Outstanding in the Field with Wisconsin Cheese

by Wisconsin Cheese

On a humid, sunny, early-August evening food enthusiasts from around the Midwest gathered at Troy Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin.

The occasion – Outstanding in the Field – a farm-to-table traveling dinner series established to, “reconnect diners to the land and origins of their food and honor the local farmers and artisans who cultivate it.”

All the event’s delicious dishes were made from local ingredients sourced from Wisconsin farms and made by local artisans, including a few courses featuring Wisconsin Cheese.

Founder, Jim Denevan talks to the group about the farm-to-table community.

The first course featured a shaved kale salad, with kale directly from Troy Gardens, toasted hazelnuts and Wisconsin Ricotta.

Dinner featured Troy Gardens’ heirloom tomatoes with Driftless Organics sunflower oil, pesto and sprouted lentils.

The maincourse highlighted grilled rabbit saddle, pork loin and beef loin, with oven-reduced chutney and herb roasted potatoes; and cocktails made with Death’s Door Spirits – a basil-cucumber cooler and summer punch with peaches, blueberries and tarragon.

Dessert included corn cakes with blackberries and chocolate tartlets with salted caramel filling – coffee and chocolate were both sourced from fair-trade Santa Anita Farms in Guatemala. The star of the dessert course, however, was a pairing of fresh plums and Pleasant Ridge Reserve from Upland’s Cheese in Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

Andy Hatch, the cheesemaker at Upland’s Cheese, enjoyed the farm-to-table dinner and discussed the well-known cheese with guests.

Outstanding in the Field director, Leah Scafe and Upland’s Cheese cheesemaker, Andy Hatch

Upland’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve is a unique Wisconsin Cheese as it is only made with milk from cow’s grazing on spring pastures, which leaves the cheese with distinct grassy notes.

Two green thumbs up to Troy Gardens for hosting the event and to The Underground Food Collective for cooking a deliciously artful farm-to-table meal!

For more information about Wisconsin Cheese, visit EatWisconsinCheese.com.