News from the Brasserie Garden
It’s planting season in the Brasserie garden and we’ll be keeping the Brasserie gardeners extra busy over the coming weeks laying our garden beds and planting seedlings. This harvest season we’ll be looking forward to harvesting a wide range of crops including:
• Eggplant
• Red callaloo
• Heirloom tomatoes
• Kale
• Carrots
• Radish
• Beets
• Okra
• Large variety of lettuces
• Lima beans
• Sunflower shoots & flowers
• Japanese cucumber
• New Zealand spinach
• Variety of melons
But what we’re most excited about this season are the heirloom seeds given to us by Farmer John, (aka ‘The Bean Man’) of Blackberry Farm in Tennessee.
An heirloom seed is a cultivar that has been nurtured, selected and handed down from one family member to another for many generations, carefully grown and saved because it is valued either for its flavor, productivity, hardiness or adaptability. Many heirlooms have been grown, saved and passed down for more than 100 years, however some have history reaching back as far as 300 years or more!
We’ll look forward to reaping the benefits of this long development cycle this season (and you should too!). Expect to find heirloom vegetables popping up on our Harvest Dinner menus at the end of 2013 / beginning of 2014.
Heirloom varieties we’ll be growing this season include:
• Purple Hull Whippoorwill Field Peas (Mississippi, from 1864)
• Tennessee Sweet Potato Pumpkin (19th century)
• Calico Crowder Field Peas (South Carolina 19th century – fantastic flavour!)
• Barnes Mountain Pole Beans (Kentucky)
• Civil War Butter Bean (Kentucky, 1865)
• Cushaw Squash (a Caribbean native brought to America in the 17th century!).
Aide tending to seedlings in the propagation house
A selection of our heirloom seeds
Chick Chat
The ladies (lay-dies – get it?) of Chateau Chook have ramped up production, and Brasserie gardener Winston is collecting up to 40 eggs a day now! We’ve come along way since mid July when we proudly showed you our first humble collection of 5 eggs.
Of course we’re already using the eggs in our cook-to-order breakfast eggs and omelets in the Market. Chef Joe has also been working on ways to incorporate our own “Braz Eggs” into our revamped lunch and dinner menus too, so look out for our very own devilled eggs in our cobb salad along with his most “eggsellent”* poached Brasserie egg with potato gnocchi, braised pork belly, brown butter carrot puree and seasoning pepper butter sauce on our dinner menu, which we are all eggstremely** eager to sample.
* Apologies for all the egg puns.
** Again, sorry, we know we have a problem and we’re working on it…it’s just that they crack*** us up.
*** Okay, okay, we’ll stop now, promise.
A small sampling of this morning's collection
New Menu Additions
Speaking of new menu additions, Chef Joe has been busy during the August break working on changes to our menu to tempt you back into the Brasserie. We’re really excited about Chef Joe’s first full season with us!! If you’re a lover of seafood you are sure to find our delicious new Clam dish featuring Brooklyn Brewery IPA Beer tantalising, and if you delight in the Brasserie’s local freshly grown greens from Farmer Patrick, you will be happy to see these readily available on the menu. There’s also the addition of the Charcuterie Board with Salumi including Wild Boar and Duck Riette, which will be accompanied by our seasonal chutneys.
Lexi Mixes it Up with Bootleg Greg at Parallel Post
Lexi visited consultant Chef Dean Max’s new restaurant Parallel Post in Connecticut over the August break to learn more about the bar chef trade from Parallel Post’s “Bootleg Greg”. We’re proud to report that she has earned her bar chef jacket – so come in for happy hour next week and put her through her paces!
Lexi & Corey have also put their heads together today to come up with two new additions to our craft cocktail menu, the “Pink Palm Tree” made with guava, coconut water and rum and a “Spiked Kaffir Ginger Ale” made with bourbon. Come in and try them out!
Bootleg Greg teaches the Brasserie's Lexi a few tricks of the trade
Lexi's new magic potions - come in and try them out!
October Means…Oktoberfest Craft Biergarten!
Craft beer lovers rejoice! October will see the return of our extremely popular craft beer garden at the Wicket. Our first beer garden of the 2013 – 2014 season will kick off at 5pm on Friday 4th October so make a note in your diaries now! Corey’s roster of beers for this event currently includes Brooklyn Brewery Lager, EIPA and Pilsner, along with seasonal favourites Oktoberfest & the very popular Pumpkin! In addition to your Brooklyn favourites, we’ll also have Spaten Oktoberfest, Hoegaarden, Ironshore Bock, White Tip and Caybrew, but the beer to watch out for is “Monk in the Trunk”, a newcomer to our line up which is described as a unique copper coloured ale with a slightly spicy aroma from authentic Belgian Abbey yeast. Make sure you try it and let us know what you think.
Not to be outdone, Chef Joe has already put together a draft menu for this event that is going set your mouth watering throughout September and because we love our newsletter subscribers, we’re going to share some of Joe’s plans with you now.
Currently on the menu for October 4th are:
- Caybrew Brats with hard cider braised onions, caraway seed & pickles
- Slow Roasted Local Pork Braised Red Cabbage, Roasted Apples, Grilled Bacon
- Grilled Brasserie Snapper, Local Cayman Pepper Chimichurri
- Harrissa Marinated Grilled Chicken
In the Mason Jars:
- Smoked Potato Salad with shaved red onion and whole grain mustard
- German Style Cheese Spread
- Chicken Liver Pate
- Organic Grain Salad with Brasserie Garden Herbs, Cherry Tomato, Pickled Garden Radish
Most importantly THERE WILL BE FRESH HOUSE-MADE PRETZELS TO GO WITH YOUR BEER!! We’re a little giddy with excitement about that one!
Of course Chef Joe isn’t the only one who knows how to rock a German themed outdoor event. Pastry chef extraordinaire Christine is back from a well earned break and has already promised us that she will be preparing German chocolate,
apple cranberry strudel and pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap cookie crust!
As usual, entry to the beer garden is totally free here in Cricket Square, and you can purchase food and beer tickets on the night for $2 per ticket. Reservations definitely not required!
Keep an eye on our facebook page for more details closer to the event.
Chalk board signs from last year's beer garden
October is “Restaurant Month” in Cayman
We’re very pleased to be participating once again in Restaurant Month in Cayman. For the whole month of September you’ll be able to enjoy a three course set menu with your choice of soup or salad, Brasserie Catch or Chicken and one of two desserts for just $29 per person plus gratuity. Available for dinner only and reservations are essential!
Return of the Cooking Class and Harvest Dinner Series for the 2013 – 2014 Season
Our extremely popular cooking class series will return on Sunday 6th October. For CI$75 (plus gratuity) our students are invited behind the swinging doors to watch as Chefs Dean James Max and Joe Mizzoni prepare a three course meal for them (which includes wine pairings). Chef Dean will take the time to carefully explain the preparation of each dish and demonstrate the techniques required to impress the guests at your next dinner party. Our “students” will each be given a copy of the recipe for each dish to take home with them – but should come prepared to take plenty of notes too as there will no doubt be a few tips and tricks mentioned that you won’t want to forget.
Class sizes are limited to 13 participants and usually book out well in advance, so please contact us asap to secure your place – call us on 945 1815 or email us on reservations@brasseriecayman.com to book your place.
Our Harvest Dinner series will return for the first time on Thursday 14th November. For those unfamiliar with this event, the Brasserie’s Harvest Dinners begin with a seasonal welcome drink & hors d’oeuvres and a stroll through raised beds of vegetables together with an informal chat about the Brasserie’s philosophy and our growing methods. Our guests are then treated to a three course dinner, including wine pairings, served in the style of a true farmers’ harvest dinner, our guests are seated at large communal tables in our garden, right under the stars. Meals are served family style, with platters passed between diners just like a Sunday supper at home.
Our Harvest Dinners are extremely popular and usually sell out well in advance (often before we’ve even had a chance to tell anyone about them!). We wouldn’t want you to be disappointed, so if you’d like to come along please call us on 945 1815 or email reservations@brasseriecayman.com to secure your place. CI$75 per person plus gratuity.
Batasiolo Truffle Dinner
We are extremely pleased to be hosting the Batasiolo Truffle Dinner on Saturday 23rd November this year! We’re still finalizing the planning for this event, however what we can tell you is that the menu for the evening will feature fresh white truffles flown in overnight from Alba in Piedmont, Italy, along with five iconic wines from Batasiolo.
We are very much looking forward to welcoming Fiorenzo Dogliani, the owner of Batasiolo, to the Brasserie for this event. More details to follow, in the meantime please contact us on 945 1815 or reservations@brasseriecayman.com for more information.
Chef Jam II @ Ortanique
The next installment in the fantastically popular Chef Jam dinner series is tentatively scheduled for Saturday 21st September, this time to be hosted by Ortanique at Camana Bay. The first Chef Jam was a fantastic success and we cannot wait to repeat the experience. You’ll definitely want to be in the dining room when some of Cayman’s best chefs get together to outdo each other in the kitchen! Please contact Ortanique for more information and / or reservations for this event.
