Scott talked about how he only trusts ingredients where he can go visit the farm where they are grown & raised so, he visited the Central Valley California fields where Muir Glen Tomatoes are grown & met the farmers. The tomatoes are all grown organically & hand-harvested which impressed him. Plus let's face it unless you are canning your own tomatoes, your only other local option in MN in winter is hot house tomatoes which probably leave as much of a carbon footprint as those trucked from CA. As for us, we've been fans of Muir Glen Tomatoes, especially the fire roasted, since we lived in California. We do can our own tomatoes but, when we need to buy some Muir Glen is our go to brand for their superior taste (really there is a difference).
Now let's talk about the food, which was of course amazing...
The evening started with passed appetizers including a tomato tart & tomato soup with grilled cheese sliders.
Then we were served a pasta dish with an Amatriciana sauce that really highlighted the tomatoes. We loved the sofrito stuffing in the pasta.
The second course was a take on a burger with the protein actually lamb terrine. What really made this dish was the combination of homemade pickle relish, tomato gastrique & mustard. It was also served with a tomato salt which seems to be basically oven dried tomatoes ground fine with salt. It had a pretty red color but we didn't notice a strong tomato flavor to it even when tasted along.
The night ended with an olive oil cake topped with tomato sorbet, strawberry basil ice cream & a fennel seed tuille. We didn't care for the tomato sorbet on its own but mixed with the strawberry basil ice cream the flavors became much more mellow. Love, love, loved that fennel tuille.
All & all a very fun night. It was quite interesting to see what a chef of Scott's caliber can do with a can of tomatoes.
Disclaimer: Muir Glen/General Mills paid for our dinner but all opinions in this post are our own & we were not required to write about it.
If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2011 Kathy Lewinski
What gorgeous food! As far as canned tomatoes go, Muir Glen are the way to go! Seems like a truly fun evening.
ReplyDeleteLooks like it was a lovely meal, Muir Glen is my preferred canned tomato brand too.
ReplyDeleteMuir Glen has always been our "go-to" for tomatoes -- and for all the reasons you've indicated. When we aren't nomming on our own Wisconsin farm fresh tomatoes (or those we've put up), I love the fact that there's an organic brand out there we can trust.
ReplyDeleteLove the look of this dinner -- especially that tomato sorbet! Sounds like a delicious surprise.
I have not tried muir glen yet.
ReplyDeleteExcellent! Such a fun, delicious night, wish I'd had a chance to chat with you. I thought the wine pairings were neat too.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a really fun event. I like Muir Glen too. You'll have to ask for the fennel tuille recipe, it sounds quite exceptional.
ReplyDeleteLooks awesome!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a fab evening and dinner. I was invited but had to pass (I had a cooking class that evening at Whole Foods). Hopefully I will be able to attend next time!
ReplyDeleteYou all go to the best tasting and cooking events. So much fun!
ReplyDeleteI use Muir Glen all the time, how do you get all the cool invites?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your post and you explain each and every point very well.Thanks for sharing this information.And I’ll love to read your next post too.
ReplyDelete