Lemon Mushroom Soup

Last week we catered Canine Companions' Bone Appetit event providing a delicious Lemon Mushroom Soup for the 500 guests.  It was great success with many requests for the recipe.  Here's a scaled down version for about 12 to 14 people.  Enjoy.

Lemon Mushroom Soup
2 lbs sliced Crimini mushrooms

1 medium onion diced
2 Tbl fresh thyme- lemon if possible
2 lemons - peel skins with vegetable peel
¼ cup olive oil
Sauté till moist

6 cups water or mushroom stock (chicken stock is ok, if not vegetarian)
Juice 2 lemons (from above)
1 cup wild rice
Simmer till rice is tender

1 Tbl white truffle oil to finish

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Taste of Petaluma Recipes

Here are the recipes for today's Taste of Petaluma:

Ratatouille ala PSC
1 small yellow onion diced
1 red bell pepper diced
5 cloves garlic chopped
2 Tbl olive oil
Sauté together until tender

1 lbs zucchini diced bite size
1 medium egg plant diced bite sized
2 Tbl olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbl herbs de province
Toss together and then roast until lightly golden (15-20 minutes)

2 cups diced garden fresh tomatoes- bite size
2 cups bread crumbs
½ cup parmesan cheese
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup butter
2 Tbl white truffle oil
Melt butter & toss all ingredient together

Combine onion/pepper mixture with zucchini/eggplant mixture
Place in an oven proof baking dish
Top with tomatoes and then bread crumb mixture
Bake at 350 until bread crumbs are golden

Top with fresh pesto just before serving


Quick Pickled Vegetables
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
1.5 cup sugar
½ cup salt
2 Tbl pickle spice
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp turmeric
Bring to a boil pour over veg
Allow to sit 4 hours to 2 weeks

Enjoy
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Face Book

For those of you that Face Book, we have a page there too.  There is a Face Book widget with a link at the bottom of this page if you would like to become a fan or just see what else is going on.

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Changing of the Seasons

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year” at least to me.  I love the fall,  I love autumn… Here in Sonoma County we are often just beginning to get the best of the local farms – the tomatoes and peppers - and the days are hot (this week really hot) but the evenings cool off to a beautiful temp with clear sky for star gazing.

My mind starts thinking of soups and stews, pumpkins and pomegranates.  I look forward to a ride out to Sebastopol to my favorite pumpkin patch to get a great variety of pumpkins and gourds to decorate our front step for Fall.

I’ll have a recipe later this week for the ratatouille that I'm making for the Taste of Petaluma this Saturday.  Look for us at the Barry Singer Gallery.  I have the pleasure of pairing up with Three Ox Farms and all of their great produce. They sent me this list of incredible items and I felt like a kid in a candy store choosing whatever I wanted.  So far I have planned a Pepper and Squash Ratatouille with White Truffle Oil, a Chioggia Beet Salad, and Quick Pickled Vegetables with carrots, beans and cucumbers.  Can you say "yum".

Stop by I’ll see you there
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Heritage Homes!

I'm proud to say we recieved a Heritage Homes Award last night for the restoration and remodeling work we did on our new building.  We put a lot of effort and care into it, and the recognition really means a lot to me.  Also, congrats to Lala's Creamery and all of the other recipients of last nights awards.

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CornerStone Gardens and White Peach Sangria

Catering is good old fashioned hard work; you heft and tote, lift and fold a lot of items. But when it comes together WOW, it feels great.  This last weekend was at CornerStone Gardens outside of Sonoma. This is a great location with wonderful vignettes throughout.  It's an architectural art garden. There are designs from different landscape architects. Quite a site (and a sight) to be seen.

As the dark clouds loomed in Petaluma, I crossed through to the valley to beautiful blue sky. The ceremony was held in front of the reflecting pool filled with water lilies. The guests then moved over to the cocktail area outside the adorable barn. We added a great specialty cocktail White Peach Sangria with Pinot Grigio (recipe below), served in a beautiful pilsner glass.

The dinner was in the rose garden under a beautiful tent, my favorite Tomato Caprese Martini was placed and ready as the guests entered the room, followed by a buffet service for dinner.

Then came the fun, during dinner the barn was turned over to a fun filled lounge for dancing, cake and celebrating.

With the use of so many areas also come many, many details. Thanks so much to Brooke Menconi, she and Kat kept us in place and lended a necessary helping hand. Thank you.

I would have loved to have had a pedometer to see how far we went, but it was so worth while.

Congratulations Kelly and Nate!

White Peach Sangria

4 cups white peach puree

1 cup lemonade concentrate

6 bottles wine (we used Pinot Grigio)

Peach and lemon slices

Refrigerate the sangria until well chilled (at least 2 hours) to blend the flavors. Serve over ice, and include some of sliced peaches and lemons with each serving.

Enjoy!
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We all scream for ice cream!

We are always looking for something new and fun to do on events.  Here are a couple that we have used that guests love.

Being raised in Petaluma the ice cream truck always came through the neighborhood, you could hear that tune a block away. Now John Seratt has restored that same old ice cream truck. It looks brand new and really harkens back to childhood for anyone who grew up with it.  He still makes the daily tours through the neighborhoods, and you can hire him to come out to your private party too.

Imagine a great day of BBQ, fun and games, and then the ice cream truck pulls up. Talk about a blast from the past, just as if we were kids again.

We have had the cutest thing at two weddings recently; Cici’s Gelato.  They are an organic gelato company out of Mill Valley that is often at the local farmer’s markets and now they have branched out and will come to your private event. The two owners come with this adorable bike set up with two coolers and up to 6 flavors of gelato for your guests.  They can do traditional flavors to gourmet creations like Strawberry Basil.

You go guys!

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12 hours in 9 minutes - Inside a catered wedding

At a recent wedding we placed a video camera on a nearby balcony to capture the whole thing from beginning to end.  We sped it up to 9 minutes and added some titles to describe the action.  I think it's really cool, I hope you like it.

Play Video

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Oh Holy Tomato

The season is here!  At last we have our own locally grown tomatoes.  I have three different local growers bringing me the gold of their crops.  When I say gold…. They taste like liquid gold from the sun, especially those little sun gold cherry tomatoes.

So many tomatoes so little time; this weekend the always popular classic Tomato Caprese is on for 300 guests, and at another wedding we're doing a beautiful placed Shiraz Salad (tomato & cucumber with feta & oregano) in a martini glass for a great look.  I'm also really looking forward to our Norwegian bride whose family is flying in from Norway; they will be having just a classic platter of sliced heirloom tomatoes with sea salt and cracked pepper. I hope they enjoy it.

For myself we picked our first "Hillbilly Deluxe" from the plant at home and made it stretch to make 3 bacon and tomato sandwiches. The perfect lunch after a day of yard work.

So many tomatoes, so little time...

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