Local Dinner

This past winter we made some new friends in a far away place, who happen to live nearby and we now get together every 4-6 weeks for dinner. These are amazing dinners. They also love to cook, and enjoy the cooking and kitchen time as much we do and we have had some wonderful evenings with good food and good times.

Last night we had a yummy summer dinner, that while not close to 100% local meal showcased some delicious local food.

It started with a wonderful surprise on the part of our guests. A few months back our guests spent a day on the Frederick Wine Trail. They had two bottles left and brought them to share with us! We immediately opened the Syrah 2006 from Black Ankle vineyards. It was a lovely wine to start with. Very smooth, not to bold. While prepping the salad, soothing a fussy baby (not with the wine!) and getting the grill and main course ready, we decided a taste would go well with the wine. We opened up a cheese I had just bought for the first time from SMC, a goat bleu cheese from Firefly Farms. We had no idea what to expect and laughed out loud when it was gooey in the middle. We all agreed that it was wonderful to have the bleu cheese flavor but in the milder goat cheese.

We started the meal with a salad of spinach, nuts and scallions. Although the spinach and scallions could have been local, the showcase of the dish was the vinaigrette! Inspired by this post at The Kitchn we used this recipe. It was so amazing, that after making it in about five minutes, and eating spoonfuls of it, we decided to triple the recipe! It was fabulous. The pepper actually made the recipe. We ended up having enough extra for both of us to use it again this week which I am looking forward to - my husband just bought some local spinach at the farmers market this morning!

Next up was the main course which we grilled on charcoal. Our guests made corn, zucchini, and salmon. The corn and zucchini were local and fresh! The salmon was prepared and cooked beautifully. The salmon and then dessert were enhanced by the second bottle of wine from Elk Run Winery. The Riesling was sweet but not heavy and sticky.

This paired nicely with our slightly sticky dessert - roasted peaches with bourbon whipped cream!

Oh right, so the peaches. Last night we only used RedHaven peaches. They were local. I can't find a link to the orchard right now, and the story of getting them is a post in and of itself, but as a teaser, I bought over a half bushel of peaches last tuesday. Three different varieties.