If your dream “harvest” dinner entails views of picturesque vineyards, a topped off wine glass as needed and mason jars galore, Field & Vine Events’ Dinners in the Field can make your outdoor dinner dreams come true.
Pascal Chureau, chef and owner of Field & Vine Events, and Allium Bistro in West Linn, Oregon, has planned 31 dinners around the greater Portland/Willamette Valley farming region with a focus on fresh, seasonal produce straight from a hosting farm.
“Local farms, vineyards and ranches are the heart of this area,” Chureau says. “They are the reason we all are passionate about the food we cook, the food we eat and the food we experience. It’s in the connecting to the land and the people — farmers, winemakers, ranchers, distillers, cheesemakers — in a very real and personal way. It’s why we do what we do.”
Take for example the recent dinner at King’s Raven Winery with Tranquil Farms. The menu showcased fresh ingredients from Tranquil Farm in Oregon City.
To start there was prawn and pepper concasse. The padron pepperss were roasted to perfection — just as you’d expect from an outdoor farm-to-table experience. Next, a butter lettuce salad that came tableside with an unlikely yet satisfying marriage of flavors: grapefruit, almonds, mimolette (an orange cheese from France) and cumin vinaigrette. Although striking, the toasted tarro with basil, purple carrots, pepitas and chevre dish puzzled guests at first but, once on the plate, it soon became a crowd favorite. Pan fried heirloom corn, grilled Carlton Farms bone-in pork and roasted Makah Ozette potatoes rounded out the seven-course meal that ended with marionberry and apple cobbler.
Future dinners are hosted in barns, barrel rooms, or under tents, and run through December 2017. One of Field & Vine’s more unique dinners is coming up at Marquam Hill Ranch on July 1. Tour the barn, meet the resident Alpacas, all while sipping wine from AlexEli Vineyards.
