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With less than two weeks before our Frontera Farmer
Foundation benefit, we're all in overdrive to make this our best year
ever. Everyone of our employees pitches in to make this a
memorable event. Although the dinner is sold out, our daytime
Farmers Market Fiesta still has tickets available. Advance tickets
are $45 per person, $50 at the door, and $20 for children under
12. Not only has Richard, our chef de cuisine for Frontera, been
working on signature dishes for each of our participating farmers, we've
all been working hard on silent auction items and raffle prizes.
If you're in Chicago on June 13th, please come by to experience the
event first-hand.
For tickets, call 312-661-1434.
For those of you unable to attend, check out our on line silent auction. We've picked
five great items to offer including a private demo in our test kitchen
for 14. Not only will Rick be demonstrating several dishes, but
you'll taste everything that he creates. The demo includes time
for Q & A, and your choice of one of Rick's cookbooks, personalized
for you and each of your guests. Also, with Chicago Blackhawk
frenzy at an all-time high, you might be interested in acquiring
an autographed Versteeg team jersey.
We've pulled out all the stops, and it promises to be a
great day!
Spotlight on
Topolobampo:
The buzz has been tremendous on the White House State
Dinner that Rick, Brian Enyart and Richard James presented at the White
House last month in honor of Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his
wife, Margarita Zavala. Starting June 8th, Topolo will be offering a five course tasting menu
patterned after that dinner. This menu will only be available at
dinner and for a limited time. You can make a reservation via Open Table. The five courses
include:
Jicama Salad with Citrus Fruits
Chimichurri Tuna Ceviche
Lobster & Scallop Mojo de Ajo
Pan Seared Beef with our famous
Oaxacan Black Mole and a Spiral Black Bean Tamalon
Chocolate Cajeta Tart with Goat
Cheese Ice Cream
Rick's Upcoming Events:
June 6th: QVC "In the Kitchen with
David" airs at noon EST. Rick will be talking with David about
recipes from the new book.
June 13th: Frontera Farmer
Foundation at the restaurant. Yes, this is another shameless plug
for the event.
June 27th & 28th: Rick will
be at the Fancy Food Show in NYC. Stop by the Frontera Foods
booth to say hi.
Sunday, June 13th Farmers Market Fiesta
12-3pm
We create a special margarita for the event, there are
wine tastings, potted herb plants from Rick's garden for sale, a
fabulous raffle, and unbelievable silent auction items, including props
from Rick's TV show. The highlight of the event are the fabulous
dishes created with the ingredients that were supplied by the following
farmers/farms.
Andy Rosenthal and Nathan Whittaker from City
Farm
The Ellis from Ellis Family Farm*
Marji Hess, garden manager from Gary Comer
Youth Center*
Gail and Lindsey Carpenter from Grassroots
Farm*
Greg and Lei Gunthorp from Gunthorp Farms
Jeremy McWilliams from Little Farm on the Prairie*
Eric and Samatha Sexton from Nature's Choice*
Julia and Todd McDonald from Peasant's Plot*
Bill Warner and Judy Hageman from Snug Haven Farm*
Donna O'Shaughnessy & Keith Parish from South Pork Ranch*
Kris, Marty and Will Travis from Spence Farm*
Renee Randall from Sweet Earth Organic Farm*
Kathe Roybal & Tracy Vowell from Three Sisters Garden
* Farmer Foundation Grantees
New from the Test Kitchen:
Kitchen Gadget Adventures:
Cook's Illustrated did a very interesting article on
kitchen fire extinguishers. They did extensive testing in a "burn
building" under supervision using 10 brands of residential fire
extinguishers. Since fire experts say that you have less than two
minutes to put out a fire before it gets out of control, it's important
to have an extinguisher in your kitchen.
Cook's tested for ease of use, firefighting ability,
lack of side effects, and potential to damage kitchen surfaces.
The unit pictured above is the Kidde FX10K, which was one of their top
picks. It's rated for grease and electrical fires (B-C) and uses
sodium bicarbonate which won't damage kitchen surfaces.
The other one that they highly recommended was the Kidde FA110, which also handles grease and
electrical plus combustibles (A-B-C). However, the chemical that
this model uses (monoammonium phosphate) can potentially cause damage to
kitchen surfaces.
Both are available on Amazon. The FX model is
$24.15, and the FA model is $19.99.
Going Green:
As summer vacations are rapidly approaching, and more
and more families are planning "staycations," you might want to check
out the Pick Your Own web site to find a farm near
you that you can visit, and pick your own fruits and vegetables. They
provide picking tips, "how to" instructions and recipes, and even have
listings for food festivals.
Another suggestion is to sign up at Local Harvest for an event calendar to be
emailed to you every week which lists all the farm related events that
are happening in your neighborhood.
See you next month.
Sincerely,
Test Kitchen Director/Web Site Culinary Director
newsletter@fronteragrill.net
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