Photos from Farm to Table Dinner

The blogging duo of Red River Valley Girls – Reilee Ruliffson and Megan Klosterman – enjoying an evening out at our Farm to table Dinner.

There has been an element of a ‘farm to table dinner’ with every meal we’ve served since the opening of Coteau des Prairies Lodge in 2013. If it’s not the 28 Day Dry-aged Breker Beef, it’s fresh ground corn or wheat from the Breker farm or local garden veggies or sweet clover honey from the bees and wildflowers in our pasture. Our April 6th Farm to Table Dinner, where the entire menu was a showcase of local food and drink, was a natural next step.

Father and son – Joe and Phillip Breker – welcome guests to the lodge.

We challenged returning guest chef, Steve Schulz, Executive Chef, The Toasted Frog (Fargo), to create a five course dinner menu using only locally sourced foods with local beer and wine pairings. He took up the challenge. So we provided Steve a list of ingredients we could source locally and he went to work. When Steve presented his menu, we were impressed with his creativity.

Course One – Soft Poached Egg with Sweet Onion, Spicy Soy Milk, Toasted Sunflower and Radish Sprouts – Paired with Peachy Keen Peach & Apricot Sour – Junkyard Brewing Co. (Moorhead, MN)

Who knew soybeans could be used three ways in one meal? And we are not even talking about edamame, soybean oil or tofu. In his signature scratch cooking style, Steve made a spiced soy milk, soy ginger flavored ice cream and honey roasted soy nuts…all from local soy beans.

Course Three – Roasted Duck with Legume Ragout, Fine Herbs and Red Wine Reduction – Paired with Old Truck 2014 – Bear Creek Winery (Fargo, ND)

What good is a celebration of local food without acknowledging the producers. On the back of each guest’s menu was printed a list of farmers and producers for each course. Farms & Producers represented at Farm to Table Dinner: Laughing Sun Brewing, Cass-Clay Creamery, Valley Queen Cheese Factory, Two Track Malting, Junkyard Brewing Company, Doubting Thomas Farms, Joe Breker Farm, SunOpta, Jackhammer Radish, Bear Creek Winery, Au Bon Canard, Jacob Breker and Jeff Breker Farm, Uncle Jerry’s Maple Syrup, Drekker Brewing Company, Jim Smykowski Farm, Schram Vineyards and Winery, Qual Dairy, Ruby’s Apiaries, North Dakota Mill and Elevator, American Crystal Sugar Company

Lee Briese, independent crop consultant from south central North Dakota, talks with guests about soil health.

We want our Farm to Table Dinner, which we will repeat, to be more than just an evening of fine dining. The whole idea is to connect our guests to food producers in a meaningful and memorable way. We want our guests leaving with a better understanding and a greater appreciation for agriculture. At our April 6th event, many farmers were in attendance sitting at tables and talking with our non-farmer guests, but we also featured a lineup of soil health experts to talk with guests about the importance of soil health and to explain what some farmers are doing today to ensure the health of our soils for future generations.

CommonGround volunteers. Courtney Qual, Julie Tunseth, Val Wagner, Michele Bartholomay & Julie Peterson.

A group of CommonGround volunteers served our guests at the event. These women are farmers and farmer’s wives who love talking with the general public about food and where it comes from. They are ambassadors for agriculture! CommonGround and Agweek sponsored the event.

A very popular man by the end of the night, Chef Steve Schulz received tremendous applause and took questions about cooking with local foods.

The evening was a great success. The lodge was full. The food was amazing. Conversations about food and farming were plentiful. And no one left hungry.

We take great pride in being farmers and living in farm country. We are passionate about welcoming people – all people – to the Breker farm. After all, that is the reason why Coteau des Prairies Lodge exists. It was born from the idea to create a place where guests of the Breker farm could enjoy an overnight stay!

Ward and Beth Youngblom, representatives from Riverview Dairy in Veblen, SD, had a nice evening out at the lodge. The Veblen dairy supplies milk for the cheese featured on the menu from Valley Queen Cheese Factory, Milbank, SD.

We absolutely believe our quiet corner of North Dakota is a destination worthy to consider for travelers and vacationers. Especially for those who want to avoid tourist traps and are seeking a life enriching experience. We offer farm tours to guests who want to get out and see what goes on on a modern family farm. After a day of fresh air, guests will sit down to a meal featuring foods grown on the farm they just toured.