As part of our 17th wedding anniversary celebrations, my wife and I enjoyed a lovely couple of nights in Tarrytown (for some of the other educational aspects of the week-end check out the podcast “The Global Author” which will be posted soon).
A highlight of the week-end was our anniversary dinner at Blue Hill Farm just minutes from the Castle on the Hudson where we stayed. This is a working farm and one of the most original and dramatically enjoyable culinary experiences you can have, anywhere.
Essentially you are presented with a list of what’s freshest, you are asked for allergies, and preferences, and then a menu is composed for you. The service is seamless, the attention gracious, the cuisine inspired. The room was bulging with people experiencing each other and more or less joyously experiencing the procession of tastes and flavors that came out in rapid (but not too rapid) successsion.
Some experiences are one-dimensional. Others are multi-faceted. This is a feast for all the senses, and if you opt for a tour of the working farm, its philosophy, its commitment to local produce and the freshest ingredients making it onto plates festooned with a real variety of tastes and textures, you leave as if from a culinary symphony (meaning ‘to bring together’). And bringing together: tastes, experiences and people who are so willing, is something Blue Hill excels at!
FARMER’S FEAST
Chef’s Amuse
Monkfish
cheek, spring garlic and vegetable pistou with Domaine Louis Latour Corton Charlemagne, Grand Cru Burgundy, 2004
Blue Hill Farm Veal Marrow
american caviar with Elderflower Royale
This Morning’s Farm Fresh Egg
greenhouse greens & herbs with the Louis Latour Corton Charlemagne
Hake
celtuce and lettuce broth
Handmade Goose Egg Pasta
spinach and cured egg shavings with Domaine Dujac Gevrey Chambertin ‘Aux Combottes’ 1er Cru Burgundy, 2004
Stone Barns Berkshire Pig
jowl, date & charcuterie sauce with Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvigon Napa Valley, 1999
Pastured Lamb
swiss chard, salsify and celery root with Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon
Cheese Course
old world versus new world with the luscious last of this superb Cabernet
Meyer Lemon
passion fruit and yogurt sorbet
Parsnip Cake and Chocolate Mocha
bergamot and ginger ice cream with the Parsnip Cake and banana vanilla toffee, campari and roasted soybeans with the Chocolate Mocha with Domaine La Coume du Roy, Maury 1965
Anniversary Special
Toasted Oat Ice Cream with lady apple and white cinnamon and ‘Gin and Tonic’ of buddha’s hand and meyer lemon sorbet with the Maury
