And the Nominees Are…

The finalists for the James Beard Award were announced yesterday, and like always we were excited to see a few Sunburst Chefs on the list(Sunburst chefs are chefs who only use the best and choose Sunburst for their farm to table trout needs). We love all of our chefs are always humbled and in awe of them when they are up for such big awards and continue to choose Sunburst as their trout supplier. 

This year the Sunburst finalists are…

Barry Maiden, Hungry Mother in Cambridge, MA up for Best Chef Northeast

Ashley Christensen, Poole’s Diner in Raleigh, NC up for Best Chef Southeast

Joseph Lenn, The Barn at Blackberry Farms in Walland, TN up for Best Chef Southeast

Tandy Wilson, City House in Nashville, TN up for Best Chef Southeast

Sean Brock, McCrady’s in Charleston, SC up for Outstanding Chef

This is quite an impressive list and we congratulate all who were nominated and wish them luck at the big awards show on May 3rd, 2013.

John Mann Farm Pasture Dinner

Our last Pasture Dinner of the Summer was held August 29th. Even with the threat of Hurricane Isaac looming over us, it was a beautiful and magical last dinner. It was held at John Mann Raspberry Farm in the historic Ratcliff Cove area of Haywood County.  We even had a guest chef, Chef John Fleer prepare the dessert!

Our Table

Our Chefs for the Evening/ Chef Clay and Chef John Fleer

 

Our Menu for the Evening

Ratcliff Libations & Such
Our Appetizers for the Evening

Garbanzo Beans/Jolley Farms Kales/Caramelized Onions

Jolley Farms Beets/Goat Cheese/Parsley/Tarragon

Jolley Farms Tomatoes/Mozzarella/Basil/Olive Oil

Our Friend to Farm Meal

Raspberry Threesome/Almond Polenta Cake/Cream

See Everyone Next Year!

 

 

 

Creating Local Love

Saturday September 10th the benefit for Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) happened at our Sister Restaurant Canyon Kitchen in Cashiers, NC. A week or so ago I did a post leading up to the event, and now that the event has happened here is a recap.

We started our night being welcomed into the beautiful setting of Lonesome Valley. Lonesome Valley was a working farm from the 1940s until the mid 1980s. It was of course the birthplace of Sunburst Trout in 1948. The weather was perfect and so was the venue of a previous farm and eating dinner in the Jennings Barn that is Canyon Kitchen.

As everyone gathered over a, now legal, truly Southern cocktail, Troy and Sons Moonshine and Cheerwine. Called Moonwine Sparkler. We all got to know each other a little better. It was a truly intimate evening.

It was then time to be seated, and everyone had assigned seating so you could get to know someone new. I was fortunate enough to sit with the Haye’s, Ashley and Chef Adam from the Red Stagg Grill.

When we sat down at the table we were served family style, as Canyon Kitchen likes to do, our Snacks. Goat Cheese Gnudi Lobster Mushrooms and Sage Brown Butter, the mushrooms were foraged by one of the kitchen staff in Highlands. Berber Pizza with Fig Relish, Caramelized Onions and Benton’s 25 Month Prosciutto. Double Deviled Eggs, and Nana’s Corn-Pickled Okra.

We then had three Entrees. The first was the Lime-Fennel Pollen Cured Sunburst Trout with Heirloom Tomatoes and Sorrel Wood Roasted Tomato Essence.

The next course was Rhubarb Glazed Lamb Belly with Butternut Squash and Judion Bean Ragout and Collard Green Kim Chee. A side note the Rhubarb is an heirloom variety grown by the operation manager at Sunburst Trout.

The last Entree was a Cocoa Nib-Porcini Rubbed Carolina Bison Rib Eye with Lyonnaise Creamer Potatoes, Short Rib Sauce and Chili Braised Tuscan Kale.

The last course was dessert and it did not disappoint. Spiced Raspberry Shortcake with raspberries from a local berry farm in Waynesville, NC, with Vanilla Creme Fraiche. Almond Chocolate Bar Crunch. As well as Pack Square Cheese with Honey Crisp, Black Walnut and Tulip Poplar Honey from Busy Bees Honey.

The meal was amazing, the Chef was amazing, the company was amazing and the organization we were celebrating is AMAZING!

Join us this Thursday September 15th from 3-6pm at Ingles Brevard to see ASAP at work. With a cooking demonstration with Sunburst, Appalachian Ratatouille.

Local is as Local Does

The ASAP (Appalachain Sustainable Agriculture Project) local food guide just came out on Saturday May 7th, and there are almost 500 farms, 83 Tailgate Markets, 122 Restaurants and Bakeries, 23 Grocers, 21 Caterers, 13 Bed & Breakfasts, 17 Artisan Food Producers, and 31 Supporting Organizations from the Appalachian region listed in the guide. It is a great resource to learn about the food you eat and where it comes from. The guide also let’s you know if you can visit the farm, their growing practices and their hours of operation.

Buy Local Movements have become huge all over the country. From community gardens to farm to fork restaurants, Asheville has always been at the forefront of this movement. Even boasting the nations first gluten free certified restaurant Posana Cafe.

Starting in 2010 in order to highlight all the wonderful meats, produce and value added products Asheville has to offer WNC Magazine paired with the local chapter of Slow Food to bring Asheville the WNC Chefs Challenge. Each week 2 chefs from local restaurants and farms go head to head in iron chef style competition. They show up the morning of the challenge and are given a local secret ingredient. They then have till 6:30pm to each create three dishes for 100 guests to critique and judge.  At the end of the night only one moves on to the next round with the final heat being held during the Asheville Food and Wine Show in August.  On Monday May 16th Sunburst goes head to head with Posana Cafe for our second round of the challenge. You can purchase tickets here to support sustainable products, restaurants and Sunburst!

Winning Team from the First Heat

And the Winner Is…Sunburst Trout!

On April 11th Sunburst Trout Farms competed against Never Blue Tapas Bar and Grille from Hendersonville, NC in the WNC Chefs Challenge put on by WNC Magazine, all leading up to the Asheville Food and Wine Show in August.  This is the first time Sunburst has competed in a Chef competition, but will not be the last! Each week two Chefs go head to head at Cucina 24 and battle it out with three courses each using a secret ingredient.  This weeks secret ingredient was MUSHROOMS!

The First Dish to come out was a 3 cheese and mushroom cheesecake with pecan crust and smoked enoki salad with apple cider vinaigrette prosciutto crisp. (Sunburst!)

The Second Dish was a Flat bread with goat cheese, caramelized figs and garlic-seared mushroom truffles, hinted microsprout and arugula salad with balsamic reduction. (Never Blue)

The Third Dish was Italian four-cheese polenta Fricassee, forest mushrooms and rabbit topped with Morel crispies. (Never Blue)

The Fourth Dish was the Highest Rated of the Night! Cast Iron Pork Tenderloin with mushroom ragout and mushroom grits, pickled fried mushrooms and onions topped with grilled asparagus with mushroom butter. (Sunburst!)

The Fifth Dish was a Semi sweet trumpet mushroom and malbec truffle(Amazing!), lemon and oyster mushroom beignet with lemoncello vanilla bean syrup, and porcini mushrooms and white chocolate chip cookie. (Never Blue)

The Sixth and Final Dish was a Cremini mushroom ice cream, chocolate porcini mushroom almond toffee with tangerine sauce and a morel kissed shitake cookie. (Sunburst)

Now that you have seen the tantalizing meals we were served lets meet the winning team.

Our fearless leader for the night and R & D Chef Charles Hudson led the team to victory! Charles has been with Sunburst Trout since 2006 and is an invaluable addition to our family.  He is in “overdrive” most of the time in the creative arena.  His current projects include: production improvements for Trout Jerky and his award winning Smoked Tomato Jam, a new line of crusted fillets, and products TBD.  Charles is no stranger to winning he and James Flora won first place in the Savory Category for Cupcakes For Cures 2010.  He holds an AS in Culinary Technology from Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College and a BS in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Asheville.  When Charles is not cooking he enjoys soccer, snow skiing, music of all types, and spending time with his daughter.  He is an avid volunteer with AYSO Region 572 as a Coach, Referee and Board Member.  He also volunteers his time cooking with children and has recently become involved in Chefs Move to Schools. You can follow Charles on Twitter @sunburstcharles

James Flora III is our newest Sunburst addition and we are so lucky to have him as our Kitchen Manager. James is a graduate of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s (AB Tech) Culinary Program.  AB Tech’s Culinary Program is accredited by the American Culinary Federation.  Before coming to Sunburst James held positions as Sous Chef and Pastry Chef.  James brings toSunburst his creativity, strong attention to detail, and (lucky for us) his baking skills. He and Charles also won first place in the Savory Category for Cupcakes For Cures 2010.

Becky is the our most crucial piece of the trifecta helping to keep everything in balance! She has been with Sunburst Trout since 2004.  Joining our Sunburst family with extensive experience and a culinary background, she started our value-added kitchen.  Without her workhorse mentality and drive, our value-added line would not be what it is today.

We look forward to seeing everyone again on May 16th when we take on Posana. Get your tickets now before they sell out!