A Birthday Luncheon at My Farm

May 15, 2018

Spring is always a wonderful time to get together with good friends.

Over the weekend, I hosted a special birthday luncheon at my Bedford, New York farm for my dear friend, Memrie Lewis. Chef Pierre Schaedelin of PS Tailored Events and I planned a delicious feast - oysters Rockefeller, salad nicoise, and a decadent rhubarb meringue tart served with homemade sorbet and whipped cream. The weather was overcast and a bit drizzly at times, but it was a most delightful celebration for all.

Enjoy these photos.

: The lilac hedges at the farm are just beginning to fill with big, gorgeous and fragrant clusters. I picked some the morning of the party and placed them in glass vases. These flowers added the perfect decorations for our gathering.

: My friend, Memrie, loves the color blue, so my longtime housekeeper, Laura Acuna, set the most charming table with beautiful Wedgewood blue placemats and napkins from Sferra Fine Linens. https://www.sferra.com/

: Here is another stunning lilac arrangement. Lilacs, Syringa vulgaris, come in seven colors: violet, blue, lilac, pink, red, purple and white. The purple lilacs have the strongest scent compared to other colors.

: Meanwhile, in what I call the Flower Room, Pierre gathers all the ingredients for our salade nicoise.

: Pierre always prepares the mis en place first. Mise en place is a French culinary phrase meaning “putting in place.” It refers to the set up and arranging of the ingredients for the meal.

: Here, Pierre cooks the spinach for the salad. A giant bowl of beautiful greens was picked from my cold house just before the party – truly farm to table!

: Chef Pierre chars the red bell peppers. Doing this adds a smokey flavor to the salad. It is placed directly on the stove and rotated as it begins to blister and until the entire pepper is black.

: Once all the peppers are charred, they’re placed in a heat-proof mixing bowl and covered with plastic wrap. The skin loosen as the peppers steam.

: Pierre removes the skin from the pepper – it comes off very easily.

: Here are the peppers once most of the skin is removed.

: Pierre then uses a knife to clean off the rest of the charred skin and the seeds.

: Finally, the peppers are cut into pieces and returned to a bowl.

: We also served Oysters Rockefeller made with Copps Island oysters. Oysters Rockefeller consists of oysters on the half-shell that have been topped with a rich sauce of butter, parsley and other green herbs, and bread crumbs, then baked or broiled. http://www.coppsislandoysters.com/

: Here is the salade nicoise all plated for our guests in my kitchen.

: Salade niçoise originated in the French city of Nice. It is traditionally made of tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives, anchovies, and dressed with olive oil.

: Everyone’s plate was filled with fresh vegetables, many of which are from my gardens!

: We also served other salad alternatives including lettuce and radishes – also grown right here in my vegetable greenhouse.

: Here is our oysters Rockefeller plated with baked asparagus from my garden and asparagus soup – everything was so tasty.

: Pierre made some herbed toast as well – with herbs grown here at the farm. I always try to plan menus around what I have growing in the gardens. It makes me so happy to serve fresh, organic foods.

: Pierre made two rhubarb meringue tart pies and homemade rhubarb sorbet. They were made using a pate brisee crust and a sweet toasted meringue topping. The rhubarb from my garden is so delicious this season.