Adventures in Abalone

It has been a whirlwind week on the Central Coast! This past weekend marked the date of Sunset Savor the Central Coast, an event that I have been prepping for over the course of many months. This huge food and wine festival, sponsored by Sunset Magazine, consists of a main weekend event with smaller food and wine experiences leading up to it. Through my company Big Red Marketing, I was fortunate enough to be on site running the Abalone Farm Adventure Tour. This meant that I was responsible for checking in guests, introducing editors of Sunset Magazine each day, and making sure all of the prior month's prep work went smoothly and as planned.

There was one big caveat -- I didn't know if I liked abalone!! I was crossing my fingers that I would like it, since I would 1) starve to death if I didn't eat it, and 2) seem extremely rude to the chef and odd to the guests if I refused. I do not typically eat shellfish such as shrimp, clams, scallops, crab, lobster etc. because I just can't stand the texture. So I was worried about the abalone at first. But check out the gorgeous food photos below. I definitely ate it.

The beginning of the tour. The tour itself was absolutely fascinating, even when it was literally my third time taking the tour. Each time I learned something new. Our guide Brad Buckley was a wealth of information, and I learned so much about these basically endangered animals, such as the fact that they can bleed to death and even drown! They are also MUCH smaller than the abalone shells from our parents' days. At 5 years old, the farmed abalone are still smaller than your palm.

Edna Valley Vineyard sponsored wine for our event, and their team did a gorgeous job of taking the VERY rustic setting of the abalone farm and creating a beautiful space to enjoy food and drinks. I ordered the tables and chairs, but the Edna Valley team brought all the wine glasses, created the centerpieces, and generally made the event a truly beautiful and enjoyable experience.

 

And as for the abalone? I tried it prepared three different ways by Chef Jessie of The Pairing Knife, and they were all wonderful! My favorite preparation was the mini corn chowder (shown in the bottom right photo) that was topped with a handful of barbequed abalone pieces. My second favorite was the puff pastry (bottom left) topped with an abalone steak that was pan fried in almost dust. My least favorite was the cerviche served in the shell, although this was by far the most visually beautiful dish I tasted. I think it comes from my general aversion to raw fish.

The dessert was a fantastic almond polenta cake with lavender honey. It tasted like a dessert cornbread and was a lovely end to the meal. The whipped cream on top didn't hurt! The rest of the weekend, I got to attend the main event and stuff myself full of food samples and free wine while not working at the Travel Paso Robles booth. Too bad this event only happens once a year!