You know how you sometimes day dream about the perfect meal? Well, at least I do. I think if you cook and eat a lot, your mind tends to wander off into table territory quite often.
Have you ever thought about having a picnic in a vineyard? At a long table, draped in white linen, sipping Chianti as the sun sets and smoke from grilling bistecche fiorentine wafts through the vines? I was at that dinner the other evening. And it wasn’t a dream.
I had the extreme pleasure of attending a meal organized by Outstanding in the Field . Outstanding in the Field was started in 1998, by chef and artist Jim Denevan, as a way to connect people to the land. They organize farm based dinners, set amid fields, vineyards and orchards, pairing farmers with local chefs. They have taken their traveling bus across American, putting on hundreds of meals, from Hawaii to Florida.
This year Outstanding came to Europe, with stops in England, France, Spain and Denmark. The Italian stop was at La Pietraia, a small organic, biodynamic agriturismo in Chianti. All of the produce for the dinner came from their farm, as did much of the wine. Susan McKenna Grant, the extraordinary chef who owns and runs La Pietraia with her husband Michael, prepared most of the meal. The main course, local Chianina beef, was prepared by famed butcher and chef Dario Cecchini.
We started out with a flute of prosecco, drizzled with blackberry syrup that Susan has put up earlier in the season. Flute in hand, we wandered over the farm, through the plots of vegetables and over to visit some very happy looking pigs, rabbits and chickens all raised in a fenced in area of the nearby woods.
We then headed up the hill, to arrive at the crest of the vineyard where a long table followed the curve of the land. As the sun set over the rolling, vine-covered hills, course after course of exquisitely prepared food made its way magically to our table.
The vegetable courses were prepared by Susan, and reflected her attention to detail. A colorful mosaic of serra e selva (cultivated and wild) vegetables was first. Beets, radishes, squash and eggplant mixed with wild malva blossoms and misticanza. Each bite was as intensely flavorful as it was colorful.
My favorite course may have been the tomato water gelee. Served in a glass, the half inch of gelee was embedded with a wood smoked tomato. Guests were asked to crack the egg (which had been cooked sous vide for two hours) directly atop the gelee. Fun to do, delicious to eat.
Between courses, which also included a pumpkin flan with sage and parmesan fonduta, guests got up, wandered amid the vineyard, chatted with table mates and – most exciting – inspected the main course: The Meat.
Even though I’ve been to many a butcher and walked my share of markets around the world, even I was bowled over by the incredible display of pink, glistening meat that Dario had brought with him from Panzano. I was thrilled to see my favorite, his ‘sushi di Chianti’ which is more or less Dario’s version of tartare. Next up bistecca panzanese and huge, hulking, too-big-to-be-true bistecche fiorentine. Cooked – just barely – over a charcoal fire and served so rare I thought they were going to moo.
The pairing of somewhat introverted Susan, and her incredible attention to delicate vegetale detail, with completely extraverted Dario, and his he-man cooking of cow with fire, was brilliant.
By the time desert came around the sun was setting. We nibbled our apple and quince tart, sipped our home made mead, and then wandered down the hill, our path lit only by the stars, the day dream ending as we headed off to bed.
Want to attend an Outstanding meal? Visit their website for upcoming events or sign up to receive their newsletter.
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This is breathtaking. Such an incredible experience. Every sense has something wonderful to feast on. Thanks for sharing.
This looked like a meal to remember! Thank you for sharing and I will check out the organization to see if they’ll have any meals during my visit next year.
The Wanderfull Traveler
Wow! I would say that this qualifies as a “perk of the job”. Spectacular, almost dream-like setting and Dario Cecchini? Amazing. Makes me even more excited to tuck into my copy of Heat, which I have been saving for my trip to Italy. I might have to crack the cover a little early, based on the siren call of your photos.
Hi Elizabeth,
What a gorgeous setting and those were serious chunks of meat! I have checked out the Outstanding Meal and there’s no event planned for Italy this year. Maybe I will join them in Hawaii. Thanks for sharing this and the links to La Petraia and Dario Cecchini.
@browsingrome: Yes, sadly, that’s all for this year. But they are here this week, scouting locations for next year.
Forgive me if this posts twice.
Elizabeth, I have had the great opportunity to attend a couple of these. LOVE the concept, love the people involved. So glad they’re doing European dates now. I’ll be in Rome in a few weeks to celebrate my 50th. Our friend Cristina Bowerman is cooking for me at Glass. Can’t wait. I’ve been using your insights to plan other meals and food-related outings. Thanks so much for all the good info you post here! Cheers.
Paul Bradshaw
@O’Pine: I can’t think of a better place to celebrate your 50th than Glass! Glad to hear my musings have been helpful.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful experience. Ah la fiorentina, I’m italian and I can still feel the pleasure when eating such a big slice of meat, crispy, tender, juicy and so tasty…
http://www.thefoodyteller.com
Loved these photos! I went to one of these dinners this summer on Long Island and it was fantastic. The chef (from local restaurant Almond) served a clam dish with pancetta, bread crumbs and fresh herbs that I’m still dreaming about!
The first picture would make for a gorgeous (cook)book cover 🙂
Thanks for sharing Elizabeth – brought back wonderful memories of the evening. The pumpkin flan and the first meat that had been needled for two hours were my personal favourites…alongside the memory of meeting friends at the dinner that I had met at an OITF in Canada the previous year!
OK,
So I feel the need to share this with you…. I’m just going to copy and paste exactly what I had just written in a facebook post:
Soo.. how very cool is this? I’m perusing an Italian food blog “Eating my way thru Italy”. I’ve posted her link to making Cacio e pepe before.. Ross and George .. you both probably remember that. Anyway… the woman. who was a food writer in the US, lives in Tuscany. So back in 2011 she does this post, titling it: “Outstanding in The Tuscan Field”. It shows this fantastic photo of a really, really, really long dining table with a white table cloth, lots of people and the table is filled with food and wine. And it’s all situated… right in one of the aisles of a Tuscan Vineyard! How fantastic is that, right?? So I’m reading the article and she is talking about this dinner being orchestrated by a company called “Outstanding in the Field”. Owned by a chef who wanted to connect people to the land. I’m guessing a bit like the Farm To Table thing. So I click on the link and it takes me to his site that he is located in the US and apparently its his business that you can reserve for. As I’m perusing his site, I click on North Eastern US. Now, mind you.. I’m reading an Italian food blog in Tuscany, the post was written 7 years ago…. I click a link on the there and it takes me to Outstanding In The Field.. I decide to click on the North Eastern Events and don’t I come up with an outside dining event in Geneva, NY in the Fingerlakes! And it’s set for 8/22… this Wednesday!! I wouldn’t be able to attend anyway cause it is sold out… and yea..don’t have the money to shell out $200 on a whim. But 1) what a fantastic idea.. and 2) how odd that I come across this, originally starting at a Tuscany Italy site. 🙂
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Fantastic food blog, btw! 🙂