Food Safety rocked my world Part II

Some background info: In order to operate this semester, Giulia and I were required by the administration to take a 7 hour food safety training class and then the ServeSafe exam. It might sound boring but we actually learned a lot and had a blast.

Food Safety rocked my world Part I

Menu 9.29.09

Giulia had us over for dinner last night as usual and the food was amazing as usual. Late the night before she started the long and involved process of making pizza dough. We tag-teamed during the day as the dough has to be "punched" (in the words of Papa Pasciuto) on the hour for eight straight hours. We cooked up a batch of roasted heirloom tomato sauce and sliced up some fresh mozzarella...the result was out of this world. A very thin crunchy crust which a thin layer of rich tomato sauce, fresh cheese and fresh basil...actually though, what could be better? In addition to that we had a delicious salad, made by Jordan with beans, corn, peppers, feta...and to top it off there was a plum wine sorbet, made by the fabulous Giulia.
We are going to use the success of our pizza party this weekend at our second Well Fed dinner with a butternut squash (from the garden!) pizza with Gruyere and thyme. Wow....We'll post the rest of the menu soon. The dessert it still pretty up in the air so please submit ideas :)

Copy of Menu

Here is a copy of the menu from Saturday night. Our amazing friend Ava Mikolovich did the art work and we had a little attachment on the back that listed the farms we worked with. Giulia and I could not have been happier with the results of everything. Paul came and played some beautiful tunes, the conversation was lively the whole night and everyone just seemed comfortable. Thanks to everyone who came!

Vicky Bernard of Bernard Ranches

This awesome farming woman spends her spare time (and I'm pretty sure farmers have very little of it) visiting elementary, jr. high and high schools to educate about healthy eating. She owns the citrus farm where we got the limes for the tomatoes last night.

Opening Night

Well Fed Launch Menu:

Featured Drink
Fresh Basil Lemonade

Hors D'oeuvre
Roasted Bell Peppers
Roasted Eggplant Tapenade
Home-made Rustic Bread

Main Course
Pattypan Squash* and Sweet Corn Ravioli
Late Summer Tomato Salad
Baby Purple Artichokes with Fresh Thyme and Parmigiano

Dessert:
Black Mission Figs Poached with Wine and Honey
Homemade Ice Cream

* Harvested from the garden!

Menu 9.17.09

Last night, after a great day in the garden, we had some people over to my house for dinner. On the menu was...

Giulia's bread

Ratatouille (with patty-pan from the garden)

Gratin with caramelized onions, prosciutto and gruyere

Slow cooked kale

Green salad (with cucumbers from the garden)

Chocolate pave with earl grey cream

It was one of my favorite things I've all done all semester because a lot of people who help with the garden but don't necessarily know each other came together and bonded. Kind of my ultimate goal in life? Thanks for coming everyone, we'll do it again soon :)

Last Night's Menu

Last night we had a small gathering at my house and Giulia cooked up an incredible meal:

A beautiful loaf of Giulia's bread

Homemade pasta with fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil

Eggplant with bay leaf and mint

Chopped salad: cucumber (from the garden!), heirloom tomato, avocado, onion and golden-drop tomatoes

Roasted purple and white potatoes with cavalo nero kale

Mexican hot-chocolate ice cream