Dig IN

Have you ever felt like you never will need to eat again?  I know, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  But, in the summer there aren't any holidays like that.  Unless, of course, you were lucky enough to snag some tickets to Dig-IN.  Connie and I were among the lucky ones.  I found half off tickets from an email called Green Clipping.  That's an offshoot of Green Piece Indy which is a wonderful green living email I receive.  So, today a bit after noon we headed downtown to White River State Park.  We knew the crowd was going to be huge when all of the parking close by was full and we saw people streaming in on all of the sidewalks close by. 

The program says, "At Dig-IN, farmers, producers and chefs from all over Indiana join forces to celebrate Hoosier food."  And, boy did they ever!!  Several of our favorites were there:  Terry Knudson from Viking Lamb, JJ Boston from Chef JJ's Back Yard, Chris Eley from Goose the Market, Regina Mehallick from R Bistro.  I got to meet the delightful gal from Maple Leaf Farms - producers of the best duck in the USA - and she was kind enough to give me a copy of their cookbook.  (Which I will read cover-to-cover as soon as I'm hungry again in about a week - lol.)  There were 26 restaurants, 9 wineries and 11 breweries.  An amazing collection of food and drink.  And, an amazing number of folks enjoying said food and drink. I failed miserably at taking photos because I was so busy noshing on incredible food.  Let me share with you the description of my favorite dish of the day from J. Ford's Black Angus in Terre Haute:  "Slow smoked pulled pork slider, hickory horseradish coffee BBQ glaze and basil goat cheese garden slaw."  Now, doesn't that make you want to hop in your car and drive straight to J. Ford's?  Me too!

Bottom line - we'll go back next year.  We made it to 12 of the 26 restaurants and about 9 of the breweries.  We tried one winery but unfortunately, most of the wine there today appeared to be the sweet stuff that we really don't care for. 

I've saved the best for last, though.  The score of the day.  Beef n'Noodles.  From Coes Noodles.  OMG.  The best beef and noodles I've ever had.  Bar none.  We went back for seconds.  I bought a bag just to get the recipe.  Well, that and the fact that these are wonderful noodles.  Here's the link:  Coes Noodles

Beef n'Noodles

Ingredients:

2-3 lb chuck roast or any cut of beef
1 can Campbells Beefy Mushroom soup
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 T salt
10 c water
1 lb package Coe's Noodles

Directions:

Everything but the noodles goes in the crockpot.  Let it cook on low overnight and through the next day.  A couple of hours before you plan on serving dinner, shred the beef then add the noodles.  Stir everything very gently.  Make sure the noodles are covered with the liquid.  Then, put the lid on and walk away.  Keep your hands off the lid.  That means you.  No touchie, no lookie for two hours.  Serve and savor :-)

A big thank you to Judy Coe for a wonderful recipe and some fantastic noodles.  They've got them for sale on their web site so you too can enjoy them!