Open House at Mediterra

To ring in the new school year, Slow Food hosted an open house at Mediterra on September 21st.  We had a huge turnout (around 200 students came!), and new and returning members alike congregated to celebrate the delicious, locally-sourced food and drinks that Mediterra provided and the company of their peers.  We are extremely excited about the interest in the Slow Food movement, and look forward to seeing everyone at our future meetings and events!

Gelato-making at The Bent Spoon

While their peers were busy wrapping up papers for the semester, ten Slow Food Princeton members spent their Monday night studying chemistry: the chemistry behind the perfect gelato, that is.  Using butternut squash they grew in the Forbes College Organic Garden with the help of director Ruthie Schwab ‘09, the Slow Foodies prepared delicious butternut squash gelato with the help of Bent Spoon owner Gab Carbone in a private after-hours event.  After a primer in crème anglaise and the differences between gelato and ice cream, Gab’s apprentices whipped up a batch of gelato to enjoy together.  Thanks to Gab Carbone for her enthusiasm and efforts to make this possible!

Oriana Poindexter ‘11, Ying Fan ‘11, Jamie Magana ‘11, Alexa Krakaris ‘12, and Salone Loney ‘10 listen as Gab Carbone explains the chemistry behind The Bent Spoon Gelato

Gab explains how to extract the flesh from butternut squash grown in the Forbes College garden

The Slow Foodies watch eagerly as their squash is transformed into gelato

Colleen McCullough ‘12 goes in for a taste!

Henry Barmeier ‘10 samples some of The Bent Spoon’s other flavors

Joseph Vellone ‘10, Gab Carbone, and the butternut squash gelato. Delicious!

Cheesemaking at Cherry Grove Farm

This past Friday, a group of Slow Food Princeton members took a trip down the road to Cherry Grove Farm in Lawrenceville, NJ to learn first-hand about cheesemaking from owner Kelly Harding.  After a tour of the farm and milking session with the cows, Slow Foodies were guided through the cheesemaking process and learned the secrets of Cherry Grove’s legendary gouda and toma primavera, and even got a peek at their upcoming bleu!  A cheese tasting was the perfect ending to a crisp autumn afternoon.

Ruthie Schwab ‘09 and Jamie Magagna ‘11 watch as Kelly Harding operates the cheese vat he imported from the Netherlands

Henry Barmeier ‘10 listens as Kelly Harding explains the techniques used to brine Cherry Grove’s legendary toma primavera

Locally-Grown Garden Dinner

Twenty Slow Foodies spent a lazy Sunday afternoon in the Forbes College Organic Garden preparing a (very) local dinner with cooking instructor Liz Yvon of Aubergines, etc.

After harvesting heirloom tomatoes, swiss chard, eggplant, beets, turnips, basil, mint, rosemary, and parsley, all grown by Princeton students under the leadership of Ruthie Schwab ‘09, the Slow Foodies worked with Liz to prepare a delicious 5-course dinner.

On the menu was a chilled tomato bisque, rotini with pesto, Provencal-style swiss chard pie, eggplant, pepper, and tomato stacks, braised turnips, roasted beets with blue cheese pâté, a fresh herb omelette, and mint tea.  Dinner was eaten al fresco under the starry, summer night sky.

More details can be found in the Princeton Alumni Weekly magazine and The Daily Princetonian student newspaper.  Delicious!

Arianna Gianola ‘09 and Sierra Schlegele ‘11 prepare the tomato bisque

Instructor Liz Yvon helps students prepare the swiss chard pie

Slow Food Princeton President Joseph Vellone ‘10 and Carolyn Edelstein ‘10 harvest tomatoes from the campus garden

Steve Marcus ‘10 makes sure the peppers are just right for the strata

Mary Marshall ‘10 prepares the blue cheese pâté

Slow Foodies enjoy a candle-lit, organic, and locally-sourced dinner under the stars. A perfect summer night!

A French Cooking Class with Liz Yvon

Ten Princeton Slow Foodies spent one of their final days on campus cooking with Liz Yvon, owner of Aubergines Etc., which offers private cooking classes and catered dinner parties in the Princeton area.  Liz spent two years in Provence learning about Provencal cuisine and graciously offered her services and materials to Slow Food Princeton for an afternoon of delicious French cooking.

Using local ingredients purchased at the campus farmers’ market, Slow Foodies whipped up a delicious French dinner for themselves, with a little bit of help from Liz.  On the menu was green salad with shallot vinaigrette, coq au vin, gratin dauphinois, sabayon aux fruits rouges, and langues de chat.  Everything was delicious, and the distance from farm to fork could not have been closer!  For more information about Aubergines Etc., please write auberginesetc@gmail.com.

An Afternoon at the Princeton Bakeshop

This week Slow Food Princeton members spent a lazy Friday afternoon at the Princeton Bakeshop with Chef Rob Harbison learning how to make apple turnovers. With local apples, organic cranberries, and a pinch of cinnamon sugar, participants practiced making different pastry shapes and snacked on chocolate-covered strawberries while their creations baked. Thanks to Chef Rob and Dining Services for making this possible.

Breadmaking Workshop: Croissant, Brioche, and Puff Pastry

Slow Food Princeton members spent their Thursday afternoons with Witherspoon Bread Company’s master baker Denis Granarolo learning the art of making croissant, brioche, and puff pastry dough. Armed with flour, sugar, and lots of butter, the slow foodies took to work and created delicious chocolate croissant, raisin-walnut brioche, and palmier from scratch. Pictures of our finished products are below. Delicious!

Greening Princeton Farmers’ Market Returns!

The Greening Princeton Farmers’ Market is a grower/producer market where all of the vendors make or grow what they sell, including farm fresh seasonal produce, naturally raised meats, and other artisanal goods.

Every item sold at the Market was grown, raised or produced locally. That’s why you’ll find tasty strawberries in the spring, but will have to wait for juicy tomatoes in the early fall and pumpkins even later. What you will find is wonderfully fresh produce picked at the height of freshness.

The Market features weekly live music from 11.00 am to 3.00 pm, as well as tables with nutrition information, sustainability initiatives at Princeton, and dedicated volunteers from Slow Food to keep the operation running smoothly. The market will run every Tuesday from April 15 through May 20.

Slow Food Princeton members Emma Hare and Yuanbo Liu help manage the market.

Slow Food Central NJ Winter Farmers’ Market

Slow Food Princeton took a field trip this Sunday to the Third-Annual Slow Food Winter Farmers’ Market held at Tre Piani Restaurant in Plainsboro, NJ. In addition to meeting fellow foodies and community members, members of Slow Food Princeton enjoyed meats from a local salumeria, rhubarb pie from Terhune Orchards, and of course gelato from the Bent Spoon. The perfect way to spend a winter afternoon!

Slow Food Princeton officers Steph Hill and Joseph Vellone enjoying gelato and pie at the winter market.

Slow Food Princeton members Sierra Schelege and Steph Hill with Tre Piani owner Jim Weaver.

Slow Food Princeton members Elena Dillard, Sarah Hogarty, and Yuanbo Liu at the Slow Food Winter Farmers’ Market.

Oyster Tasting!

Slow Food Princeton hosted Chris Quartuccio, owner and founder of Blue Island Shellfish Farm and Chef Jim Elowson on February 10 for a comprehensive oyster tasting, combining education and cuisine on a wintry Sunday afternoon at Princeton University.

16 members listened to Chris while he gave a brief presentation about his Blue Island Shellfish Farm, which is on Long Island. Chris then went over the history of the oyster in Long Island Sound. After explaining current production methods for cultivating oysters, he brought out examples of equipment used for farming. We saw some photos of the oyster farm, which supplies high-end restaurants in Manhattan such as Per Se and Oceana, and students were given an opportunity to ask questions (who knew oysters, aside from being a delicacy amongst shellfish, were sustainably farmed?).

After the presentation, Chef Elowson led us through a wonderful tasting of three preparations. He had prepared a common recipe of oyster stew from 1694, reading it to us first to show us the old language of recipes, with phrases like ‘take water of oisters’ or ‘add whight wine in your stewage.’

Next, he gave us a more modern preparation: Oysters Rockefeller. We then ate raw oysters on the half shell – salty East Coast Blue Point oysters courtesy of Chris’ own farm, creamy, sweet Kumamoto oysters from member Yuanbo Liu’s oyster farm in Newport, Oregon, and fresh Fany Bay oysters from Canada, garnished with a modified mignonette sauce a la melon and cucumber. Delicious!