Columbus Foodie

I try to attend as many of the Slow Food Columbus events as I possibly can, as the combination of food (or drink) and company always guarantees an enjoyable experience. So when the Slow Food Columbus “Shake the Hand That Feeds You” Locavore Dinner at Flying J Farm was announced, I didn’t think twice before signing Paul and I up.

Which is both a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing, because from what I understand, all the seats sold out to Slow Food members before tickets were even available to non-members. A bad thing, because I didn’t realize that Paul had to go into work that night. Our mistake, though - and one that Colleen and Bear went out of their way to accommodate, thankfully.

As I said, this event is one that I’ve been looking forward to since it was pitched at a Slow Food brainstorming meeting a few months ago. Dick Jensen of Flying J Farm was generous enough to host the event at his farm and provide many of the ingredients used for the dinner. Dick is one of my favorite farmers at the Clintonville Farmers Market, I think I may have bought just about every short rib he had last year, and I think that’s why he remembered me this year. In addition to excellent grass-fed beef, he also sells a spelt flour that I absolutely love. Not to mention veggies as well.
His farm, about an hour outside of Columbus on the far end of Johnstown, is absolutely breathtaking - I wish I would have got there early enough for the farm tour. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked of the event - although other attendees, like Bethia and Colleen did. (I’m sure more accounts of the event will pop up on people’s blogs, and will update this entry as needed with links). It was nice to see many familiar faces (like CMHGourmand, Roland, Anne, Colleen & Bear, etc.) and to also meet new people as well (like the Rigsby’s who made great company at the communal table as my neighbors).

The evening, through my eyes, is extremely picture intensive, so click on through to continue.

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You all already know how much I love The Refectory, so when Slow Food Columbus announced that their next dinner would be there, I was the first person to buy tickets, as I’ve never been disappointed by anything I’ve been served in that establishment.

The dinner was held on the patio (who knew they had a patio? I didn’t until last night). The weather, although warm, was fairly comfortable due to the nice breeze. As we waited for the others, we perused the program and drooled in anticipation of the deliciousness that was yet to come.

All of the wines poured last night were from Ohio wineries, which was awesome. Ohio is very underrated when it comes to wine, and I wish more people would give the wineries from Ohio a chance. I found a couple tonight that I absolutely loved, like the 2007 Kinkead Ridge White Revelation that was served with the Hors d’oeuvre. They started by passing out several lovely appetizer bites, like this English cucumber/dill cream on toast.

My favorite Hors d’oeuvre was this bit of puff pastry topped with Montcharet cheese and a flavorful tomato. So elegant and delicious. I’m going to try to reproduce this one at home using only Ohio ingredients.

And they also passed out a classic gougere, a mouthful of cheesy choux pastry. I’ve worked with choux before, and have always wanted to explore the savory side of it. I think I’m going to try to make these at home also.

Our second course was an emu egg omelette. If you’re not familiar with an emu egg, it’s very large, and a blue-green color. Any egg dish prepared with an emu egg is very light in color and mild in taste, due to the small yolk vs. lots of white balance of the egg itself. While all by itself, it can be bland, the Refectory found a way to jazz it up considerably. With layers (from top to bottom) of chives, tomato, mushrooms, and smoked salmon, it struck a beautiful balance that I enjoyed immensely.

The next course incorporated one of my favorite ingredients - morel mushrooms! Here, they were layered with puff pastry and white asparagus in a nice feuilette that really hit the spot.

Our entree was flat iron steak with a green peppercorn sauce, which was served with a layered potato gratin, creamed spinach, and sauteed shiitake mushrooms. Did you know that the flat iron steak, which comes from the chuck, or shoulder area of a cow, is the second most tender cut of steak (with tenderloin being first, natch)? This was so tender that it could be cut with a butter knife. Bravo! I really, really liked every aspect of this dish.

Winding down, we were presented with a cheese plate, that featured cheeses from Ohio and Michigan - from left to right, a Cambozola Bleu Brie, Oakvale Farmstead Cheese Gouda, Lake Erie Creamery Blomma, more gouda, and finally another brie. These were served with a dressed microcress salad. I especially enjoyed the Cambozola, and will be seeking some of that out from my favorite cheesemonger at Curds & Whey later.

Finally, a lovely dessert of Ohio strawberries in two presentations - one simply with some puff pastry and chantilly cream, the other a teacup full of strawberry mousse that knocked my socks off. I love when restaurants incorporate local seasonal ingredients, and these strawberries are Ohio at their best.

All in all, my husband and I had a wonderful time (we expected no less of the Refectory, and the Slow Food Columbus dinners are never anything less than amazing), and we can’t wait until the next one. As for The Refectory, they’re having their First Friday dinner tonight (not too late to get reservations!) which feature a lot of similar dishes. If not that, I heartily recommend their Bistro Menu, served Monday to Thursday, which I consider the best dining deal in Columbus ($22 for three fabulous courses).

I had originally meant for this dish to be an entry for the Root Source Challenge: Rhubarb event, but it looks like I just missed the deadline by a few hours, so instead the entry will be about my love/hate relationship with rhubarb.

I don’t hate rhubarb, per se - I’ve just always thought it to be ubiquitous because every time I’ve had it it’s been paried with strawberry; strawberry-rhubarb jam, strawberry-rhubarb cobbler, well - you get the idea. And I’ve always found it to be unnecessary in those forms - it just added a weird stringy texture to the dishes that I thought didn’t work as well as strawberry would have alone. So I’ve been content to pass by the bunches of rhubarb at the farmer’s markets the past couple of weeks, until someone made a savory rhubarb dish that totally changed my mind.

At a Slow Food Columbus meeting last week, the fearless leader of our convivium, Colleen, made an awesome tart with rhubarb and goat cheese. My first attempt followed her directions exactly (barring the pie crust I used in place of the galette dough - I was short on time, and using a round tart pan because I don’t have a square or rectangular one). I made a neat discovery during that first attempt - the candied rosemary walnuts I used added a hint of sweetness that just rocked, so on a second attempt at the recipe, I made a couple of changes. Like squirting a touch of balsamic glaze on top of the onions, once again using the candied rosemary walnuts (which you can get at the Greener Grocer at the North Market if you’re a Columbus local), and adding some prosciutto shredded on top for a bit of texture and saltiness. The second attempt totally worked for me - it was a bit more complex, but each flavor played off of the other. I think I’m going to use this recipe often - it’s quick, simple, and absolutely delicious. Thanks, Colleen, for sharing the recipe.

Savory Rhubarb Tart
recipe courtesy Colleen Braumoeller

First, make a galette dough*:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter (Plugra or similar), cut into 1/2 inch pieces
7 tbsp iced water

Directions: Mix flour, sugar and salt; cut butter in with a pastry cutter. Add ice water slowly, as needed, until dough sticks together. Do not overwork. Separate into two disks, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes. (You will only use one disk for this tart.)

*Consult baking cookbook for more technique-related information for a successful galette dough.

Next, for the contents of the tart:

3 cups rhubarb stalks, cut into 3 inch lengths and then cut on a bias (be sure to remove the leaves, as they are poisonous)
1/4 cup fresh goat cheese
nuts — either pine nuts (1/2c), pecans or walnuts (3/4c), toasted
half a red onion, sliced thin
1 head garlic
2 tbsp flour
2 tsp white sugar
3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus drizzles for garlic
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Preheat oven to 350 F. Roast a head of garlic: cut top of head off, drizzle with olive oil and bake for 30 minutes. (Extra garlic cloves are great spread on bread, in pasta dishes, etc…)

Turn oven up to 400 F. Poach red onions in olive oil over low heat until thoroughly soft, no browning. While they soften, mix the flour, sugar, salt and cardamom with the rhubarb. Set aside.

Roll out one disk of dough and place in a 10″ square tart pan with removable bottom. Trim excess and save for another use. To assemble the tart, remove red onions from olive oil, reserving oil for later. Crush 4 or 5 cloves of the roasted garlic. Place onions and garlic on bottom of tart. Layer nuts on top of onions and garlic. Arrange rhubarb in aesthetically pleasing pattern atop nuts. Drizzle remaining onion-infused olive oil over top of tart. Place tart on parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake at 400 F for approximately 30-35 minutes. Tart will pull away from pan and will be golden when done.

Let cool for 10 minutes. Dapple small pieces of goat cheese across top of tart and serve.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I’m a firm believer in eating locally, for numerous reasons. There’s the environmental factor, of course. It keeps Ohio farmers in business. It encourages production of artisanal foods. It allows you to develop relationships with your food producers. It allows you to expand your horizons, because said food producers are as passionate about food as you are, and introduce you to new things or methods or teach you about something that’s important to them. Not to mention that fresh, sustainable, seasonal food just tastes better. It is for these reasons and more that I decided to join the local Columbus convivium of Slow Food USA.

The Columbus convivium is still in its infancy, and as a fairly new group, only has a few events under its belt. I unfortunately didn’t get in on the inaugural event, as tickets were sold out before I knew I had the date free. But I did make it a priority to get tickets as soon as they were available for the most recent event, the United Estates Wine Imports dinner at Alana’s, this past Sunday.

If you were there, you know how amazing it was. If you weren’t, I welcome you to join me vicariously, as I take you through the evening dish by dish. Click through (picture intensive) to begin.

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