Canning and Preserving Demo with Chef Petraski from The Ravenous Pig

On a recent trip to Winter Park, we stopped at The Ravenous Pig for dinner.  We’ve eaten lunch there once this past summer and loved it.  So we couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to try their dinner menu.  The restaurant is located in downtown Winter Park just off I-4.  They call themselves a “GastroPub” meaning a pub-like experience but with amazing food you would find at fancier restaurants.   Wonderfully prepared food in a cozy, comfortable environment? Sold!

Photo courtesy of Ravenous Pig

We started the evening with the house-made charcuterie and artisan cheese table with house made pickled vegetables.  If I’m ever left on a stranded island, please give me meats and cheese like these to survive.  I will be just fine.

Whenever I go to a restaurant I always look for items I can’t cook at home, so the pan seared tuna with olives and watermelon beets caught my eye.  The fresh and roasted pomegranate seeds were a nice surprise in this dish.  But the winner had to be the Kalamata olive puree/cream whatever it was, I want more of it!  After eating this pan seared tuna I don’t think I can ever order pan seared tuna if it comes with soy sauce and sesame seeds.

While I didn’t have the pleasure to meet Chef James Petrakis, I was contacted by their Marketing Manager in hopes to create an event to promote their newly released cookbook The Ravenous Pig: Seasons of Florida.  You can read some great reviews from Eat Local Orlando.  After reading more about their philosophy, we agreed to host them at our market for a demo/book signing event.

Chef James Petrakis will be at our market on December 15th from 9 am to 12 pm demonstrating his canning and preserving techniques as well as some other “secrets” from his kitchen. Signed copies of his book will also be available for sale and will make great Christmas presents this Holiday.  The event is free and if you would like to RSVP for the event, please click here.  We’d love to see you tomorrow!