DINNER IS SERVED.

You are cordially invited to [the recap of] our Four-Course Seasonal Dinner Project. Presented to you by that team below. Hope you’re hungry.

Well, after weeks of preparation, we pulled it off. A seasonal, farm-to-table dinner for 50 conceptualized and tested without any instructions or direction. It all started with a brainstorm session. We had to agree on a theme for the dinner, as well as what all four courses could potentially be. We narrowed down to our favorites, and dove into recipe development and testing for each dish. A New American/Farm-to-Table theme won by one vote, so the planning began.

Ultimately, we landed on a Smoked Carrot with Butter Bean and Mustard Purée, that Maddie and Jessica aced.

Tom and Ilana took on a Brussels Sprouts Salad with Shitake Bacon, Purple Cabbage, Pickled Red Onion, Roasted Pear, and Apple Cider and a Spicy Crispy Cauliflower with Lemon Jam appetizer inspired by an app I had while trailing at Loring Place. The flavors were so complex, yet perfectly complementary. It turned out beautifully.

Josiah, Janine, and I worked on the entree: Farro, Mushroom, Kale and Tempeh Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash with Herb Oil and Crispy Sage.

Dessert by Luiza and Isabel was phenomenal. They made the best gluten-free and vegan brownie I’ve ever had in my life topped with peanut butter banana “nice” cream, pecan brittle, and banana flambé. Wow. Just wow.

All of the dishes and all of our classmates worked so well together. This was the most people we’ve had to serve so far, and everything went quite smoothly given that it was our largest dinner party to date.

Once the dinner project came to a close, we jumped right into our next lesson: raw food. I will admit, I wasn’t super stoked about this lesson, because I had some judgements around the raw food diet in my head. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the dishes we whipped up.

I made this cheery enzymatic pineapple-mango salad with ginger-lime marinade topped with a cashew cream that was sweetened with raw honey. Y’all, if you’re not putting some fresh ginger juice in your fruit salad, you are sorely missing out.

Other raw recipes included these Chocolate Date Truffles…

Zucchini Pappardelle with Pesto…

Massaged Kale Salad…

Plus these raw Jicama Nachos with Walnut Chorizo, Guac, and Vegan Sour Cream. This one blew me away.

And with that, we are closing in on our final two weeks of class. I’m not freaking out, you’re freaking out. Hopefully the next time we talk I can fill you in on my externship plans! I have a few exciting opportunities in the works :)

But for now, go cook something!

xx,

J