Spring’s Don’t-Miss Dish
Among the many wonderful restaurants with menus based on local, seasonal ingredients, Barbareño, which opened in 2014, goes one step further by creating a menu based on culinary history, traditions and modern food stories of Santa Barbara County.
The oldest story in our county shows in the pasta dish, which is based on Chumash traditions around oak trees: Acorn Tagliatelle. Cattle ranching culture paved the way for the Santa Maria–style tri-tip with traditional pinquito beans on the menu. Modern food stories on the menu include the Eggamuffin, an elevation of a favorite fast food in the area, and a pork plate focusing on local heritage piggeries that have sprung up in recent years.
But one of the most important Santa Barbara stories is a modern dessert that also looks to the future, Ojai Hive and Honey (with coconut panna cotta). This dish features the many parts of a honeybee’s life: bee pollen they have gathered, honeycomb, the honey itself and the literal fruits of the bees’ labor. Chef Preston Knox was inspired by the number of local farms that also keep bees, and their appreciation for the work bees do for us. He feels extremely lucky that he can source unfiltered, raw honey straight from these farms, where the product comes directly from plants growing all around us. He supports farms that support bees.
Chef Knox has created a perfect little circle of life on a plate, showing his respect for these pollinators that are key to the health of humanity, and the entire world.
Note: To make this dish, you’ll need local honey, bee pollen, local mead and honeycomb, which can be purchased at local farmers markets, specialty food shops and natural/organic grocers. At the farmers market: Blue Ridge Honey from Ojai; microgreens and edible flowers from Flora Vista Family Farm in Goleta; tropical fruit from Rancho Santa Cecilia in Carpinteria.
Start the panna cotta by simmering coconut milk and honey in a saucepan. In another bowl, hydrate some gelatin. Take the pan off the heat and add in the gelatin. Stir, and let sit for 10 minutes. Once cooled, pour into serving bowl or ramekin. Cool in fridge until set, several hours or overnight. Make the granita by putting mead (honey fermented beer), some fresh fruit juice and pulp in a saucepan with a mix of herbs, and honey. (You can substitute some water for the mead.) Boil this for 45 minutes, then cool.
Place in the freezer for several hours, raking it with a fork every hour to keep it from fully freezing. Toast pistachios, then chop. Place the panna cotta on a plate, add the granita, honeycomb and freshly sliced seasonal fruit—Barbareño adds pineapple guava, blueberries, pomegranate seeds, dragon fruit, grapes and spring stone fruit or citrus. Dust the plate with bee pollen, pistachios and microgreens—Barbareño adds baby corn shoots, mint, micro basil and edible flowers
