Thank You for Joining Us at Good Food Community Fair!

The times challenge us. Slow Food Urban San Diego is grateful for our community - you uplift us in times like these and help to ground us in others. Thank you for your important contributions to our Good Food Community Fair: True Cost of Food and to our local food system. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, skills, knowledge, sense of hope, resiliency, successes, humor and delicious food and drinks.

This year's Fair celebrated how we are addressing the True Cost of Food in our region and acknowledged the work we have yet to do.

We discussed the true cost of food and farm labor, sustainable seafood, wasted food, soil health and land management, preserving cultural traditions and more. Thank you for sharing your stories and local treats, for teaching us about heirloom seeds and gyotaku, how to prepare "three-sisters," and how to connect to our farmers and fishermen and support healthy food systems. Slow Food looks forward to continuing the effort with you, our community. Thank you to all who contributed and volunteered, and all who attended, and to the WorldBeat Cultural Center for being our gracious host.

We're grateful to our generous sponsors who made it possible to charge only a "suggested donation," so that we can truly bring the Slow Food mission of good, clean and fair food to ALL. Creating opportunities to connect that are accessible is important to us.

Thank you to all who attended and partook of this community event. If you missed this year's good, clean and fair food fun, you can catch the next one in 2018. And of course, you can find us planting, eating, learning, teaching, connecting, cooking and expanding community with our partners in the meantime.

From all of us at Slow Food Urban San Diego, eat well, grow well, and be well.

Seafood Saturdays

We'll restart our seafood Saturdays tastings in 2017! Stay tuned!

Join SFUSD, Chef Cindy and local fishermen Saturdays from 9-11am at Tuna Harbor Dockside Market to learn about San Diego's local seafood, how to cook it, what it tastes like, where it was caught, and who caught it. Check out our Facebook page to see which Saturdays we'll be there and what's cooking.

Chef Cindy's user-friendly recipes are always delicious and fun. Plus, local fishermen share how they caught the bounty and they might tell you their favorite ways to cook it. If you love seafood or don't know what to do with it, this is for you.

Guest chefs and volunteers wanted. Meet fishermen, learn about local seafood, taste yummy dishes. email: Sarah@slowfoodurbansandiego.org

 Sheephead Recipes

Basic Recipe – Sheephead Salad

1-1/2 lb  Sheephead fillets, skin-on

¼ cup  Celery, diced

¼ cup  Red onion, diced

¼ cup Parsley, minced

To taste  Lime juice, salt and fresh-ground black pepperSteam fillets until just cooked (145 degrees), wrap and refrigerate. Chill completely, at least 2 hours. Flake the flesh off the skin, into a large bowl. Mix with celery, red onion, parsley and lime juice to taste. Continue with one of the preceeding recipes.

Sheephead Louie

Think the “king of salads” aka Crab Louie, a California favorite going back to the early 1900s!

1 lb  Sheephead Salad (basic recipe, above)

4  Eggs, hard-cooked, diced, sliced or wedged

¾ lb Heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered

¾ lb Asparagus, par-cooked, bias-cut

12oz Crunchy lettuce, like iceberg, chopped, or hearts of romaine, cut crosswise ½” thick

1 cup Louie*, Thousand Island or Green Goddess dressing

Arrange lettuce on chilled plate. Top with sheephead salad. Garnish with egg, tomato and asparagus. Serve with your favorite dressing. Variations: Use avocado instead of asparagus. Add kalamata or other olives, pitted. Add cucumber and/or radishes, thinly sliced. Sub shredded brussel sprouts for the lettuce.

Louie Dressing

Traditionally a mayo-chili sauce blend, Evening Land president and sommelier Larry Stone kicks it up a few notches with this version.

1 cup mayonnaise 3 tablespoons ketchup 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 garlic clove, minced 1 teaspoon Tabasco 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1/4 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika 1/4 teaspoon chili powder Salt and freshly ground pepper

In a bowl, whisk the mayonnaise with ketchup, relish, lemon juice, garlic, Tabasco, Worcestershire, paprika and chili powder; season with salt and pepper. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Online at http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/crab-louie

Sheephead Cocktail

1 lb              Sheephead Salad (basic recipe, below)

¼ cup          Carrot, finely diced

1 Tbs           Capers, tiny, drained

1 tsp           Jalapeño, ribs and seeds removed, finely minced

¼ cup          Olive oil, high quality, extra-virgin

3 Tbs           Lemon juice, fresh (from 1 large lemon)To taste

Salt and fresh-ground black pepper

Optional  Seafood Cocktail Sauce Combine sheephead salad with carrot, capers, jalapeno, olive oil and lemon juice in a large bowl. Gently fold ingredients together, being careful not to break up the fish too much. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt and pepper if needed. Serve immediately, or chill up to 6 hours. Divide mixture between 8 wine glasses. Optionally serve with your favorite seafood cocktail sauce. Inspired by a recipe from Sheila Lukins of Silver Palate Cookbook fame.

Online at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/seafood-cocktail-241784

Bringing the Table to the Farm - Deckman's en el Mogor

by Sarah M. Shoffler, SFUSD Board Member

In the heart of the Valle de Guadalupe wine country, up a hillside you’ll find the sensate joy of Deckman’s en el Mogor. Set on Mogor Ranch, this restaurant aims to “bring the table to the farm.” It delivers a Slow Food feast.

The extensive Mogor Ranch and winery grows or produces all the wine, vegetables, herbs, lamb and eggs that the talented Drew Deckman uses in his outdoor-served cuisine. Not only is the food fresh, you get to experience the terroir in which it was grown while you eat it. Sipping Mogor’s wine in the place its grapes were grown and the wine vinted, nibbling produce grown not feet away from where you sit opens the senses to a place. Drew sources all his seafood and other ingredients, from salt to cheese to beef, as locally and as responsibly as possible. He knows his food producers.

This all means that the menu is seasonal, ever changing and made to order. I’m no food writer, but I can tell you his food is delicious, cooked with care and creativity. Deckman is also passionate about oysters. So if you love these bivalves, you’ll find a friend at Deckman’s.

Deckman’s is an outdoor restaurant, sometimes equipped with haybale walls and a makeshift roof, but outdoors nonetheless. It overlooks the Valle. You see wineries for miles from your table. You smell the warmth from the Ranch rising as the sun sets. Deckman, who refers to himself as an ingredient facilitator not a chef despite his Michelin star, cooks on an outdoor grill. He chats with guests as they come and go. It’s altogether convivial. The Ranch dog, Pyrenea, might make a pass through the restaurant for a few scritches if she’s off duty from guarding the flock. All to say, it’s a magical experience rooted in the place.

Slow Food Urban San Diego is pleased to welcome Deckman’s en el Mogor as one of our newest Member Benefit Partners. SFUSD members get 10% off their entire Deckman’s en el Mogor bill. We encourage you to make time to visit the winery, as well.

Deckman's en el Mogor Km. 85.5 Highway 3 Tecate-Ensenada San Antonio De Las Minas, Baja California, Mexico Contact them at mogor@deckmans.com / telephone: 646-188-3960

The New Edible San Diego for Kids is Here!

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Slow Food Urban San Diego is excited to announce the arrival of the Winter 2015/6 issue of Edible San Diego for Kids. This issue is all about dairy and meat. It features articles written by and for San Diego kids, a delicious recipe and a gardening activity.

This issue is appropriate for 4th through 6th grade independent readers. It may also be worked into lesson plans for younger students or sent home for reading with their families.

Edible San Diego for Kids is produced by Slow Food Urban San Diego's Education Committee in collaboration with Edible San Diego.

If you are interested in having copies delivered to your school, please email LisaJoy@slowfoodurbansandiego.org

2015 Good Food Community Fair

By Sarah M. Shoffler, SFUSD board of directorsPhotos by Eric Buchanan

We had a great time at the 2015 Good Food Community Fair! This year's event, at the wonderful Quartyard, featured some of the best of San Diego's thriving slow food scene: coffee, honey, beer, pigs, sea urchins, yellowtail, sushi, oysters, kombucha, mead...plus farmers, fishermen, chefs, brewers, beekeepers, butchers, food researchers, publishers, educators and conservationists. Check out our photos below!

Over 40 partner organizations, our colleagues in the San Diego Slow Food movement, brought their variety of good, clean & fair food for all to our annual event. We owe our success to these partners, plus to our generous donors of food, supplies, raffle items, time and expertise, and to our awesome volunteers. Not to mention the rockstar staff at Quartyard. See you next year!

Like this year's artwork? You can buy an artist-signed print, of just the art, for $10. Email us at info@slowfoodurbansandiego.org. 

Our amazing partners and sponsors:

1:1 Movement, Baby Cydesdale, Café Virtuoso, California Sea Grant, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Catalina Offshore Products, Cat Chiu Phillips, Chef Rob Ruiz, City Farmers Nursery, City Farming Academy, Culinary Historians Of San Diego, Community Health Improvement Partners, Cook Pigs Ranch, Duck Foot Brewing, Edible San Diego, Epicurean San Diego, Ernest Miller, Girl Next Door Honey, Golden Coast Mead, Green Flash Brewing, Jeanne's Garden Program for Children, Kashi, Leah’s Pantry and EatFresh.org, Master Gardeners of San Diego, NOAA Fisheries, Nomad Donuts, Nopalito Hop Farm, Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center, One Bag World, Project New Village, RainThanks, Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County, Revolution Landscape, San Diego Weekly Markets, Slow Food San Diego State University, Slow Money SoCal, SoCal Fish, Stone Brewing Co., Surfrider Foundation San Diego, Suzie's Farm, The Humane League, Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, Via International, Viva Pops, Wild Willow Farm & Education Center, Women of Coffee Microfinance Fund, Specialty Produce, The Meat Men, Eclipse Chocolate, The Lodge at Torrey Pines, Next Door Wine + Craft Beer Bar, Dr. Bronner's, Blind Lady Alehouse, Leroy's Kitchen, Suzie's Farm, NINE-Ten, Curds and Wine, Epicurean San Diego, San Diego Food Systems Alliance.

Serving and Saving Good Food: Where and Why to Buy a Heritage Turkey for T-Day

By Sarah M. Shoffler, SFUSD Board of Directors.

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Heritage turkeys are different from most turkeys sold in the U.S. Ancestors to the Broad Breasted White turkey, the most produced commercial breed of turkey today, heritage turkeys have retained some of their historic characteristics. Unlike industrially-produced turkeys, which are mostly raised in captivity, the heritage breeds are raised outdoors and roam freely in pastures. They are allowed to grow older and eat a diverse diet, so put on an extra layer of fat. These self-reliant birds are known for their good flavor due to more dark meat, and "thriftyness" or good meat yield. Many heritage breeds originated in the United States and since the 1960s have been difficult to find. Some are nearing extinction.

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The Broad Breasted White turkey is so often preferred by industrial food producers because it grows quickly and provides a great deal of white meat. However, like the Broiler chicken, the most produced food chicken, the Broad Breasted White turkey has so much breast meat and such short legs that it cannot mate naturally. This bird also can't fly, is prone to health problems and cannot survive without human intervention.

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Choosing to eat a heritage turkey may in fact save the breeds. By buying heritage breeds, consumers encourage breeders to continue producing the rare birds, thereby supporting their existence. To this end, the American Livestock Conservancy works to protect nearly 200 individual breeds of livestock from 11 different species. They developed the term "heritage" in order to help market historic and endangered breeds of livestock because "the loss of these breeds would impoverish agriculture and diminish the human spirit."

Slow Food's Ark of Taste, a living catalog of delicious and distinctive foods facing extinction, also includes eight of the heritage turkeys: Bronze, Black, Bourbon, Jersey Buff, Midget White, Narragansett, Royal Palm and Slate.

The Narragansett turkey, a heritage and handsome breed.

Wondering where to buy a heritage turkey? You may have to order one, but here are a few places we found carrying them:

• Some Whole Foods (the Hillcrest store was out, but La Jolla was still taking orders as of 11/12), Bristol Farms, Barons Markets (taking orders starting 11/13) have heritage turkeys available or are taking orders.

• Mary's Free Range Narragansett and Bourbon turkeys are available in a number of SoCal locations, including those listed above.

• You can order Narragansett, Slate and Bourbon turkeys online from Local Harvest.

• The Heritage Turkey Foundation also lists several heritage turkey sellers in SoCal.

Know someone else selling heritage turkeys? Please let us know: email sarah_at_slowfoodurbansandiego_dot_org.

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Learn more here.

Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon ~ Boeuf a la Bourguignonne

Ingredients

1/2 pound bacon, chopped 1 tablespoon olive oil 3 pounds lean stewing beef (cut into 2" chunks) 2 carrots, sliced 1 onion, chopped 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 3 cups full-bodied red wine 2 - 3 cups beef stock 1 tablespoon tomato paste 2 cloves garlic, smashed 5 - 8 twigs of fresh thyme 1 bay leaf 2 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons butter, mashed together (for thickening the sauce at the end)

For the brown-braised onions 1/2 bag frozen white pearl onions, defrosted and patted dry 1 1/2 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 cup beef stock or beef broth Salt and pepper 5 sprigs of thyme 5 sprigs parsley

For the sautéed mushrooms 1 pound mushrooms, quartered 3 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoon olive oil Salt and pepper

Directions

Gather and prep your ingredients prior to cooking. Chop the bacon, chop the beef (or have the butcher do this for you to save time!), chop the veggies, smash the garlic, wash your herbs, uncork the wine. Having all your ingredients ready to go will help the preparation run smoothly.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Start by thoroughly patting the beef dry using paper towels. Damp beef will not brown properly but rather steam and turn an icky shade of gray when cooked.

In a large dutch oven pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add to this your bacon and cook for several minutes, until the bacon is browned and has released most of its fat. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon, leaving the fat in the pan.

Over medium-high heat, brown the beef in the bacon fat for one or two minutes on each side. Do not overcrowd the pan. The beef should quickly develop a nice caramelized brown on the surface. Turn the beef to brown on all sides, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Repeat until all of the beef has been browned. If your meat is not browning properly the pan is either over crowded, not hot enough, or your meat is too damp. Use caution when browning the meat as the hot fat tends to spatter at times.

Once all of the beef is browned, lower the heat to medium and add the carrots and onions to the hot pan. Cook for five minutes or until they develop a golden brown color. Then, carefully pour out the excess bacon drippings, leaving the veggies in the pan.

Add the beef and bacon back into the pot. Add to that the tomato paste, thyme, garlic, bay leaf, wine and beef broth. Stir to combine. Cover and place back in the oven to cook for 3 to 3 and ½ hours.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms

For the onions:

Heat the butter and oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for about 10 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan to allow the onions to roll around in the pan and brown on all sides. Add to the onions the beef stock and fresh herbs. Allow to come to a simmer, lower the heat, cover and simmer slowly for about 20 - 30 minutes. Check the pan towards the end of the cooking time. Most of the liquid should have evaporated and formed a brown glaze around the onions. Season with salt and pepper, remove the herbs, then set aside.

For the mushrooms:

Heat the butter and oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the foam from the butter begins to subside (an indication that the butter is hot enough according to Julia) add the mushrooms and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper, remove from heat and set aside.

Once the beef has finished cooking remove from the oven. Run the stew through a strainer separating the meat, herbs and veggies from the liquid sauce. Place the meat back in the pot, you don't need to add the veggies and herbs but if some get mixed in that's okay it will just add texture to the stew. Place the separated sauce in a pan and allow to rest for a few minutes. Excess fat with rise to the surface, use a spoon to collect and discard about half to three fourths of the fat. You should be left with 2 to 3 cups of sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add to the sauce the mashed butter and flour mixture and stir with a wire whisk over medium heat, bring to a simmer and stir until slightly thickened and smooth.

Now you are ready to combine all the ingredients, add to the meat in the pot the thickened sauce, brown-braised onions and sautéed mushrooms. Warm over medium heat and stir to combine all the ingredients.

Beef Bourguignon can be served over buttered noodles, mashed potatoes or simply with a sliced baguette.

You tube of Julia Child making Boeuf Bourguignon

Local Delegates Explore the Ethics of Eating Meat at Slow Meat 2015

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How are livestock animals raised? What are they fed? How are they processed? What is the impact on the environment and surrounding communities? What are the ethics of eating meat?

The Annual Slow Meat conference, held this year in Denver, Colorado on June 4-6, brought together producers, butchers, thought leaders and eaters of every ethos to address the conundrum of industrial animal husbandry and to celebrate the alternatives. Each year, the diverse attendees join together to take a hard look at the current state of meat and seek solutions to the problems of the industrial system. It's part conversation, part celebration.

Joining this year’s conversation were Slow Food San Diego delegates Jaime Fritsch and Drew Deckman.

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Fritsch came to San Diego from Portland, Oregon in 2014 after spending his time in the Pacific Northwest living in an old homestead farmhouse, traveling to shoot commercial photos and contemplating the state of food issues surrounding his locale. Inspired by the local food movement and drawn to tough questions about what it means to be a conscious omnivore, Fritsch formed alliances with meat producers and storytellers up and down the west coast – Sean Kelley of the San-Diego based art curation group Set & Drift; Camas Davis of the Portland Meat Collective; Michael McGuan of the former Linkery; food writer and TV personality, Troy Johnson; and chef Javier Plascencia of Finca Altozano in Valle de Guadalupe, Ensenada. Together they created Death for Food, an experiential exhibition that examines questions about the process of humanely bringing meat to the table.

Death for Food raises tough questions about the “right” way to harvest animals for consumption. One answer to these questions is Fritsch’s new collaborative project, MEAT San Diego. This meat collective is a group of people that organize themselves to learn about and take ownership of their roles in procuring, raising, butchering, preserving and preparing meat. By coming together as a community that supports good food values, collective members can take classes to learn about animal husbandry, humane slaughter, whole animal butchery, charcuterie, cooking, and more. Members can access local, humanely raised meat animals at a fair price that supports both them and the farmer. MEAT San Diego poses an answer to a regional logistical problem in San Diego (a three-million person metro area with no USDA slaughterhouse within hundreds of miles): how do San Diegans get the best local meat on their dinner tables? Stay tuned as the collective grows in the coming months and years ahead.

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After growing up in Peachtree City, GA and earning a degree at Rhodes College, Drew Deckman followed his passion with a ten-year culinary journey to France, Switzerland and Germany. Drew cooked with “gastro masters” such as Paul Bocuse, Jacques Maximin, Gilles DuPont and Tommy Byrne, and was awarded a coveted Michelin Star for his work in Restaurant Vitus in Germany as well as Rising-Star Chef of the Year in Berlin in 2003 during his tenure as Executive Chef at the Four Seasons Berlin (17pts Gault Millau). Back in the states, after mentoring under star-teacher and cookbook author Madeleine Kamman, Drew became a part of the final class of the School for American Chefs at Beringer Vineyards in Napa Valley, California. He has since then worked in Kona, Hawaii, Cancun, Rome, Shanghai, and in Los Angeles, where he was an entertainer’s private chef.

These rich experiences and Drew’s desire to create and serve Mexican-influenced haute cuisine “drew” him to the rich shores of San Jose del Cabo as the owner and chef of Deckman’s in San Jose, and now to the Guadalupe Valley where in 2012 Deckman’s en El Mogor was born. This al fresco organic restaurant is nestled amid the Mogor Badan Winery in the Guadalupe Valley in Northern Baja California. Drew remains dedicated to the local, sustainable ingredients in the food he sources and prepares at his restaurant, sourcing much of it from the Mogor Badan farm. He is Regional Governor for Slow Food International in Baja California and Brand Ambassador for SmartFishAC a sustainable fisheries NGO.

We are excited to hear what our delegates bring back from Slow Meat 2015! Be sure to join us at Slow Sips on June 17 from 6-8 at Carnitas Snack Shack, featuring Jaime Fritsch as our special guest and a future seafood event with Chef Drew.