By Audrey Anderson
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Powisset Farm of Dover, together with the celebrated Comfort Kitchen of Dorchester, created an exquisite farm-to-table and locally sourced dinner for forty attendees lucky enough to snag a ticket before the highly anticipated dinner was sold out.
According to D. A. Hayden, director of Powisset Farm, the farm normally holds dinners outdoors in the warmer weather. They have held a few small chef’s table dinners in the barn in the winter months. This larger dinner, planned together with James Beard Nominee, Comfort Kitchen, is the first winter dinner for which they brought in an outside chef. Powisset Farm was excited to work with Comfort Kitchen to bring their global comfort food to the Dover area. Hayden explained that Comfort Kitchen shares Powisset Farm’s values of land preservation and respect for food culture.
Comfort Kitchen’s Managing Partner, Biplaw Rai, explained that Comfort Kitchen’s offers global comfort food, following the route of the spice trade and the cuisines it influenced around the world. According to Comfort Kitchen’s website, they “believe that food is a vital aspect of community building. We envision a place that is actively engaged in the celebration of art and history of our local community. We're seeking to partner with individuals, groups, and organizations who want to make a positive impact.”
Similarly, D. A. Hayden explained that Powisset Farm, in its 300 years of history, has “always been a place of community and people sharing ideas,” so they found Comfort Kitchen to be a perfect partner. Powisset Farm planted greens in their greenhouses specifically for the night’s dinner.
The evening started out with appetizers and cocktails in the farm store. People mingled and looked around the store while waiting for the dinner to begin at long, cozy, communal tables set up in the kitchen area of the gray barn. Diners Tiffany Bradshaw and Glenn Felder said “they have always loved the Trustees' mission and had always wanted to go to Comfort Kitchen. When they saw the dinner advertised in the paper, they decided to go, especially since Tiffany’s birthday was coming up.” Janet and Michael Billings have been regular patrons of Powisset Farm and they had wanted to go to a farm dinner for a while, but when they tried to get tickets in the past on the farm’s website, they were always sold out. Michael called this time, and he was happy to be told that he got the last two tickets available!
Two appetizers were passed in the farm’s store area, Jerk Duck Rillette with Pickled Vegetables and Cranberry Aioli Gougères with Corn Custard. Cocktail choices included “Around My Way” (rum, oolong tea, sherry, persimmon, cognac, and lemon) and “Free-Spirited” (baobab, ginger, white tea, orange blossom water, and orange oil), and red and white wines were also served.
The first course was a winter salad of Powisset Farm’s greens and kohlrabi, candied spiced pepitas, whipped blue cheese, grilled grapefruit, and tahini vinaigrette. The second course was a tea-brined heritage pork rib chop with sorghum butter, rutabaga and parsnip puree, collard green salsa, blue corn and cassava cake, and pepita gremolata. After those delicious offerings, the third course was a ginger and date cake with white chocolate pudding and cranberry compote.
