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"Like Europe in Vermont!" |
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2013 Culinary Vermont Vacations VACATIONS FILL UP RAPIDLY, SO PLEASE RESERVE EARLY IF YOU CAN. $500 DEPOSIT HOLDS YOUR PLACE. Our ingredients are local, seasonal and organic whenever possible, and all our cooking is hands-on.
Based on my book GOOD MEAT, in this short-from vacation we will cook four outstanding meals featuring local grass-fed and pastured meats and fowl along with seasonal vegetables and fruits, using the products of local farms. We'll visit the Farmers Market, tour farms, and explore great cooking along Paleo diet principles, paying particular attention to lesser-known cuts to learn how to cook them to perfection. We'll roast, grill and saute with local beef, lamb and fowl, we'll collect eggs from the hens and cook a souffle, we'll render lard and use it in a coconut flour based pie crust, and we'll make some herb and olive oil infusions to boost the flavor of home food for later use. Everyone will go home understanding Paleo principles, and will have a great direct experience of eating the Paleo way.
We will be cooking nine outstanding meals featuring local grass-fed and pastured meats and fowl along with seasonal vegetables and fruits, using the products of local farms. We'll visit the Farmers Market, tour two outstanding farms, and possibly host a dinner for those farmers to give us all the opportunity to understand why they do what they do. We'll cook great dishes together such as Wilted Greens in Duck Fat with Garlic, New Eggs Poached in Tomato Sauce with Sheep Cheese, Local Lamb Stuffed with Figs, Walnuts and Feta, and My Grandmother's Stuffed Cabbage. We'll collect eggs from the hens and cook souffles and omelets, we'll render lard and use it in pie crust, and we'll make some infusions to take home for later use. We will also have an olive oil tasting, a salt tasting, and a thorough discussion of cuts of meat and how to prepare them to best advantage. Everyone will go home understanding Paleo principles, and will have a great direct experience of eating the Paleo way. You may even lose weight!
This short form three day vacation features great food from across the Mediterranean that are at their best in summer. We'll make dishes to serve at room temperature like savory cheesecake, or Sformato of rice and fresh tuna; we'll cook on the grill and make an extraordinary olive oil and herb marinated spatchcocked chicken, and we'll create great thin crust pizza using the wood-fired oven. At the end of the vacation, every guest will have a new repertoire of outstanding dishes for summer pleasures.
This full version of summer delights showcases the ingredients that flower in heat and bring plenty to the garden and the table. We will cook great dishes from all across the Mediterranean, including grilled vegetables and meats, fire-roasted and smoked fowl and fish, expansive salads and other vegetable dishes designed to be eaten at room temperature, cold fruit and vegetable soups, and desserts made (like every other dish) from local, seasonal and organic ingredients. We will make such dishes as a Sformato of Rice, Tomatoes and Tuna; Sicilian Ricotta Cheesecake, Thyme-Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken, Cold Fresh Tomato Soup with Basil, and Wood-Fired Pizzas of many varieties. We'll also make our own ricotta and mozzarella, along with pies, pastry and fresh ice cream. We'll eat some meals outdoors at tables in the gardens, we'll pick vegetables straight from the earth, and gather eggs from the hens.
This short-form version of Autumn Harvest will look back to late summer's bounty and exploit the last great harvest of summer. We will make four great meals together. A typical menu might include slow-roasted tomato bruschetta, shatteringly crisp dry-brined roasted chicken with hot lemon sauce, flash-roasted vegetables with balsamic reduction, arugula and dandelion salad with Asian pears and walnuts, and Dionne's Creamy Dressing, and Pierre's Almond Chocolate Cake. Each of these dishes will showcase preparation techniques that may be unfamiliar, but that add immeasurable flavors to meals.
As the trees change color and summer merges into Autumn, the last great harvest of late summer vegetables joins with early autumn produce to produce extraordinary bounty. We will revel in this variety, cooking dishes that look back to summer and ahead to winter's chill. We'll make No-Cook Antipasti of vegetables bursting with flavor, along with Gnocchi (winter food at its most comforting); we'll roast radicchio and chard as well as local fowl; we'll roll and stuff meats with vegetables and aromatics, and also make desserts from Fall's golden raspberries and heirloom apples. We'll use fresh herbs with abandon, eat berries straight from the bush, pluck grapes from the vines, and harvest rare apples together from antique mountain-top orchards.
Lots of people either feel anxious about holiday cooking, or are stuck in a rut. During this three day vacation, we'll move you forward into pleasure and excitement. When guests arrive on Friday afternoon, we'll jump right into cooking that anticipates Christmas by making a Gingered Winter Squash and Coconut Soup, Risotto of Wild Mushrooms, Roast Pork stuffed with Armagnac and Prunes, Watercress and Orange Salad, and a Roulage Leontine (a very impressive kind of Buche de Noel, or Chocolate Rolled Christmas Log Cake filled with Whipped Cream), along with Meringue Mushrooms.
On Saturday after a buffet breakfast, and before and after a light lunch, we'll start to make an entire Thanksgiving meal, cooking Spiced Sweet Toasted Walnuts, Fresh Ravioli with Winter Squash and Fried Sage, Ancho Turkey with Coffee Sauce and Wild Rice Stuffing, Cream-Braised Brussels Sprouts, Cranberry and Fig Chutney, Pumpkin Pie with a Candied Ginger and Graham Cracker Crust, and an outstanding Vermont Apple Pie. Sunday morning will feature a brunch of local eggs, bacon and maple syrup, along with our own pies. By the time the weekend is over, everyone will know how to make every dish and will have gained knife skills, sure-fire pie crust ability, a deep understanding of ingredients and how they function (and what to substitute, and why), along with lots of confidence in their ability to make outstanding food. You will also have learned to make a range of good gifts meringue mushrooms, candied spiced nuts, cranberry and fig chutney that will serve you well for the holiday season.
Lots of people either feel anxious about holiday cooking, or are stuck in a rut. During this three day vacation, we'll move you forward into pleasure and excitement. When guests arrive on Friday afternoon, we'll jump right into cooking that anticipates Christmas by making a Gingered Winter Squash and Coconut Soup, Risotto of Wild Mushrooms, Roast Pork stuffed with Armagnac and Prunes, Watercress and Orange Salad, and a Roulage Leontine (a very impressive kind of Buche de Noel, or Chocolate Rolled Christmas Log Cake filled with Whipped Cream), along with Meringue Mushrooms.
On Saturday after a buffet breakfast, and before and after a light lunch, we'll start to make an entire Thanksgiving meal, cooking Spiced Sweet Toasted Walnuts, Fresh Ravioli with Winter Squash and Fried Sage, Ancho Turkey with Coffee Sauce and Wild Rice Stuffing, Cream-Braised Brussels Sprouts, Cranberry and Fig Chutney, Pumpkin Pie with a Candied Ginger and Graham Cracker Crust, and an outstanding Vermont Apple Pie. Sunday morning will feature a brunch of local eggs, bacon and maple syrup, along with our own pies. By the time the weekend is over, everyone will know how to make every dish and will have gained knife skills, sure-fire pie crust ability, a deep understanding of ingredients and how they function (and what to substitute, and why), along with lots of confidence in their ability to make outstanding food. You will also have learned to make a range of good gifts meringue mushrooms, candied spiced nuts, cranberry and fig chutney that will serve you well for the holiday season.
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