Fields On Saco Event Celebrates The Pleasures Of Slow Food

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jul 19th 2009 at 4:02PM

Care for a little alfresco dining? A pair of New Hampshire and Maine farms along with four award-winning chefs combine for one fabulous evening that includes a four-course meal and event held in the fields of Weston's Farm on the Saco River. August 29th is the date for the Second Annual "Fields on the Saco", an event that offers up the best of the season's harvest in a lavish feast for 100 under tents set up in the field. The menu will be accompanied by paired wines and Maine Cold River Vodka and will be presented by Chef Bryant Alden of the Chef's Market in North Conway, Executive Chef Brad Southwick of the White Mountain Hotel and Resort, Chef Jonathan Spak, co-owner of the Oxford House Inn, and Chef Jim Harrison of the Flatbread Company.

Hors d'oeuvres will include sweet corn fritters and scallops wrapped in pancetta with an Amaretto reduction. The meal begins with an appetizer of roulade of pork gratin with braised baby beets and butternut-apple coulis. The salad is baby spinach with grilled peaches and goat cheese with a maple pecan apple cider vinaigrette. The entree will be a mixed grill of tournedos of beef, lamb sausage, and chicken kebob with summer vegetables on a potato nest. The meal finished up with a blueberry polenta pound cake with honey and chevre semifreddo.

The event actually begins at 1 p.m. in the afternoon and includes far more than the dinner. There are guided farm tours, farm stores showcasing foods, flowers and local products. Cold River Vodka and complimentary wines will be offered with live music provided by Jazz Meisters and a "wet art" auction (wet art refers to paintings created on site). Winners of the Art-A-Ron-Dack Chair judging will be auctioned, offering bidders the chance to take home a unique chair and artwork combined. A Border Collie exhibition at Nerefield Farm on East Conway Road and a bonfire will round out the schedule. Each person attending the dinner will take home a beautiful Lead Wine Glass by Cristal d'Arques of France and a gift bag. Tickets are $125 each and the event will be limited to 100 people. Info on ordering tickets can be found on the Mount Washington Valley website.

Tags: fine dining, FineDining, food, maine, new hampshire, NewHampshire, slow food, SlowFood