This lovely little luncheon is featured on Cottage Hill today! Amber Reverie and I hosted this little gathering with some local creatives and it was such a good time getting to know new people and eating good food in such a beautiful venue, Ember SLC was a new intimate location when we hosted it, they have so many cool spaces. Amber did the amazing florals, I just loved all of the details that she put together! Annie with Wildfield Paper Co, made the most stunning menus!
One of my favorite things is to bring together people and cook for them! I wish I could do it more often! Even just small dinners in our home, Cole and I’s schedules are hard to work around and not many people would want to start a dinner party at 9:30 pm! Maybe one day we will stop working at normal times of the day! And I dream of the day for us to have a beautiful dining room and yard so that we can host dinners more often.
Here are some of my favorite recipes! I hope you enjoy, let me know if you try them!
Tarragon Cream Crostini
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon
1 small garlic clove
sea salt
Combine all ingredients in a food processor, puree until smooth.
Recipe from Ecco La Cucina, by Gina Stipo. I got this cook book in Italy when I attended a cooking class in Siena, some of my favorite recipes are from this book! https://www.amazon.com/ecco-
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
1 large onion, chopped
4 tablespoons butter and olive oil combined
8 cups butternut squash
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2-1 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
sea salt
Split squash in half, coat the ends with olive oil and roast in the oven at 375 until soft. Once it cools scoop squash into a bowl. Sauté onion in butter in oil until soft and translucent, add roasted squash and sauté for a few minutes. Add a small amount of broth and continue to cook to meld flavors for at least 30 minutes, adding broth as necessary to keep from sticking or burning. Salt to test and add nutmeg.
Puree the mixture using an immersion blender. Return to heat adding enough broth to form a thick soup, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the cream, keep hot but do not boil.
Recipe from Ecco La Cucina, by Gina Stipo. I got this cook book in Italy when I attended a cooking class in Siena, some of my favorite recipes are from this book! https://www.amazon.com/ecco-
Blueberry Galette
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
2 1/2 cups (310 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon (10 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon (4 grams) salt
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk, cold
Filling:
1 pound (510 grams) fresh blueberries
1/3 cup (60 grams) sugar
2 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) fresh ground nutmeg
Zest of 1 lemon
Assembly:
1 egg, for egg wash
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling
To make the pie crust, in a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and toss to coat the butter. Dump entire contents of the bowl out onto a well-floured surface. With a well-floured rolling pin, roll the mixture together, flattening the butter into the flour. Use a bench scraper to bring the mixture back together again as needed. When the butter is in long sheets and evenly distributed through the flour, return the mixture to the bowl and create a well in the center.
Add the buttermilk into the well and use your fingers or a wooden spoon to combine. Add more buttermilk a tablespoon at a time, if necessary, but the mixture should be a little on the dry side. Dump the contents back onto your floured surface and divide into 6 disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for one hour or overnight.
To make the galettes, preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
Combine the sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg and lemon zest in a bowl. Add the blueberries and toss to coat. Roll out each disk of pie dough into an 8-10 inch circle. It doesn’t need to be exact or even. Spoon 1/6 of the blueberry mixture into the center of each disk and fold the dough up and over the filling. Brush with the dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with the sanding sugar.
Place the galettes on the prepared sheet pans and bake until crust is golden and the filling is bubbling, about 30-35 minutes, rotating the sheet pans halfway through.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Store galettes in the fridge for up to 3-4 days
Recipe from Completely Delicious, https://www.
(To save time, I make the crust in a food processor, and you can make it several days ahead, to help save time on the day of the party, and they look so fancy, but they are soooo easy!)
I love Charcuterie Boards if you can’t tell!
I love getting my cheeses from our local cheese maker Rockhill Creamery, I also love cheeses from Trader Joe’s.
Arugula, Pear and Goat Cheese Salad with a Pomegranate Vinaigrette
Vinaigrette
1 large shallot, halved and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
2 tablespoons sherry or apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepepr
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
For the salad
4 cups arugula, lightly packed
4 cups romaine, torn into bite-sized pieces
2 ripe pears, cored and cut into 1/2″ cubes
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
3 ounces fresh goat cheese or feta, crumbled
1/4 cup pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped
In a small bowl combine the shallot, pomegranate molasses, vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk until the salt is dissolved. Whisk in the olive oil and let vinaigrette stand at room temperature until salad is assembled. Combine the arugula, romaine, pears and half of the pomegranate seeds in a large bowl. Crumble half of the goat cheese over the ingredients in the bowl (this works best if the cheese is very cold). Whisk the vinaigrette until uniform and add all but 2 tablespoons of it to the bowl. Gently toss the salad with your hands or salad tongs, coating the ingredients well with the vinaigrette. If the salad seems dry, add the vinaigrette in small increments until it is dressed to your liking. Crumble the remaining cheese over the salad and sprinkle the remaining pomegranate seeds and the pistachios over the top. Serve immediately.
Recipe from Food52 https://food52.com/recipes/
Florist/Host
Amber Reverie
Amber Reverie Floral and Event Design
http://amberreverie.com
IG: @amberreverie
Menus
Annie Mertlich
Wildfield Paper Co.
https://www.wildfieldpaperco.
IG: @wildfieldpaperco
Location:
Ember SLC
http://emberslc.com
IG: @emberslc
Plates and Flatware:
West Elm
https://www.westelm.com
IG: @westelm
Napkins:
Sur La Tab
https://www.surlatable.com
IG: @surlatable
Table Runner:
Silk and Willow
https://www.silkandwillow.com
@silkandwillow
