Hosting South Indian Harvest Dinner on Oct 15 – Limited Tickets

First off,  Jimmy Carbone of Jimmy’s No. 43 in the East Village contacted me last week to get this dinner going at his restaurant. Jimmy is probably one of the strongest advocates for local farmers and food producers in the area and over the years he’s established many important events to celebrate slow food and sustainability including Pig Island, which I was a part of this year.  If you haven’t visited Jimmy’s No. 43. already, you should because it’s a special place and probably has the most impressive listing of local, eclectic beers I’ve seen so far in the city.

Jimmy wanted me to come up with a seasonal menu that would pair with a local cider company out of New Hampshire called Farnum Hill Ciders in honor of Cider Week, an initiative to support local orchards making cider products. The more I learn about Farnum Hill, the more psyched I get about coming up with a menu for them.  The company was founded by Stephen Wood and Louisa Spencer and since 2000, they have been meticulous and taken great pains in order to make their cider the traditional way using apples that they grow themselves.  Awesome!

I’ll be collaborating with my friend Cathy Erway on this menu.  Cathy founded the site Not Eating Out In New York, when she decided not to eat out from 2006 to 2008 while living in New York and chronicle how she did it.  As a result, her site and later her book and radio program have become a resource for many on how to live and eat more sustainably.  In addition, Cathy hosts many events that also support local food initiatives and I actually met her when I entered (and won!) one of her cookoff/fundraisers for the organization, Just Food.  Since that time, we have crossed paths many times, most recently working together at the Vegetopolis on Pig Island.  I’m very excited to learn from her and work together on this dinner.

For the event, we’ll be sourcing our produce from Farmer Kara Kinney of Evolutionary Organics in New Paltz, NY.  You can find her products on Saturdays at the GrowNYC Grand Army Plaza Farmer’s Market in Brooklyn.

Without further ado, here is the menu! Each course is a traditional South Indian dish, reinvented in the ‘ABCD’ kind of way with local and seasonal ingredients thanks to Cathy’s guidance. Buy your ticket now because this event is sure to sell out:

5 Course South Indian Harvest Dinner w/ 5 Ciders – $45
Monday, October 15th @ 7PM
Jimmy’s No. 43
43 East 7th Street
New York NY
Buy Ticket

First course: ‘Dosa’
Lettuce wraps filled with spiced potatoes and coconut chutney

Second course: “Kosambri‘
Crunchy salad of kohlrabi, carrot, apple, sprouts, coconut, herbs, lemon and fried spices

Third course: ‘Thovve’
Spicy lentil soup with seasonal greens and farmer’s cheese

Fourth course: ‘Vangi Baath‘
Curried spelt grain, winter squash and cauliflower topped with radish raita and herb chutney

Fifth course: ‘Carrot Halva’
Carrot halva cake topped with homemade yogurt and pistachios