June 22, 2013 Field to Food Dinner at Center for Ageless Living, Los Lunas, N.M.

June 22, 2013 Field to Food Dinner at Center for Ageless Living, Los Lunas, N.M.

The center was lovely this evening with the large tent set up in the park.  About 100 showed up for the annual Field to Food event.  The Food to Field event is just that; a gourmet five course meal prepared almost exclusively with locally grown produce, meats and wines.  The vegetables are grown and cattle are raised locally.  The lamb and beef are slaughtered and butchered especially for the event, so everything is very fresh. This year’s theme was carrots. 

Guests signed in and received a glass of champagne at the Garden Gate Day Spa.  Then they could wander the grounds and the gardens on the Center’s six acre campus.     At 7:00 p.m. we started pouring wine and the appetizer courses were put out.  I am hard pressed to pick a favorite, but the appetizers were fabulous, stewed quince preserves, homemade ricotta cheese and fresh Goat Cheese made by Old Windmill Dairy in the Estancia Valley with fresh baked crackers and squares of thin dense Danish style rye bread on which one could spread the cheeses and preserves.  I was pouring wine at the next table so I was able to get several tastes of the appetizers.  The wines were great this year also, Southern Wine and Spirits donated a case of Gruet Champagne.   Also; Camino Real, the closest winery to the center, located about one mile south donated a mixed case of their wines, mainly their sweet whites, Onate Gold and Reisling and their dry reds, Zinfandel, Barbera and a sweet late harvest Mirlot, which everyone enjoyed.  Also, Suzette bought a case of Casa Abril’s locally produced Tempranillo, Tempranillo Rosé (my favorite), Zinfandel and Malbec wines that Casa Abril grows and makes at Budaghers, north of Algodones. 

There was a period of time between when the appetizers were served and when the main course and salad course were served when most folks drank a couple of glasses of wine and I thought we would run out so we pulled about another 1 ½ cases of wine out of the Greenhouse Bistro’s wine cellar.  After the food was served, folks started eating and the flow of wine reduced dramatically, so we were able to satisfy all wine drinkers with the available wines.  

The cold courses included fresh salad from the garden and a lovely chilled cream of turnip and carrot soup.  The quantity of hot dishes was sufficient to feed everyone seconds this year and that was good because they were delicious: beef stew with lots of carrots and turnips, a fabulous vegetarian lasagna made with Suzette’s fresh carrot infused pasta layered between fresh kale and beets from the garden and held together with a light alfredo cheese sauce, and a wonderful Madras Lamb curry combining lamb, apples, carrots, raisins and onions (my recipe)

Madras Curry

4-8 ounces of butter

3-4 Tbsp. curry powder

6-8 lbs. meat cooked and diced

8 apples peeled and diced

4 onions diced

1 head of garlic

4 medium sweet potatoes peeled and diced

1 cup raisins

Stock to cover and cook (about 2 quarts)

1-2 Tbsp. salt.

2 Tbsp. flour

¼ cup cream

This is a stew of vegetables and meat.  

Braise, in a large pot, in enough butter to prevent scorching the meat, onions, then the sweet potato and garlic and finally the apples (add butter as necessary and sprinkle curry powder on the meat and vegetables as they are braising to add the curry flavor to them).  Then cover the sautéed ingredients with stock and add the raisins and more curry powder and salt if needed.

Cook covered for several hours.  Occasionally, check the stew and its flavor and add salt and curry powder to season, if necessary.

The stew is cooked when the vegetables and meat begin to fall apart.

Then add flour to thicken (cook flour for at least five minutes to thicken sauce)

Then add the cream to smooth the sauce.

Serve with coconut flakes and roasted crushed peanuts and mango chutney and South Asian pickles.

The three hot dishes were served with pickled beets, couscous, rice, fresh baked rolls and flavored butter churned at the Center for this meal. 

The desserts were different this year: a creamy flourless chocolate torte decorated with real gold leaf and a plum tart made with a Damson plum filling made with plums grown at the Center last year and frozen over the winter layered between a two layers of flakey pastry and served with a dollop of whipped cream.

I never cease to be amazed by Suzette and the Bistro’s ability to orchestrate such a huge undertaking; the months of planning and growing of vegetables and herbs in its gardens in those of local growers, so they are at their peak maturity at the time for this meal and the raising of the lamb and cow for the meats, etc. etc.

The only things that are not local are the salt and pepper, curry powder, sugar and the flour (There is no longer a processing facility for flour within 100 miles of the Center).  Everything else is local.

I believe that local, fresh food has a distinctive flavor, or absence of flavor.  It is like eating fresh fish or oysters or vegetables.  They do not leave your system laden with the preservatives and other things added to extend their shelf life and they are not picked green and immature, so they convey their maximum nutrients and that smaller portion will satisfy your desire for flavorful food.  And because they taste great and are fresh and ripe, they do not leave you feeling stuffed, unless you intentionally overeat.

I love the Field to Food event.  And it is one of the great food values in our area; $45.00 for one and $80.00 for two for all the food and wine you want.  It is always on the Summer Solstice weekend.  Saturday evening was illuminated by a super moon that was larger and 30% brighter due to its close proximity to Earth this year, so the evening was beautiful and not noticeably hot.   

Bon Appétit

  P.S. here is a link to a gallery of photos taken at the event.
http://www.photoshelter.com/gallery-slideshow/G0000qYRBlaagTag