Notes from The Inn at Weathersfield

Pinky up!  Napkin on your lap!  Please and thank you!

All were happening at the inn when the Weathersfield 6th grade Etiquette Class came to dinner.  The ladies (no boys this year??) were all treated to a delightful 3 course meal with a great menu selection. Some of the choices were… Hand harvested asparagus soup with a farmers egg – followed by Roast chicken with creamy risotto and red wine jus and topped off by a Chocolate souffle.  Mmmm good.

Every May I anticipate filling up the back of my old Bonneville with the smell of ramps. These are wild onions that emerge each year after the winter thaw. I got my spot shown to me by a dear friend who graciously allows me to forage on her land. I usually set out early in the morning before the day has a chance to warm and hope for dry air.

Each year I religiously pack my leather-bound knife holder that I made when I was a boy, along with a few bags, pull on my mud boots and head for the steep hillside covered with “green gold.”

As I carefully harvest each one from the cool moist spring soil I am reminded of how fertile Vermont’s soil is, and appreciate its generosity. I find myself lost in thought thinking about new ways to cook with them, as the act of ramping sets the tone for a new season and all that anticipation is released into renewed creativity.

This is one of the many dishes I prepare from my ramping bounty.

Enjoy!

Chef Jason Tostrup

Wild Onion ( Ramp) Caesar Salad

1 head Romaine

Wild Onion Caesar dressing

1 cp. Croutons

Shaved Local Cheese

For the Dressing

• 2 each egg yolks (fresh from local farm)
• 2 tbl Dijon Mustard
• 4tbl Red wine vinegar
• juice from 2 lemons
• 2 each Anchovy rinsed
• ½ cup pureed Ramp tops **
• 1cp grape seed oil
• 1cp olive oil
• ½ cup grated cheese (preferably firm and locally made)
• ¼ cup bread crumbs
• Salt & pepper to taste

1. Place egg yolks, mustard, vinegar, lemon Juice, anchovy in food processor and blend until smooth.
2. mix two oils together
3. While food processor is running very slowly add a stream of oil into bowl egg mixture. Continue to add oil slowly until all of the oil has blend smoothly into the egg mixture as if you were making a mayonnaise.
4. Mix in ramp puree, cheese and breadcrumbs.
5. Season with salt and pepper
6. Chop and wash romaine toss with croutons and dressing, place in bowls and shave local cheese on top.

*This yields 3cups of dressing and should be eaten, within to two days

**To make ramp puree (cut off ramp tops: clean in water and pat dry. Roughly chop ramp tops, place in blender add just enough oil to cover and puree until smooth.

Well after a month of vacation its time to get back at it.  No tweets, no facebooks, no blogs for a month – a nice respite but now its time to get back in the communication zone.

First a word about our vacation…For us vacation is a series of sleeping, tourist stops and meals – lots of meals.  When we are traveling we try to take in a much of the local flavors as possible – so this trip was all about soft shelled crabs, shrimp and grits and fresh fish.  We drove the east coast from Florida up through the Outerbanks of NC and boy did we have a great time! I’d have to say that a meal we had in Charleston SC at Hanks Seafood was a highlight but there were plenty of great fish shacks we chowed in!!

Now…back at the inn and back to work!  The vegetable garden has been rototilled (somewhat) and we are getting ready to put in some beets and snap peas.  I’m thinking I need to wait about 1 more week but I am just itching…. Dave put the deck furniture out and its starting to feel like summer.  But  Be Warned!!…this hot spell is about to turn cold and windy again.

Finally – I wanted to share a great website about local food, CSA’s, farms – pretty much all things local http://www.localharvest.org and if you have an iphone heres a link to a cool app for local food http://enjoymentland.com/locavore/

Every year around this time some special things happen in Vermont.  The days get longer, the sun gets warmer, there are no lift lines at the mountain – but most important…the sap starts to run.  And when the temperature during the day is warm and the night tempurature is cold the maple trees give us their lovely sugar.

Walk outside on any evening in March and you will smell burning wood and cooking maple sugar.  It is such a distinctive smell – I remember the first year we lived in Vermont and someone took us to a sugarhouse in (what seemed like) the deep woods in the middle of the night.  Stepping over ice and mud we entered the litle sugar shack that was billowing steam.  The air was warm and sweet.  Our host was perched on a cooler filled with various iced beverages – but he immediately welcomed us, jumped up and grabbed some little plastic cups and pulled a ladle of hot syrup out of the evaporator.  We sipped that ‘Amber A’ warm syrup like a rare  cognac.  Our host told us about the ‘conditions’ that season and showed us his operation with pride.  I knew I loved Vermont at that moment.

Now, every year, when that sweet smell fills the woods at night we know spring is coming.  We make piles of pancakes and bring them as an offering to the local sugar shack god – only to be slathered in syrup and consumed with gusto!  Ah sweet delicious spring.

Visit one of our favorite sugar shacks – Woods Sugar House – in Weatherfield

The sun is starting to stay up just a little longer now and feels a little stronger.  We are ‘officially’ past the coldest days and the weather looks fine.  Do I dare risk saying the skiing has been ‘almost springlike’.

Valentine’s has come and gone, lots of lovin’ in Perkinsville – with chef’s fun Valentine’s Day tasting menu still in our memory. Lots of familiar faces at the inn and some new friends made over the holiday weekend.

After a long wait for delivery, our vinegar barrels were delivered!  So we are going to start up a few batches of vinegar this week – we’ll be starting it off with some left over Brunello (thanks George S!) and Barbera D’Alba.  Now thats some good vinegar.  Will update our progress on that project as we go.

In case you were thinking about a visit to the inn, be sure to check out our midweek Ski specials in Feb.  And if you’re not skiing, check out our Luxury package – dinner, massages and lunch at Simon Pearce – a perfect quick getaway to cure what ails you.

Out early this morning to Okemo.  Great morning, not too cold-nice and clear. Conditions are fantastic.  The entire mountain is open and there is plenty of snow with another 4-6 coming tonight.  It was our first day out so we didn’t work too hard – but Dave knows the mountain really well and it was fun to ski with him.  I was especially grateful when he yelled “dont go that way…its all moguls” – whew.  Lots of ‘locals’ out taking advantage of a quiet Tuesday before the holiday weekend.

Got back to the inn to a delivery from Walpole Creamery (best ice cream ever) sitting by the front door.  What a great treat!  (Just kidding….we have to save some for our guests).

If you haven’t made your winter ski plans yet – take a look at our midweek ski and stay deals – come on, just call in sick, you’ve been working too hard anyway.

http://www.weathersfieldinn.com/webpages/SkinStay.htm

Executive Chef Jason Tostrup shows off our 'Neighborhood Farms' black board

For those of you new to the Inn, I’m Jason Tostrup chef at the inn. I have been working and having fun with Jane, Dave and our staff for the past three plus years.  The focus of our restaurant is to serve local sustainable seasonal foods in a way that is, fun and surprising with “new” old world insight.

I will be keeping you posted on the latest developments at “The Kitchen Table” here at the Inn.

In the coming months I’ll be sharing a behind the scenes look at how the we in the kitchen work with local farms. So keep an eye out for the “Weathersfield Recipe Box”,  “Vermont Fresh Network Member Profiles “ and  “Farm Trail Trips”

Happy New Year to all from “The Kitchen Table” here at the Inn at Weathersfield. A huge thanks to all you dedicated customers and farmer partners for a fantastic 2008.

As always “Eat Fresh Eat Local Eat Real”

Chef Jason

Took down the Christmas tree today.  Ornaments and lights are packed up in the attic until next year.  Now we get down to the serious business of winter.

We had a little snow today, enough to give us a nice white covering so everything looks clean and bright.  The forecast shows more snow – so thats great news.  We are running some January Okemo Ski and Stay Specials to kick the year off right and lots of folks have already called to book their tickets.  It will be nice to see all our ‘winter friends’ over the next 3 months…

Some news from the wine cellar… we just ordered in some 2006 Torres Salmos Priorat (all the 2005 has been happily consumed).  If you havent tried this yet, its a great Spanish wine.  A syrah blend- dark and delicious. The other favorites this past holiday season were the 2006 Sineann Pinot Noir from Oregon, and the 2006 Raptor Ridge Reserve 1/2 bottles.  Yum. Just got word that our Dauvissat Chablis is on route from France…yeah – break out the oysters.

2009. Another year gone by. Last night when everyone was in the Tavern toasting in the new year I took a step back and thought about our last 6 years at the inn and looked to the future as we head into our 7th year.

Of all the things that stand out I would have to say that we have met so many extraordinary people during this journey.  Our Inn guests, restaurant guests farmer partners and inn staff have all made this an incredible experience.  Every New Years Eve we get a mix of those who ‘come every year’ and those who have ‘never been here before…but I’ll be back’.  It is a great feeling to see all these friendly faces, sharing the celebration, hopeful for the new year. Even the staff, exhausted at the end of the night, is still full of smiles, laughs  and jokes while polishing and putting away the very last champagne glass.  To all these people…I say thank you.  You have made the inn a very special place.

So, looking back over the last 6 years…whats happened…

The renovations in the inn have not only improved the ‘creature comforts’ for our guests, but have made the inn much more energy efficient. Our propane consumption today is almost half of what it was on the day we moved in. Being named one of the Governors “Green Hotels in the Green Mountain State” was a real honor.   The new ‘barn’ has become a great multi purpose space for everything from pilates classes, corporate retreats to cooking classes and the addition of the deck was a stroke of pure genius by Dave.

But I suppose some of the most exciting things to happen have been in our restaurant.  Bringing Chef Jason on board almost 4 years ago changed the face of the restaurant.  We have developed amazing relationships with our area farmers – many have become good friends.  Cooking at the James Beard House in NYC 3 years ago, being part of the Endless Feasts PBS series and a feature in Vermont Living Magazine and Edible Green Mountain  Magazine were all highlights.   In November we were named one of the “10 Hot Culinary Inns in America” by Bon Appetit Magazine and Chef Jason was named Chef of the Year by the Vermont Hospitality Council.  Wow, what a run…

So – looking back…its been a great 6 years and as we head into ‘lucky 7′ just about anything could happen!