Dear Friends, Neighbors and Patrons,

Our  Beans in the Belfry crew is in the midst of finalizing our menu for the eleven days of the 2015 Farm to Fork Frederick where a minimum of 70% of the specialty menu’s food ingredients is locally sourced. Please try these carefully assembled specialties for your ultimate enjoyment:

 

In the Appetizer category, we will again prepare our popular Gazpacho soup from last year’s menu.

We blend the ripest of tomatoes from the field, crisp cucumbers and a colorful cornucopia of just harvested veggies, herbs and extra virgin olive oil for a flavorful experience.  The soup is served chilled, with home baked crisp bread and local goat cheese.

 

New this year is our Berry Goat  Cheese Salad with fresh greens from participating farms, artisan goat cheese from Caprikorn Farm and berries and pearl tomatoes from our

own Belfry garden.

 

For the entrée selections, Melanie will combine farm fresh eggs,

and bake individual quiche in traditional as well as gluten free pastry shells.  A glass of chilled Big Cork Syrah Rose, exploding with summer aromas, will enhance the delicate nuanced flavors on your tongue.

The second entrée will be a repeat of last year’s popular Grilled Mediterranean Style Panini.  Fresh from the field to our kitchen succulent eggplant, squash and bell peppers are grilled and paired with feta cheese, hummus and spices on panini bread and served hot from the grill with field greens.

 

For dessert, choose from South Mountain Creamery artisan vanilla ice cream topped with warm raspberry sauce and fresh whipped cream, a

favorite selection from 2014.  Melanie will also bake an irresistible Blueberry Buckle, with local berries, served warm with farm fresh whipped cream.  Add a scoop of locally churned vanilla ice cream and it will be hard to decide between the two desserts.

 

For the first time this year, we will offer several kinds of mead from Orchid Cellar Meadery and Winery.  On our visit there last week, we tasted eight of the fourteen different meads they craft in the Middletown Valley using some of the world’s oldest monastic recipes.  Only local honey from their own and other local bee hives, and fresh fruit ingredients, be it apples, peaches,

grapes, herbs and spices are combined and fermented in the creation of their meads.  Some are aged 24 months, most are sweet and fruity, some spicy, some with a punch of hot chilli peppers.  Andrzej, the meadmaster, promised us  that they will make our best desserts  taste even more delectable.

We look forward to sharing our 11-day Farm to Fork menu selections with you.

 

Thank you for your recent visit and we look forward to seeing you again soon.  Please let us know how we are doing and send us your comments and suggestions.

 

With warm regards,

Melanie DiPasquale, Proprietor,

and the Beans Team with Dan, Tim, Jesse, Michael, Anthony, Alicia, Kaycee, Brooke, Jim and Hanna