Slow Food Baltimore welcomes our friend, Chef Joe Edwardsen, to the line up of committed chefs who will meet the Challenge

Joe has put together a really nifty and creative array of specials for us during his Challenge week.

Joe Squared is a very casual style bistro so we aren’t looking for a three-course prix fixe this month. Just a wonderful selection of special preparations of LOCAL and IN SEASON foods to choose from:

Chilled Beet and Cucumber Soup

Plum Mojo Sauce Wings

Kielbasa and Pepper Potato Skins

Black Eyed Peas and Ham Pizza

Smoked Trout Risotto

Soft Shell Po’Boy

Chesapeakoise Salad
Heirloom tomatoes, pickled corn, pole beans, red potatoes, eggs, pan fried croaker, tarragon, field greens, and blueberry vinaigrette.

All produce will be bought locally by Butch of Federal Hill’s Lanassa produce. Seafood will be arranged through Martin seafood, all from the Chesapeake. Fresh herbs will be grown in Joe Squared’s rooftop garden.
The kielbasa comes from from Krakus in Fells Point. The eggs, wings, ham, and lamb will come from Dave Smith’s Springfield Farm. And here’s another fascinating bit:  Joe makes his thin-crust sour dough pizza with a “starter” that is over 200 years old!  He got the original batch of starter years ago when he was in Naples, Italy.  (And that herb garden on his rooftop is very impressive - mounds and mounds of fresh basil.)

We hope ALL Slow Food members will stop in at Joe’s and enjoy what he’s prepared for the Challenge week.

Joe Squared Pizza

133 W North Ave

Baltimore, MD 21201

410.545-0444

On May 1, Slow Food Baltimore sponsored a press breakfast at Gertrude’s at the BMA for members of the media to learn more about the Eat in Season Challenge, which begins this month. MUCH THANKS to John Shields for allowing us to use the lovely space at Gertrude’s!

Zoe Saint-Paul and Martha Lucius set up the buffet table. Martha contributed beverages from Boheme Cafe and Kerry Dunnington provided her rhubarb cake and homemade granola with rhubarb sauce - in season, of course!

The response was great, with a number of prominent members of both local and regional media on hand and eager for details.

Antonio Baines, of Tapas Teatro, tells the press about his approach to The Challenge.

Other Chefs on hand were:
Andrew Thomas - Donna’s
John Shields - Gertrude’s
Joe Edwarsen - Joe Squared
Andrew Maggitti - Brass Elephant
Nivene Patell - Watertable
Jeff Smith - Chameleon Cafe

Folks - The Challenge is off and running!

Click here for news on all the events planned and scheduled for Slow Food Baltimore.

Thanks to EVERYONE the Celebration and launch of

Slow Food Baltimore’s Eat in Season Challenge

was

TERRIFIC!

If you were lucky enough to be there you know how great it was.

If you missed it - well…

First we want to thank Martha Lucius and Michael Myers for opening their beautiful home for the evening and all our generous local vendors and food artisans who provided the late winter seasonal fare. If you thought there wasn’t much to Eat In Season in early March, well, now you know better!

Thanks to the generous help of our friends at Select Event Rentals, who supplied china for the buffet, we were able to hold to our commitment to NOT use paper or plastics at any of our events…and we feel that’s an important commitment.

The food was just fabulous, especially Kerry Dunnington’s rich and hearty mushroom soup made from the wonderful donation we received from The Mushroom Cap, local growers in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania —and those scrumptious Rockfish Cakes cooked up by Gaylord Clark of Two Oceans Seafood!

Woodhall Wines provided 2 luscious wines (their Copernica Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - 2005 and Golden Run Reserve Vidal Blanc - 2006) that perfectly complimented the evening’s buffet, while local brewer Clipper City Beer kept things flowing with 6 different varieties of B’more Beer and Reid’s Orchard’s hard apple cider rounded off the libations!

Springfield Farm donated pork and lamb sausages and Carriage House Farms provided dozens of fresh eggs that Martha and helpers turned into platter after of platter of beautiful deviled eggs for the buffet. B’more Alive was on hand treating everyone to freshly juiced wheat grass. I mean FRESH! What an exquisite taste of liquid springtime!

Our friends Larry & Vicky Kloze brought over a big platter of their famous Dilly Beans - green beans from Larry’s summer garden home preserved in dill from the herb bed according to Vicky’s family recipe. Another homemade speciality was Kim Leatherman’s Pickled Watermelon Rind - YUM! An important aspect to Eating In Season is the traditional preserving of foods when they are in season. Vicky & Kim showed us just how delightful it is to savour summer’s bounty come late winter.

Mt Washington Whole Foods donated 3 huge blocks of incredible cheeses from local cheese-makers: Hawks Hill Creamery, Hendricks Farm, Meadow Creek.

Stone Mill Bakery supplied the fresh crispy baguettes… John Shields came over from Gertrude’s at the BMA with wonderful homemade crackers seasoned with fresh herbs from Tuscarora Farms and a couple herbed blocks of goat cheese from Western Maryland’s FireFly Farms. Apple butter and apple sauce from McCutcheon’s rounded things out with a bit of sweetness…

Let me tell you - THIS WAS A FEAST!

And, it was a tremendous send off for the Eat In Season Challenge. Close to 100 guests and vendors were on hand and the excitement was high. We raised over $800 towards funding the efforts of the Challenge.

Now it’s ONWARD and UPWARD! Stay tuned…

Thanks, one more time, to EVERYONE!

From SLOW FOOD BALTIMORE & the Eat In Season Committee

-Bonnie North

Carlo Petrini, the father and founder of Slow Food, was nominated as one of Time Magazine’s European Heroes in 2004. We feel the same way about him at Slow Food Baltimore, but read what award-winning Chef Alaine Ducasse has to say about il padrone in the Time Europe article.

Carlo the Hero