Dinners at the Farm: Great People, Great Food and a Great Cause

When a day starts out like this, you've got to believe it can only get better:

What you're looking at is the team from Sunday night's Dinners at the Farm pushing the "chucktruck," better known as the thing without which there'd be no dinner.  At the lead is Jonathan Rapp, chef-owner of River Tavern, and behind the wheel is Drew McLachlan who, with his wife, Claudine, owns Feast Gourmet Market in Deep River, Connecticut.  Just a minute or two beofre I snapped this picture, this is what you would have seen:

That's me behind the wheel!  I was having such a good time until my husband told Jonathan that I was better at truffles than trucks and that I probably shouldn't be the one steering when they finally got the monster moving.  I love my husband, but sometimes he can be a spoil-sport.

Dinners at the Farm is the brainchild of Jonathan, the McLachlans and Chip and Carol Dahlke of Ashlawn Farm.  Carol, who is the roastmaster at Farm Coffee, stayed home, wisely - she'll be having a baby any day now!  But here's Chip, who, in addition to being the host of the dinners, started the wonderful Lyme Farmer's Market:

The dinners, which kicked off in June (click to read about the first one, complete with thunder and lightning), are usually held on a local farm (Sunday night's was the exception; it was held on the grounds of the Wadsworth Mansion, just after the annual open-air market pulled up stakes), always use ingredients straight from the area's farms and always benefit a not-for-profit organization.  Sunday night, the proceeds from the dinner went to the local chapter of American Farmland Trust.

This time, I was at the dinner as a volunteer kitchen hand.  It was an outdoor dinner for 150 people and nothing was prepped ahead - it all happened on a bunch of plank tables under a tent and on the truck and it was a testament to what precision organization and a lot of talent can do.

Of course, it didn't hurt that everyone was anxious to get their hands on the food - everything from the fruits, vegetables and fish, to the pork from Four Mile River Farm, was local and most of us knew all of the farmers personally.

When I climbed up onto the truck and gasped at how beautiful the food was, Jonathan said, "It's impossible not to make beautiful food out of stuff this wonderful."  Take a look at just a smidgen of what we had to work with:

There was a great sense of camaraderie among the team, which was made up of pros and volunteers, including my mates on melon brigade.  This is Steve Lapenta, who owns The Bridge, a tofu company in Middletown, and who just walked over and asked if he could lend a hand:

And here's Christy Wilson, who in real life is from Santa Monica, but who came East for a spell to be an art director on Righteous Kill, the upcoming DeNiro/Pacino/50 Cent/Scorcese film that's being shot in Bridgeport:

I couldn't stay through dinner - we had to drive back to New York - but I was there to help get the pizzas ready for the grill:

 

and to plate the Charentais melons with smoked scallops, heirloom tomatoes, cilantro and a dressing of toasted cumin, lime, chiles and extra-virgin olive oil:

I wish I had a picture of the soup that went out before the melons - roasted corn with littleneck clams - but I was too busy picking parsley for the next course to grab my camera.

Here, though, is the whole menu, large enough, I hope, for you to read it and smile in delight:

It was terrific to be part of a community helping a community and I can't wait to do it again.  And I will.  The Dinners at the Farm team will be in New York City at Farm Aid on September 9 and I'll be there too.  If you're around, come by, I'd love to see you!

Comments

[Michael Procopio]

Upon first reading of the farm's menu, I thought it advertised "corn on the colon", which I felt was an odd, but intriguing item. I'm somewhat relieved to know that I had misread it.

[Cenk]

What a lovely day you had... Btw, I loved the photo with you at the wheel. You should frame it.

[brilynn]

Wow! Just wow! That looks absolutely fantastic.

[ride&cook]

What fun to help cook a delicious meal for a good cause! The soup sounds so good. Have fun at Farm Aid, wish I could come down.

[Rona]

You look pretty darn happy and capable behind the wheel of that truck!
What a wonderful concept to bring people and great food together for a terrific cause. The menu looks fabulous and the pics are so dee-lish. Yum! Wish I could have been there to help and enjoy the results.
I'll be in Florida (same route as in your Hummel report) so I'm going to miss the Farm Aid event. C'est dommage!