A New Secret Table on the Books!

THE SECRET TABLE @ BIG RED SUN

Saturday August 27th at 7pm

560 Rose Avenue Venice CA 90291

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Appetizers:

Goat Cheese Crostini with Tomato & Orange Salsa

Salmon and Lime Cakes with Lime Dipping Sauce

*****

First Course:

Chilled Puree of Pea and Tarragon Soup with Crème Fraiche

*****

Second Course:

Pasta With Chilis, Lemon, Pancetta Lardon and Marscapone

*****

Third Course

Watermelon and Heirloom Tomato Salad with Feta, Mint and Reduced Balsamic

  

*****

Dessert:

Chocolate Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Whipped Cream and Fresh Mint

Wine & Bubbles

Coffee & Tea

Tariff: $110 per person

Seating is limited. Tickets can be purchased at Http://secretingredients.us. Click on the BUY NOW button and you will be directed to a secure site for payment. Enter the price of the ticket (s) you are purchasing. A confirmation email will be sent to you.

We'll see you around the table

SI & Big Red Sun Host a Grand Secret Table This Friday July 22nd

Secret Ingredients  

&  

Big Red Sun 

Invite you to The Secret Table,  

hosted by Big Red Sun 

Friday July 22nd @ 7pm 

The Big Red Sun - 560 Rose Avenue Venice CA 90291

MENU 

Bubbles on Arrival 

Spiced Roasted Chickpeas 

Traditional Antipasti: Prosciutto, Reggiano Parmiggiano, Herbed 

Olives and Roasted Peppers. 

Caesar Salad with Buttery Thyme Croutons 

Basil and Spinach Pesto, Puree of Butternut Squash and Bechamel 

Lasagne. 

Lemon Ricotta Poundcake 

with Whipped Cream and Fresh Berries 

Prosecco, wines and coffee 

$110.00 per person 

Seating is limited.  Tickets can be purchased at http://secretingredients.us.  Click on the BUY 

NOW button and you will be directed to a secure site for payment.  Enter the price of the 

ticket(s) you are purchasing.  A confirmation email will be sent to you. 

We’ll see you around the table. 

Beach to Biscotti

Last Sunday one of my clients who has a place on the beach threw a "Welcome Back to LA" cocktail party and I was so thrilled to cater.  Cocktail parties are fun and easy to enjoy because once all the food is prepped and presented, you can relax and enjoy the crowd.  And in this instance the view.  Summer usually means lots of parties on the beach in Malibu so my work is exponentially more enjoyable when I'm surrounded by surf, sand and sunshine.  Fortunately for me and my lovely host, Andrew, June gloom took what appears to be a permanent hiatuus and the sun shone spectacularly all day bathing our guests in a warm glow.

I was aided and abetted as usual by my zany cohort, Karin, who makes every job we work on together feel like an episode of  "I Love Lucy."  She's truly demented and brings out the best in me even when I'm feeling pressured and pinched. 

In addition to the standard fare of an abundant crudite which by the way morphed into containers of the best chopped salad the next day perfect for drizzling with olive oil and a little sea salt for a crunchy healthy snack, crostini bar with toppings, cheese platter, brandied chicken pate on toasts and some beyond fantastic guacamole, chips and manga salsa, I made dozens of homemade biscotti I'm becoming famous for...

The biscotti I make are studded with slivered almonds, orange cranberries and lemon zest and scented with almond extract.  They are laborious.  I will not mislead you but so worth the effort when you bite into a cookie that flavorful and a true dance of textures between the soft center and crunchy crisp edges.  Once the dough is prepared they are rolled into symmetrical logs and baked for forty minutes until they are golden brown.

Once they are removed from the oven they must cool for a good half hour before they can be sliced on the diagonal and returned to the oven for another fifteen minutes so they can achieve their drier texture. 

They do expand quite a bit so give them plenty of room on the cookie sheet.  And when it's time to cut  them on the diagoal, coax the knife along as you don't want them to fall apart and crumble under the pressure.  When all goes according to plan you'll get the perfect biscotti great for dipping in wine, milk or coffee. 

The day after the party I woke up and realized I had nary a single cookie, just a bite here and there and a crumb or two.  Friends showed up the night I made them and ate the dozen I spared for the kitchen.  And I guess at the party my lovely assistant and friend managed to divvy them up between she and my client and left me with lots of crudite.  So while I munched on chopped salad this week, Karin is enjoying biscotti on the beach in Tahoe.  Well at least my figure thanks her.

Cheers!

Lisa

Mediterranean Food of The Sun

I am always pleased and grateful that the number one influence on my palate and cooking are the flavors and ingredients of the Mediterranean.  Having lived overseas as a child on the Med and then returned again and again throughout my lifetime, it's no surprise that this style of cooking and subsequent dishes are what I consider comfort food.  Give me vine-ripened tomatoes, olives, garlic, olive oil, fresh basil and a goat or feta cheese and I can make you a week of dishes you won't recognize twice. 

Given this confidence factor I was a trace surprised when I sat down to come up with a menu for debut communal dinner at Big Red Sun on the 9th of July and had nothing. Bupkus.  Other than jamon and Manchego.  This most definitely wouldn't suffice. 

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=137b87228663d67c8b34c9575&id=aba75ab228&e=%5bUNIQID%5d click here for more information.  Since we're partnering with a Tequila company I wanted to make the food more Costa del Sol less Mexican.  We live in LA.  There are a lot of great Mexican restaurants and our dinners are meant to promote something more experiential so I went hunting for recipes that piqued my interest in preparing them and promised my guests a goreous dinner.

I was soon overwhelmed by the websites and the tactile stimulation one misses when online.  I wanted a great big beautiful cookbook replete with glossy photos to peruse that would point me in the right direction.  I didn't have the right one.  And then I remembered the box of cookbooks my mother had given which belonged to my beloved brother, David, who died in February.  For obvious reasons, I had not been able to look through the box yet as it broke my heart thinking about how much my brother loved to cook and what an inspired chef he was.  I decided today was the day and asked him for a little encouragement on the way.

What I found was a cookbook that is so perfect and rich with recipes and photos that I had to call my mom right away and explain, "David just saved my dinner."  The book in question is called "Mediterranean Food of The Sun" by Jacqueline Clark and Joanna Farrow published by Hermes House.  It's a big hardbound colorful extravaganza that showcases recipes from every region of the Mediterranean highlighting Middle Eastern and European dishes.  This has become my favorite cookbook and in so many ways completely refreshing and original in a day and age when cookbooks have become manuals for making the most quotidian recipes like mashed potatoes, sandwiches, and soups.  How many times do you need to see these i print? 

So with the highest recommendation possible and if you are a lover of all things Mediterranean I suggest you check out this beautiful book.   The bonus on my end is that I've got my brother in the kitchen again and over 500 pages of recipes to enjoy with him as I plan to make each and every one in homage to his memory. 

Cheers,

Lisa

Sunday Brunch

Last Sunday started out as a glorious morning replete with big fluffy white clouds and a sapphire sea roiling with white caps. And then an icy Nordic wind blew in making the deck less inviting than it looked.  I don't know if this was the cause of the communal intimacy that ensued but I'm sure that it contributed as we all stayed indoors and ate gathered around comfy sofas and chairs.  Or maybe it was Sunday morning in general and everyone was ready for a long lazy meal and chat with new friends.  No matter what the reason, I was overjoyed to watch my guests go back for seconds and thirds, nibble on Katie Lou's phenomenal cookies and baked goods while sipping bloodies and Mimosas and really get to know their fellow guests.  Afterward I had a thought that my parties were becoming less about food and more about people being able to connect with each other in a social forum that was as I always say, better than hanging out in a restaurant where the only thing you leave with is a receipt of the bill. 

One of the other asides to the day was the shop factor a few of my female guests were privy to... greeted by the ever delightful, cheery and fiercely comedic Karin Rogers, who is in the couture business, and noted their stunning ensembles, they were invited to check out a Chanel this and Prada that.  Off they went to Karin's stuido below where they tried on shoes and clothes and left with some fancy additions to their wardrobes. 

I was also so happy to see many of my friends attend this brunch as guests so by the end of the day they were gathered with my new "friends" around island while I washed dishes and told stories as aided and abetted by my sidekick, Karin.  This was truly less work and more entertaining.  I apologized at one point and said we were formerly a more serious business but had morped into a casual homey meet and greet for this one day only! 

Menu was simple and delicious: scrambled eggs atop turkey sausage rounds on muffins with sage and caramelized onion gravy (next time I will assemble on freshly baked biscuits); roasted asparagus with crisped prosciutto; roasted new potatoes, roasted beet and lentil salad with mire poix and goat cheese; smoked salmon with capers, Bermuda onion on rustic bread and creamy butter;  fresh fruit, cookies, muffins, breads.  Bloodies were the best.   I pureed ginger, garlic, carrots and celery in the cuisinart and added this to tomato juice.  Added salt, pepper, lime and lemon juice, worcestershire sauce and horseradish and it was a meal unto itself.  

I can't wait until the next brunch... and I do hope you'll join us!

My Protege

Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than watching a child develop an interest in food and cooking.  My humble beginnings in the kitchen were inspired by my uniquely perfect Jammies later called affectionaly by all of her grandchildren as Grammies. She was my father's mother, hailed from Texas and was not only the most amazing cook but her baked goods were singularly divine.  When I was around six I pulled my stepstool up to her side at the kitchen counter while she rolled out the flakiest pie crust and said, "teach me."  I still don't bake as well as she did but the rest is history and from that day forward I learned to cook from her. 

So it gives me great pleasure that my dear friend, Wendy Plumb's dautghter, Vienna, who at the tender age of four has fallen in love with cooking.  She's a very powerful little girl already and a great beauty with the kind of spunk that reminds me of me at her age.  Since I am always in the kitchen and often cooking for my extended family, the Plumbs, she has taken to showing up, maneuvering a barstool over to the kitchen island and insisting to help with dinner.  She has amazning hand-to-eye coordination and can deftly handle the tasks I give her.  She's a big lover of fresh basil and last Friday night kept pulling leaves from the fresh plant on the counter, shredding them into bits and walking around to each guest saying, "sprinkle, sprinkle."  So cute I almost cried.  She loves making vinaigrette at this point and is an expert at dipping one teeny finger into the dressing and sayiing, "Ummmm good."  She learned the word, "emulsify" recently and I actually believe she knows what it means! 

I told her mum she's going to be a phenomenal cook by the time she's seven.  It's going to be so much fun teaching her and bartering for kisses in exchange for time as my protege.  Vienna, this one's for you!

Love your Auntie Lisa! 

I Love Birthday Parties

I'm often asked to cater birthday parties and many times for friends.  When this happens I'm allowed the supreme pleasure of being both caterer and guest.    Last weekend was the ever more gorgeous Donna Livington's birthday and we gathered together in her chic, beautifully appointed and decorated Wilshire Blvd. highrise.  Donna's a decorator and it shows. 

Guests were limited to her closest gal pals and included many of my most favorite ladies. 

We dined on crostini topped with my amazing and easy cecca (cherry tomatoes are my secret ingredient, fresh basil, loads of garlic, great olive oil, sea salt, red pepper flakes and just a dash of red wine vinegar) and then sat down to Arugula Salad with shards of parmesan with my balsamic vinaigrette that everyone swears is the best dressing they have ever tasted (balsamic, olive oil, dijon mustard, sea salt and pepper -- swear to Pete that's it).  Salad was followed by Ahi Tuna and Salmon marinated in "Blazin' Asian Glaze" and the now practically quotidian Israeli Couscous studded with all our favorite ingredients.  I do have an extensive repertoire but what can I say... when my clients request their favorite dishes, I deliver. 

Cake decorations were picked fresh from my garden... the effect was entirely whimsical and fortunately no one was poisoned as a result.  

Happy Birthday Donna -- thanks for letting us serve you!