Each week, the produce is driven the nearly 2.5 hours into downtown Seattle. Among the choices are beet greens, mint, baby rainbow chard, lolla rossa, radishes, eggplant, spicy peppers, hundreds of pounds of tomatoes. Roughly 2,400 pounds of produce are trucked into the Tom Douglas restaurants each week.
We are fortunate to be invited to attend a function out at the Prosser Farm, complete with dinner and champagne. The farm is managed by Dev Patel. He works closely with Jackie and the chefs to decide which crops to plant each season. Basically, the field is adapted to the menus of each of the Tom Douglas restaurants.
There will be the three Prosser Farm dinners, beginning in June. We will attend the third and final dinner in October. Here is our invitation:
- Saturday October 25th, 2014
Here is the June 21st dinner:
June 21st marked the first day of summer, the longest (and maybe prettiest) day of the year, and the first of our Prosser Farm Dinner series!
The dinner was multiple courses, starting with a poached rhubarb salad and finishing with sheep milk panna cotta and perfect cherries. The chef and farm manager, Dev Patel along with his pal Brett Jennings prepared dinner for all 16 guests while Jackie and Katherine Ferl poured wine and served dinner. It was a still, warm evening that started with a special lovage cocktail and snacks at the red table overlooking the Yakima River. After introductions everyone sat down around the family table inside and enjoyed the first four courses and the lovely wines paired with each of the dishes. We took a seventh inning stretch with a stroll around the upper farm beds and a visit to the chickens before returning to finish the last four courses. Our guests were up and down throughout the evening watching the cooking action and even helping to plate a course.
Although everyone came from different parts of the state they all left as great friends with each other and especially to us! See some of the beautiful dishes from the dinner below!
THE DINNER MENU for us on Saturday evening:
Carrots in bric dough, raisins, pine nut butter, greque sauce
Salad of winter greens, root vegetables and chanterelles
Winter squashes and summer preserves
Soup and salad of rutabaga and onion
Ash roasted beets, spinach, pork jus
Confit of beef cheeks, dry beans, stewed tomatoes, sumac
Cow milk cheese, anise hyssop, concord grape sauce
Compressed apples, biscuit crumble, bay leaf anglaise
And Washington wines and champagne to go with each course, of course!
I can hardly wait!!!!
PS: It is 2:30am, and we are getting ready to take a 6am flight to Seattle! What some people will do for a meal.
