Harvest Slow Food- A Celebration of Real Food!

We're getting ready for another Slow Food Wine Dinner...inspired by all of the best fall harvest. Think golden squash roasted to perfection...fall and winter lettuces like Frisee and Endive... and the sweet & tart contradiction of cranberry.  'Tis the season of giving thanks, and we designed the Harvest Slow Food menu to really celebrate the best bounty of our local farms. 

I think by now that you know 801 focuses on local, sustainable cuisine.  Why, you ask? Simply put, I can guarantee that food coming from a local farm will always taste better than food that has traveled thousands of miles to get to your plate. Its the Farm-to-Plate movement, which is literally focused on shortening the distance between the farmers and your dinner table.  Don't you want to know where your food came from?   So, here's the real question that we get a lot:  What is Slow Food?

  

"Slow Food aims to be everything that Fast Food is not" -- USA Today

Slow Food is a national movement- (you can read more about it here).  Its a lifestyle and a way of eating that focuses on the sheer joy of eating good food that was grown in your community and in an environmentally sound manner.  Slow Food USA has over 200 Chapters across the country, and they operate with a focus of, "raising public awareness, improving access and encouraging the enjoyment of foods that are local, seasonal and sustainably grown."   The Slow Food movement is about celebrating food and its place in our culture. 

We think that's a great way to eat.

We say enough with the fast food commercials that accuse each other of having fake meat products and chicken made out of seaweed!  And, we won't even name the fast food restaurant with a milkshake flavored like a pecan pie.  That's not real food.  And those flavors didn't come from a farm; they came from a laboratory.  

Slow Food is Real Food. And our Harvest Slow Food Menu is our way of saying thanks to all of the farmers and their commitment to locally grow treasure. 

I look forward to seeing you at our Harvest Slow Food Dinner-- Friday, November 19, 2010.  

-Chef

 

Harvest Slow Food Menu, 11/19/10

I.     Crispy butternut squash beignets with spiced pear syrup

II.   Peppercorn duck breast salad with frisee, endive, fresh herbs and dried cranberry vinaigrette

III.  Herb roasted lamb chops with brown butter spaghetti squash risotto and root vegetable puree

IV.  Pan seared wreck fish with crispy broccolini, smoked mushroom and local potato hash with roasted garlic puree.

V.  Caramelized Apple Napoleon with egg nog ice cream

Photo courtesy of SlowFoodUSA.org