
Forage & Feast Winemaker Dinner
Event: Seufert Winery Forage and Feast Winemaker Dinner
Come explore our back yard – join Jim and Michelle on a coastal mushroom forage through the rainforest followed by a casual cooking experience and winemaker dinner featuring our fungi finds.
The day:
· Learn about our local culinary mushrooms including where and how they grow
· Venture into the forest to hunt for and hopefully gather prized mushrooms
· Return to our family beach house where Jim will demonstrate how to transform our finds into delicious dishes
· Enjoy a casual family-style winemaker dinner where the mushroom courses will be paired with our wines
· Three king bedrooms are available for relaxing overnight stays
The Mushrooms: Mushroom’s we’re likely to enjoy include:
· Chanterelle – The official Oregon State mushroom that is often called a forest flower for its beautiful apricot color and aromas
· Porcini – also called the King… for good reason. Porcini are highly sought-after around the world for their rich flavor and sometimes large stature.
· Matsutake – aka the Pine mushroom for its affinity to grow around pine trees. Its distinctive aroma is prized in Japan (and here).
· Lobster – The lobster’s bright orange color is hard to miss against the forest background, and yes, it is surprisingly reminiscent of the sea creature.
· We’ll also identify which mushrooms you don’t want to eat and discuss how to distinguish them from the delicious ones.
The Meal:
This will be a genuine forage to feast meal where we’ll adapt our menu to what we forage during the day. Many of the recipes will be prepared in front of the group in the style of a cooking demo or cooking class where discussion is encouraged. Recipe preparation help is encouraged. Examples of what we’ll enjoy:
· Sauteed fungi – experience the true nature of each find with this simple and clean presentation
· Lobster (mushroom) Bisque
· Matsutake Miso soup
· Chanterelle Egg Scramble on buttery Grateful Bread toast
· Porcini beef stroganoff
· Chanterelle cream sauce over salmon or steak
· Wild mushroom risotto
· Truffle flavored chocolate truffles
· And of course wine… we’ll hand pick our favorite wines to pair with this delicious menu
Our Forage and Feast menu will highlight how well mushrooms pair with diverse ingredients. As such this is a family-style omnivore meal with limited flexibility to tailor recipes for dietary restrictions. Please contact us with specific questions or concerns.
Take Home:
· You’ll get copies of the featured recipes to take home
· Mushrooms and mushroom products will be available
· A few of Jim’s kitchen-oriented woodworking projects will be available
· And of course the featured wines will be available for you to take home
The Place: Jim’s family settled on this Pacific City property in the 1800’s where they farmed and ran a health resort for many years. His mom was born on this property, and this event will be held in her vacation home. The architecture is inspired by the house on this property that she was born in, and it overlooks Nestucca Bay and the ocean beyond that.
The Experience: Plan to arrive around 11am for a full day of adventures and an evening meal that includes going into the forest and foraging, learning how to cook our finds, and enjoying them during our winemaker dinner. We’ll provide light snacks during the day and a lunch buffet. This experience is $175 per person. This is a hands-on, small-group event and tickets are very limited. Dress for the weather because we’ll forage unless the weather is extremely stormy.
The Forest: Mushrooms grow with trees, therefore foraging requires hiking through the forest. We will choose destinations that are moderately easy for most abilities and that are relatively flat and mostly on developed trails. but you will likely need to step over, under, or around various obstacles.
Overnight options:
· We encourage you to make it a weekend and stay overnight in Thelma’s beach house on any nights of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
· There are three private bedrooms, all with king beds. One is on the main floor adjacent to the great room living space. There are 2 full bathrooms on the main floor. The other 2 bedrooms are upstairs, one with a private bathroom.
· The main floor room has windows facing the bay and ocean with French doors opening to the living room. This room is $150 per night. Reserve HERE
· The purple bedroom has a large window seat and wicker furniture, and the purple bathroom is right out the door (with a clawfoot bathtub). This room is $150 per night. Reserve HERE
· The master suite features a great view, and an ensuite bathroom with separate shower and jetted bathtub. This room is $200 per night.