A Colorful, Flavorful Mirepoix

 I had to make vegetable stock for a vegetable barley soup at work. A good 5 gallons of soup. A good 5 gallons of vegetable stock requires a good amount of mirepoix to sit on the stove top simmering in seasoned waters for a good hour or more. And to draw on a past post or two the mirepoix is an essential in the stock/soup making bizz. It's the aromatic addition to the soup, the stock, the sauce even. It's half onions, one quarter celery, one quarter carrot. You "sweat" the mirepoix in the pot with a lil oil and seasoning (salt and pepper), sweat meaning you saute it until it unlocks those tasty smells and appears a tad translucent. After you sweat the mirepoix you add the water and then the herbs and seasons: parsley, thyme, peppercorn, salt. You let that big pot simmer for an hour and then you strain the mirepoix out and whats left is your broth! You can then add fresh vegetables to the vegetable broth and go from there. See photos below...

Check out the rainbow carrots. They are a great addition to a plate for color. Typically not used in mirepoix because there is no visual interaction the customer and the mirepoix from a stock. We used rainbow carrots because we had some leftover from a dinner. I love using what we have. It feels right and it feels more creative. 

Some Local Flave

So we unearthed these two gems recently. Two awesome lil microbreweries, within 2.5 miles of the house. It was a reminder to me, to keep it local. The feeling of community was strong. We felt a part of something bigger than us whilst drinking there. Like these two delicious breweries were taking a risk, going up against the giants and all of us there supporting them, drinking their beer knew something special that the world did not, yet.
So get out there locally, and taste the flavor of those small restaurants, tiny breweries and petite cafes. Love and hard work never tasted better!

MMMmmeditteranean

Probably some of the prettiest, most delicious, simple food I have had eating out in this city in a long time. I love being able to see most of the ingredients. We commented while eating that the food felt alive and prepared with love. Like it was just washed, cut, mixed, seasoned and decoratively arranged on the plate.
To a healthy, delicious and uber satisfying meal plus a great deal on a bottle of Cabernet!

More Works Snaps...

Some shots from behind the scenes, plating up 350 salads and desserts in a hallway...

We peeled beets forever and ever. It was probably in the end of the day the most expensive thing on the menu. From cutting to washing to seasoning and roasting to peeling to slicing about 1400 halves were needed, and some of those beets were TINY. It really makes you think about the ingredients on your plates...

 

 

Mother's Day Brunch Snap...

 

CHA CHA CHA CHIA!!!!! (and a tasty dessert...)

I made some homemade dark chocolate whip cream. Simply, by beating whipping cream and folding in melted dark chocolate is how it is done. The only downside to the chocolate whip cream is the cold cream and the warm melted chocolate don't fully blend, leaving the dessert streaky and chippy. I topped a large dollop of dark chocolate whip cream with a handful of fresh blackberries. And finished the tasty light dessert off with a teaspoon of Chia seeds. The Chia seed is relatively new to my world. It can be added to smoothies, salads, yogurt and in this case my whip creamy dessert. It blended in wonderfully with the crunch of the blackberry seed. The benefit to the tasty seed is that it's chock full of fiber, omegas and protein! Sorry for the messy photo... I was hungry and wanted to chow down on my dessert!

These Lil Guys?!

Whipped Smoked Salmon... in these lil guys!

The shells are not edible or anything just a fun lil vessel to hold food. The guests ate them with tiny lil spoons aside a green salad. They stood on a bed of pink sea salt.

Tea Sandwiches

Tea Sandwiches

Don't forget about the tea sandwich... how simple, how delicious and how perhaps, ceremonial tea sandwiches can be. Make them with a bit more funk and flare at your next get together? We did a traditional tea party at work the other week. Cucumber and Watercress, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche, and Apricot Peanut butter on the plate below.