A Meeting and Luncheon at My Farm

October 10, 2017

I always enjoy entertaining at home.

Last week, the weather was sunny and unusually mild for this time of year - about 70-degrees Fahrenheit - perfect for an all day business meeting, garden tour and outdoor luncheon with members of our design team at my Bedford, New York farm. My friend, Chef Pierre Schaedelin, from PS Tailored Events, and I planned a menu for 20-guests, which included three delicious salads using greens from my garden, individual cheese soufflés made with five different cheeses, and homemade apple pies I baked earlier that morning. It was a productive meeting and a fantastic meal.

Enjoy these photos.

: We’ve had such a wonderful apple season this year – I was excited to make apple pie for dessert.

: We set the long tables on my terrace parterre overlooking my paddocks and stable.

: In my Winter House kitchen, sous chef, Aron, takes out a tray of hot biscuits from the oven.

: Cups and saucers are ready for cappuccino.

: Our morning buffet is ready on the kitchen counter – homemade biscuits, jam and applesauce.

: Everyone loved breakfast – there were absolutely no leftovers. I made fresh pink applesauce and guests mixed it with yogurt.

: We started our special meeting in my Brown Room. It was the perfect setting for a round table discussion.

: Meanwhile, Chef Pierre was in my Flower Room kitchen preparing the individual dishes for the souffles. He butters all the dishes, chills them, and then butters them again – it ensures the souffle will not stick as it puffs up.

: A soufflé is a baked egg-based dish which originated in early 18th century France. It is served as a savory main dish or sweetened as a dessert. These cheese souffles are made using five different cheeses – emmental, comte, gruyere, appenzeller, and beaufort.

: Other ingredients include egg yolks, butter, meringue powder and milk.

: Aron prepares the fingerling potatoes, which were grown right here at the farm.

: These potatoes were actually grown in bales of straw – I will share that blog later this week.

: Lettuce was washed for our salads. This beautiful green lettuce was also freshly picked from my garden.

: My dogs love sitting on the steps outside my kitchen. Here’s Peluche enjoying the morning breezes.

: Herb bread is prepared and ready for the oven.

: There is also a lovely plate of biscotti for my guests to enjoy.

: The souffles are brought into the Winter House kitchen and placed on the counter ready to go into the oven. When making any souffle, timing is crucial. “Souffles don`t wait for guests; guests must wait for the souffle.”

: Pierre puts them in the oven. They are then baked until they are puffed and golden brown on top.

: There were three different salads using arugula and lettuce from my garden.

: Each salad was dressed with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

: We also had an endive salad.

: Here is another beautiful display on my kitchen counter.

: The herb bread was toasted to perfection. The parsley used was from my garden – picked fresh the day before our luncheon.

: The potatoes were a big hit – and everyone loved hearing how they were grown in straw.

: Everyone filled their plates with delicious greens.

: Here is my plate – so beautiful.

: Kevin also had a very full plate.

: For our main course – these beautiful cheese souffles.

: Souffles need to be served immediately because the beautiful puff only lasts a couple of minutes.

: Pierre comes out to check on everyone’s lunch – everything is delicious, Pierre!

: And for dessert – homemade apple pie.

: Each piece of pie is served with a scoop of homemade blueberry sorbet – using berries grown right here at the farm.

: We also had baklava – a rich, sweet dessert pastry made of layers of filo filled with chopped nuts and sweetened and held together with syrup or honey. This was made in our test kitchen using my recipe from “Martha Bakes”. https://www.marthastewart.com/1103744/baklava