One of the most enjoyable meals I’ve had this summer was a communal Farm to Table dinner at Deerholme Farm in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, hosted by local food trailblazers Bill Jones and Don Genova, both learned protégés of The Urban Peasant, the late great James Barber.
Entitled “Barbecue with the Masters”, this informal and friendly gathering, held within Bill’s beautifully restored 1918 farmhouse which overlooks a productive food garden and large and lively chicken coop, was the antithesis to formal dining and a perfect holiday from the big city’s hustling restaurant scene. This was summer dining island time.
Don, a serious barbeque aficionado brought over his Traeger wood pellet grill to smoke and slow cook the large pork shoulder over 12 hours, while Bill used hardwood charcoal briquettes in his large steel barbecue drum to smoke and cure the salmon to candied perfection.
My friend and I were very fortunate in our last minute arrival and were seated by the kitchen with local island winemakers, Linda and Mark Holford of Rocky Creek Winery, who brought a sampling of some of their lovely wines to share. Along with the three that we brought, we counted six bottles at our table of four, with five of the wines being produced within 50 kilometers of where we sat. Awesome.
After an appetizing amuse bouche of Dungeness crab cakes and grilled tomato and goats cheese crostini, we all sat down at our tables in preparation for the first course.
^ House smoked salmon with grilled onion, caper and cream cheese flatbread and Dearholme salad greens.
^ Second course: Jamaican Jerk flavoured pork ribs with grilled Caesar salad.
^ Third course: Dry-rubbed, slow cooked pork shoulder on ciabatta with sunflower coleslaw.
^ Finale: Cedar planked peaches, mint syrup, lemon verbena ice cream, paired with Rocky Creek’s award-winning Blackberry Wine.
A big thanks to Bill Jones for the generous invitation to join him and a few of his friends for a most memorable dinner. We had a great time and look forward to the next visit! ~ PK
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The next Farm to Table Dinner at Deerholme Farm is Saturday, August 15, 2009.
Fowl Play – Chicken and Duck
Amuse: Chicken and duck liver mouse with summer truffle
Shredded Chinese-style duck with homemade hoisin sauce and green onion pancakes
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Mains: Chicken and egg dumpling soup with ginseng and corn
Duck confit and fresh plum salad with a ginger vinaigrette
Roasted Ballontine of chicken stuffed with porcini mushrooms, sage and new garlic jus
- served with duck roasted potatoes
Dessert: Cowichan berry trifle with scented geranium custard
$90 / person including recipes
To reserve a space, call 250-748-7450 or email bill@magnorth.bc.ca
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The jerk pork ribs look great. Were they spicy? What were they paired with?
I made some alder-smoked jerk chicken last night with grilled vegetable skewers and green rice, paired with a Ninkasi Total Domination IPA (http://www.ninkasibrewing.com/) and Reed’s Extra Ginger Brew (http://www.reedsgingerbrew.com/). Nice pairing, although I would have loved trying Granville Island’s Ginger Beer; too bad it’s only available in April.
Ribs were nice and spicy, but not overly so. We paired the dish with Church and State, Church Mouse 05 Pinot Noir and the Rocky Creek 07 Pinot Noir.
Ginger beer would have been spot on!
Ninkasi Believer Double Red is one of my favourites.