I love tomatoes, and I wanted to create a garden party luncheon with a tomato-centric menu. Valerie Rice of Eat, Drink, Garden loved the concept and she created this simple menu featuring seasonal ingredients picked from her own garden.
For the table setting, this simple striped khaki linen from Porch was perfect for this casual lunch in the garden. I used potted plants as seating cards and also as a favor for guests to take home to their own gardens.
For our first course we served a simple green gazpacho for this luncheon. To make it you’ll need:
-2 lb. green zebra tomatoes
– 1 lb. lemon or persian cucumbers
– 2 lb. padron peppers
– 1 clove garlic (optional)
– 1 tbsp + 1 tsp lime juice
– 2 tsp salt
Slice peppers and remove all seeds. Rough chop tomatoes. Peel cucumbers and rough chop. Place peppers, tomatoes, cucumber in a blender along with garlic, lime and salt and blend. Strain soup through a fine mesh strainer and discard. Refrigerate overnight. Garnish with diced lemon cucumber, sun gold cherry tomatoes and chives.
For the main course, wild salmon was wrapped and roasted in fig leaves. The fig leaves gives a coconut type aroma to the salmon. To make the salmon you’ll need:
– 4.5 oz fillets of wild salmon
– 4 fig leaves, washed and stems removed
– 1 tbsp melted butter
– 1 tsp olive oil
– salt and pepper to taste
Combine the butter and olive oil and paint fish with mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Lay fillets skin side down on the fig leaf and then wrap together with butcher’s twine. Place on a cookie sheet and bake in an oven at 400 degrees.
To finish the meal, Valerie served a Fig Fool with Lavender Honey. To make it you’ll need:
– 1 cup heavy cream
– 1 pinch sea salt
– 2 tsp confectioners sugar
– 1 tsp vanilla
-1/4 cup fromage blanc
– fresh figs
-sweet spanish flatbread or vanilla cookie
-lavender or orange blossom honey
Whip the cream with salt and combine until it forms soft peaks. Add sugar and vanilla. Fold in fromage blanc and refrigerate until ready to serve. Plate figs and dollop cream mixture, garnish with cookie or flatbread and then drizzle honey to finish.
Thanks Valerie for the great recipes and I hope you were inspired to plan your own garden to party luncheon!
Photographer: Jess Wilcox for Flutter Magazine
Styling & Concept: Kelly Oshiro
Food & Cocktail: Valerie Rice of Eat, Drink, Garden
Props: Porch, Hudson Grace
Tables: The Tent Merchant
Paper goods: Design House of Moira
