If this doesn’t spark an appetite, I don’t know what will. We are back just about one year later from our first dinner and are more than pleased to report on another successful Long Trail Beer Dinner at Castle Hill. A special thank you to our great group of guests who attended, and our host Brandon Mayes of Long Trail who did a fantastic job leading the dinner. The culinary team at Castle Hill out-did themselves again. How can you go wrong with the perfectly brewed beers of local Long Trail, coupled with crafted local cuisine featured on the menu, created by Executive Chef Jonathan Cambra.  Click below to read on about the dinner and the beers.

The evening began with a reception of passed hors d’oeuvres including Simmons Farm Pork Corn Dog with cranberry mustard, Venison Chile with winter spiced sour cream, Mac & Cheese Strudel with Shelburne Cheddar béchamel, Chicken & Biscuits with Kenyon’s cornmeal fried quail and chourico gravy, and half-shelled Matunuck Oysters with an ale mignonette, all paired with Long Trail Ale, a full-bodied amber ale featuring a complex yet clean and full flavor, and the light and refreshing Blackberry Wheat.

The dinner’s first course of Georges Bank Monkfish was served with winter vegetable slaw, tempura white anchovy, and sun dried tomato vinaigrette, and paired with the cloudy and golden Winter White Ale, featuring aromas of orange, coriander, nutmeg, ginger, and spices.

The second course featured Pork & Clams: Simmons Farm pork and native clams with new potato, parsley, and tomato, paired with the Long Trail IPA, brewed in the tradition of the British IPA, unfiltered with extra hops and a higher strength.

A dish of Broken Arrow Ranch Antelope followed, served with butternut squash hash, parsnip puree, poached apple, a huckleberry emulsion, and the robust Long Trail Hibernator, featuring malty flavors of wheat, chocolate, and caramel.

The dinner’s fourth course featured locally raised grass-fed Aquidneck Farms Beef Rib Eye with Edge goat cheese-stuffed potato, mushroom ragout, and ancho chile reduction, paired with the Long Trail Double Bag, a full-bodied and dark amber selection.

The evening concluded with Portuguese Sweetbread Pudding with donut custard, molasses ice cream, and porter anglaise, served with the limited-release Imperial Porter. Featuring a complex and darkly roasted malt flavor complemented by a thin, creamy head, the Imperial Porter offers an abundance of two-row, Cara Munich, caramel 80L, wheat, roasted barley, and chocolate malts which are balanced with a variety of hops to create a clean finish.

Cheers to another outstanding event!

Another memorable wine weekend at Castle Hill as Bruce Cakebread, President and COO of Cakebread Cellars joined a collection of 45 guests Saturday evening November 7th for dinner. Bruce’s seminar was incredible; his passion for his craft was so evident. Without a doubt, the wines and the food were the stars of the show. Until next time… read on below about all the courses that were served and the wines that were paired. 

The evening began with a selection of hors d’oeuvres, including American Caviar with lemon-chive crème fraiche in a golden potato cone; Elysian Field’s Lamb Sausage with a chestnut-grit cake and blackberry jam; Hudson Valley Foie Gras Boudin with sweet potato bread and local apple-walnut compote; Vegetable Dumplings filled with a tasting of Castle Hill’s garden harvest and miso broth; and Simmons Farm Pork Tacos with an Ancho chile glaze, cheddar refried beans, and blue corn tortilla; to be enjoyed with the 2006 Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon Blanc., offering classic aromas of fresh pink grapefruit, mineral, and stone fruit and a crisp palate of gooseberry, melon and grapefruit.

Dinner began with a butter-poached Maine Lobster Tail with caramelized autumn squash, Sweet Berry Farm cider nage, and an apple chip, paired with the 2007 Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay, displaying vibrant citrus blossom, ripe apple, sweet melon and white peach aromas, and succulent, ripe peach, yellow apple and lemon zest flavors.

The evening’s second course featured skillet-roasted Arctic Char with crispy skin, chanterelle mushroom-leek ragout, salsify, and Pinot Noir gastrique, complemented by the fresh, fragrant aromas of toasted blueberries and warm, ripe strawberries, with enticing baking spice scents and red-cherry and strawberry flavors of the 2006 Cakebread Cellars Pinot Noir.

A dish of Vermont maple-rosemary smoked Canadian Wild Boar Chop followed, served with hazelnut-barley risotto, lingonberry-vanilla jam and the 2004 Cakebread Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Benchland Select, offering fragrant aromas of blackcurrant, blackberry and black plum fruit and rich black fruit, dark chocolate and briary spice flavors.

Dinner concluded with a Pradera Soufflé with dried cherry compote and cashew brittle, paired with the 2004 Cakebread Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Dancing Bear Ranch, boasting intense aromas of Bing cherry, brambleberry and spicy dark plum fruit with wild cherry, ripe fig, spicy black fruit and dark chocolate flavors.

Check out Hemenway’s Executive Chef Steve Long on the Rhode Show! And be sure to try all these oysters and more at the Hemenway’s Oyster Festival THIS Saturday Sept. 26th. You can find us in Market Square Park, adjacent to the restaurant, from 1pm – 5pm. Admission is FREE. Food & Drink tickets are $1. All proceeds to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Providence. Click here for full details. Delish!

A look inside the wonderful world of wine dinners from our Corporate Beverage Director Len Panaggio. With a full season ahead of us, take some time to explore what winemakers and vineyards will be making appearances in your backyard – click here. Take it away Len!

Wine dinners have something to offer for everyone involved in creatingand enjoying them. From the restaurant’s perspective, the culinary team loves them because it provides an opportunity to try new dishes, especially with the bounty of local harvest coming out, something the chefs are always looking for.

From a guest’s perspective, I feel, the most important feature of these dinners is the educational component. When you have a winemaker speak at these events, the chance to ask your own personal wine question is so exciting. At the end of the meals, we bring out the culinary team and once again, the opportunity to ask culinary questions is equally as exciting. Then you get to ask the ultimate question—what was so great about that dish with that wine? BINGO! There it is.

Now, one of the most amazing aspects is that you sit at a table with, for the most part, people you don’t know. You are all eating and drinking the same food and wine. The interaction between the guests is so rewarding. The wine is doing what it does best -bringing people together. Lasting friendships are created. In an era when we don’t spend enough time interacting face-to-face, wine (don’t forget beer dinners) bring people to the table to break bread and drink wine and share their personal experience of what they are perceiving. Magic-in a bottle!

We’re in the kitchen today cooking Halibut Livornese with Chef Kevin DiLibero of Newport Restaurant Group.

Ingredients:
2 pieces 8oz halibut
1 tblsp of butter
½ cup white wine
1 28oz can of Italian plum tomatoes
1 red onion Sliced very thinly
1 tblsp of capers
1 tblps of olives
1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
Extra virgin olive oil As needed
Procedure for Sauce

1. In a sauce caramelize red onions
2. Add in olives, capers, red pepper flakes
3. Stir well deglaze with white wine
4. Reduce the white wine by ½
5. Add in Tomatoes
6. cook for 1 hour on low heat
For poaching the fish

1. combine butter and white wine in a sauté pan
2. place fish into the pan
3. add tomato sauce and cook on low heat for 8 minutes
4. finish with extra virgin olive oil
From Providence to Newport and everywhere in between, Newport Restaurant Group provides the highest quality culinary experience with a creative, thoughtful and responsible approach in preparing all of our menus. Each restaurant’s signature cuisine follows the principles of our Culinary Philosophy. We begin with the premise that food is one of the fundamental joys of the human experience. It is therefore our goal to provide our guests with an unparalleled culinary experience in a welcoming and unique, service-oriented atmosphere.  Newport Restaurant Group’s award-winning portfolio of restaurants includes: Castle Hill Inn & Resort, The Mooring Seafood Kitchen & Bar, 22 Bowen’s Wine Bar & Grille, Waterman Grille, The Boat House Restaurant, The Smokehouse Café and Trio Restaurant.

Our hats are off to another stellar wine dinner that took place at Castle Hill this past Wednesday evening with Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.  Jeff McBride, Vice President and General Manager at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, lead guests through each selection of wine as they were paired with Executive Chef Jonathan Cambra’s elegant five-course dinner.

The evening began with a reception of passed hors d’oeuvres including Maine Lobster Canapé with citrus chile vinaigrette, cucumber, and chervil garnish; Kobe Beef Roulade with white anchovies, lemon, garlic, and parsley; Chilled Maine Mussels with spring garlic, lemon, and chervil relish; Salt Cod Brandade with fava beans and smoked paprika aioli; and Narragansett Creamery Tortellini filled with ricotta cheese and topped with sweet red pepper puree; all paired with the 2006 Karia Chardonnay Napa Valley, a refreshing and light selection with aromas of white peach, apple, spiced pear, and citrus join with floral notes of honeysuckle and roses.

The first course featured poached Georges Bank Scallops with spring onion, fennel, chive, and saffron-citrus nage, served with the vibrant 2007 Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley, featuring aromas of ruby red grapefruit, lemon lime, peach and nectarine, tropical notes of guava and mango.

The second course was a Duo of Quail: grilled smoked breast with chevre gnocchi and ramps and braised leg-fricassee with peppercorn-Merlot emulsion, complemented by the subtle notes of anise, vanilla and cardamom and flavors of red plum and nutmeg of the 2005 Merlot Napa Valley.

An Elysian Farms Roasted Lamb Loin followed, served with morels, potato risotto, mâche, and Lustau sherry vinaigrette, paired with the 2005 Fay Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, a stylish wine with generous aromas of violets, blackberry, nutmeg, and black licorice and aromas dark fruit flavors that envelop the palate with accent notes of chocolate and vanilla.

Dinner concluded with a Rogue River Bleu Cheese Cheesecake with blackberry, anise, honey, and Ancho chile-cocoa tuile and served with the 2005 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, featuring dark fruit and floral aromas, an earthy hint of rosemary and black truffle, and flavors of dark cherry, blueberry and plum that join with cocoa powder and spiced vanilla. 

Celebrate Earth Day with a little Greens. Our culinary team has partnered with local farmers to bring a ‘farm to plate’ Earth Day Salad. 

Available on Wednesday, April 22 at all our restaurants, the Earth Day Salad will feature organic greens, a poached egg, cider-cured heritage pork belly, white corn lavash, truffled cider vinaigrette, and a crisp apple-beet slaw, all from local farms including Baby Greens Farm in Exeter, Little Rhody Farms in Foster, Simmons Farm in Middletown, and Hill Orchards in Johnston. A portion of the salad proceeds will benefit Save the Bay and Farm Fresh Rhode Island. Delish!

This past Tuesday, April 7th, Trio hosted another one of their wildly popular culinary classes. This time it was Candies & Chocolate with Trio’s Pastry Chef Kristin Beaupre with special guest, Castle Hill Pastry Chef Jonathan Marston. Attendees learned to make (and more importantly, got to taste) Dark Chocolate Truffles, Almond Brittle, Coffee-Walnut Fudge and White Chocolate Fruit & Nut Clusters. At the end of the class, Kristin & Jon surprised guests with some sponge candy they had made earlier in the day and went over how to prepare it at home. Definitely the sweetest class so far.