Just this last weekend, I catered a party with one of my close chef friends, Kristen Schumacher. For me, there is nothing more fun than geeking out over cook books while planning a dinner party menu, especially when your co-chef is also a fan of local and seasonal cooking and not afraid of experimentation. In the summer months, ingredient options seem endless and with a little bit of inspiration, ordinary ingredients can be transformed into delicious dishes. Given the small size of the group, (nine) and a good budget, we were able to focus on ingredients and take extra care for plating. For the salad course we tossed arugula and finely chiffonade sorrel with a honey citrus vinaigrette and topped each salad with shaved pecorino, chive blossoms and a soft-boiled duck egg sprinkled with black Hawaiian sea salt.Here was the rest of the menu:
Appetizers
Dragon Roll (sushi of unagi, cucumber, seaweed, avocado and toasted sesame seeds)
Herbed Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppadew Peppers
Amuse Bouche
Balsamic Pork Belly Skewers with Caramelized Figs
Salad
Arugula and Sorrel Salad with Soft Boiled Duck Egg Sprinkled with Black Hawaiian Sea Salt
Shaved Pecorino Cheese, Chive Blossoms, Honey Citrus Vinaigrette
Intermezzo
Mango sorbet with Kaffir Lime and Mint Simple Syrup topped with Borage Flowers
Main
Marinated Grilled Flank Steak with Basil Chimchurri
Heirloom Tomatoes, herb mash
Dessert
Grilled Pound Cake with Mike and Gene’s Berry Farm Sauce
Grilled stone fruit, local cream freshly whipped
