A fun time last night, with everyone in their summer wear, despite it being only April 9th. It was recorded as being 89 degrees at 6PM, so no wonder. I was worried that our prix-fixe menu would be a little too heavy, given the weather, but it didn't slow people down. Kevin's meatloaf is always going to be a draw, no matter what! And I think last night's version was particularly tasty.
The starter for the menu was right from the State Fair - sausage and peppers with cheese. Only Kevin's version featured his Italian sausage, made with BBF pork and his fresh mozzarella cheese. He paired this with some roasted red peppers on a slice of baguette and heated the whole thing through. It was highly regarded.
Meatloaf followed, going again with the Swiss cheese and onion treatment. Kevin was particularly pleased with the texture this time, a bit rougher than usual, plus he gave it some extra porky flavor. Dessert - a successful chocolate angel food cake - did not make it into the photo lineup...
As promised, the Black Bottom Farm pork chop made it to the specials list, and it was a genuine pleasure to introduce guests to the joy of sampling some really delicious pork. Everyone who ordered it commented on the amazing flavor. It is just unbelievable how improved the flavor of meat can be when it is raised the "right" way! Tonight Kevin is going to put one of the shoulders into a slow oven for an overnight roasting, which will give us some fresh roast BBF pork for the weekend. Looking forward!
In other food news:
We've been serving corned beef tongue as an open faced sandwich this week at lunch. It is a discriminating palate that orders tongue for lunch, and probably no one would if they saw them poaching in their liquid ahead of time...
Also on the lunch menu recently was a focaccia featuring loads of bacon!
We had two seafood specials on the dinner list last night. One was this seafood risotto, with mussels, shrimp and scallops. It made a very satisfying small plate.
The other was our first ever offering of Snapper Blue Fish. Blue fish is typically a hard sell, as most people dislike its dark fatty flavor. This is more typical of the larger fish, which have a major section of the undesirable dark meat running through it. The young bluefish, known as "snapper blues", are about the size of farm raised catfish, and while the flesh is a little darker than average, the flavor is sweet and fine. Kevin paired it with some oysters and shrimp, after rubbing the filets with a light chili rub. The consensus among the takers? "Bring it on!"
The ironic thing is that this fish came in by mistake. They were supposed to be fluke...
Here's one of the hams Kevin is curing. It is big.
This might give you a better perspective. Apparently we won't be tasting this ham for quite some time. Or not at all, frankly, if it doesn't "turn out". But we'll keep you posted, and perhaps this time next year we'll be having a HamFest for Spring!
Pork out!
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