Wednesday, September 2, 2026 Black Cat Farm!
Wow! What an adventure. A reception course, five different hors d’ oeuvres, four main courses and two desserts! All of them were amazing.
Here’s the table with the hors d’oeuvres. Clockwise from the squash blosson at top left are the cucumbers, the artichokes and the tomato tarte tatin. In the center is Deb’s chevre, beets, cat crackers and shallots.
Here’s the menu being typeset on an antique letterpress. Jill Skokan really likes doing this.
Ooops, Martin didn’t start the video soon enough, so Eric Skokan’s description of the cucumbers, crème fraîche and caviar was missed and part of the squash blosson and shrimp mousseline was missed as well
The goat cheese is fairly mild, with a buttery texture, very nice. Add the pickled shallots and this dish is pushed over the top.
The shrimp mousseline is stuffed into the squash blossoms, which are marinated in something like Old Bay seasoning. They grow everything needed for the seasoning on the farm. Then dots of tomato puree and horseradish mix are dotted around the squash blossoms. The mousseline was really smooth, with the shrimp flavor balanced by the cream and herbs.
Martin loved the cucumbers topped with the crème fraîche and caviar mix. The caviar really stood out, supported by the crème fraîch.
Tonight’s wine is Château Canadel’s 2018 Bandol. Their description is right on:
Nose
In this 2018 vintage, we find everything that made a year like no other in Bandol, because we were lucky enough to have a cool and a wet year !
Its color is light and delicate, and its nose reveals red berries (Morello cherry, redcurrant, raspberry) and lightly spicy notes (white pepper).
gout du vin en bouche
Mouth
These intense aromas are also present on the palate, in a lovely juice full of freshness and drinkability.
Why are the reception courses down here? Because we goofed up and got seated too soon. When Martin mentioned he was hoping for tomato soup, our server asked if we’d had the gazpacho and Shishitos at the reception table. When we said no, she brought them for us! Thanks again!
This gaspacho was quite a surprise! The lime juice is a really great idea, when your tomatoes are super ripe and need some acid added. Martin thinks that it will improve even fairly acidic tomatoes. The small yellow petals floating on top are from calendula flowers. Calendula is in the daisy family and includes Marigolds.
Here are the Shishitos. They’re sprinkled with Togarashi, Japanese chile pepper flakes and hijiki seaweed and salt. This is a amazing combination of flavors. We ate all of them.
Ratatouille stuffed into an eight ball squash is at the start and then a little later is Bill’s cue ball summer squash. They’re topped with grated Pecorino Romano and then baked. The grated cheese topping was delightful. It’s on slow braised pork shoulder, which was fork tender and rich. They make the morteau sausage the pork was mixed with on the farm and it’s smoked over applewood and is fairly garlicky and added even more complexity.
Then, the Pecorino Romano mousse with nutmeg and bay leaves was Martin’s favorite part of the dish. They simmer the cheese in milk to get it soft enough to whip into a mousse.
The tomato carpaccio with dehydrated kalamato olives and a few dots of rose hip aioli on top. Just visible at the left is the butter topped with salt for the sourdough.
These tomatoes were as ripe as we’ve ever had and yet still had good texture. You can only get tomatoes this ripe and perfect if you’re on the farm! As ripe as they were, they still had good acidity. The olives had a nice contrasting crunch to them.
The sourdough starter is now 23 years old, so the bread is really flavorful.
The summer lettuce, Whitney cheese and crisp shallots salad. The yellow flower petals add some nice color. The chive blossom vinaigrette was very mild, just what these sweet lettuces needed.
Leg of lamb over red bell pepper piperade (a pepper stew from the Basque region of Spain) with a parsley root and potato baton.
You can really taste the thyme and rosemary that the lamb was roasted over. The sausage stuffing the peppers is lightly seasoned and very lamb forward. This was a great finish to the main courses.
This is different, a pinot noir and purple basil sorbet over a wild plum salad with plum jam to the left. The jam was indescribably intense! The financier with pistacho flour was really good too.
The tea was a light herbal tea with purple basil, quite the match for the sorbet.
They even made squash blossoms into a dessert and it actually worked. The chocolate pot du crème tried to steal the dessert show, as chocolate is wont to do. It was very intense chocolate and finished the meal perfectly. The bright yellow sunflower petal was neat.