictures of the food as we sat down for dinner, so no pic of the cheese offerings, sorry!
We began with a seared scallop appetizer, elephant trunk scallops that were huge and so sweet. Flash seared on each side for about two minutes, they were tender and soft and delicious. Served over locally grown and processed grits with roasted corn, topped with fried pork belly (omg, pig heaven!), I could have eaten this all night long. A light clarified lemon butter topped it all and it was served with a white wine that was a blend of Vidal and Seyval varietals called Falconwood. It was a nice, crisp, fruity light wine and complemented the scallops nicely.
Course one had me flustered enough that I totally forgot to take a picture of the salad course! It was locally grown Hanover tomatoes (right down the road from me) and fresh mozzerella, also local. Drizzled in a balsamic reduction and a little olive oil, dusted with chiffoned basil, and served with some fresh fancy lettuce, this is definately one of my favorite combinations of flavors.The entree was a grain-fed, hormone free filet mignon from a local farmer who raised and slaughtered only about 30 head of cattle a year for the public. It was lightly salt and peppered and was served with sauteed fresh oyster, shitake and baby bella mushrooms (amazing!), sauteed zucchini, yellow squash, white eggplant, vidalia onions and garlic, and a lightly fried gold potato. The nice thing about most of the food we ate last night is that the ingredients were really respected. Everything was lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, cooked with good olive oil and mostly allowed to let the flavors come through. This is my favorite way of eating, but it's definately reliant on having good quality ingredients to start with. This course was paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon.
Finally, we ended the evening with a dessert course from a local place that makes their own dairy products, and our selections for the evening included raspberry and cantelope sorbets. I'm not that big on sorbet usually, but these were so sweet and creamy and tasted just like the fruits they had in them. I never would have considered making sorbet out of melons, but the cantelope one was just delightful. Served with a plate of fresh fruit on the side, including red raspberries, blueberries, some of the biggest and plumpest blackberries I've ever seen, watermelon, and cantelope, it was the perfect combination making a light dessert that ended a summer dinner nicely. We were served a sweet dessert wine called Late Harvest with dessert, which I'd say was just ok, but I'm not really big on the super sweet wines, so I'm not a great judge of that one.
I really wish we had more than five classes a year because I think I'd do this dinner every month if I could. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is just another reason I LOVE living here!
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