This week, a good friend of mine treated me to a delicious lunch at Farmer's Table (21 Forest Street, New Canaan, Connecticut, USA), a farm to table restaurant that opened recently, featuring farm fresh organic produce and local meat products.
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| Beet Salad |
We had eaten there for the first time almost a month ago, so I was looking forward to seeing how the menu had changed since our last visit (the menu at Farmer's Table changes depending on the season, and the availability of local produce).
This time around, we chose the beet salad, heirloom tomato salad and butternut squash soup. Everything was delicious! Fresh, light, tasty and beautifully presented. With farm fresh produce, food doesn't have to be complicated to be delicious.
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| Heirloom Tomato Salad - Beautiful Presentation |
The current menu also includes such items as Garden Vegetable Salad (with the option of adding chicken, steak or shrimp), Grilled Shrimp Salad, and Chicken Quesadilla. Chef Ubaldo will also prepare food to order based on your preferences (e.g., vegetarian).
Farmer's Table also sells local farm fresh produce as well as meat products from John Boy's Farm (Chef Ubaldo's brother's farm), which is great since you may leave the restaurant inspired to make some farm fresh recipes at home (see the Roasted Beet and Heirloom Tomato Salad I made below). In fact, Farmers Table has put together a Product List of items for sale, including local produce, soups, breads, artisan cheeses, grass fed beef, and more.
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| Fresh Produce for Sale |
Before we left, I bought a few of these odd looking cylindrical beets and some of Chef Ubaldo's beautiful artisan bread (my son, who is a fresh bread connoisseur, loves their bread!).
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| Cylindrical Beets from John Boy's Farm |
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| Chef Ubaldo's Fresh Country Bread |
We were lucky enough to watch Chef Ubaldo prepare some fresh baked bread. He bakes bread every morning (including country white, whole wheat, and ciabatta with fresh tomatoes, squash or zucchini, onions and herbs), using all organic ingredients, including spelt. His passion for preparing farm fresh foods was so apparent as he kneaded a huge piece of dough on a small cutting board surface, next to the dining area.
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| Chef Ubaldo preparing fresh loaves of bread |
As the weather gets cooler, Chef Ubaldo is planning on adding more soups (such as Chorizo and Lentil, and Wild Mushroom Soup), as well as fresh pies (cherry, pumpkin, apple) and muffins made with fresh fruit.
I thank my dear friend for a delicious and fun lunch and look forward to our monthly visits (yes, we've decided it needs to be a tradition so we can check out the seasonal changes to the menu at Farmer's Table!).
Roasted Beet and Heirloom Tomato Salad
Here, I tried to combine the two salads we had at Farmer's Table.
Beet Salad Ingredients:
- 2 Roasted Beets, sliced
- 2 Heirloom Tomatoes, sliced
- 4 tablespoons Pine Nuts, toasted
- 4 tablespoons Goat Cheese, crumbled
Honey Lime Vinaigrette Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup fresh Lime Juice
- 1/2 cup Grapeseed Oil or other flavorless oil
- 3 teaspoons Honey
- salt and pepper
How to Roast Beets:
- Scrub beets with a brush to remove any dirt, and cut off the ends.
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Cut off Beet Ends (makes peeling easier) |
- Wrap in aluminum foil and place in an ovenproof pan with 1/2" of hot water.
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Beets Wrapped in Foil and Placed in Pan with Water |
- Bake at 450 degrees until fork tender (mine took a little over an hour, but it depends on how big the beets are).
- Once beets are cool, remove skin, using a paper towel to hold the beet while you scrape the skin off with a knife (you can also use disposable food preparation gloves; beets stain and can be messy).
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Scraping Skin off a Roasted Beet |
- Slice or dice into bite-size pieces.
