We choose a simple culinary theme for Father's Day so all the dads in our group could enjoy the day with their families and not have to worry about cooking. We had a huge group and an abundant array of cheese, charcuterie and accompaniments. I didn't expect anything homemade, but was pleasantly surprised by Kai's cured salmon, Holli's ricotta and hummus, and mom's focaccia. I made chutney.
Kai cured his salmon with sugar, salt and vodka and served it with toast points, horseradish sauce, capers and red onion. Holli's homemade ricotta was accompanied by sliced baguette, succulent peaches, gorgeous figs, and honey. She paired her hummus with lavash bread, lightly toasted tableside with her culinary torch. Mom's focaccia featured local strawberries, caramelized onions with balsamic vinegar and maple syrup, basil, and fleur de sel, accompanied by goat cheese
(I will be dedicating a separate blog post to this fabulous focaccia).
I've always wanted to try Ina Garten's
Cheddar & Chutney on Brioche from
The Barefoot Contessa cookbook. She uses Major Grey's Chutney, but I opted for homemade
Major Grey's Chutney from Saveur magazine. The lengthy list of ingredients includes mango, onion, sugar, ginger, raisins, apple cider vinegar, garlic, lemon juice and spices, all simmered for a few hours until reduced and thickened.
In addition to the above, we had various cheeses, olives, fruit, pâté, salad, crackers and bread, Champagne and wine. It was a gorgeous and sunny evening, the park was jam-packed, and the music by BETAMAXX, a high energy 80's tribute band, had everyone on their feet.
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| Ultimate picnic fare |
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| Kai's Cured Salmon |
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| Holli's Ricotta |
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| Drizzle of honey |
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| Veuve Clicquot - no glass required |
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| Mom's Strawberry Focaccia with Maple Balsamic Onions |
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| Ashley & Max |
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| Holli's Hummus |
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| Toasting the lavash |
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| Les Trois Petits Cochon Mousse Truffee |
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| Aged Irish Cheddar, Chutney & Broiche |
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| Bread & Honey |
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| Nina's lovely fruit and cheese platter |
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| More bread and honey with extra bread under the chin! |
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| Pammy's Sini Fulvi Sottocenere w/ Truffles |
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| Baby Brie |
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| Salad, bread and another beautiful platter |
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| Sparks & Jackie |
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| Betamaxx lead vocalist Breanne Arrigo |
We're super excited about next week's U2 tribute band - Zoo2! We had fun with our Rolling Stones culinary theme but went a different angle on this one. We considered Irish food or things that grow on trees (Joshua Tree) and then decided on requiring the name of the dish to contain the letter U. This morning, Holli and I were able to come up with too many dishes and decided to make it a bit more challenging - the name of the dish must contain two letter Us - and that goes better with U2...
Cheers!
Another great post! This was a lovely low-key picnic... until the music began! Even though the menu was a bit more simple than our usual fare, the variety of tastes was just as exciting. 'Looking forward to next week's culinary challenge - a dish with 2 'u's - but wish I would have saved my hummus for then ;-)
ReplyDeleteWow! We missed a great evening ... Looks like Carolyn hung another star on the jacaranda with her focaccia - can't wait to see the blog post on that one! - and Holli's ricotta and Kai's salmon ... all this drool wasted on photos!
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