Farm to Table Dinner Party: SOLD OUT

{photos by Hilary Graves}

As part of our year-long celebration of SLOCA’s 10th Birthday, we are bringing you a series of festive dinner parties! The next event, hosted by Simon and Hilary Graves, is happening on November 14th with the theme: “Farm to Table.” 

Although this dinner is already sold out (sorry everyone!), we still want to tell you about what will be happening (and hopefully entice you to join in on a future dinner party…). Hilary has written up a description of what to expect that evening and a quick peek into her life, so enjoy getting to know her a little more. For those of you who have purchased tickets to this dinner party, you are in for a treat! Read on to hear more:

I am thrilled to be hosting “Dinner Party with a Purpose” in my home at Camatta Hills Vineyard in Creston. I’m looking forward to learning all about you, but I want to take a moment to tell you a little about me, as my background and work will influence the foods you will enjoy at dinner. 

My other day job, besides being a mother and wanna-be homeschool teacher, is as a vineyard consultant specializing specifically in grapevine physiology. I help my clients manipulate wine grape quality in the vineyard through sustainable farming practices that encourage vine balance and a light footprint on our Earth.

As a fourth generation farmer, a very important part of my job and my identity is educating others about agriculture and the important role it plays in influencing our lifestyle here on the Central Coast. Agriculture drives our robust local economy, provides us with a varied and local food source, and is the basis of our agricultural heritage that is such an important part of America’s culture and work ethic.

Farming is also an important part of my life at home. My grandparents raised most of their own food out of necessity, both because of their rural location and their limited economic means. I grow most of my own food in a large-ish garden because that is the way I was raised and I like the way it feels to put a dish on the table that I have grown and cooked myself. Summer time brings okra, tomatoes, squash, onions, cucumbers, peppers, peaches (my favorite!!!), and figs. My winter garden is full of collards and kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, turnips, garlic, and apples. My cooking is inspired by what is ready in the garden on any given day, and what I have stored in my freezer and cupboard from “putting-up” items that are no longer in season. 

In addition, I raise livestock. My specialty is a critically endangered heritage breed hog, the Gloucestershire Old Spot, but I also raise all-natural grass-fed beef, heritage breed turkeys, meat chickens, and I keep about 40 laying hens. All of my animals are raised on pasture, although the drought has rendered my once verdant pastures brown dirt lots. Still, my livestock are never raised in confined spaces. My steers roam on native oak woodlands and are never confined for finishing. My pigs live near my house in large paddocks and farrow on their own in whatever place they choose (they always build clean rice straw nests in their roomy outdoor huts). My family supplements our diet with wild game that my husband and daughter hunt for us. Pheasant, quail, dove and chukar are frequent additions. Tonight we had arroz con chukar for dinner. I don’t plan to serve you any game so if you are not into that kind of thing, do not be concerned. I don’t cook fancy food. My style is very homey and I enjoy preparing and eating simple peasant food. 

With my consulting in the wine industry and my husband farming 6,500 acres of wine grapes for brands such as Beringer, Chateau St. Jean, Etude, and Stags’ Leap, you can imagine that wine is as important in our daily lives as water. Indeed, my relationships with some of the finest wines that Paso Robles has to offer will have a big impact on our Dinner Party with a Purpose, because I will pair local wines, some of which are so rare and sought after that they are unavailable for purchase, with each course.

You can expect a casual gathering with dinner served family style. Don’t dress up! Be comfortable. If you want to see my livestock it can get a little messy. Your timing might be perfect: I’m expecting a litter of baby pigs around the first two weeks of November. Because I’m inspired to cook things that are on hand, the menu may change, but I’ve outlined what I have in mind. 

Please join me in a meal together where we can share our love for good food and the community that has brought our families together at SLOCA. It is an exciting and exceptional opportunity to be involved in such a vibrant learning experience.

The Menu

A Selection of Artisanal Cheeses, Dried Fruit, Assorted Nuts and Hush Harbor Baguette

Fall Salad of Crisp Little Gem Lettuce from my garden, Persimmons from my tree, Toasted Pecans and Rinconada Dairy Goat Cheese

Depending on my mood and my stash in the freezer, we will enjoy either

Southern-Style Smothered Pork Chops from one of my own Gloucestershire Old Spot Heritage Breed Hogs, born, raised and humanely harvested on site
or
Slow Braised Grass-Fed Short Ribs from one of my own “Black Baldy” (Hereford bull x Black Angus cow) Grass-Fed Steers raised in native oak forest and finished on pasture

Creamy Mashed Potatoes 
Morro Torro Potatoes

Fresh Apple Cake with Apples from my trees
Negranti Dairy Vanilla Bean Sheep’s Milk Ice Cream
Spearhead Coffee

Thanks, Hilary – sounds like it will be an amazing evening! Parents, if you’re interested in attending one of our Dinner Parties with a Purpose, read more and sign up here.

Hilary is currently taking orders for 25 lb boxes of all-natural grass-fed beef.  Boxes include 6 pounds of steaks, 6 pounds of roasts, 8 pounds of ground beef, and 5 pounds of extras like short ribs, stew meat, etc.  The boxes will be available in January 2016 and cost $275 each.  For more information or to place an order, contact Hilary by phone at (805) 674-1686 or by email at [email protected].