How to Host a Beautiful Galentine Luncheon

This lovely little luncheon is featured on Cottage Hill today! Amber Reverie and I hosted this little gathering with some local creatives and it was such a good time getting to know new people and eating good food in such a beautiful venue, Ember SLC was a new intimate location when we hosted it, they have so many cool spaces. Amber did the amazing florals, I just loved all of the details that she put together! Annie with Wildfield Paper Co, made the most stunning menus!

One of my favorite things is to bring together people and cook for them! I wish I could do it more often! Even just small dinners in our home, Cole and I’s schedules are hard to work around and not many people would want to start a dinner party at 9:30 pm! Maybe one day we will stop working at normal times of the day! And I dream of the day for us to have a beautiful dining room and yard so that we can host dinners more often.

Here are some of my favorite recipes! I hope you enjoy, let me know if you try them!

Best Utah Wedding Photographer

Tarragon Cream Crostini
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon
1 small garlic clove
sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, puree until smooth.

Recipe from Ecco La Cucina, by Gina Stipo. I got this cook book in Italy when I attended a cooking class in Siena, some of my favorite recipes are from this book! https://www.amazon.com/ecco-cucina-Gina-Stipo/dp/0615593658

Best Utah Wedding Photographer

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
1 large onion, chopped
4 tablespoons butter and olive oil combined
8 cups butternut squash
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2-1 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
sea salt

Split squash in half, coat the ends with olive oil and roast in the oven at 375 until soft. Once it cools scoop squash into a bowl. Sauté onion in butter in oil until soft and translucent, add roasted squash and sauté for a few minutes. Add a small amount of broth and continue to cook to meld flavors for at least 30 minutes, adding broth as necessary to keep from sticking or burning. Salt to test and add nutmeg.
Puree the mixture using an immersion blender. Return to heat adding enough broth to form a thick soup, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the cream, keep hot but do not boil.

Blueberry Galette
Ingredients:

For the Crust:

1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
2 1/2 cups (310 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon (10 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon (4 grams) salt
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk, cold

Filling:

1 pound (510 grams) fresh blueberries
1/3 cup (60 grams) sugar
2 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) fresh ground nutmeg
Zest of 1 lemon

Assembly:

1 egg, for egg wash
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

To make the pie crust, in a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and toss to coat the butter. Dump entire contents of the bowl out onto a well-floured surface. With a well-floured rolling pin, roll the mixture together, flattening the butter into the flour. Use a bench scraper to bring the mixture back together again as needed. When the butter is in long sheets and evenly distributed through the flour, return the mixture to the bowl and create a well in the center.
Add the buttermilk into the well and use your fingers or a wooden spoon to combine. Add more buttermilk a tablespoon at a time, if necessary, but the mixture should be a little on the dry side. Dump the contents back onto your floured surface and divide into 6 disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for one hour or overnight.
To make the galettes, preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
Combine the sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg and lemon zest in a bowl. Add the blueberries and toss to coat. Roll out each disk of pie dough into an 8-10 inch circle. It doesn’t need to be exact or even. Spoon 1/6 of the blueberry mixture into the center of each disk and fold the dough up and over the filling. Brush with the dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with the sanding sugar.
Place the galettes on the prepared sheet pans and bake until crust is golden and the filling is bubbling, about 30-35 minutes, rotating the sheet pans halfway through.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Store galettes in the fridge for up to 3-4 days

Recipe from Completely Delicious, https://www.completelydelicious.com/blueberry-galettes/
(To save time, I make the crust in a food processor, and you can make it several days ahead, to help save time on the day of the party, and they look so fancy, but they are soooo easy!)

Best Utah Wedding Photographer

I love Charcuterie Boards if you can’t tell!

I love getting my cheeses from our local cheese maker Rockhill Creamery, I also love cheeses from Trader Joe’s.
Best Utah Wedding Photographer

Flaky Butter Pear Tarts

Ingredient

For The Pastry Dough:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tablespoon Kosher salt

2 sticks unsalted butter kept very cold and cut into small chunks, 8oz

2 1/2 tablespoons iced water

For The Filling:

2 1/4 ounces unsalted butter softened

2 1/4 ounces sugar

1 large egg

6 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 vanilla pudding (You can buy it pre made or make your own, I make my own)

2 large ripe pears

2 tablespoons sugar for sprinkling on top

Glaze:

3 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter 6 four inch tart shells.

In a bowl combine the flour, salt and cold butter chunks. Rub them together with your fingertips until most of it has been squashed. You still want to keep large chunks as this helps with the pastry layers.

Add the iced water and gently mix together with your hand until a soft ball forms.

Wrap it in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Using a stand mixer, beat the soft butter and sugar together until light.

Add the egg and vanilla, beat until it’s all well mixed together.

Fold the flour into the mixture and then the vanilla pudding. Set aside.

Once the pastry dough has rested, roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out circles large enough to fill 6 four inch tart shells.

Place the dough into the tart molds and trim to fit. Transfer to the freezer for 15 minutes to rest.

Blind bake the pastry shells using parchment paper and dry beans in the oven for 20 minutes.

Once the shells have cooled slightly, fill them with about a heaped tablespoon of the filling mixture.

Peel the pears and slice into four wedges around the core.

Take each wedge of pear and slice it again thinly. This will be the pear slices which will go on top of your filling mixture.

Once you slice the pear thinly, push it down with your fingers to create the fanned look, place your knife below the slices and scoop them up and place them on top of the filling mixture.

Gently push the down slightly until some of the mixture comes up over the sides of the pear. This will give the tarts the look of the sponge top around the edges.

Sprinkle the tarts liberally with the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Turn the oven up to 375 degrees F.

Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 55 minutes and the tops start to get golden brown in color.

Once the tarts have cooled, combine the water and sugar in a small pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 5 minutes until it thickens into a syrup and using a pastry brush, carefully glaze the tops of the tarts to get a nice shine.

Best Utah Wedding Photographer

Arugula, Pear and Goat Cheese Salad with a Pomegranate Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette

1 large shallot, halved and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
2 tablespoons sherry or apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepepr
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

For the salad

4 cups arugula, lightly packed
4 cups romaine, torn into bite-sized pieces
2 ripe pears, cored and cut into 1/2″ cubes
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
3 ounces fresh goat cheese or feta, crumbled
1/4 cup pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped

In a small bowl combine the shallot, pomegranate molasses, vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk until the salt is dissolved. Whisk in the olive oil and let vinaigrette stand at room temperature until salad is assembled. Combine the arugula, romaine, pears and half of the pomegranate seeds in a large bowl. Crumble half of the goat cheese over the ingredients in the bowl (this works best if the cheese is very cold). Whisk the vinaigrette until uniform and add all but 2 tablespoons of it to the bowl. Gently toss the salad with your hands or salad tongs, coating the ingredients well with the vinaigrette. If the salad seems dry, add the vinaigrette in small increments until it is dressed to your liking. Crumble the remaining cheese over the salad and sprinkle the remaining pomegranate seeds and the pistachios over the top. Serve immediately.

Recipe from Food52 https://food52.com/recipes/1666-arugula-pear-and-goat-cheese-salad-with-pomegranate-vinaigrette
Best Utah Wedding Photographer