Please join us for a potluck dinner and a movie on Monday, March 9th, 6pm, at Black Cat Burrito.

Foothills Brewing of Winston-Salem has donated a keg for us to sample as we enjoy our food and watch a food-related movie.

This event is open to everyone! We hope to see you there!

Even in the winter, Boone has a lot going on! Check out the “Community Events” section of this blog for food-related events in the next several months.

Planning meeting!

Friday, February 20th

10 a.m.

Agricultural Conference Center in Boone

To start the year off, we’re planning a planning meeting. If you are able, please join us on Friday, February 20th, at 10 a.m. in the Agricultural Conference Center in Boone for a brainstorming/planning session for 2009 events. If you are unable to attend this session please e-mail any ideas that you have for 2009 to Margie Mansure, margie_mansure@ncsu.edu. Member suggestions are how we function and your input is essential.

Solicitation of interest and volunteers for a Farm-to-School project in Watauga County

A childhood obesity prevention grant is providing funds to raise awareness and create enthusiasm for having locally grown food in our schools in the future.

Some goals of this project include: Serving new or differently prepared fruits and vegetables to children; introducing them to growers and the local farms where the food is are grown; and teaching them to prepare produce.

The project will promote a vegetable of the month and this month, December, is all about kale. Posters of kale will be placed around the school, emphasizing what kale does for the body and who grew it, with a picture of the grower. At two different schools during lunch time, there will be a chef preparing the kale for sampling. Volunteers will dress up in fruit and vegetable costumes to serve the samples to the children.

Volunteers, especially chefs, are still needed to help with this. Possible dates are December 9th and 11th or 16th and 18th. If you or anyone you know are interested in helping with this project in December or would like to serve on the steering committee, please e-mail Margie at margie_mansure@ncsu.edu.

Click here for information from Slow Food about school food projects.

The next steering committee meeting is  Tuesday, January 6th at 9am,
Agricultural Conference Center.

Join Slow Food Boone, High Country for an afternoon of Appalachian culture on Sunday, September 28th. We’ll meet at 1:30 at the Agricultural Conference Center behind the Watauga County Extension offices before heading deep into Ashe County, out to Big Horse Creek road, past Lansing and almost to Virginia, to visit with Ron and Suzanne Joyner of Big Horse Creek Farm. They have around 150 varieties of apples, many of them heritage, and a good selection of fall apples available for everyone to enjoy. They’ll also be selling trees. Ron said we may take all the time we want to walk around, pick apples, check out their alternative power system, chase chickens, etc. “We have long supported the Slow Food movement and will be very pleased to show you and the other visitors what we’re doing on our small Ashe County farm.”

Then, we’ll head to Rose Mountain Farm for our pig pickin’. Ann Rose, who is now growing a pig for this event, will host us. She’ll also have apples available and may demonstrate apple cider making. Ann runs a beautiful and serene 29-acre farm without using fossil fuel, except to travel to the Ashe County Farmers’ Market. She sets an aspiring standard for us all. “All of my food is raised or grown within 50 miles of where I live, with the exception of coffee, sugar, and flour.”  The cost of the pig is $7.00 per person, payable to Slow Food Boone High Country at the event. We are asking each family to bring a side dish, preferably a salad, bread, dessert, or something that doesn’t need to be heated, in a cooler. Also bring a container to take leftover pig home. Cold herbal tea will be provided. Ann said that it’s ok if members want to bring beer or wine, as long as they bring some for her.

Please RSVP to slowfoodboone@gmail.com. Four-wheel drive vehicles are ideal for both farms. Due to parking issues, we’re limiting participants to 30. Let us know if you have a four-wheel drive and how many extra passengers you can accommodate. We’ll send directions to the Joyner’s farm to those who are not meeting at the Agricultural Conference Center in Boone.

We will be visiting the Harvest Table restaurant as a group on June 21st. The restaurant, located in Meadowview, Virginia (about an hour from Boone), specializes in serving locally-grown food. There’s only room for 20 so if you like to join us, you’ll need to RSVP to Amy at gallowayat@appstate.edu. She will send details to all who RSVP.

Also, Slow Food High Country will be participating in the High Country Farm Tour this year, Saturday and Sunday, August 2nd and 3rd. In order for the event to run smoothly, each farm on the tour will need a volunteer or two to make sure that the participants fully enjoy their experience. The volunteers will take care of logistics at each location, like selling buttons to the participants, helping them choose the next stop on their tour, and finding the bathroom. That way the farm hosts are free to give an extra-special tour. The volunteers are an essential part of the High Country Farm Tour which, each year, provides an educational and exciting experience for the community.

Volunteers will work one day of the Tour and receive a free pass to enjoy the other day as a Tour participant. For more information and and to sign up to volunteer, please email Susan at susanboylan@skybest.com.

Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture is writing and distributing a newsletter full of information on High Country agriculture and food. This is a great way to keep up-to-date on all the food-related resources and events in our community.

Check out the May 2008 issue here: Local Food Connection, May 2008

At our last event, we announced that Slow Food High Country – Boone is planning to help with the High Country Farm Tour during the first weekend of August. The farm tour used to be sponsored by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, but now Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture (BRWIA) is going to organize the event. Each Slow Food convivia has been charged to be involved in an educational activity, so the officers thought this would be a great chance for our group to be active in the local food scene and to offer some assistance to BRWIA.

It is often the case that when we sit down to enjoy a meal, we give little thought to who grew the food, or how much work successful farming demands. The High Country Farm Tour is the best chance to see how and where local foods are grown, and to get to know the farmers who bring this bounty to our tables. For the Farm Tour this August to be a success, we need 1 or more volunteers at each participating farm, on each day. Volunteers help with parking and orienting visitors to the farm, freeing the farmers to spend time describing the sustainable techniques they employ, and conduct tours. Volunteer at a farm one day, then take the tour on the other day FREE!

For more information, contact Susan Boylan at susanboylan@skybest.com. Please indicate how you would like to be involved (organization/farm tour volunteer/both).

Chocolate Truffles

We had a great event today! We made a visit to a sturgeon farm, enjoyed a very tasty potluck, and then toured the Ripshin Goat Dairy. We’ll have pictures soon. But for now we have a two recipes for chevre from a couple of our members.

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped (not unsweetened)

6 oz. fresh chevre (about ¾ cup)

2 T. confectioners’ sugar

½ tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. lemon extract

¼ c. unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted, for coating the truffles

In a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate, being very careful not to let any of the steam from the water come in contact with the chocolate. Stir until smooth, remove bowl from the pan, let the chocolate cool slightly.

In a bowl whisk together the chevre, the confectioners’ sugar, the vanilla and lemon extract until light and fluffy. Whisk in the chocolate until combined well, and chill, covered, for at least one hour or until firm.

Form heaping teaspoons of the mixture into ball and roll in the cocoa powder. Chill the truffles on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper for at least 30 minutes or until firm.

Truffles will keep in a airtight container, chilled, for 3 days…. Enjoy—these are delish…

Goat cheese-arugula ravioli with tomato-pancetta butter

Ravioli
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large shallots, minced [SEE NOTES]
8 ounces arugula, chopped (about 8 cups) [SEE NOTES]
6 ounces soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet), crumbled
1/2 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Nonstick vegetable oil spray [SEE NOTES]
42 (about) wonton wrappers (from one 12-ounce package)
2 large egg whites, whisked just until foamy [SEE NOTES]

Tomato-Pancetta butter
6 ounces thinly sliced pancetta* or bacon, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
6 large plum tomatoes, quartered, seeds and membranes discarded, tomatoes diced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

For serving:
5 tablespoons butter, melted
12 fresh basil leaves
Fresh thyme sprigs

Make ravioli: Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots; sauté 10 minutes. Add arugula; toss until wilted but still bright green, about 3 minutes. Transfer arugula mixture to large bowl and cool. Mix in goat cheese and Parmesan cheese. Season filling with salt and pepper.

Line 2 baking sheets with heavy-duty foil; spray foil with nonstick spray. Place 4 wonton wrappers on work surface; cover remaining wrappers with plastic to prevent drying. Lightly brush entire surface of each wrapper with egg white. Spoon 1 generous teaspoon filling into center of each wrapper. Fold wrappers diagonally in half, forming triangles. Press edges firmly to seal. Arrange ravioli on prepared sheets. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling. (Can be made ahead. Cover with plastic and chill up to 1 day; or cover with plastic, then heavy-duty foil, and freeze up to 1 week. If frozen, do not thaw before cooking.)

Make tomato-pancetta butter: Cook chopped pancetta in large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp and brown. Using slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to paper towel; drain. Set aside. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon drippings from skillet. Add butter to drippings in skillet; melt over medium-high heat. Add tomatoes and thyme; sauté until tomatoes are tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Cook and serve ravioli: Place melted butter in large bowl. Cook half of ravioli in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 4 minutes for fresh or 5 minutes for frozen. Using large strainer, transfer ravioli to colander and drain; place in bowl with butter and toss to coat. Cover to keep warm. Cook remaining ravioli in same pot of boiling water. Drain and add to bowl of buttered ravioli. Toss gently to coat. Divide ravioli among bowls. Rewarm tomato butter over medium heat. Add reserved pancetta and basil; sauté 1 minute. Spoon sauce over ravioli; garnish with thyme.
From Bon Appetit, March 2001; available online through epicurious.com

Notes:
1. The recipe is overly fussy!
2. Making your own pasta would be better, but Marg considers that TOO SlowFood. Either with wontons or fresh pasta with flour-dusted and slightly dry surface, there’s no need either to use non-stick spray or aluminum foil. Just put accumulate the filled ravoli on a pan or tray, one layer deep, not piled one on another.
3. Shallots may be better, but onion works just fine for us.
4. Forget the egg whites, we’ve never had any problem gluing the pasta surface by just painting it with water.
5. Making triangle ravioli is fine (except the wontons are rectangular instead of square), but we fold them strait across to make a rectangular ravioli then use a biscuit cutter to cut off excess pasta and end up with semi-circular ravioli.
6. You want plenty of arugula, but measuring out 8 cups of it is a ridiculous waste of time.
7. Whenever a recipe calls for pancetta, we use the packaged trimmings from Dan’l Boone country ham and dice it finely. It’s convenient, less expensive, and has less fat.
8. Don’t wait until the ravioli have all been cooked before re-warming the sauce, unless the idea of room-temperature ravioli in medium-warm sauce is more appealing than a hot dish in front of you.
9. Arugula is a weed, fortunately. If anybody wants seeds, we should have them in abundance by July.