A Rainy Day Dinner for Tom

Sunday was a rainy day dinner for my husband. He turned 40 and instead of doing my usual, go to dinner and appetizers I thought I should do a Lost Kitchen Dinner. In total there was 17 of us. I had most of it prepped before but I still had to do a few things while dinner was going on. It also rained all day so my plans for a beautiful outdoor dinner were traded for a crowded kitchen.

Things have been a little busy around here so my trips out to explore farms has kinda halted but I have plans for the next dinner. I recently discovered a local gem, Sun Berry Orchard on Greenwood in Woodstock and visited them a couple times since the last dinner. The first time I went I told Sam we were going out to explore and that I had found a farm that let you dig up your own potatoes. We went right away after school. The sweet lady gave us a shovel, a wagon and a basket. She sent us on our way. Such a great farm and wonderful people to support. Make sure and check out their corn maze that has the words “ GOD bless America & Glory to Ukraine” cut out in it. Ok back on track, We headed out to the field and were shocked to see rows and rows of everything you could ever want in a garden. Beautiful flowers, rows of zucchini, watermelons, melons, tomatoes, carrots, beets, potatoes and so much more. We dug up 11 pounds of potatoes the first time we went and I still have some of those. I found leaving them dirty kept them for so much longer. I still can not believe how long they have lasted. We buy so many potatoes since it’s Sam’s favorite food and usually the ones from the grocery start growing and get soft in a week. Not the fresh ones from the farm! The whole experience was amazing there. We picked a beautiful watermelon, beets, carrots and potatoes on that trip. I can not remember what else! They also have a secret raspberry patch that I will try and get to this week or next so I do not miss out on that! Maybe we will have another raspberry treat Saturday!

Ok! So what did I make for dinner? Here we go.

A Rainy Day Dinner For Tom-

Cocktail- Cider Prosecco Cocktail

Warm Mushroom Toast

Slow- Roasted Pork Picnic

Poppy Seed Buns

Roasted Buttercup Squash Cups

Perfect Potato Salad

Rustic Plum & Honey pie

I made the simple syrup for the cocktail the night before. This is so easy and so festive for the coming of fall. I pre mixed the cider, cognac, and rosemary syrup in a pretty bottle so all I would have to do is top each drink off with prosecco and add a sprig of rosemary. It was also perfect for a rainy day dinner. I bought the cider at Royal Oak farm Orchard at the Farmer’s market on the Square.

Warm Mushroom Toast with port, herbs and ricotta

I loved this one.

I made some ricotta on Saturday night. It is a quick, fun process.

The recipe called for a mix of mushrooms such as cremini, shiitake and button. I purchased cremini, shiitake, button and oyster mushrooms. I also found all of these at the Saturday farmers market on the square! I visited River Valley Ranch for cremini, shittake and button. I visited the Bloom Shroomery for the oyster mushrooms! River valley ranch is out of Burlington, WI. The Bloom Shroomery is out of Crystal Lake, IL. I’m glad I bought a ton of mushrooms because we made two batches of this! I cooked the mushrooms in olive oil, herbs, butter and port. These took just minutes and a quick pop in the oven to roast for 5. I toasted slices of Van Laar’s Asiago parm bread ( Woodstock Farmer’s Market) and then smeared on some homemade ricotta, a few pieces of arugula ( Tom’s backyard Garden, Farmer’s market on the square) and then piled on the mushrooms and finished it with some romano cheese! I loved everything about this! I also served cheddar and blue cheese from Prairie Pure Cheese who was also at the Woodstock Farmer’s Market. Artisan cheeses made by two family farms. We had never had the cheddar and it was amazing. My sister loved it. The blue is a must have too.

Slow roasted pork picnic-

I went to Alden Hills Organic Farms in Walworth, WI to get the pork shoulder. It is a super quick, beautiful drive from Woodstock. Self serve. Run in, grab what you need and pay. This is a super simple recipe. I slathered each shoulder with oil, garlic, rosemary, cinnamon and salt and pepper. This sat in the fridge, covered in a huge roasting pan until morning. I simply put this in the oven for 5 hours. I was nervous about the amount of cinnamon in this recipe. It was caked in cinnamon. Let me tell you, Erin is a genius. This was my fav pork ever. It didn’t taste like cinnamon at all! I made Erin’s Poppy seed buns to go with the pork. They are also a new favorite. I baked the buns right before everyone came over and after I took the pork out. I added a couple extra things on my own to go with the pork sandwich. I made an apple coleslaw with the most delish apples from Sun Berry Orchard! Run and get these amazing apples. I believe they were huge honey crisps. I made a poppy seed dressing to finish. I also made a honey mustard bbq sauce for the sandwich.

I served the sandwich with Erin’s perfect potato salad. I went back to Sun Berry Orchard and grabbed pre picked little red potatoes! I recommend making extra of the macerated shallot vinaigrette so you can add more before serving. I love this simple potato salad. I just wished I had more vinaigrette!

I made Roasted Buttercup Squash Cups to go with dinner as well. This recipe called for buttercup squash. I was at the Farmers Market and saw the cutest little orange squashes at Tom’s Backyard Garden. Honeynut squash! The sweet lady even told me the best way to cut them. I roasted these in butter and olive oil, salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. The squash has a different, thicker texture but overall very similar to a buttercup. These were topped with arugula, and an apple slaw that I again used the amazing apples from Sun Berry Orchard in Woodstock.

Lastly We finished the night with A rustic plum & honey pie. I purchased the plums from DAD’s Farm at the Woodstock Farmers Market and the honey from May’s Honey Farms. I loved this honey! I bought the super cute glass bottle and the honey is so good you just want to drink it. I will be back for more because it is already almost gone. I used the honey in a few of these recipes! I made the plum tart as I like to call it, the night before. As it was getting later in the evening I started to lose people because they had to get home! I skipped out on making the vanilla bean soured cream to dollop on the slices but that is ok. It didn’t need it. I am sure it would have been amazing but it was a long night and so it was skipped!

That is it! I really was happy with how everything turned out. I was super happy that besides some pantry ingredients, I did not have to go to the store. A couple farms and the market and that is it! To complete the look for dinner I cut down some long pretty daisies from the garden and put them in tall vases. I used a vintage candelabra in the center. We have some new rusty candelabras at the shop that would be perfect! I used my 8 glass caddy which you will see one of the glasses in the pictures. This was the perfect vessel for the cider prosecco cocktail . This is available at the shop or online. There is currently only one in stock so order it or come and get it! It is beautiful. More are on the way! Our new floral cheese knife set was also featured at dinner and is also available in store. Last but not least! The Lost Kitchen Cookbook is also online or in store!