Kinley and Drew's Wedding at the Winn Homestead

We do a lot of Whitman Weddings.  Graduates leave our fair town (voted friendliest in the United States by Rand McNally) and come back to get hitched with all their college friends; re-uniting for a big party.  It was our first time at the Winn Homestead in Weston, a huge red barn, with two levels, set in wheat and pea fields.  Here is the note Kinley sent us:

Dear Graze,

Thanks so much for everything. The reviews from attendees were seriously unreal - people couldn't stop talking about the food. Multiple people have mentioned to me that it was the best food they've ever had at a wedding, and a couple wonder if you'd travel to do weddings in Seattle :)

Thank you so much for your flexibility, easygoing nature, and excellent culinary creativity - we had such a great time.

Check should have arrived today, tomorrow at the latest. Let me know if you don't see it for some reason.

Also, any chance I could squeeze the recipes for that cous cous salad and the bread/tomato salad out of you? I have a list of about 20 people that have asked me for the recipe...

Excellent work, and thank you. If you ever need another reference, please feel free to use me.

Kinley

 

Well I think that deserves a hearty Cheers!  Our daughter thinks so too.

 

Blink

Blink and May turns into July.  Blink again and your kids are in middle school.  How does time go so quickly.  How did we just do 14 weddings from the last week in May to today?  And how did we fit in all the other parties large and small?  I really have no idea, its all kind of a blur. 

What is not a blur is that our food and service have continued improved with every event.  And we are proud to announce that our pig box has been perfected.  A slow roast herb stuffed pork shoulder takes us a good 6 hours, and then the coals on top we use to grill vegetables.  Here are Walla Walla Sweets grilling on top of the pig box for the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival backyard donors party.

Our house made meatballs in roasted garlic marinara and braciole, crispy polenta cakes, whole leaf caesar salad and parmesan, wilted swiss chard from stones throw farm, blanched asparagus, and dessert from the patisserie rounded out this meal all the way back in early June for some out of town guests at L'ecole Winery.

My new favorite thing is grilled lemons.  We marinate rosemary lemon and garlic chicken for a day before grilling.  After the chicken is grilled, we then grill off the lemon rounds over low heat.  They caramelize so beautifully, and when they are just a few moments before burnt is when they are perfect, and they make a fantastic garnish.  For these smoked paprika and garlic shrimp skewers, we roasted the lemons and then finely chopped the caramelized zest and put a smidge on each skewer.  The stuff is addicting.

Cheers

Palmares

Palmares is a cycling term which means a list of great accomplishments.  This is our version of palmares. 

We did dinner for a group of guests organized by Whitman College.  Waters Winery was the venue, outdoors on the lawn, two extra long tables, seating 62 guests in all.  Above is a shot of a new appetizer we made up, cantelope lollipops, dipped in finely minced mint and prosciutto bits (think bacon bits but made out of prosciutto... yummy).  Dinner was served family style, a pretty local salad from Welcome Table Farm; then halibut on a bed of english peas, favas, and baby carrots; then grilled Upper Dry Creek Ranch leg of lamb and salsa verde, on a bed of wilted beet greens and arugula with roasted new potatoes and grilled early summer vegetables; finished with petit fours from the Patisserie.

I wanted to tell you how amazing the dinner was on Thursday. You and your staff did an incredible job. Everyone attending my conference (mostly from the east coast) was so impressed with Walla Walla in general, and they just loved the venue at Waters, the wine, and your food. And, you may have left before this, but we had the most incredible moonrise at the end of the dinner (I'll send you a picture). Just icing on top of the cake. I wish you had been there to accept everyone's thanks, but Tracy and Brian came out and let us applaud them. (Dinner was done and I had a softball playoff game to get to!!! commitments, commitments.)


Thank you so much!
Rachna

Cheers

Dear Subway

Christmas in May

The biz is almost five years old.  When we moved in the kitchen had one big prep table, a hobart mixer, a walk in cooler, a walk in freezer, a double stack oven set, and a range stove, and some shelving.  A $1,500 investment in some pots and pans and sheet pans and spatulas and tongs and another $850 at Ross for some platters and fancy spoons and we were in the cooking business... with no one to cook for.

The ovens were big and powerful, but highly erratic.  Burning edges and corners, and leaving the entire bottom rack raw no matter how long something was in there.  But we learned its quirks well, and found we had to open the doors and stir often, or pick just five pieces of bacon at a time from a sheet pan, and to rotate pans from top to bottom and spin them frequently. 

These pieces of restaurant refuse served a solid 42,000 catered guests and cooked the ingredients for at least another 38,000 sandwich shop customers.  We hated the ovens, but were always grateful for their service... only once did they break down for a big event, but good restaurant friends let us use their ovens... and that is a story for another time.

Well the bottom oven died the other day, leaving us with one very old and inefficient oven and one very old and expensive oven to fix.  So we bit the bullet and bought these bad boys from Blodgett Corp in Burlington Vermont.  With a little help from eight strapping young Whitman Baseball Players they were installed in no time.

I am no tech geek, or gear geek, or car afficionado, or anything approaching a stuff guy... but don't they look beautiful?

Cheers

palmares

Palmares is a cycling term that means a list of great accomplishments.  Here is our version of palmares.

We donate one private dinner for eight guests for the ywca fundraiser auction.  (We also donate countless gift certificates to other groups, and dedicate sales to the Ronald McDonald House from our sandwich shop.)  The last two years the dinner has been at Longshadows, in their Chihuly Room. 

Graze
I can't think of enough adjectives to describe the wonderful dinner we had tonight: suberb, excellent, outstanding, delicious, exquisite, the list goes on. We were awed by each course. It was truly a fabulous meal and we had a superb time wining, dining and visiting with our friends. As a guest treated to your excellent (I'm already repeating myself) culinary cuisine, I thank you.  Again, kudos to you for a memorable evening and thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring enough to give of yourself and your incredible talents.  -  Michelle

Cheers

busy busy

I finally figured out how to link my phone to the computer, yes I know how dumb that sounds.  But the picture shortage is no longer a problem.  Here are some shots from the past few weeks.

 
As a general rule... we don't make desserts (except for brownies, cobblers, bread pudding, and cookies).  But we donated dessert for an auction, and Lori (Brian our cook's wife) loves to make cupcakes.  So she made these Spring/Easter inspired fondant covered cupcakes.  They were awesome.

Who says there is no good seafood in Walla Walla?  These Penn Cove Mussels were harvested on the 18th and served on the 20th.  We blanched them, topped them with some garlicky bread crumbs, broiled them and served them with a saffron aioli. 

A phad thai noodle inspired salad.  Too many ingredients to list. 

We call these "shrimp scallop lollipops".  Seared on a flat top and then brushed with lemon garlic butter before going to the guests.  They never ever last more than a few moments.

Sliders made with Lostine Cattle Company ground beef.  Super clean tasting.  Caramelized onions, fresh thyme, goat cheese, mayo.  We served 800 on Saturday at Leonetti (from 10am to 2:45pm... that is like 170 and hour?) and another 200 on Sunday.

A fruit platter for a nurses appetizer reception.  Tangerine syrup is the dipping sauce. 

Blanched asparagus with tarragon mayo and Tim's Chips, and a Japanese noodle salad (its the cousin to the phad thai noodle salad).

And this is what the sandwich shop looked like all week... the graduating Whitties getting their last fill of Graze - a place to eat.

Cheers

boom boom

Since we last checked in... dinner for a church, dinner at Dunham Cellars, lunch for a Republican Congress member and supporters, lunch for Earth Day Volunteers, lunch for Veterans Administration Volunteers, dinner at Dunham Cellars (again), dinner at Dunham Cellars (and again), appetizers for Whitman Alumni at Dunham Cellars (again... again), wine lunch at Reynvaan Vineyards, dinner at Dunham Cellars (and seriously again), apps Friday Night for spring release weekend at Mannina Cellars, L' Ecole Winery, Reininger Winery, and a two day event at Leonetti for over 1,000 guests.

Its been busy here.  Wedding season kicks off this week with our first wedding of the season, May 14th at Areus.... and then it gets busier.  (Lord help us.)

Pictures to come once my phone decides to start communicating with the computer again.

Cheers

terra blanca weekend

Three years ago we had the pleasure to cook for Dawn and John's wedding reception in Benton City.  It was the first time we had been outside of the Walla Walla-Dayton-Milton Freewater 'metropolitan' area.  Last year, Terra Blanca contacted us (the winery Dawn works for), and we did a wine dinner and a cooking class for their Chef Seminar Series.  This year we came back for an appetizer party in February and then the big Spring Release Weekend.

Here is what the schedule looked like at Terra Blanca Winery:
Thursday - Brian did a Chef Seminar class.
Friday - I did a tv spot for KVEW Tri-Cities Morning Show (woke up at 3am to get ready and there on time!!!)
Friday Night - Myself and a cook friend did appetizers for 75-100 guests
Saturday - something like 1200 tasters descend on the winery, and we sold small plates to go with their wine.
Saturday Night - we created a buffet for all the winery staff and their guests.
Sunday Morning - left in a fog after packing the vehicle for two hours.

It was a busy and long weekend.  Add to it, Brian and Tracy did an appetizer drop off Friday, a buffet dinner for 85 guests Friday, and Saturday served a lovely family style meal at Dunham Cellars for 33 ladies celebrating their "many many years in business" party... and the sandwich shop kept humming along quite nicely.

Here are a few shots.

In the wood fired oven we crisped up some polenta cakes, caramelized some roasted red peppers, and roasted portabella mushrooms with olive oil... here is the finished dish with balsamic reduction, extra virgin olive oil, and shaved parmesan.  Is there anything more soul satisfying than cooking with cast iron.

A really terrible photo of our meatballs, with roasted garlic marinara, grilled walla walla bread company baguettes, smeared with roasted garlic... big enough to eat with a fork, but more fun to eat with skewers.

Shrimp, spanish chorizo, and corn fritters with saffron aioli.  Addictively yummy.

Cheers

the feast at reininger winery... and downtown

It was Cayuse Weekend, Feast of Walla Walla Weekend, and Breakfast Week.  For some strange reason we delivered breakfast Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  (We aren't as fun and cheery rolling into the catering kitchen at 5:00 am.)

Last Fall Release we did a small plates dinner paired with Reininger Winery library vintages and current releases.  It was fun, the guests had a great time, and we were invited back.  Saturday we did five courses paired with their Viogneer, Chardonnay, Desiderata, Anomoly, and Semillon.  I gave one server the job of reminding me to snap a photo before the first plates went out.  The shots were a bit rushed on the phone camera...

Here is the chilled pea soup, bright and vibrant green, topped with some creme fraiche soft like just whipped cream, we served fresh cracked pepper with it for guests to self moderate the pepper levels.  [It was so good we served the last bits at the sandwich shop the next day, the first customer of the day bought one small soup, then bought two large ones to take home.  Paired with the Voignier.]

What says Spring more than grilled asparagus and garlic rubbed bread, and egg salad (farmer alice's eggs, capers, shallots, tarragon, softened with a good deal of olive oil and a touch of water) so soft it falls partly into the sauce category, with a few prosciutto bits?  I can't think of anything more Springy.  Paired with the Chardonnay.  Simple, rustic, just how we like to eat.

Our version of chicken ballentine (or is it a gallentine?), three pounded thin chicken breasts laid out on cheesecloth to form a sheet of chicken, stuffed with a forcemeat of chicken thigh meat, sweated onions, thyme, parsley, minced tenderloin and cream, rolled into a compact cylinder and then poached to just barely done in a chicken stock.  Sliced and set in a rich and reinforced roast chicken stock we call a brodo, blanched carrots, sugar snap peas, and peas.  Paired with the Desiderata.

Grilled rosemary and garlic Fehrenbacher Farm rack of lamb, on top of the almost best beans in the world, calypso beans from Welcome Table Farm, roasted sweet onion, extra virgin olive oil.  Paired with the 2004 Anomaly. (so yummy)

For dessert... which we don't make... we made.  Brian our outstanding cook, made a a bread puddding, creme anglaise, roasted pear wedges, candied tangerine peel, and tangerine syrup, which looked lovely, and tasted fantastic.    

Cheers