Green Dirt Farm

Our friends Barb and Tam invited us to join them for a locavore's delight: dinner at a nearby farm featuring all local foods. We jumped at the chance and ventured to Green Dirt Farm in Weston, MO, about 45 minutes north of Kansas City.

According to their web page (www.greendirtfarm.com), "Green Dirt Farm is a small farm dedicated to bringing the best Farmstead Sheep's Milk Cheese and Grass-fed Lamb to Kansas City."

The event was billed as a "Farm Table Dinner", a 4-course meal planned and prepared by guest chefs Linda Duerr (currently at "Zest") and Julita Latimer ("Julita's Catering"). Ingredients came from Bad Seed Farmer's Market in Kansas City, MO, Bear Creek Farm in Osceola, MO, Community Farm of Kansas City, KS, Green Hills Harvest in Purvin, MO, and Blue Door Farm in Kansas City, KS. The owners, along with the resident cheese-maker joined the guests for dinner at a long farmer's table in a beautiful setting.

(I was going to bring my camera, but discovered the battery was dead too late to do anything about it. All I had was my iPhone to take pictures, so the quality is not that great - no flash and no zoom).

Here we're walking up to the barn where dinner will be served. That's Tam and Barb walking ahead of us.



Here's the view looking down the table and out the open door. Beautiful !



And now a view of the seated guests. The table was long enough for 12 people on each side. We met and chatted with several strangers, all with a common interest in locally-produced food.



Just outside the barn a tent was set up housing two tables, prep space, and a barbeque. This is where the chefs did their work prepping each course. That's Linda on the left and Julita on the right.



Here is Tony Glamcevski, who organized the event and hosted the evening. Each course was paired with a wine, and he told us about each wine and why it was chosen as a complement to the food.



Ok, on to the food. There was a cheese course when we first arrived - Jana Loflin is the cheesemaker at Green Dirt Farm. Two cheeses were featured. One was called "Tidbit" and one was called "Dirt Lover" but that's about all I remember. Such a gourmand! Both were soft, creamy cheeses, fairly mild, and I loved the "Dirt Lover". Had to restrain myself to leave enough for others. Got so wrapped up in the cheese I neglected to take any pictures. Next time...

For cocktails they served a drink of champagne and muddled parsley. Sounds strange, but was really nice and refreshing.

FIRST COURSE: salad composed of exotic greens, poached farm egg, sheep's milk kashkeval (cheese) and crispy lamb carnitas. Accompanying wine: Crios, Rose of Malbec, Argentina 2008.



SECOND COURSE: traditional vichycoisse made from potatoes, leeks, onions, and chives. Accompanying wine: Yulumba, Unwooded Cardonnay, Australia 2008.



THIRD COURSE: braised green cabbage filled with a ragu of lamb and risotto, labneh, and medley of fennel and baby beets. Accompanying wine: Mas de la Dame, Cuvee Gourmande Red, France 2008



FOURTH COURSE: early summer missouri berries & herbed biscuit. Accompanying wine: Errazuriz, Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, Chile 2007



All in all it was a fabulous evening. The food was excellent - fresh and flavorful and not too fussy. Just like a farm meal should be. Our drive home was fun - got a little lost at first, but had Nuvi along so all was well. We did have to drive a few miles on gravel roads, up and down rolling hills, till we made it back to the highway, singing camp songs at the top of our lungs. Awesome !

Sunday Brunch

Had our friends Sherri and Chip over for brunch today. We made a french toast casserole - I've had the recipe for several years and have made it a few times. Its always been very good, but today it was awesome. When I've made it before, I've just made half a batch since there were only two of us, which may make it less custardy. Also might have been the bread, which was great today (see below). Anyway, its really easy because you make it all the night before and then just bake it in the morning. And its delicious! Here's my recipe (which I got from my friend Debby D):

18" long french bread (or baguette)
[Yesterday at the store I wanted bigger bread pieces than baguette, so picked out what I thought was a french loaf. When I got it home I realized that the tag said "Portugese loaf". It was very white bread, and denser than French bread. I worried a little about it, but didn't want to go back to the store so decided to go for it. Turned out to be great.]

8 eggs
3 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish. Cut bread into 1-inch slices. Place in dish.

Beat eggs, milk, salt and vanilla. Carefully pour over bread. (Bread may start to float but just gently press it down into the liquid)

Dot each piece of bread with a pat of butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. I use a bit more cinnamon than called for because I like it.

Cover and refrigerate over night. Put uncovered in cold oven. Turn on oven to 350' (or 325' if using a glass dish). Bake 45-50 minutes until golden and puffy.

Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes.

See pictures below - Enjoy !

Making the fruit salad

I always love a fresh fruit salad. We had watermelon, pineapple, grapes, blackberries, and kiwi. Colorful and pretty.

Just out of the oven...

Here's the french toast just out of the oven. It puffed up very nicely and the eggs and milk made a lovely custard-y binder to hold the pieces of bread together.

Also fried/browned some already-cooked canadian bacon circles to go along with the french toast.

Here's the plated meal

Guess it was good !

the Krause experience

Saturday evening we went with our friend Susan to a fabulous dinner. We went to a place called Krause (pronounced krau-see) Dining which is a “restaurant” that the Krause’s run out of their home. It’s in a neighborhood in East Lawrence, but the home was renovated for them to include a dining room and a professional kitchen. See www.krausedining.com for pictures.

We ate in the house, in what appeared to be the original dining room. There was another party in a front room, like a sitting room which was separated from the dining room by a curtain. Next to us was the kitchen, and beyond that was a large room that had been added on to the house, which holds about 30 people. There was a large party in that room maybe 25 people for a birthday or something. Anyway, our room was very private and quiet – only occasionally did we hear laughter from the large party.

They do a price-fixed dinner, with almost no choices. You just eat what they bring you and are wildly happy to do so. There’s also a wine pairing with every course.

When we got there we were offered cocktails; Diane and I had a glass of champagne and Susan had a blood orange mojito. We sat outside for our drinks, and watched the large party arrive and get settled.

1.We were served our first course outside, just as we finished our glass of champagne. We were offered a second glass, but refused it because we were doing a wine pairing with the meal and knew we'd be drinking a lot. Wish I hadn't refused it....The first course was an oyster on the half shell. I’d never eaten one, and didn’t really want to eat this one. But I was there for the adventure, so knew I had to do it. I got it into my mouth, and then just swallowed it. It had a tasty brine/marinade, and some herbs on it that had a nice flavor, so I didn’t gag. And I didn’t bite it, which I also think helped save me. But I would have killed for another swig of champagne or ice water, but it was not to be. Seriously, I do not understand all the fuss is about oysters on the half shell. They’re not that interesting.

After the oysters, we were escorted to our table inside. I decided to write down everything we ate, because when each course is served the wait-person gives an elaborate description. I should have taken pictures of each, but felt that was too gauche. Taking notes was bad enough. Anyway, I think I got most of the descriptors, and here goes:

We were seated inside at a large dining room table. The dishes were all white, in various shapes (square, rectangle, circle, soup bowl, etc). We were first served a delicious hard roll, with butter topped with pink Himalayan salt.

2. The first course following the oyster was a lobster bisque. We were first served (by Mrs. Krause) a bowl with a puree of edamame and pine nuts with mini croutons (and I mean mini! Probably about 1/8 inch square). Then Chef Krause brought in the bisque in a pitcher and poured it into the bowl. It was very flavorful, and the accompanying 2003 Trimbach Riesling (Alsace) was very nice.

3. Next we had seared yellow fin tuna served on Japanese black rice with a peanut pineapple compote and two velevays (not exactly sure about this word, but its basically a pures): one was green vegetable and one was carrot orange. The wine was a 2006 Peay Chardonnay Estate (Sonoma).

4. Next was the salad course, and we had a choice of a foie gras or an asparagus salad. I picked the asparagus salad, which also include haricot verts on a tomato-caper vinaigrette and a prosciutto bruschetta. Also on the plate were some drops of balsamic vinegar and some ground macadamia nuts. This salad was served with a 2006 Copain “Monument Tree” Pinot Noir. Susan had the foie gras but I didn’t write down the details of that. I did taste it, and it was like eating butter. The foie gras was served with a 2007 Costa Diva Muscat from Spain.

5. The salad was followed by a 3” square of Hawaiian miro (related to bass). It was served on potato-taro puree, a bit of tomato bisque, and watercress oil. It was a mild fish, great firm-ish texture, accompanied by a 2004 Hanzell Chardonnay (Sonoma).

6. The beef course was a 3” square of very rare Kobe ribeye. It was served over a sundried tomato risotto with a blackberry coulis and chive oil. The wine was a jammy 2005 John Duval “Entity” Shiraz from Australia. Perhaps reflecting my love of steak and red wine, I felt this course was the highlight – the food/wine combination was to die for !

7. And on to dessert – the first was like a parfait, but so much more. The bottom was a mango panna cotta, topped by a basil/lime granita (shaved ice). It was topped with a dollop of whipped cream and a candied basil leaf. This was the second highlight of the meal. Fresh, interesting, fabulous! Accompanied by a glass of NV Francois Montard champagne.

8. Second dessert was an ice cream sandwich – coconut meringue cookies, bittersweet chocolate ice cream, topped with Chantilly whipped cream, a long sugar stick, and some chocolate shavings. Awesome for the chocolate lover. Wine was a 1979 Bodego Toro Albala sherry from Spain. Delicious.

We had coffee, which was French press of course, and was accompanied by a small warm chocolate beignet. A very nice touch. Coffee was also served with your choice of cream or kahlua served in a chocolate cup. The small chocolate cup was put in the coffee cup, and then the coffee was poured over it. The chocolate melted, mixing in the cream or kahlua. A perfect ending to a magnificent meal.

Service was impeccable. Very well timed – dinner took about 2.5 hours. Pricey (about $200 per person including cocktail, food, wine, coffee, and gratuity), but worth it for very special occasions.