Fresh Connections – The Parfitt Way Blog

In 2010, Sunset magazine dubbed Bainbridge Island “The Northwest’s new wine destination”.  Coming up June 22 – 24th you have the opportunity to see for yourself what a truly great destination it is for wine lovers.  Bainbridge Uncorked is the island wine festival which will feature seven island winemakers.  The weekend is packed with tasting, touring and learning.

The festival features 7 artisan winemakers showcasing their handcrafted, award winning wines. The festival opens Friday evening at 5 pm with a tour of historic Winslow with stops in the Downtown Tasting Rooms of Eagle Harbor Wine Company, Eleven, Harbor Square Wine Shop and Island Vintners.  The admission price of $40 buys you wine and appetizers at all four stops.

Saturday & Sunday take a tour of individual wineries.  Hop on your bike, or take your car to experience the wine culture of the island.  The tour includes (tasting fees may apply):

• Amelia Wynn Winery
• Eagle Harbor Winery
• Eleven Winery
• Fletcher Bay Winery
• Perennial Vintners
• Rolling Bay Winery
• Victor Alexander Winery

Saturday afternoon offers an educational treat from Jeff Tweiten, owner of Harbor Square Wine Shop.  In this free class you can learn about the wines of Washington and what makes our area such a great wine destination.

Didn’t make the trip to all of the wineries?  No worries – Saturday night you can enjoy the wines of all 7 wineries in one location.  Central Tasting, from 5 – 8pm is a golden opportunity to taste the wine and great local food, while you meet and chat with the winemakers.  Price:  $50

For more information about the festival, and links to all 7 wineries click here.   For tickets to all events click here.

Looking for a little exercise to round out your weekend?  Located just an hour away is one of the most unique hiking experiences you will find.

photo by Alan Bauer

The Dungeness Spit is the longest natural sand spit in the United States.  It is also home to a multitude of wildlife, including shorebirds, waterfowl, shellfish, and seals.  Extending 5 miles out into the Strait of Juan De Fuca, the spit offers a really long hike or a short stroll on the coast.

June 22 – 24th is definitely the weekend to explore this wonderful area so close to Seattle.

Joel Salatin – High Priest of the Pasture; Saturday June 2, at 2pm at the BPA Theatre

What first caught my attention was the listing of earthworms as one of the principles of Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm. Standing proudly with Transparency, Individuality, and Community – earthworm enhancement is a guiding and defining value leading to the success of game-changing farmer and prolific author Joel Salatin. Describing himself as a Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist-lunatic-farmer, Joel has been featured in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, and the documentary films Food, Inc. and Fresh. Joel came to farming as part of an extended family of innovative, full-time and part-time farmers. As far back as 1961, 9 years before the first Earth Day, Joel’s father saw the wisdom of grass farming, controlled grazing, and composting. That foundation is a keystone of Joel’s success, both as a farmer and a highly respected public figure in the food movement of today.

A closer look at the guiding principles listed on Polyface Farm’s website gives us some insight into what drives Joel’s life and success. Transparency is critical to Joel’s belief that trust between farmer and consumer can only be achieved through a practice of “no trade secrets, no locked doors and every corner being camera-accessible”. Individuality – siting a direct link between honoring the “pig-ness” of the pig (the cow-ness of the cow, etc.) and the health of our society, the farm is operated with a great deal of respect for the animals by providing them with a habitat that honors their unique physiological distinctiveness and needs. The value of Community dictates that the farm’s products are never shipped. Operating on the idea that we should all eat locally, Joel abides by his belief that we should only eat food that requires less than 4 hours travel time from the farm to our kitchen. Following Nature’s Template means that natural patterns provide the “best practices” manual for farming. Long before mad cow disease made the news, Polyface farms fed their cows appropriately as herbivores, not omnivores. And our old friend Earthworms: prioritizing soil health means stimulating soil biota means earthworm enhancement.

The New York Times has referred to Joel Salatin as the “High Priest of the Pasture”. Joel’s passion goes far beyond the health benefits of eating wholesome local foods. He believes strongly that his way of thinking on a large scale would change the strongholds of economic, political and social power, evidenced by the following quote from Treehugger.com: “Just imagine if people began discovering their kitchens again, and if the average household instead of popping irradiated, amalgamated, prostituted, reconstituted, adulterated, modified, and artificially flavored, extruded bar coded, un-pronounceable things into the microwave, actually prepared whole foods for all-down-together family meals…if we quit feeding cows corn….70 percent of the world’s arable land could return to perennial prairie polycultures building soil and sequestering carbon, that would completely destroy the power of the grain cartel, the multi-national corporations and petroleum usage.” (Joel is rather fond of modifiers in his sentences.)

Bottom line – it seems the cure for much of what ails us and the world – truly is a happy cow.

Don’t miss your chance to hear Joel speak at the Bainbridge Performing Arts Theater on Saturday, June 2. Tickets are $22/adults and $12/students with ID.

Please join us to watch the highly acclaimed documentary, “Fresh, the Movie” featuring Michael Pollan, Joel Salatin and other leaders in the movement toward healthy, local food. Discussion following. Learn about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and how you can support our local farmers and enjoy delicious locally-grown food. Tickets are available at Pegasus Coffee House. The showing will be at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art Auditorium.

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Come to a night where fun, education and a tasty beverage draw you out on a Wednesday in February!

Three great reasons to venture out:

FIRST: Executive Chef Jeff McClelland demonstrate making all natural sausages from scratch. Complimentary samples will highlight the difference small-batch sausage making provides!

SECOND: A great night of fellowship: Grab some friends or a date (sausage jokes included) and spend a couple of hours in Pegasus Coffee House. The Pegasus’ full-service bar will be open specially for this event. TICKETS ARE LIMITED.

THIRD: A beer to match the sample sausages as a COMPLIMENTARY first beverage for the evening.

Limited number of TICKETS:

Order tickets via Eventbrite: <http://pegasussausagefest.eventbrite.com/>

New Wines Taps installed At the Pub

Wine on tap isn’t just a clever novelty scheme — its better for the environment, and keeps wine fresher, making sure the last glass from the keg is as good as the first. Better yet, by ditching bottles, corks, labels and related production costs, wine producers save as much as 25 percent.

“Ultimately, the result is that the consumer is able to get a better glass of wine for less,” states Frank Piccola of Piccola Wines, in Woodenville http://piccolawine.com/ .

Kegged wines are much like beer — the primary difference being that nitrogen replaces a carbon dioxide-and-nitrogen cocktail as the space-filler in the kegs.

Jocelyn Waite, owner of the pub, states “This type of system has been around for a long time, but the wines weren’t very good. Now the focus is on putting high-quality local wines into kegs. The pub is thrilled to be able to be the first in Kitsap to offer kegged wine to our customers.”

This just in from our favourite  Bartending Matron:

T’is the time of year… Oh, local beer

To be enjoyed with good cheer!

We work hard all year long to bring our patrons the freshest most local ingredients available. What about local brews? In the past few years local breweries have sprouted up all over the Kitsap Peninsula, from Sound Brewery in Poulsbo to Der Blokken in Manette. Come visit us in the new year as we feature the local-est of local brews. We will be pouring the likes of Hood Canal, Silver City, 7 Seas, Battenkill and more. So come on down, Occupy the Pub and give a local brew a try. We would also love to hear about your favorite local brews.

See you soon!

Angie

The Pub's Mary's Makin Bakon

The pub has launched a new Hair o’th’ Dog Weekend Menu featuring Portland distilled Bakon and Hot Monkey Vodkas. “Like a whole meal in a glass”… says weekend bartender Dana Cuykendall. “Its just in time to nurse those headaches from the previous nights holiday celebrations.”

Is that a Mushroom? Does it taste Like Chicken?

“Chicken of the Woods” mushrooms are most likely to be found from August through October or later but are sometimes found as early as June. This is a mushroom that is likely to startle you. It is very noticeable from long distance because of it’s size and very bright colors.  It grows on many types of dead or mature trees with hardwoods such as oak, or beech being more likely than conifers. They grow very fast. Usually when you find it there will be a lot.

‘Chickens’ (like their namesake) are good sautéed, deep fried, baked, and may be used in soups. They can have a lemony, chicken-like taste and texture or at least go well with chicken or chicken stock.

Before you go out collecting, try reading up first

http://mushroom-collecting.com/mushroomchickens.html

Local Braised Pork Belly, Fig & Willapa Hills Blue Cheese Sandwich on Pane D'Amore Bread

As the saying goes, “Pork fat rules!”

Recently slid across the bar at the pub — a pork belly sandwich from locally raised porkers along with local figs, artisan baked bread, veggies and cheese. How can you go wrong with that?

Well, sorry to say, one not-so-enthralled customer was a bit concerned about the fat content. Really?

Oh well. Perhaps we should all read the Queen of Fats http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Fats-Omega-3s-Removed-California/dp/0520242823 .  If you are into the chemistry of food and how it relates to heart disease, you’ll come away with a better appreciation for how we’ve been led astray in how we look at fat.

I don’t want to take away from the punch line but, “fat is good for you!”  We all know that that is where the flavor is, but grass-fed (read green)  is where the Omega 3s live too!

In case you missed Chef McClelland’s cooking demonstration September 1oth at the Bainbridge Island Farmer’s Market on Saturday, here you go:

FRESH CHORIZO SAUSAGE

1 LB GROUND PORK (AT LEAST 25% FAT)
1 T SMOKED PAPRIKA
2 TSP KOSHER SALT
¼ TSP GROUND BLACK PEPPER
¼ TSP DRY OREGANO
1 TSP CHOPPED GARLIC
½ TSP CAYENNE PEPPER
¼ CUP ICE WATER MIXED WITH ¼ CUP WHITE WINE VINEGAR

PLACE PORK AND ALL SEASONINGS IN A KITCHEN AID MIXING BOWL, USING THE PADDLE ATTACHMENT. MIX THOROUGHLY AT A SLOW SPEED. SLOWLY ADD ICE WATER/VINEGAR (NO ICE CUBES) UNTIL WATER IS INCORPORATED. FOR BEST RESULTS, COVER TIGHTLY AND REFRIGERATE FOR 12 HOURS BEFORE USE.

CHORIZO AND CLAMS (SERVES 2)

1 LB MANILA CLAMS, SALISH BLUE CLAMS, OR DE-BEARDED MEDITERRANEAN MUSSELS
¼ LB HOMEMADE CHORIZO SAUSAGE
2 T OLIVE OIL
1 ½ CUPS DICED FRESH TOMATOES
1 T FRESH OREGANO, CHOPPED
2 T WHITE WINE

THOROUGHLY WASH CLAMS OR MUSSELS. IN A MEDIUM SIZED POT, HEAT OLIVE OIL AND BROWN SAUSAGE, BREAKING IT UP INTO SMALL BITS. WHEN BROWNED, ADD TOMATOES, WHITE WINE, AND SHELLFISH. COVER POT AND STEAM UNTIL ALL SHELLS ARE OPEN. SPRINKLE WITH OREGANO, SERVE IMMEDIATELY.