Italy in a Glass - Make Your Own Pesche Al Vino Rosso

Italy in a glass: Make-your-own Pesche al Vino Rosso After a Pick-Your-Own Trip to Homestead Farm by Giacomo Abrusci

I just rolled back from Homestead Farm in Poolesville, MD, a mere 45 minutes from downtown DC, where every variety of peach is now at its peak. Even if you didn’t make it to Puglia, Italy this summer, you can still drink like you are there when you have a freshly-picked peck of peaches. While it’s true that southern Italy is not famous for wine-based sangria, the fruit is literally dripping off the trees there during the summer months, perfect for soaking in your favorite red wine.

My uncle Giovanni will exclusively use nectarines, while my sister Angela will usually choose the juiciest peach in the house. So grab some delicious fresh summer tree fruit and follow my lead tonight: before you start to prepare dinner, roughly chop two to three ripe pitted peaches or nectarines, drown them in a pitcher of red wine, and throw it into the fridge. Thirty minutes to an hour later — or whenever you’re ready to eat, because this fruity concoction only gets better with time — pull out your chilled wine and pour yourself a heavy glass.

Settle in and enjoy your dinner while nursing your peach-infused wine and finish off the evening with a few pieces of drunken fruit for dessert. Give it a try now while the trees are still loaded with ripe fruit, bursting with flavor!

You can visit Homestead Farm several months out of the year to pick your own produce, from spring berries to pumpkins.

Chalk Paper and Papaya Red Quinoa Mexican Caesar Salad

By AJ Dronkers We've all seen chalk paint gain popularity over the last few years but how about bringing that fun to the dinner table? I recently hosted a dinner party where I wanted to experiment with Chalkboard Paper Table Runner I got from Amazon but can be easily purchased through major retailers such as Target or Anthropologie. The chalk runner was 30 inches wide, so covers the majority of my kitchen table, and is 50 feet long so you just simply roll, cut, and tape the amount you need. It even comes with a starter pack of white chalk.

My design friend AnneMarie was coming over for dinner and I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to have fun with creative guests. I pulled out one of my favorite cookbooks, Sprouted Kitchen, a California inspired cook and centered in on two new recipes the Papaya & Red Quinoa Salad with Mexican Dressing and her Beer Bean - Cotija Stuffed Poblanos. I also threw together a classic carne asada for my meat lovers.

With some simple geometric designs we created cute seat assignments. You can also use this as a base for appetizers and labeling cheeses or wines. I will warn you that if you leave the chalk out and serve wine during dinner the runner turns into a glorified children's coloring book. (TIP: remove the chalk runner immediately after dinner especially if it got wet so it doesn't stain your table.)

My favorite thing of the night was the papaya and red quinoa salad with mexican caesar dressing! It's an exotic twist on a ceasar salad which is equally refreshing as it is satiating. It's full of fruit and protein and will satisfy your healthy vegetarian crowd, picky kids and even your comfort food foodies.

A Gastronomic Experience

By Anya Kroupnik Windhoffer and Laszlo Windhoffer

Let me start off by saying, I love Strathmore! The hall has unbelievable acoustics with a rich wooden interior design, the mansion has a quaint feel with its glowing stained glass, and the grounds are spacious and supremely lush with bright greenery. When I first heard that a major food event was happening there, it didn’t make sense, but Strathmore has been innovative in their choices – in short, it turned out to be perfect.

Food Samples - Chorizo 

The weather was beautifully mild all weekend, so Strathmore’s grounds were perfect for strolling between food trucks, pausing to listen to music performances, sipping at wine tastings, or sampling food from various vendors. There was a lot to do, and aside from all the bubbly beverages, there were many highlights:

Small batch, hand-made cheeses from Stonyman Gourmet Farmer: my favorites were the pungent blue cheese with the perfect funk that lingers on your pallet and the refreshingly sharp cheddar.

Stonyman Gourmet Farmer Cheese

Whole Foods shared some deliciously fresh snacks: house-made spicy dip topped with a pecan all on top of a sweet potato chip; butter, radish, and sunflower sprouts tartines; and sausage medallions topped with creamy sauce.

Whole Foods Spicy Dip with Pecan

Ape Man Foods sampled their newly debuted line of raw vegan treats with mini walnut tacos and eggplant parmesan. I especially loved the fact their line of products is super healthy and nutrient packed, you can feel good eating their nutritious food.

Ape Man Foods Vegan Treats

The freshly prepared summery salad topped with succulent shrimp from Chef Billy Strynkowski was divine. The best part was that you learned how to make the dish from his entertaining tutorial out on the secluded lawn behind the Strathmore Mansion.

Chef Billy Strynkowski Shrimp Salad

The friendly staff from the Pike & Rose development kept our thirst away with multiple refills of rose wine and champagne, which were paired with ahi tuna poke on a crunchy corn tortilla chips.

Rose

And of course the main highlights were the performances. Friday night Giada De Laurentiis charmed the crowd with her playful humor, spontaneity, passionate food descriptions, and personal anecdotes. She demoed some delicious recipes that the audience gobbled up. Andrew Zimmern was the headliner on Saturday with his bizarre foods. Bizarre they were with duck balls, sautéed squirrel, and even the famous Nordic fermented herring. Note to self: don’t ever eat fermented herring unless you want to repel anyone that comes within 5 feet of you…. Overall his show was entertaining and highly recommended to all adventurous souls.

 Giada de Laurentiis Chef Demo

Andrew Zimmern Chef Demo

RareSweets and La Colombe Pair Up on Pop-Up

by Vince Kiernan

In a world of trendy cupcakes and boxed cookie mixes, one pastry chef is on a mission to instill a sense of old-school comfort back into our desserts. She’s using fresh, local ingredients in seasonal, thought-out recipes. And she’s starting right here in D.C.

Meredith Tomason is the mastermind behind RareSweets, a new bakeshop that began as a start-up at Union Kitchen and is now set to open in the CityCenterDC development this fall. We caught up with Meredith outside of La Colombe on Friday, where she braved the heat to dish out samples of affogato—a bold summer treat that consists of ice cream topped with a shot of espresso.

Specializing in layer cakes and ice creams, RareSweets hopes to reintroduce classic American flavors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries back into the DC pastry scene. An avid collector of antique cookbooks, Tomason champions the seasonal ingredients and delicate craftwork behind the cooking of these decades. “It’s about taking those recipes and modernizing them,” she said, while scooping out spheres of her cacao nib, crème fraîche, and dark caramel flavors.

RareSweet’s creamy goodness plus La Colombe’s espresso made for a wonderfully sweet and refreshing treat—the perfect pick-me-up for a muggy afternoon in August. RareSweets plans to open its doors in mid-October; we can’t wait to check it out and see what else Tomason has in store!

Vince Kiernan is a journalism student at NYU, class of 2017. You can read more of his work at vincekiernan.tumblr.com.

The Farm Market Stamp: First Day of Issue

Dedication Ceremony at the White House FRESHFARM Market

Edible DC had a chance to chat with Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and Robin Moline, the stamp’s illustrator at the dedication of the Unites States Postal Service’s new Farmers Market stamp, a forever stamp that is designed as a four stamp mural depicting the bounty of the farm market—produce, flowers, cheese, bread and fruits. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was at the dedication as a guest speaker, as well as FRESHFARM Market co-founder Bernie Prince and the Postmaster General.  According to Sec. Vilsack, the stamp is timely as 2014 marks an over 50% increase in the number of U.S. farmers markets in the past 10 years.

Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack. The number of farmers markets in the U.S. has over doubled over the past decade. 

Interview with Postmaster General Donahoe and the stamp illustrator.

Edible DC (EDC): Are you personally excited about the dedication of this Farmers Market stamp?

Postmaster General Donahoe (PGD): Yes I am—first of all it’s one of the prettiest stamps ever. I particularly love the mural design and just the vibrancy. And I’m a farmer—an urban one, so this stamp just is something I really like.

EDC: How did it come about?

PGD: That’s a great question, and it is quite a process. We receive over 20,000 recommendations for commerative stamps, theme stamps—all different ideas from across the county every year. We have a Citizens Advisory Board who reviews the ideas and brings forth their favorites—and then once selections are made, we open a competition for design. And select a date for dedication and release, which wraps up the process.

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Extended Video - A Conversation with Old Dominion Top Three Winemakers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejx010vGkLE