Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015

I was fortunate to be able to attend last week the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015 at OMSI with Chef Ryan Morgan and Chef Jim Dodge. I was excited and very curious to see the many savory ways to incorporate berries into a multi course dinner instead of the usual suspects of berry smoothies and cocktails, pies and ice cream. The menu looked very impressive, with wine pairings or dry sparkling pairing available for each of the four courses.
Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner July 18, 2015 at OMSI with Chef Ryan Morgan and Chef Jim Dodge Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner July 18, 2015 at OMSI with Chef Ryan Morgan and Chef Jim Dodge

The dinner took place on the OMSI terrace, which gave us a view of the Tillikum Bridge as the sun slowly set behind the rest of the Portland cityscape along the Willamette River during dinner.

During the Hors d’oeuvre time as we mingled, cocktail pairings by the Eastside Distilling & Commissary Syrups included this Portland Potato Vodka with Strawberry and Cucumber and Lime, as well as Below Deck Silver Rum with Marionberry, Cacao, Ginger and Lemon. No-Li Brewhouse Mosh Pit Tart Cherry and Cranberry Ale offered a beer pairing option to cocktails.
"Cocktail Cocktail of the Eastside Distilling & Commissary Syrups Portland Potato Vodka with Strawberry and Cucumber and Lime at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015

Hors d’ oeuvres

Blueberry and blue cheese empanada with ginger and green onion chimmi – this was definitely my favorite of the three as it really put the berry front and center and was such a unique combination of flavors that is so creative to put together, very impressive.
Blueberry and blue cheese empanada with ginger and green onion chimmi at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015 Blueberry and blue cheese empanada with ginger and green onion chimmi at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015 Blueberry and blue cheese empanada with ginger and green onion chimmi at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015
Smoked pork, raspberry glaze, herbed salsa is a combo I’d like to see more often. BBQ is often about the spice and sweetness through tomato, but you can get fabulous sweetness for your bbq meats from berries too!
Hors d’ oeuvres - Blueberry and blue cheese empanada with ginger and green onion chimmi plus the Smoked pork, raspberry glaze, herbed salsa at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015 Smoked pork, raspberry glaze, herbed salsa at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015
Cured salmon and shrimp salad with herbs and blackberries in butter lettuce offered an appetizer that was probably the healthiest of the three
Cured salmon and shrimp salad with herbs and blackberries in butter lettuce at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015 Hors d’ oeuvres at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015

Salad course

Herbs, flowers and silky greens with honey, up in your face chevre and marionberries was presented beautifully and paired with Adelsheim Vineyards 2014 Pinot Gris
Herbs, flowers and silky greens with honey, Up in Your Face chevre and marionberries at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015 Herbs, flowers and silky greens with honey, Up in Your Face chevre and marionberries at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015

Main course

Chicken barbacoa, pickled strawberries, cotija cheese, blackberry serrano sauce served over duck smashed potatoes topped with shaved kale slaw Holy moly was this amazing! My only complaint was that the plating was not consistent – which resulted in my table looking around to find the most photogenic one since the saucing varied so much.
Chicken barbacoa, pickled strawberries, cotija cheese, blackberry serrano sauce served over duck smashed potatoes topped with shaved kale slaw at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015 Chicken barbacoa, pickled strawberries, cotija cheese, blackberry serrano sauce served over duck smashed potatoes topped with shaved kale slaw at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015
This course was paired with side by side tastings of Pinot Noir that included Foris Vineyard 2011 Pinot Noir from Rogue Valley with the same year but different area, Seufert Winery 2011 Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley.
Chicken barbacoa with pickled strawberries and blackberry serrano sauce, paired with Foris Vineyard 2011 Pinot Noir and Seufert Winery 2011 Pinot Noir at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015

Dessert

Boysenberry cassata, yuzu butter chiffon cake, soft cream, boysenberry sauce I admit I had never heard of a cassata before this course, and it turns out it’s a Sicilian Italian dessert that starts with a small cake (here a very thin layer of that butter chiffon cake) with a big layer of a softer ricotta cake that’s very soft, almost remisicent of a cheesecake that is softer like whipped cream.
Boysenberry cassata, yuzu butter chiffon cake, soft cream, boysenberry sauce at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015 Boysenberry cassata, yuzu butter chiffon cake, soft cream, boysenberry sauce at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015

It even came with a little raspberry spritzer to polish off the berrylicious dinner experience of the Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015
Raspberry Spritzer to go with the Boysenberry cassata, yuzu butter chiffon cake, soft cream, boysenberry sauce at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015 Raspberry Spritzer to go with the Boysenberry cassata, yuzu butter chiffon cake, soft cream, boysenberry sauce at the Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Gala Berry Dinner 2015

One of the important things I learned is that while now in the summer it’s easy to support our local farmers with the fresh local berries, you can continue to support them year round by buying frozen local berries in the freezer section. The berries are processed and frozen (or canned,  or jarred, etc.) often mere hours after being picked. So even as you thaw the berries  they will be significantly fresher still from imported berries. Furthermore, Oregon Berries benefit from a especially friendly climate here and soil type which makes them taste different (better!) so you will notice a difference in berry flavors!

Which of these courses sounded most delectable to you?

Disclosure: I attended the dinner as part of a media pass of the Oregon Berry Festival courtesy of the Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission, but I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own. 

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Oregon Berry Festival 2015 and BlackBerry Grilled Cheese

Next weekend on Friday July 17 and Saturday July 18 is the 5th annual Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival 2015. This FREE festival at the Ecotrust building  in the Pearl District showcases everything berry, from

  • Fresh berry vendors booths with their farm fresh berries and berry products
  • A Healthy Berry Pavilion education booth with information to introduce you to berries you may not be aware of or ways to incorporate berries into your diet and explain all the various health benefits of berries. And there’s also a culinary historian to give a brief history of Oregon berries.
  • Berry themed food booths
  • Cooking demonstrations featuring berries
  • An Oregon’s Best Blackberry pie contest and demo by Pacific Pie Company
  • Berry themed crafts at a children’s booth, appearances by blueberry mascot Ima Blueberry with coloring sheets and face painting, as well as family friendly live musical entertainment
  • There’s a chance to win a bike by filling out a Oregon Berry Festival passport by following clues and gathering stamps from vendors
  • On Saturday evening a separate Gala Berry Dinner at OMSI will be held to show how you can use berries for every course, from cocktail hour to savory to sweet dishes (tickets are $105 all inclusive, available at Brown Paper Tickets)

Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival Lifewise Oregon Berry Festival

I’ll be attending the Berry Festival on Saturday at part of a Berry Festival media tour with the Oregon Raspberry & Blackberry Commission (ORBC), including visiting a working berry farm. I’ll be reporting back with what I learn and a NEW recipe. For now though…

What: Oregon Berry Festival 2015
When:

  • Friday, July 17, from 12:00pm to 6:00pm
  • Saturday, July 18, from 11:00am to 5:00pm

Where: Ecotrust Event Space at NW 10th and Johnson, Portland, Oregon
Who: Everybody… and it’s FREE!

Recipe for a Berry Grilled Cheese

Blackberry Grilled Cheese with blackberries, basil, fontina, a touch of pesto
Usually my berry consumption is raw: right out of the pint, in beverage form via smoothie or juice (or fruit beer!!), sometimes it’s folded into a salad or ice cream or sorbet. I rarely have it cooked, and when I have cooked berries it’s generally because it is part if a dish while I’m dining out. Also, I am a cook that prefers the forgiveness of savory foods, not a baker. What can I say, I guess I’m not a sweet girl who follows precise technical instructions.

In celebration of the upcoming festival though, I decided to seek out a recipe featuring berry and that cooks with it but isn’t a traditional dessert – and when I saw this Fontina + Blackberry Basil Smash Sandwich from the blog how sweet it is (with her upcoming cookbook Seriously Delish coming out soon), I was sold.
Blackberry Grilled Cheese with blackberries, basil, fontina, a touch of pesto Blackberry Grilled Cheese with blackberries, basil, fontina, a touch of pesto

I’m not going to provide the whole recipe here: you should definitely click on over to check out her gorgeous photos and the recipe instructions yourself. But, at a high level you only need a handful of ingredients!
For your Blackbery Basil grilled cheese, you will use Oregon Blackberries, about 4 ounces (about 14 berries) per sandwich Blackberry and Basil, a great combination of flavors

  • Multigrain bread: I used Franz Mt Hood Multigrain and Flax
  • Fresh Oregon Blackberries
  • Chopped fresh basil leaves from my garden
  • Fontina cheese (mine are from one of my local cheese loves, Willamette Valley Cheese Co)
  • And a little olive oil or butter for grilling!

The slight changes I made is that I probably used a lot more basil than she did for my sandwich (I used about 4 ounces of blackberries, which was about 14 berries FYI and almost 7 basil leaves for each individual sandwich) because I love basil. Do not wear a white shirt when making this blackberry basil smash part/get your apron out.
Make sure you carefully smash your blackberries as it does squirt a bit. Don't wear a white shirt For the Blackberry Grilled Cheese, I used about 14 blackberries and chopped 7-8 leaves of basil for each sandwich

I suggest brushing on the olive oil or melted butter on both sides of the bread before adding your spoonfuls of blackberry basil smash as that makes more logistical sense than her order. I also had a little leftover pesto from the Cashew Cheese on Cucumber recipe I shared earlier this week, so smeared that on also. I was generous with my cheese, probably about 3 ounces per sandwich, which I grated to melt better and spread over every centimeter of my bread.
Franz Mt Hood Multigrain and Flax bread makes for great sandwiches, especially grilled cheese! I used a little pesto inside my Blackberry Basil Grilled cheese Grilling my Blackberry Basil Smash grilled cheese sandwich, adding the grated fontina to the bread and pesto

Since you grill this low and slow to get melty and brown, it shouldn’t heat up your kitchen too much. Maybe you are calling me a cheat because it isn’t so much cooking the berries as slightly warming them up, and the only prep is smashing them essentially into jam… but I don’t care.

Blackberry Grilled Cheese with blackberries, basil, fontina, a touch of pesto

This recipe is ALL win.

Warning: this sandwich needs 2 napkins or a paper towel. I would not fault you for serving this open faced because it really is pretty too!
Blackberry Grilled Cheese with blackberries, basil, fontina, a touch of pesto Blackberry Grilled Cheese with blackberries, basil, fontina, a touch of pesto

For additional variant, you could swap out the fontina for a brie if you can’t find fontina, and feel free to add grilled chicken as a protein to your sandwich.

If you are looking for more berry good recipes, feel free to check out the website Oregon Berries, which not only provides information on various Oregon berries, but has a portion dedicated to berry recipes from food bloggers at Bloggers ♥ Oregon Berries as well as a Recipe Search based on the berry that may intrigue you!

I also have a few more past berry recipes I’ve shared: you can see that strawberries are my favorite berry, and that I could put together a whole dinner with just berries for every course if I wanted to! I wonder what the James Beard Award winning Chef Jim Dodge of the Gala Berry Dinner 2015 for the Oregon Berry Festival will do?!

Have you heard of the Oregon Berry Festival? What is your favorite berry, and how do you like to enjoy it, do you have a favorite recipe with berries and what is it?

Disclosure: I will be attending a media tour of the Oregon Berry Festival, but I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own. And, this recipe is really delicious, as are all the strawberry recipes I previously shared on the blog. Support Oregon Berries to support local producers and it’s healthy and yummy!

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