Strawberries and Rhubarb

My strawberry season started off at Strawberry Harvest Festival hosted by POP (Philadelphia Orchard Project) whose mission is to plant orchards in the city of Philadelphia that grow healthy food, green spaces and community food security. The celebratory event was held on the grounds of the Woodford Mansion in Fairmount Park where there is the Strawberry Mansion Children’s Orchard. In addition to a bbq and lots of fresh strawberries, they served fresh strawberry juice and strawberry crumble. Part of the event included a volunteer effort to plant 36 fruit trees in the field in front of the mansion. Much of what we planted was “pawpaw” trees. I’d never heard of that fruit before moving back to the area. Apparently it is native to the area and can be used in any recipe that calls for a bananas. The flesh is yellow and sweet and a bit challenging to eat as there are so many large black seeds. Once they come into season this year, I’ll have to see what inspiration I can cook up with the fruit.

Part of the day included a volunteer effort to plant 36 fruit trees in the field in front of the mansion. Much of what we planted was “pawpaw” trees. I’d never heard of that fruit before moving back to the area. Apparently it is native to the area and can be used in any recipe that calls for a bananas. The flesh is yellow and sweet and a bit challenging to eat as there are so many large black seeds. Once they come into season this year, I’ll have to see what inspiration I can cook up with the fruit.

The farmer’s markets are up in full swing, including our single farmer stand in Manayunk. When it first kicked in last month there was an abundance of rhubarb and strawberries. Beyond strawberry rhubarb pie, I’ve not had much idea of what do with rhubarb. I remembered that I had saved an article from many years back on savory ways to serve rhubarb which I dug up for inspiration. One of the recipes, simple lemony rhubarb sauce, is a dish that was recommended with white fish and was definitely simple to make. All it involved was dicing up a pound of rhubarb and cooking it down over the stove with 1/3 a cup of sugar into a sauce consistency which takes about 15 minutes. At the end you add juice from half a lemon. Rhubarb is known to be tangy, but it didn’t require much sugar to make it palatable, particularly for a savory dish.

I served the sauce with some tilapia that I baked in foil with some olive oil, salt, parsley, pepper, sliced onion and diced asparagus, also fresh from the farmer’s market. The meal also included red quinoa and a salad with sliced strawberries and toasted pecans. All in all a light, fresh meal to initiate the beginning of the abundant summer growing season.

A friend who suggested serving the sauce over yogurt mentioned that her father would make rhubarb daquiris. As I enjoy experimenting with cocktails, I mixed up a strawberry rhubarb daquiri that was made with rum and included fresh mint. The rhubarb added a refreshing acidity similar to using fresh squeezed lime that I so enjoy in my drinks.

Some great alternatives to the traditional strawberry rhubarb pie!

Talula’s Table for Twelve

Talula’s Table in Kennett Square had grown to mythic proportion in my mind as one of the ultimate farm to table experiences. I first heard about the restaurant from a friend in California when I moved to the area in 2006. If it’s getting written up on the other side of the country, there must be something notable about the place. Perhaps it’s the fact that you have to make a reservation a year in advance precisely at 7am in the morning when they first start taking calls. The demand is due both to the quality of the food but also because they only serve 12 people a night. In fact, you have to reserve the entire restaurant and plan on bringing 8 to 12 people willing to spend $100 on a meal. By day the restaurant is a store where they sell prepared foods and run their catering business. At night, the diners sit at a long farm table set up in the middle of the store.

I never seem to have the wear-with-all to plan that far in advance, but Jenn and Scott did. Jenn had first tried a year ago in January on Scott’s birthday not realizing that you have to call at 7am to secure the reservation. So Scott decided to try as a surprise on Jenn’s birthday. Unbeknownst to Scott, Jenn turned the alarm off because she wanted to sleep in on her birthday. At 7:30am, Scott awoke and stumbled down the stairs to make the call only to find out it was already reserved, however they had a cancellation for the night before. That’s how I found myself lucky enough to be dining at Talula’s this May along with 9 other of Jenn and Scott’s food loving friends.

Kennett Square is in the heart of Chester County home to many small farms most notably mushroom farms. The town is the home to annual mushroom festival that I attended last September. There is an abundance of fresh produce grown nearby for Talula’s to integrate into their menu and they do it so tastefully. The restaurant was started by a couple who owned and operated another restaurant in Philadelphia but decided for a quieter place, closer to the food source. Just weeks before we were to eat there, Sam, another friend to be dining with us, passed me a Philadelphia article about how the couple had broken up, but that the wife’s friends and colleagues had rallied to help her maintain the restaurant. The new chef de cuisine had already been working with them. LeBan’s review of the new operations indicated that it had changed, but that it was still remarkable. Whew.

Dinner service starts at 7. It’s a BYO establishment but they give you wine recommendations with the various courses on the menu that they send out a week in advance. I thought that was really smart. We started with champagne and passed hors d’oeuvres, each a small bite of heaven. I noticed we all struggled with eating the goat cheese and sun dried tomato tartlet without dropping crumbs all over the floor as the crust was so wonderfully buttery.

We then sat down to an eight course extravaganza. At the beginning of each course, the dish is explained to the diner and questions may be asked. We learned that the pickled wild ramps served with the lamb are basically foraged onion grass. As it the time of year when the produce is really starting to flourish we were treated to late spring’s abundance throughout each course; asparagus, rhubarb, pea shoots were just a few. I was glad to see we had a dish with mushrooms as well. Two of my personal highlights bookended the meal – starting with the asparagus soup with a crab tortellini and finishing with a puff pastry lavender ice cream sandwich bite over a rhubarb puree. The duck plate was memorable for its texture and flavor. I still haven’t come to terms with my love of foie gras. The delightful, creamy mouthful was served over a thin crisp. Talula’s food is memorable both for the flavor and its artful plating. Each dish looked like a work of art. They manage to put just enough to fill you mouth with flavor but not have you too stuffed so you are not enjoying the food by the end. I was pleasantly surprised by the use herbs and seasoning that managed to stand out and be noticed, like the nutmeg in the tartlet or the mint in the pea sauce that complimented the scallops. I am starting to learn how to use less in a dish to really profile flavors. This meal was an inspiration for that effort.

The meal did not end with the dessert dish listed on the menu. It was followed by a tray of homemade truffles – in both dark and milk chocolate – some sprinkled with salt, some filled with caramel and some filled with a raspberry banana tasting filling. Even the bill came in a lovely basket with a take away bag of tea and biscotti. At home, nibbling on the tea-dipped biscotti whose flavor was so unusual, it took me a while to identify that it was lavender.

Even the service was stellar, friendly, informative and unobtrusive. The evening really did feel like a dinner at a friend’s house without the host having to run around but instead gets to enjoy the company and food. Talula’s is definitely recommended if you are the kind of person who can plan a year in advance – or at least score an invitation from a friend who does!