I love cooking with people, hearing their stories and sharing how food transforms us. March 31, I got to do that again, at Saugerties Performing Arts Factory. This time with filmmaker Jane Watson of Green Peas TV, Chefs Consortium’s Noel Conklin and Liz Beals, Chef Bob Turner of Omega FoodWorks, and Chef Peggy McEnroe. The live audience arrived to an immersive experience–pots were simmering and local fresh food being prepared and served as guest got to hear local food advocate and chef Frank Serpico tell stories and a demonstrate how to make gnocchi with wild mushrooms. “Frank Serpico, the onetime undercover officer for the NYPD whose uncompromising honesty got him into such a dramatic peck of trouble back in the 1970s that his story was made into a movie starring Al Pacino.”

The Menu:

Each course will be accompanied by wine tastings from Whitecliff Vineyard!
ACT 1 : Stracciatella soup (Roman style egg drop soup) with spinach and pecorino romano cheese: chicken stock created with chickens from Northwind Farm, Tivoli; Spinach from Little Seed Gardens, Chatham, eggs from Featheridge Farms, Elizaville
Wine tasting: 2010 Steel Barrel Chardonnay

ACT 2: Handmade gnocchi tossed with fall mushrooms, garlic, sundried tomatoes, peas:  Gnocchi made with flour from Wild Hive Farm ,Clinton Corners and oyster mushrooms from Wiltbank’s Mushroom Farm in Saugerties.
Wine tasting: 2010 Reserve Chardonnay.

ACT 3: Winter Greens Salad topped with toasted goat cheese:  Includes chopped kale, cabbage chiffonade, Hudson Valley ruby kraut, Hudson Chatham Winery‘s vinegar, a touch of Hawthorne Valley Farm‘s hot pepper sauce, toasted nuts from Valatie’s Tierra Farm and toasted goat cheese from R&G Cheeseworks . All greens and other veggies from The Berry Farm (between Chatham and Valatie), Hawthorne Valley Farm and Angelo’s Organics.
Wine tasting: Awosting White

Chocolate tasting course: Specially created chocolates by Oliver Kita whose secret ingredient will be revealed the night of the event!
Wine tasting: Hudson Valley Heritage “Red Trail.”