2018 Snail of Approval Winners
Last year, we wrote about the very first Snail of Approval awards from Slow Food of Sonoma County, which recognize local restaurants and food producers that are “making a significant contribution to improving the food system.” The 2018 Snail of Approval recipients were announced in January. The next time you go out to eat or need a few vegetables for dinner, consider supporting the following restaurants or farms:
Lowell’s (Sebastopol)
Handline (Sebastopol)
Trading Post (Cloverdale)
Lantern Farm (Cloverdale)
Red Horse Pizza (Santa Rosa)
Tierra Vegetables (Santa Rosa)
Patisserie Angelica (Sebastopol)
Mateo’s Cocina Latina (Healdsburg)
SingleThread Restaurant (Healdsburg)
Find out more about Slow Food’s definition of good, clean, and fair food at snailofapprovalsonomacounty.org.
Lessons in Fruit and Dough
Since the loose theme of this issue is pie, we reached out to Tara Wachtel, an Occidental-based chef and culinary consultant, to get her tips on making a top-notch pie from scratch. Wachtel guided us through a Sunday afternoon lesson in making a perfect, flaky, light-as-air pie crust filled with a divine lemon curd made from backyard-foraged Meyer lemons.
“Pie is humble,”says Wachtel, who has such a passion for the ancient dessert that she recently got one tattooed on her forearm. “It’s basically just fruit and dough in different proportions and the essence of the ingredients is highlighted. I grew up making pies with my sisters. It’s my favorite dessert. ”
Photo Credit: Leilani Clark
Tara’s Pie Tips
- The universal truth is that you barely touch the dough. You have to have a light touch.
- The humble American pie crust can be just as flaky and crisp as a French-style croissant.
- Let the ingredients shine as much as possible without screwing with them too much.
- Figure out the chemistry with a solid crust recipe (she recommends the ones found in the Tartine Cookbook or America’s Test Kitchen), find what works, and then play with the flavorings in the filling—although she will often insist that a classic apple pie is best.
Save The Date
13th Annual Artisan Cheese Festival
March 23 and 24
Throughout Sonoma County
Getting the Most Out of Your Food Garden
March 30
Harvest for the Hungry Garden
Santa Rosa
Grassfeed Exchange: Regeneration Rising
The Conference for Regenerative Ranchers and Grassfed Industry Supporters
April 3-5
Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa