This is the second year we've had a first market dinner. The plan, as you can probably imagine, is to go to the first farmers market of the year (this year seemed very early, March 21), grab what looks good, and build a meal from those ingredients. Last year, there were four of us, myself, Cam, Bonnie, and David. This year, we had the pleasure of including Joe and Sarah. As you can see from the picture above, Bonnie really set a beautiful table.
The evening began with rangpur gimlets. We made these at last year's first market dinner, and luckily Raynblest Farm had plenty of limes for both drinks and dessert... For snacks, baby carrots and radishes.
Cam made ravioli with stinging nettles and ricotta, and lightly covered it in a butter/garlic/hazelnut sauce. While waiting for the water to boil, we drank a bottle of the 07 Reverdy Sancerre Blanc.
David brought the sides, wonderful wilted spinach and a mixture of sauteed carrots and leeks.
We then had a little salad made from a mixture of greens from Veridian.
Finally, the evening ended where it had begun, with rangpur limes. I made a panna cotta with rangpur lime zest. It didn't seem limey enough, so I made a little rangpur syrup to go on top. That with some 08 Elio Perrone Moscato d'Asti and Cam's homemade Vin d'Orange was just perfect.
Other wines included:
98 Lindemans Hunter Valley Semillon
98 Marsh Estate Hunter Valley Semillon
04 J Christopher Croft Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc
05 Le Rocher des Violettes Montlouis "Touche Mitaine" Sec
98 Guyon Corton Clos du Roy Grand Cru
00 Thomas Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
This is turning into a nice annual tradition.
