For the second year in a row, the Lakeside Resort and its executive chef, Chris Remington, are indulging in a little showing off, along with promoting steps the hotel is taking to reduce its carbon footprint.
Nearly three years ago, the Lakeside purchased a farm — expanding on the herb garden already in operation at the hotel — to supply their restaurants with fresh, organically grown foods. It’s turned out to be pretty successful and to celebrate they are having their second annual A Taste of the Farm dinner, coming up on Sept. 20.
Here’s chef Chris Remington describing the soup course:
“I try to get at least 80 per cent of the meal from the farm. One of the courses we are going to do is a roasted butternut squash soup,” said Remington.
“We’re going to do that with some house-made ricotta that is infused with honey. So, the honey is from the farm, the squash is from the farm, the onions and garlic in the soup will be from the farm, the herbs in the soup will be from the farm.
“Out of that, the only thing that won’t be from the farm is the milk I use in the ricotta and the butter I sauté the vegetables in.”
The second course will be a tomato and beet salad; likewise, only the olive oil and lemon used in the vinaigrette won’t be from the farm.
It goes on like that for five courses, each of which is paired with a wine from a local vintner. Some parts of the meal, like the beef tenderloin, can’t be supplied by the farm, but where he can, Remington is sourcing the food as locally and as fresh as possible.
For example, he hopes to obtain the bread for the meal from a Summerland bakery.
“They use Red Fife wheat which is sourced from Alberta. They grind their own flour and make their own bread up,” said Remington.
The Taste of the Farm dinner is going to be for 120 people, so Remington said he works hard to find something that everyone is going to like and please as many palates as possible while making each dish be involved with the hotel as much as possible.
“Maybe a little bit of showing off what we can do, but it’s also to promote the fact that the hotel is trying to have the least amount of carbon footprint possible,” said Remington.
“We’re one of the only places that has its own farm; a lot of places will have a rooftop garden, but we have our own farm, which is pretty unique to B.C., let alone Canada.”
Seating for A Taste of the Farm sells out quickly. Contact the Penticton Lakeside Resort to book a seat.