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Catering Chef Takes Farm To Table Concept To Newtown, Bethel

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Does the sound of crackled hazelnuts with goat cheese and tarragon tempt your palette? Or might you fancy sampling a sweet potato polenta cake?

Some Things Fishy chef Michael Bick slices into a filet of fish.

Some Things Fishy chef Michael Bick slices into a filet of fish.

Photo Credit: Contributed
Some Things Fishy chef Michael Bick prepares a recipe in his Some Things Fishy kitchen.

Some Things Fishy chef Michael Bick prepares a recipe in his Some Things Fishy kitchen.

Photo Credit: Contributed

Chef Michael Bick of Some Things Fishy catering company hasn't minced words when titling the menu highlights of an upcoming Farm To Table dinner at a sprawling farm in Newtown.

The extensive repertoire will rely on locally sourced food and the culinary expertise of the longtime chef and his talented staff.

The dinners are also run in Bethel, but Bick, a chef since 1982, also provides catering services throughout Connecticut, New York City, and the tristate area.

After culinary school, Bick became fish chef at Manhattan's River Cafe, then went on to several catering companies in New York, Connecticut and California. His philosophy is that cooking is an art, imitative as well as creative, and more play than work. Bick food creations are a blend of ingredients and techniques from Asia, the Mediterranean, and America, which center on locally grown ingredients, naturally grown foods, but imported foods also play role.

His business caters off site for weddings, corporate lunches, dinners and cocktail parties, fundraisers, special occasions, and private dinners for clients.

The farm dinners are an offshoot of that enterprise the Bethel native developed through his involvement with Chef's Collaborative, a chef's network organization. It started with Earth Day dinners, Bick said.

"After surveying the land of some of my local farm purveyors, I approached Holbrook Farm in Bethel with my idea in 2012. After doing many dinners there, I thought it was time to expand to other farms in the area. We are now working with Castle Hill Farm in Newtown," he said.

The dinners have been received well and usually draw up to 100 people, many of them return patrons, he told Daily Voice.

Bick promotes the events through social media and email and calls them "a cool mix of delicious food, interesting people and good music."

"It makes for a fun experience. At the same time we try to express our desire to educate the public on the importance of knowing where their food comes from and to buy local."

And while the dinners can accommodate vegetarians, "It is difficult" to cater to vegans, he said.

Here's the Sept. 24 dinner menu:

Passed Bites:

  • Peri-Peri Chicken on Pita Chip
  • Pickled Onion, Dates, Goat Cheese
  • Sweet Corn and Lobster Taco
  • Sweet Potato Polenta Cake
  • Sauteed Beet Greens, Heirloom Tomato Jam
First Course:
  • Braised Lamb Shank off the Bone
  • Pistachio Puree, Micro-greens, Macerated Stone fruit
Family Style Dinner
  • Roasted Whole Chickens with Fresh Picked Herbs, Garlic
  • Four Stars Farms Grain Salad
  • Pumpkin, Feta, Chard
  • Roasted Beets and Peachs
  • Crackled Hazelnuts, Goat Cheese, Tarragon
  • Late Season Corn, Squash,and Mushroom Succotash
  • Sport Hill Farm Greens Salad
  • Pumpkin Seed, Fennel, Fig, Chestnut, Golden Apple Vinaigrette
Passed Sweets:
  • Miso Peach Butter Tart
  • Black Pepper - Cardamom Cajeta Apple TartThe Sept. 24 dinner will run 4 to 8 p.m. at the farm, 25 Sugar Lane, Newtown.

The first 10 tickets are $50; general tickets are $100.

For tickets to the Sept. 24 Farm to Table dinner, click here.

For information about Farm to Table dinners, contact chefbick45@gmail.com or call (203) 722-2444 or visit Some Things Fishy website here.

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