Sasha's Kitchen On the Road: Foodie Tour Of Vermont

My husband and I spent last weekend in Vermont for a friends wedding at Shelburne Farms.  While in Vermont we had some fantastic local cheeses (especially the Shelburne Farms two year cheddar).  What's so great about Vermont cooking is the focus on using local, organic farm fresh ingredients from eggs to cheese and dairy to fruits and vegetables.  Everything we tasted was fresh and fabulous from the food at our friends' wedding to the local produce we ate at the restaurants we visited.  And of course we made time for some of vermont's finest Ben & Jerry's Ice cream, because a visit to Vermont without stopping by their factory in Waterbury just isn't a visit to Vermont.

Our first night in Vermont, we had an amazing meal at Hen of the Wood, in Waterbury, VT with friends who had just flown in from Germany. We started out meal with a sampling of four local Vermont cheeses, all of which were delicious.  We paired this with different beers and wines that were equally fantastic - Allagash White, a local white Belgian style wheat beer that has become one of my favorites - and a delicious summer Frog's Leap Rose - a great wine from one of my favorite Napa wineries (yes Napa is in California, not Vermont, but I couldn't resist).

For my appetizer, I had the most delicious salad I've had in some time.  The salad was a mixture of locally grown, farm fresh arugula, spinach, barley, pansies and walnuts with local goat cheese.  So pretty. My husband and our friends had the asparagus soup which was also delightful.

Four our main courses, I had braised beef short ribs prepared with gnocchi - of course locally raised organic beef which was delicious.  One of our friends had the scallops which were beautifully prepared.  My husband opted for a more unusual suggestion - the rabbit prepared with a fresh carrot puree - it was delicious as well.

For dessert, our friends had a chocolate torte that was decadent and delicious, while we had a panna cotta with fresh strawberries - also amazing.

We also had a lovely brunch at Shelburne Farms (see above) where I had an amazing frittata made with eggs that were locally raised on the farm (we got to meet the animals on the farm later that afternoon, including some adorable baby goats).  My husband had the cinnamon carrot pancakes with ricotta that were out of this world amazing.  Our table was outside, where we had a gorgeous view of Lake Champlain to the side.

And just a final note - the arugula salad from our friends' wedding was made with delicious Vermont blue cheese and Shelburne Farms' own farm-made honey - right in the honeycomb.  It was amazing, along with everything else served at the wedding.  They had some fantastic beer and food pairings at the cocktail hour as well, but the food was so good I forgot to take pictures of it.