Business gatherings are always more enjoyable when accompanied by a delicious meal.
Last week following a busy morning at my farm, I hosted a luncheon for a group of nine guests. Chef Molly Wenk, who has worked with me on many television and video food productions, and I, collaborated on a wonderful menu that included endive and radicchio salad with blood orange and a citrus vinaigrette dressing, poached asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, broiled salmon with a honey mustard glaze served with shallot confit, deviled eggs, and for dessert - a variety of homemade cookies to eat right away or take home. Many of the recipes are from my 100th book New York Times Best Seller, MARTHA, THE COOKBOOK: Lessons and Stories from My Kitchen.
Enjoy these photos.
Oftentimes when I host small, casual business luncheons at my farm it is done buffet style, meaning my guests serve themselves from a variety of dishes set out in my servery.
And then we all gather and eat at my long kitchen counter decorated with plants or seasonal flowers.
This lunch was so refreshing. I served this wonderful endive and radicchio salad with slices of blood oranges and drizzled with a citrus vinaigrette. Both endive and radicchio are part of the chicory family. Endive has a mild, slightly bitter flavor, while radicchio tastes more bold and peppery – they are great together.
Molly dresses the salad right before guests begin serving themselves so it retains its best texture and flavor.
Asparagus is available year-round, but from now through May, it’s in peak season. These are poached asparagus stalks. Hollandaise is offered as a sauce when plating.
I also served these delicious deviled eggs. The recipe for mine is in my 100th book, MARTHA, THE COOKBOOK. I hope you have a copy.
Deviled eggs can be served with a variety of toppings, such as sprigs of dill, tarragon, or chives and sprinkled with paprika. And use small to medium sized eggs, which are the perfect mouthful.
I love serving salmon with a glaze of honey-mustard. The recipe is also in my book. I broil the salmon – it only takes about seven to nine minutes depending on the size of the fillets.
This salmon was served with shallot confit, which is shallots submerged in olive oil and then slow-cooked until soft and translucent.
At most of my luncheons, I serve this pomegranate juice made with pomegranate concentrate, lemon, and slices of fresh citrus. I love the pomegranate juice from our friends at POM Wonderful.
Everyone’s plate was full, maybe even more than once.
Thanks, Molly. Everything was so delicious.
Two cookies from my book that are always devoured are my daughter Alexis’s Chocolate Chip Cookes and my Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies. Both cookie recipes are also in my book.
Brown butter enhances the texture and flavor of these cookies. Topping them with sanding sugar gives them a nice finish.
My daughter Alexis developed these cookies years ago, and they continue to be a huge favorite at parties – big, crispy, and filled with chips. My guests ate them after lunch and then brought some for the ride home too.
This is another cookie Molly made for the lunch – oatmeal, coconut, and cherry cookies.
And if you haven’t already, please get a copy of my 100th book. I am certain you will read it cover to cover and want to make every recipe.
After weeks of hard work, it's so great to finally see a project come to fruition - especially when it involves the restoration of my pergola.
Soon after moving to my farm, I built a winding 300-foot pergola along one side of a carriage road leading to my home. It was made using wooden beams supported by antique granite posts. After more than 20-years, it was time to replace the timeworn wood with new cedar beams and rafters. I designed the tail pattern and carpentry master Dmitri Logvinski of Logvinski Construction LLC went to work. Dmitri measured, cut, and meticulously checked every angle to ensure the pieces were installed to perfection. He also corrected any posts that had shifted, even slightly, over the years. It was an arduous task, but it is now complete and looks wonderful.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Earlier this month, all the wooden lintel, or horizontal, support beams and rafters were removed from the pergola, leaving just these antique granite posts.
If you follow this blog regularly, the beams and rafters were already made and painted my signature “Bedford Gray.” They were all transported to the pergola, so work could begin.
Each beam is selected carefully and measured. It must reach from the center of one post to the center of the next.
Because the distance between the posts is different along the entire space, Dmitri makes a slight adjustment to make sure the beams fit perfectly.
This image shows the cut – it is very small, but makes a big difference.
Next, Dmitri uses a homemade template to cut out a center notch using a router. A router is a handheld power tool designed to hollow out areas in wood or other hard materials.
This notched groove will help to secure the long screws at the top of each post.
Dmitri paints the end of the wood where he cut. It will not be seen, but the wood will be protected more from the elements in years to come.
Dmitri checks the post. Many of them have moved over the years. Each one is measured and re-straightened and leveled.
Here is Dmitri checking how straight it is – even the smallest tilt could alter the way the beams and rafters are positioned.
This post needs a bit of a push to get it level.
The beam is then hand lifted and positioned on the post. These cedar support beams are very strong and sturdy, weather-proof and fine-grained, making it popular to use for outdoor building projects. The long screw in the notch will help keep the beam from moving.
Dmitri screws the beams together from the bottom which helps to prevent water damage to the hole and the surrounding wood.
Here are two beams secured on a post.
Sometimes, because the granite posts are not level on top, slight cuts are made to make the wooden pieces completely level. Dmitri shaves a bit off…
… and again, paints over it with primer and stain.
Next are the horizontal rafters. I conceived and designed the rafter tail pattern.
Dmitri lifts one rafter up and selects the smoother side to face toward the carriage road, so guests see the best view.
Because the pergola is curved, each rafter is installed at a slightly different angle. Dmitri is a very talented and skilled craftsman. He checks and rechecks every measurement multiple times to ensure the angles are correct.
Here he is moving this rafter just an inch over. Dmitri says he enjoys working with angles. In fact, his mother was an engineer and taught him a lot about geometry at an early age. It became his favorite subject, and the prtractor his favorite tool.
Every rafter is level and perfectly aligned.
Here is a view from under the pergola rafters. My previous pergola was built with horizontal supports and then notched perpendicular rafters. This design is much better and will last longer.
This shows one of the more curved sections. It looks so beautiful and artistic.
And here I am with Dmitri. I’m so pleased with how it looks and can’t wait to take more photos when the gardens are in full bloom. Thanks Dmitri!!!
Here at my farm, my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew are working hard in the vegetable garden - planting some of the season's first crops, removing old roots and other debris, and reinforcing the raised garden beds.
I built my half-acre vegetable garden in the spring of 2023. I designed it to have about 50 raised garden beds of varying sizes and created a very precise map showing exactly how big each bed would be. It's now two years old, and I'm so pleased with how well it has done. I've grown so many wonderful and delicious vegetables for my family. To keep it looking and performing its best, it's important to maintain the space and the beds. Recently, I noticed the white oak wooden frames starting to show some wear, but instead of replacing entire boxes, I reinforced them, making them much stronger and more appealing.
Here are photos, enjoy.
I can’t wait until my vegetable garden is once again filled with delicious produce. It’s always such a joy to walk the few steps from my Winter House and pick fresh, organic vegetables.
I work with my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, to plan what crop will be planted in what box. We rotate the crops every year and plant in succession, so there is always something wonderful to harvest.
All the garden beds are made with strong white oak, but over the seasons with so much soil amending, watering, and regular weathering, some of the raised bed frames began to wear. This side of a bed is warping.
And on this bed, some of the wooden boards are weakened and becoming misaligned. Replacing all of the beds would have been time consuming and costly, but it was important to repair the beds for the new growing season, so a plan was devised to reinforce the existing frames.
I ordered some wood from Mauricio Guevara, owner of New England Lumber Inc., in Mount Kisco, New York and Westport, Connecticut.
This is also naturally straight-grained white oak.
Pete measures each bed precisely. Remember the old adage, “measure twice, cut once.”
Fernando helps to deliver the wood to the saw right on site. I always encourage my crew to bring all the right tools for the right job.
Here’s Pete cutting the boards carefully and accurately.
Each board is placed by the bed to ensure the sizes are perfect. Eight pieces are needed for each bed.
Pete and Fernando clamp the new wooden board pieces to the existing frame.
Here, they also clamp one side to the other to help align them properly if needed.
Pete uses a hammer to level the top new piece with the existing piece.
A spare piece of wood helps Pete check and straighten the bottom.
Then Pete makes a pilot hole for the screw. Pilot holes help prevent splitting and allow for easier and less forceful screwing.
Fernando follows with three-inch screws in the same pilot holes.
From above, the frame is bolstered on all sides.
Next, Pete screws boards along the top to add strength and durability to perpendicular boards.
And here is what it looks like once the supporting pieces are all secured.
This is my long asparagus bed. The newly reinforced sides are now much stronger and perfectly straight. The special caps are used to block sunlight from the growing spears to make white asparagus.
These beds are looking so much better already and the job will be done in time for transplanting. I hope this inspires you to repair and reinforce your raised garden beds if needed. Enjoy the gardening weekend!
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