Saffron's Belated Christmas Party

How awful does this sound? Throw your restaurant's Christmas Party and then jump on a plane to Italy for two weeks of quiet gastronomic excess. (I would assume pretty great if you are not hung over.) Chris and Island asked us to come back and do their party again and we were honored to do so.

Chef Chris Ainsworth has a tattoo of a pig sectioned into its primal cuts (or does he just want to get that tattoo, I can't remember). The man likes porcine products. So I was really happy to bring our version of porchetta to the restaurant's Christmas Party. It truly is one of my favorite things to make. And the day he busts out the version he plans to make I will be the first customer on the reservation list.

Menu:
crostini, white bean arrabiatta, seared shrimp
tapenade, feta, cucumbers, ciabatta
spanish tortilla and brava sauce

whole leaf ceasar salad and garlicky croutons
roasted fingerling potatoes and aioli
butternut squash manicotti, spinach, roasted garlic bechamel
roasted acorn squash, pearl onions, cauliflower, brown butter and fried sage
thundering hooves pork, porchetta (herbed, garlic, caper, lemon zest stuffed pork shoulder)

New Favorite Things:

• I rarely get to make tapenade for parties. I have tried and tried (subtly) to get hosts to include it with appetizers and rarely is my suggestion taken. By now I have given up. And then Island calls and says make what you want John, and I love her for that, and then I get to make tapenade (a process I love) and I get to scrape the food processor with torn bread and bring the extra I made home, and eat giant spoonfuls slathered on ciabatta... and then I remember why I used to try so hard in the first place.
• The idea when our kids are old enough we will be spending two weeks in Italy.

Cheers

Pops Turns 90

In the last week Walla Walla has found itself bombarded with snow. The patio table at our house is measuring 24 inches of snow since last Saturday. Walla Walla is just not prepared to deal with two feet in a week. (Spokane got two feet in 36 hours! Last January due to the birth of our daughter we were in Spokane for the largest one day snowfall since 1950, 11 inches, and that almost shut the city down. I can't even imagine what things are like in Spokane this week.)

That being said. We provided dinner for 32 guests at a surprise 90th birthday party. When we started cooking it was snowing and when we left for the event it was snowing, and when we left the event it was snowing, and when the last dishes were done and our kitchen was scrubbed... you get the point. Probably a good six inches. Add catering in giant snow to the list, along with huge windstorm, brain melting heat, driving rain, and perfect blue skies.

Menu:
- Butternut squash, spinach, roasted garlic bechamel lasagna, and fried sage
- Chantrelle and porcini risotto cakes with mushroom ragu
- Green leaf salad, orange segments, hazelnuts, red onion, champagne vinaigrette
- Spinach salad, balsamic roasted onions, almonds, sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese, croutons, balsamic vinaigrette
- Roasted carrots, beets, pearl onions, rutabegas, parsnips, cauliflower, chives, and orange oil
- Roasted baby portabella mushooms, roast red peppers, roast garlic, extra virgin olive oil
- La Brea Bakery baguettes and butter

No pictures of course. Do you think my lovely wife is going to let me take the camera in a snowstorm?

This was our last event of 2008!!! Coming soon the Graze Catering Index. (Basically the Harper's Index)

Cheers