A Summer Outing Feast

July 20, 2019

I always love entertaining at home - especially when I can add a special theme to the menu.

For our company summer outing, I planned lots of fun and delicious Mexican dishes - tacos, quesadillas, tostadas, grilled corn from Mike's Organic, and of course chips, guacamole, and a glossary of flavorful salsas. All these foods were prepared by Chef Aron Cutuc and his hardworking team. If you follow my Instagram page @marthastewart48, you may have already seen some of the delectable bites we enjoyed. I also invited Pizza Luca New York to bake their mouthwatering pizzas from one of their iconic pizza trucks. For drinks, we served selections from Martha Stewart Wine Co., sangria, pomegranate tea with our favorite POM Wonderful concentrate, lemonade, frozen margaritas with Milagro Tequila, and Frose from the Kelvin Slush Co. Finally, our desserts included a variety of homemade cookies and fruit popsicles using berries picked fresh from my gardens. It was a perfect summer feast for all.

Here are more photos from our gathering at Cantitoe Corners.

: Here I am at my new Arteflame Classic grill cooking meat for our summer outing. I love this grill – it’s made of half-inch carbon steel and corten “weathering” steel with a cooktop that heats from the center out. As a finishing touch, Arteflame carved out my name on the top. https://arteflame.com/

: After our scavenger hunt, everyone gathered on my driveway outside my Winter House for our big feast. Here’s Marquee Brands Chief Operating Officer Cory Baker. (Photo by Paytn Leigh)

: Not far behind – Managing Director for Neuberger Berman Zachary Sigel, its Principal David Zolot, and Marquee Brands President Michael DeVirgilio. (Photo by Paytn Leigh)

: We used a palette of light green and blue enamelware and coordinating cloth napkins. For centerpieces, we placed pots of Chinese money plants, Pilea peperomioides, that guests could take home at the end of the day. (Photo by Paytn Leigh)

: Here are Emily Foster and Rebecca Szymczak on the way to their table. (Photo by Paytn Leigh)

: Everyone loves the frozen rose, “Frose” from Kelvin Slush Co. It’s made with Kelvin Frose Slush mix, our own Martha Stewart Wine Co. Racine, and smooth Belvedere vodka. https://kelvinslush.com/

: Greta Anthony, Susanne Ruppert, Kim Dumer and Kim Miller-Olko stopped for a quick snapshot on my terrace parterre.

: Within minutes, there was a long line to our buffet.

: Here’s the first bowl of guacamole – with just the right mix of avocado, tomatoes, onion, and cilantro. (Photo by Paytn Leigh)

: And of course, lots of chips to go around.

: Our executive chef du jour – Aron Cutuc, who has helped me cook many meals at Bedford, Skylands and Lily Pond, my home in East Hampton.

: The pork for our tacos al Pastor cooked perfectly on the Arteflame grill. The marinated pork was stacked with slices of pineapple for added flavor and then cooked until just charred on the outside. (Photo by Paytn Leigh)

: On another grill, flank steaks and chicken for more tacos.

: And at this station, Simone makes one of many trays of tacos and tostadas. (Photo by Paytn Leigh)

: I also invited Pizza Luca to the party. This is the front of the truck – so charming. Chef Dean Medico, the pizzaiolo, owns the business with his wife. Luca is their young son. http://pizzaluca.com (Photo by Paytn Leigh)

: Here is Chef Dean putting a pie into the oven.

: This is the Margherita pizza made with San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh basil, and Sicilian sea salt.

: And here is the Bianca with mozzarella di bufala, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh basil, and Sicilian sea salt.

: Back at the Arteflame – grilled seafood for tacos. We had salmon and shrimp.

: And here’s Rene cooking the cactus paddles, nopales, for our tostadas pico de Gallo.

: Look at the fresh and delicious pico de Gallo.

: All the tostadas and tacos were served on large wooden boards for everyone to pick – they all went so quickly.

: We had lots of salsas to go around – Verde, Roja, spicy mayonnaise, pickled onion pickled cabbage, micro cilantro, sliced Serrano, and sliced radish.

: And the micro cilantro mix – picked from my gardens.

: Amanda Favorite went back for seconds, maybe even thirds. The tacos were so delicious.

: Our corn came from Mike’s Organic in nearby Stamford, Connecticut – a small delivery service and warehouse shop that focuses on providing healthy and delicious foods its clients. Owner, Mike Geller, and his team partners with farmers, fishermen, artisans, and producers, personally picks up the products and delivers them to hundreds of customers each week. https://mikesorganicdelivery.com/

: For our luncheon, we cooked them Mexican style with mayonnaise, cotija cheese and the Mexican condiment Tajin, mostly consisting of chile peppers, lime, and salt.

: Thomas Joseph and Jerry Haggerty look very happy with the meal and refreshments. And congratulations to Thomas and his team for winning the scavenger hunt. The prize – dinner with me in New York City.

: Erin Maguire and Lindsey Groginskey relaxed in the shade on my terrace. The day hit a high of 91-degrees Fahrenheit.

: Soon after lunch, we were hit with a few minutes of rain – but not enough to dampen anyone’s spirits. Unfortunately, the brief shower didn’t do much to drop the day’s temperatures.

: For dessert – lots of cookies!

: Milk chocolate cookies were placed in the center of every board. On this board, we also served banana walnut chocolate chunk cookies.

: And here, old fashioned sugar cookies mixed in with more milk chocolate cookies.

: A big highlight – many, many delicious popsicles. We made raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, yogurt, and coconut flavored fruit pops – and many of the berries were picked right here at the farm!