Italian Feast For 50

There is a LOT of catching up I need to do....For starters, I recently turned 26 and made a giant vegetarian feast for my close friends but it didn't seem right to publish that post without paying tribute to my 25th rotation around the sun when I had a big, fat, Italian-style birthday party.  I created a menu weeks in advance and started prepping over 7 days out. It was the largest cooking prodcution I've ever done and required extensive advance planning. I had about 45 RSVP's but I really struggle with knowing how much food to prepare for large groups and I never want people to leave hungry. So I probably cooked enough for 80-100 people. We had leftovers for a solid week following my birthday. I invited people over just to help eat the leftovers!

Mini asparagus and mushroom frittatas. 

My Grandma's beautiful Native American painting with a table full of 

homemade bread and local cheese.

Antipasta California style: Mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and avocado.

Faro salad with marinated peppers and zucchini.

The display.

Marinated & roasted eggplant salad with olives, bread chunks and pecorino cheese.

Marinated roasted mushrooms

Green bean salad with roasted walnuts

Josh Tal enjoying (I hope!)

Meat tray

Dessert buffet! Desserts provided by Erica, Bernardo, Nichole and my Mom :)

Strawberry Picking, Eatwell Farm, Dehydrated Strawberries

We belong to Eatwell's CSA and we were pretty excited to receive info on Eatwell's Strawberry Days! My good friends Hannah, Isy & Emma joined Nichole & I for a day of strawberry picking in the sun. Eatwell has two large strawberry crops, one was smaller strawberries from last year's crop and the other was larger, brighter strawberries from this year's crop. We nearly filled our baskets on the new strawberries before walking across the field to the small strawberries where we quickly discovered that the small strawberries from the previous year were much sweeter and juicer! Almost as though the strawberry flavor was more concentrated in the smaller berry, so we double stocked up! We froze some, made some strawberries pies, and dehydrated a bunch which were delicious!

Isy

 Nichole

 2 legged strawberry

Isy & Emma

 A nice poem about friendship at a thrift store in downtown Petaluma:

 It says: "Friendship is the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with the person having neither to weigh thought nor measure words, but pouring all right out just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful friendly hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of comfort, blow the rest away"

 With all the strawberries we froze some, made some mini strawberry mint pies (above) and dehydrated a whole of strawberries (below).

 Dehydrated Strawberries
Slice the strawberries as evenly as you can, and place on the dehydrator. Let it be for 6-8 hours at 135 degrees. Store them in an airtight container and try to not eat them all at once. enjoy as you wish!

Go pick your berries with your friends and be fearless...

BISON MEATBALL SUB SALE

Pastured raised bison turned into meatballs with almond flour, onions, olive oil, garlic a ton of herbs and a lot of hands on word. Delicious homemade sourdough bread rolls made by my roommate Nichole. A very slow tomato sauce with garlic and basil and fresh plum tomatoes and viola! Plate after plate after plate of the subs above quite honestly made with our blood, sweat and tears....we made approximately 100.
Nichole and I made a few rookie mistakes preparing for our Bison Meatball Stoop Sub Sale such as not starting the prep until 10:00 pm the evening prior! Our sub sale was on a Sunday starting at 11:00 am as folks started heading to the Giant's game. On Saturday we had decided to go strawberry picking, then out for dinner in Petaluma - so we came home late and amped up. However we were up making meatballs, sauce, rolls, and paper baskets until 4:00 AM! It felt a little like we were on an episode of 'Restaurant Impossible' except with much less of a pay out...That said, the experience was fun and definitely interesting!  At about 7:00 am the day of, I went out to put up some gorilla marketing signs on the posts around the Giant's stadium:

 To no one's surprise, Nichole's bread rolls were delicious and each one perfect looking. At first we had left the bread out too long to rise and so it was too soft to form into rolls. Nichole came in for emergency repair and combined the overly soft dough with some new dough. Here is a pic of the ever-expanding dough taking over our kitchen

After some worry and even talk about running to Safeway to buy bread rolls (gasp!) we had a tray ready to go into the over around 1:00am and as we're putting them in the oven - we drop the tray and the rolls get stuck on the bottom of the oven! Nichole comes to the rescue again. Dough rolls are brought back to life and go in the oven looking like this...

 and come out looking gorgeous like this!

For the meatballs, I purchased 12 pounds of bison striploin cut from Rocky Mountain Natural Meats which is located in Denver, CO. Pre-grinder...

post-grinder...

Raw rolled meatballs...

...fried with a little olive oil

This is how our set up looked...we had an old bedside table with a picnic table cover, a couple plates of the bison meatball sub, a tip jar that said 'Tips for Chicks', a plate of homemade mini strawberry mint pies, and our super cool chalkboard with our menu/ingredients. 

Our first customer! A Giant's fan / U.S. Marine named Tay...

In summary, we made enough to sell about 100. We sold about 50, broke even on costs, had 50 meatball subs leftover but were too exhausted to stay awake and try to sell the remainder. The subs were delicious, we ate them for a solid few weeks after, they freeze remarkably - but I had enough bison for 2012. We were a little unsure of selling from our stoop, I think our location could have been better but we didn't want to piss of any of the nearby restaurants/food trucks, since this was under the radar. Would I do it again? Yes, but only if the whole day before I did everything so I could get to sleep before 4:00am. When I look at the pictures now, I think I'm ready to eat some bison once again :)

 Looks like a hurricane went through our kitchen huh? I'd say that's an accurate metaphor.

There is always that one  lingering customer....

Green Pasture's Restaurant in Austin, TX. Pure Deliciousness

We recently went to SXSW in Austin, Texas for our event The Lean Startup. The night before the big conference, my manager, Christen, took me for one of the best meals I've ever had...and richest meals! The restaurant, Green Pastures, is in an old Victorian home. Our waiter told us he had seen a ghost just before dinner....I won't lie, I was a little scared to walk alone to the restroom so I just stayed in the main dining area! We had a lovely waiter who ended up driving us home because its impossible to catch a taxi in Austin during SXSW! True southern hospitality:

The meal was spectacular. Each ingredient was thoughtfully incorporated for true sensory bliss. We did not hold back for this meal...

It all began with a little taster from the chef of ahi tuna on cucumber with a wasabi sauce. 

Appetizer 1:

The Mushroom Martini

Saute of Exotic Mushrooms with Garlic and Vermouth 1

This was rich, decadent, warming and truly celebrated the royal mushroom.

Appetizer 2:

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Stuffed Texas Quail
With Shiner Bock Glaze and Truffle Veal Glace

ahh....bacon....

Appetizer 3:

Toasted Brie Sandwich 
With Toasted Hazelnuts, Caramelized Onion Preserves and Balsamic-Fig Coulis

Gourmetified grilled cheese sandos....yes please!

First Course:

Avocado Salad
With Tomatoes, Texas Goat Cheese, White Truffle Oil and Hibiscus

This was so creamy and delicious!

Pallet cleanser of grapefruit sorbet....looks like a planet.

Fireplace...ghosts...atmosphere

For our main course, Christen ordered:

Salt and Pepper Poulet Rouge Chicken

Heritage Cou Nu Breed Chicken, Truffled Mashed Potato, Buttered Mushrooms, Sauteed Green Beans, Roasted Garlic, Rosemary and Natural Jus (I don't know what 'Jus' is either...)

and I ordered the Pecan Salmon

with Lobster Bread Pudding Honey Carrots, Candied Jalapenos & Herb Butter

The lobster bread pudding....HOLY COW!! or should I say HOLY LOBSTER!?

and for dessert....

Creme Brulee With Grand Marnier and Caramelized Sugar

Green Pastures Restaurant

http://greenpasturesrestaurant.com/

811 W Live Oak
Austin, TX 78704 

Tel: (512) 444-4747