ONCE in Valhalla.

A table full of brave viking souls feast in Valhalla:

Saturday Night Gail and I had the great pleasure of attending a truly special dinner event: ONCE in Valhalla.

Local chef/mastermind behind Cuisine en Locale puts together One Night Culinary Events (ONCE) - multi-course local food inspired themed dinner parties that are for one night only! The theme for Saturdays dinner was ONCE in Valhalla. It was truly a feast of viking proportions. 200 or so people gathered at the Somerville Armory to drink Pretty Things Beer & Green River Ambrosia Mead while enjoying a delicious feast, which consisted of:

Island Creek Oysters with Sour Apple Mignonette

Smorgasbord

Fiddlehead Tomme, Stillman Farm Liverwurst, & Rye Hardtack

Pickled Sardines with Onions, Fermented Black Radishes, and Clear Flour Vokornbrot

Feast

Parker Farm Butternut Squash Soup

Stillman Farm Roasted Leg of Lamb, Red & Gold Beet Salad, & Sophia's Yogurt Sauce

Stillman Farm Ham Glazed in Maple and Cider, & Cheesy Oat Porridge

Wheatberry and Baer's Best Bean Medley with Roasted Winter Root Vegetables

Provincetown Cod Poached in Green River Mead with Juniper and Butter, & Gilfeather Turnip Mash

Double J Farm Beef Stewed with Pretty Things Beer and Braised Red Fire Cabbage, with Effies Oatcakes.

Dessert

Sophia's Yogurt with Keown Orchard Honey and Beach Plum Sauce (homemade by JJ).

It was nice that the meat components and the vegetable components of each dish were separated so the vegetarian guests had plenty to eat, it also helped me during the fish course as I was able to enjoy the mashed turnips without having to worry about my fish allergy.

My favorite single course was the leg of lamb with beet salad and yogurt sauce, all of the components and flavors worked very well together, but each course I ate was delicious!

Gail's favorite dish was the same Beet salad and yogurt sauce, which she described as particularly delicious.

It was pretty awesome that in the middle of winter that JJ and the folks who put on the whole event were able to feed 200 people on ingredients that were more then 90% local. It goes to show the great that can be accomplished with careful planning and preparation!

Entertainment was provided by a wind ensemble and costumed viking gods, who led us in wassails and toasts throughout the evening. As part of our tickets we even got viking-style knit hats from the great folks at Short Army.

Happy full of mead and good food: