Holiday Barrel Weekend

We broke the month of November interlude by serving up a thousand guests for Holiday Barrel Weekend, Dec. 5th, 6th, and 7th. Longshadows was our venue Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during tasting hours. Reininger held their wine club party Friday Night and we dropped off platter appetizers for a house party Sunday.

Hand passed appetizers at Longshadows:
- cheese filled saffron risotto balls and sun dried tomato dip
- crostini with caramelized onions, gruyere, prosciutto bits, and thyme
- crostini with red wine beef ragu, brie, and parmesan
- swedish pancake filled with apple butter and fresh pear (this paired so well with their late harvest reisling)

Platter appetizers at Reininger:
- cheese filled saffron risotto balls and sun dried tomato dip
- puff pastry filled with caramelized onions, goat cheese, and prosciutto bits
- fingerling potato chip, medium rare flat iron steak slice, and blue cheese cream
- italian sausage skewers with roasted garlic marinara
- portabella mushroom skewers with roasted red pepper dip

New Favorite Things:

• Blue Cheese Cream. Great blue cheese, mixed with heavy whipping cream, then passed through a fine sieve to eliminate any lumps, then whipped with sour cream, a tiny bit of garlic puree, a dash of worstcheshire, salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon. It tastes like the best blue cheese dressing ever, but super intensified, and holds its shape in a nice little dollop on top of a steak slice. It is the perfect accompaniement to nice steak and a crisp fingerling potato slice.


• Magazine Photos. Lifestyles magazine ran a photo of our riso ball app. Amazing how many guests exclaimed "I am so happy to get to try them!"


• Apple Butter from Rome Apples. I make apple butter a lot from extra apples. I love the stuff. (Grandma and Grandpa had a saying "He doesn't know sh** from apple butter." It's always cracked me up.) All apples make nice apple butter, but some are a little too tart, or a little too sweet. But there is something about the Romes that make it special. The tart, sweet, and acid all blend perfectly. They aren't so tasty as an eating apple, but perfect for cooking.

Finished the busy weekend off by sharing a lovely bottle of 03 Reininger Cab with my daughter Frances.

Cheers

Mike's 50th Birthday

Friday we went to Beresan Winery to put on dinner for 16 guests celebrating Mike's 50th birthday. Winemaker Tom played host (and dj, keeping the kitchen hoppin' with everything from Cake to Dr. Dre) while we bombarded the guests with appetizers; five flavors to be exact.

Apps:

- Cheese stuffed risotto balls with sun dried tomato dip

- Pan fried scallop cake with sriracha mayo (pictured below)

- Baguette slice with pork rillette, dijon, thyme

- Crostini with beef ragu and parmesan

- Belgian endive spears with goat cheese mousse and pecan gremolata

Then we served the guests family style (my new favorite way to serve guests, a decidedly unfussy, communal, and convivial way to enjoy a meal). A simple salad of local greens, veggies, and champagne vinaigrette. For the main course we roasted Fehrenbacher Farm's Leg of Lamb, made some creamy polenta, roasted rutabegas, carrots, and beets, and built some vegetable gratins.

Of course I didn't get a picture of the lamb!!! Server Morgan's only real job all night (!) was to remind me to take a picture of the lamb/roasted vegetable platter, and she forgot. So this is the best we got, a lonesome carving in some sauce back in the kitchen.

New Favorite Things:

• I have roasted leg of lamb for lots of parties, and this was far and away the best. Same process as before, couple of days of marinating, a dijon, garlic, herb, salt paste on the outside. But this time I brushed the legs the last five minutes with a wine/honey/herb/pepper reduction that put the whole thing over the top. A bottle of Waterbrook Melange reduced to about two tablespoons, mixed with honey, then dijon and rosemary when cooled, and a pinch of pepper. Jammy, syrupy, intense wine fruit, an incredible red meat glaze.

• Scallop cakes. The guests couldn't get enough. Tom called them "money". Served them the next night and a guest proclaimed it to be the best appetizer she has 'ever' eaten (that may be a bit extreme). Chopped sea scallops, super fine mince of serrano pepper, chopped cilantro, minced shallot, dollop of mayo, and panko bread crumbs are all mixed together. Then formed into a patty coating with more panko, then pan fried. The sriracha mayo is just mayo mixed with enough sriracha to color nicely with a bit of a spicy kick.

Cheers

Old Stuff

Raj and Kelly's Wedding.

Way back in August, the 31st to be exact, we did and Indian Buffet for Raj and Kelly (same day we did Erin's wedding at Basel Cellars) at the same house that hosted the Paella reception. Raj and Randall/Caitlin were friends at Whitman yada yada ya. Appetizers of samsoas, fried paneer cheese, and garbanzo flour pancakes with raita dip.

No pictures unfortunately. For the buffet spicy garbanzo bean salad, lentil salad, basmati rice, chili fry lamb in coconut mild sauce, curried shrimp. Dessert from the Patisserie. The Indian Minister (flew in from India for the ceremony) was impressed. He told our cooks the food was very authentic. We only have Raj and Kelly to thank for the recipe/consultation help!

Megan's Wedding - Got a couple of pictures to share.

Pictures from Kim's Mom's Birthday at Watermill Winery (Thanks for the great shots Jamie Brown!)

Cheers

Too Much Good Stuff

Is that the slogan for 7-11 or Taco Bell? I can't remember. But it could have described our weekend.

Friday evening saw us to the home of Sherlee and Larry for a simple backyard grill wedding rehearsal dinner. Grilled salmon, chicken, spinach salad, roasted red potatoes, and the end of summer's finest vegetables. Simple, fresh, tasty.

We quickly shifted gears and headed to Areus Bed and Breakfast/Yoga Center for Kristy and Dan's Wedding.

It was Areus's first wedding reception and David and Giancarlo had the grounds in tip top shape.

100 guests, passed apps, and a two course plated dinner.

- Corn soup with pistachio butter, white bean and corn cannoli, and an arugula salad. (the picture below)

- Grilled beef tenderloin, red wine and veal sauce, truffle butter, mashed potatoes, and the end of summer's vegetables.

It was quite a show. Brilliant rentals from Seattle. Tip top wines from Northstar, Reininger, and Rotie Cellars. Perfect weather. And the food wasn't bad either. (My only regret was missing the Second Annual Walla Walla Wiffle Ball Tournament to perform the wedding catering, my second year of conflicting schedules. Next year I vow to cater the wiffle ball tourney just so I can play in it... victory will be mine.)

Sunday was the capper. Eric and Morgan headed back to Areus for a post wedding panini/snack bar for many of the out of town wedding guests. Dave headed to Basel Cellars to do a four course dinner for some jet-setters from the wet side of the state. I headed to Abeja to titillate Walla Walla Wine Alliance guests from around the country with appetizers, whom visit our fair city to taste our more than fair libations.

A picture of the bruschetta of caramelized onions, prosciutto, goat cheese, and thyme. (A homage to Becca's favorite pizza from our early meeting days) Hopefully I can re-create it in Abeja's new wood burning pizza oven. (If they do not invite me for a pizza making bash I will be most seriously hurt. I was not referred to as a 'pizza-jedi' jokingly.)

And to finish a tired night and weekend, this plane decided to show up and garnish a very lovely sunset.

Cheers

Stephanie's Wedding

It was a busy weekend for us. My son's first day of real pre-school at Betty's on Thursday.

Stephanie and Chris's rehearsal dinner at Three Rivers Winery Friday.

Amity's tomatoes, fresh mozz, basil, and bariani extra virgin olive oil.

For the rest we had a nice green salad, rosemary lemon grilled chicken, flat iron steak with hotel butter, and roasted red potatoes with dijon/garlic/thyme/mayo/bacon dressing.

The view from the deck of Three River's toward the end of dinner.

Saturday Chris and Stephanie had an Irish/Scottish reception. Chris, God bless him, got married wearing a kilt (the pants issue solved on day one). We did three passed apps, two of which passed as 'scot/irish'. Cured salmon and creme fraiche crostini, hard cheddar and cows milk cheese and crackers, and heirloom tomatoes with 25 year old balsmic and sea salt on toasted baguette slices.

The dinner buffet:

Spinach salad, citrus vinaigrette, shaved mushrooms, toasted almonds, jarlsberg cheese.

Roasted beets, carrots, and turnips with orange oil and chives.

Colcannon potatoes (cabbage and mashers).

Slow roast salmon and lemon butter.

Herb roast beef tenderloin and horseradish cream.

Veggie pot pies for the vegetarians.

Baguettes and Irish soda bread.

Then we brought out the desserts from Colville Street Patisserie. There is no better dessert, wedding buffet maker than Matt in the Pacific Northwest, of this I am convinced.

Lots of nice compliments from the good folks attending the festivities at Stone Creek Manor.

And to cap the weekend, Sunday we headed to Biscuit Ridge for an impromptu wine drinking, food snacking celebration for our friend's new land 'vineyard to be' purchase.

It really is tough living in Walla Walla sometimes.

Cheers

Two-fer: Liz and Luke's Wedding, Kim's Mom's 50th Birthday

Team Graze Catering was fully engaged Saturday. A sold out Farmer's Market was followed by a wedding at Carnegie Art Center and a dinner at Watermill Winery.

Liz and Luke, New Yorker's born Walla Walla, tied the knot at Pioneer Park and headed to Carnegie (yes, built with funds from the New Yorker Andrew Carnegie Fund) for the reception. Carnegie is absolutely perfect for groups of around fifty guests. The art is always interesting, the cost reasonable, and the building offers great atmosphere.

Kim threw a party for her mom's 50th birthday at Watermill's tasting room. Which happens to be just about the perfect spot for thirty or so guests.

For both we did a cocktail hour and then simple and tasty buffets. Both menus were very similar so I will just write one and call it the Kim and Liz menu:

- Greens, spinach, orange wedges, red onion, cucumber, toasted almonds, orange vinaigrette

- Israeli cous cous moroccan style, dried currants, figs, and peaches, toasted almonds, parsley, extra virgin olive oil

- Blanched green beans, olive tapenade, feta, and garlic chips

- Chicken roulades, stuffed with dried cherries, shallots, herbs, and chicken, poached and served cold with cherry chutney

- Slow roast salmon with aioli, lemon, olive oil, and salt (so simple, so perfect)

- Slow roast beef tenderloin, artisan blue cheese, piquillo peppers

- Potato tortilla and brava sauce

New Favorite Things:

• Spanish Tortilla (potato egg cake) with Brava Sauce - olive oil poached sliced potatoes are layered with onion repeatedly in a cast iron pan, browned on the stovetop, then mixed with egg and baked to form a firm, layered potato cake. The piquant brava sauce is the perfect compliment. Incredible re-heated as we did for this group or room temperature.

• Slow Roast Beef Tenderloin - oven baked, no searing, low 300 heat, resting on herbs, creates an almost perfectly uniform medium or medium rare interior (look mom - no more quarter inch gray outer layer!).
• Crab Cakes and Cilantro Lime Mayo - do I need to say more?
• Being the candle for a giant creme brulee cake... Kim's mom blew out the blowtorch gracefully. (Kim if you have a picture of this, please send it)

Cheers

Reininger Hootenanny

We did the sides for Reininger's Second Annual Hootenanny and the Reininger folks grilled up some fat steaks with chimichurri sauce. I don't really know what a hootenanny is. Does it have something to do with music and red bandannas?

Menu of Sides:
- Barbeque baked beans
- Grilled red potato salad
- Grilled zuchini, golden garlic, balsamic vinegar
- Mixed greens, goat cheese, strawberries, hazelnuts, honey strawberry champagne vinaigrette
- appetizer: shrimp skewers and cucumber coulis

I have never been a fan of goat cheese strawberry salads. I have nothing against goat cheese with strawberries. Its the salad greens part I don't get. It's like having a sundae on top of lettuce. When Ann from Reininger asked me to make this salad, I did what all caterers do, cheerfully said yes. And then I set out to make a dressing that I thought could marry the two elements that always got me perplexed. And I think I did. The dressing, creamy, full bodied, filled with strawberry flavor and the crisp bite of champagne vinegar was a nice bridge between the greens and berries. This bright pink dressing is now a new favorite of mine.

Cheers

Watermill Wine Dinner

Hello John,

I heard nothing but raves about your dinner!! The lunches were unbelievable!! Thank you - it is so nice to just email and know that everything will be done and done well!

Thanks, Jacqui - Owner Blue Stocking Tours

I have a policy with my wife that seems to work pretty well. She asks if a pair of jeans looks too tight, or an outfit looks too funky, and I tell her the truth. Sometimes it hurts, but at least she knows I am being honest, and it cuts down on the number of outfits she tries on (by a couple). And she appreciates it, because she knows I am not blowing smoke just to get out the door. She does the same to me with food. In fact, she is so tough a begrudging "It's pretty good" is a home run in everyone else's book.

So in keeping with the honesty policy I have to tell you dinner Saturday night was ok. The appetizers were great. The soup was a bit too sweet and lacked something. The salad greens were fantastic but the side of porkbelly confit was overcooked and a bit of a mismatch. The lamb was mid-rare to medium, but underseasoned and a bit blah, the side veggies were pretty good. And the Patisserie dessert and local strawberries were out of this world (as always Matt!).

Menu:

- wonton crisp, lime shrimp salad, radish, avocado, dill
- crostini, white bean puree, pork confit
- baguette slice, brie, apple butter, fresh pear

• Walla Walla sweet onion soup, caramelized onion custard, thyme brown butter
• Welcome Table Farm's greens, dijon red wine vinaigrette, pork belly confit, balsamic marinated radishes
• Fehrenbacher Farm's leg of lamb, creamy polenta, local english peas, carrots, and swiss chard
• Patisserie's chocolate vanilla almond mousse cake with Milton's strawberries
  

Cheers

Doubleback Winery Launch

I nominate the Doubleback Winery launch party as the best private party of the year! 160 plus guests, hosted by Walla Walla's native son Drew Bledsoe, honoring his winery venture with winemaker Chris Figgins. Hilltop at McQueen Vineyard with the Walla Walla Valley spread below, and the windfarm peaking over our shoulder; the setting couldn't have been more perfect... maybe a bit more perfect minus the wind.

Guests were bussed in from the Marcus Whitman, champagne served en route. We greeted them with wonton crackers topped with spicy ahi tuna. The wines weren't too shabby either. Leonetti, Pepperbridge, Le Ecole, Waters, a German gewertziminer (sp), Grammercy, and a couple others I can't recall.

The Menu: flat iron steak chopsticks with soy ginger dipping sauce, bruschetta white bean puree and pork confit, grilled shrimp and scallop skewers with herbed butter, endive goat cheese mouse lemon zest candied hazelnuts, artisan cheeses, and bonnie's asparagus with aioli.

Did I mention the windfarm? It was so windy the tent was tethered to heavy machinery. When guests arrived the busses were employed as windbreaks. Still the tent sides bulged, linens whipped over the buffet tables, and the hanging lanterns swung violently. The roar of the wind in the tent is a sound I will soon not forget.

Our cooking location was thoughtfully blocked by haybales and some careful Volksy parking. Unfortunately our 'kitchen' was on loose dirt and we had not the time, nor resources, to place it elsewhere. Creative cooking, plating, and wrapping saved the food from healthy doses of dust. And shockingly, despite the wind, the sad sack of a grill, and the dust, we pulled it off. Given proper circumstances the food would have been better, looked a tad nicer, and been warmer (!). But it was good, damn good. And if we are ever scheduled to cook in Florida during hurricane season we will be primed and ready.

Cheers

Whitman Alumni 50th Reunion - May 16th

Ever see the movie "Groundhog Day"? Bill Murray gets stuck repeating the same day, every day, until he falls in love (or something like that). (See previous post April 25th)

This time we played host at Basel Cellars for the Whittie Alums. A happy 50 year reunion rather than 40. Almost the same menu, similar crowd but ten years older, and close to the same guest count.

Who would have thought repeating the same day could be so enjoyable.



A photo of porchetta from a Lastoskie cocktail party. Does our 1930's oven (which lacks a thermostat) look fun to cook with? The wife hates it, needless to say, I love it.

Cheers

Longshadows Spring Release

How does one go about serving 800 people appetizers (that actually taste good)? That question has been haunting me the last couple of months. And was finally resolved today. The answer is... it is easier than you think, if you are willing you roll 1,500 risotto balls, and double stuff 1,500 mushrooms. The proof is in the pre-planning, and the risotto pudding, 3o cups of it to be exact. If there has been a more popular appetizer at our events than the cheese stuffed risotto balls then I have been extremely clueless. (no comments please sweetheart) Literally, fried, plated, carried to cocktail table, 30 seconds later... gone.

Menu:

- cheese stuffed risotto balls with sun dried tomato sauce

- duxelle and mascarpone stuffed mushrooms

- crostini red wine beef ragu and parmesan reggiano

- crostini white bean puree and pork confit

- baguette slices and crackers, cambozola and brie

We are three for three. Unscientific as it may be, but three big wine weekends, three times wine tasting patrons have exclaimed "best food at any winery in town." Saviah, Reininger, and now Longshadows. I can give you the long winded version with evidence and personal comments, but I think this picture says it all, guests moments after the platter from above was placed on the table.

A picture of myself and Gilles the winemaker. Becca and I, Gilles and his wife Marie (Forgeron's winemaker), met randomly at Pioneer Park and the Patisserie two years prior. Nice to be reunited in a Walla Walla kind of way.

Cheers

Whitman Alumi - April 25th

82 Whitman grads gathered to celebrate their 40 year reunion at Three Rivers Winery. How did they seem to know each other so well after 40 years? Certainly the Whittie Experience must be a tad different than mine at gigantic UC Davis. I can just imagine me at my 40 year reunion. "Nope, don't know you, nope, not you either, can't recall your face from the other 4,500 graduates of 1996... sorry." Even a reunion in my major would produce very similar results.

The food. Big highlight tonight, rissotto balls stuffed with cheese, fried and topped with a sun dried tomato sauce. Guests were waiting by the kitchen entrance to snatch them up. And if there is a better pork roast in the world than the one we are copying from Zuni Cafe in San Francisco I would like to try it.

Menu
- Three appetizers
- Whole leaf caesar salad
- Bonnie and Jerry's asparagus and aioli
- Crispy polenta round
- Vegetable gratin
- Porchetta, Thundering Hooves pork, capers, herbs, garlic

Cheers

Reininger, April 12th, 2008

I love Reininger. The owners, the staff, and the wine is pretty darn awesome.

Dinner for eight. Tracy laid out a beautiful table setting, per usual. 3 apps, my favorite being a seared scallop half, with caramelized apple and crisp bacon, laid out on spoons for easy snacking (and dramatic effect).

Menu

- roast thundering hooves bone marrow and rice bean salad

- salad of endive, parsley, fennel, pear, honey tangerine, pine nuts

- sweet onion soup, caramelized onion custard, thyme brown butter

- fehrenbacher farm rack of lamb, white bean puree, roast pearl onions, asparagus, mushrooms

- hazelnut mousse from the patisserie

A pretty decent spread for a lovely WW evening.

Cheers

April 8th, 2008

We kicked off the cooking season today. Dinner at Basel Cellars for 25 Bank of America banker folks. A couple of apps, and a humble buffet. Mixed green salad and red wine vinaigrette, potato gratin, roast asparagus and parmesan, beef tenderloin and mushroom cream sauce, parmesan chicken breast and marinara.

My favorite part of tonight's meal had to be the mushroom sauce. I made a duxelle, then infused chicken stock and cream with the duxelle. Strain, reduce, reduce, reduce... tasty.

Cheers