Tag: local food

Adirondack Culinary Weekend

Written by CarriageHouseCS on 04/24/2023.

Spring 2023 Lake Placid & Adirondack Culinary Getaway

MAY 5, 6 & 7 2023 | THE MEXICAN EXPERIENCE

The Carriage House Cooking School has once again teamed up with The Mirror Lake Inn to offer select getaway packages celebrating the bounty of the Adirondack Park’s vibrant farm to table landscape.

Getaway registrants will enjoy the comforts and luxury of the Mirror Lake Inn, which is the epitome of Adirondack hospitality, along with multiple demonstration style cooking classes, each designed so that participants can return home, confident to replicate and share their learning experiences.

Chef Curtiss, the former Dean of Culinary Arts at the prestigious New England Culinary Institute, has long considered the Mirror Lake Inn the perfect venue for cooking classes and a focused culinary weekend.

He has been a guest chef and instructor with the Inn’s numerous Food & Wine Festivals and several special events and now serves as The View Restaurant’s Executive Chef and Food & Beverage Director.

This weekend is all about celebrating the comfort and cuisine of the Mexican house table while tasting the terroir of the Adirondacks and surrounding farmland.

Check out the schedule and class menu below.

MAY 5, 2023

Welcome Reception

5:30 to 6:30 PM

Gather for a meet and greet with Chef Curtiss of the Carriage House and the Mirror Lake Inn Culinary team. Hors d’oeuvres are provided and there will be a cash bar available.

SATURDAY MAY 6, 2023

Cooking Demonstration | Tamales

12:30 to 3:30 PM

Mexican food, like others cuisines in equatorial regions, is full flavored, quick to prepare and delicious. It is important for me to identify and expand the home repertoire in ways that are both traditional and contemporary. It is the goal of this class to share the joy for life that Mexico is famous for and to make it’s cuisine accessible, understandable and actionable.

“The simplicity of preparation and the flavors of home style Mexican food make for meals that are more socially engaging, delicious and enjoyable.”

Chef Curtiss

Saturday’s demonstration style class will showcase the simplicity, accessibility, comfort and flavors of Mexican cuisine with the sense and sensibility of seasonal influences on our palates and tastes. In this class chef Curtiss will showcase how you can replicate a Mexican inspired menu at home with the confidence of a chef.

Demonstrated Recipes

Tamales
masa, lard, cheese, onion | masa, lard, chorizo, onion
*chorizo recipe will be demonstrated in class

Quacamole
avocado, onion, tomato, lime, cilantro, cumin, salt, pepper, jalapeno, olive oil

Pico
tomato, onion, jalapeno, lime juice, olive oil, cumin, salt

Tres Leches Cake
sponge cake, tres leches, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar

While the foods used in this class will be primarily sourced and inspired from the Adirondacks and its surrounding farmland, Chef Curtiss will be discussing how to source products local to you that will yield you the same results.

Registration for the class includes:

printed recipe packet
bottled water
tasting plate

SUNDAY MAY 7, 2023

Cooking Demonstration | A Mexican Inspired Brunch

9:30 AM to 12:00 PM

Chef Curtiss will pull from the Adirondacks and its surrounding farms, rivers and forests to showcase recipes for a delicious Mexican style brunch of sharable platters and plates, typical of a Mexican meal.

“The concept of sharing a table is deeply rooted in traditional and contemporary Mexican culture. When you order food in a restaurant you order it for the table, not yourself. This approach binds those at the table to one another and makes for more memorable experiences.”

Chef Curtiss Hemm

Demonstrated Recipes

Chicken Posole Verde
chicken, hominy, beans, stock, salsa verde, onion, lime juice, cilantro

Elotes Salad
shoepeg corn, mayonnaise, sour cream, cojita, jalapeño, onion, lime juice, cilantro

Albondigas
pork, masa, milk, onion, breadcrumbs, egg, chipotle, cumin, coriander

Churros
milk, butter, sugar, eggs, salt, flour, cinnamon

Registration for the class includes:

printed recipe packet
bottled water
tasting plate

For more information about booking please call one of the Mirror Lake Inn’s reservation specialists at (518)523-2544 or info@mirrorlakeinn.com.

Earth Day 2023 -Support the Planet: What’s Your Food Print?

Written by TiFoodCoop on 04/11/2023.

Learn how you & your family can reduce your “Food Print” at the Ticonderoga Natural Foods Co-Op this Earth Day!

Workshops & Activities include: * What’s Your Food Print? * Seed Starts for Kids * Worm Composting Demo * Local Farms Scavenger Hunt * Flower Starts for Adults * Story Hour & Up-cycling Craft * The Connection Between Food Waste & Climate Change

Sample Food from your Local Farmers: * Lillie Valley Farm * Crown Point Dairy * Crown Point Bakery * Daughters Five * Juniper Hill * North Country Creamery

Generous Acts Grant and CCE Essex Paying the Bill so Schools Can Serve More Local Food Through Pandemic Challenges

Written by Mary Godnick on 12/23/2021. Posted in Uncategorized.

By Meghan Dohman, CCE Essex Farm to Institution Educator

The Cornell Cooperative Extension of Essex County (CCE Essex) Farm to School program is an educational outreach initiative that works to increase the amount of locally grown, healthy foods in school meals. This program also provides area schools with classroom lessons on local food and agriculture, visits to farms and farmers’ markets, and assists in the creation of school gardens.

CCE Essex developed a formal Farm to School program in the fall of 2018 after the success of the grassroots “Adirondack Farm to School Initiative” in Clinton, Essex, and Franklin Counties. Since the onset of CCE Essex’s program there has been immense growth; with the number of participating districts increasing from 12 to 18, over $100,000 being spent on local food, and nearly 8,000 students being educated about local food and agriculture.

When the Covid-19 pandemic began, Farm to School programs across the country, and especially in New York State, changed drastically. In our tri-county region local purchasing dropped 52% from the 2019-2020 school year to the 2020-2021 school year, and all in-person lessons came to a stop. The farm to school program was able to make certain adaptations with virtual lessons, kits that could be sent home, as well as assisting schools in finding grants to continue their local purchasing.

Approaching the 2021-2022 school year, CCE Essex saw an opportunity to help support schools in their local food purchasing efforts.

Green beans from Drinkwine Produce are prepped in the Ticonderoga High School cafeteria. Photo credit: Bobbie Jean Fish

Generous Acts Grant Footing the Bill For Local Food for Schools

To continue to support regional school districts in serving local food during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, CCE Essex was awarded a grant from the Adirondack Foundation to support pandemic recovery for regional school districts.

The grant established a program that assists schools in Clinton, Essex, Franklin and parts of Warren County become more familiar with the process of purchasing local food by paying for each district’s first three purchases of local food (up to $300). For the purposes of this grant, local food is being defined as within the Adirondack Region to ensure that local farmers are also benefiting from this grant program.

This grant program provides schools with an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the process of ordering from their local farms without the financial risk of paying for the products out of their own food budget. The program also provides training for cafeteria staff to allow staff to become more comfortable with preparing and serving the local food. This grant program minimizes the financial risk of purchasing local food, gets food service staff comfortable preparing the food, and provides technical assistance in sourcing the food. Schools are in a unique position where they can have a direct positive impact on students, farmers, and their communities when they purchase local food, and this program is here to help increase those impacts.

How the Program Works

Now, in the 2021-2022 school year many food service directors find themselves understaffed and with limited budgets. To date, there has only been participation within two districts, but the program is open for the entirety of the school year so there are still many opportunities for school districts to sign on and participate.

If you are a parent or community member and you would like your school district to serve local food, please encourage your Food Service Director to reach out to get involved in this grant program. If you are a school that is already serving local food – great job! – you are not eligible to receive funds to purchase local food, but you are eligible to participate in the staff training.

Food Service Directors or School Administrators can reach out to Meghan Dohman, Farm to Institution Educator to learn more and get involved.