7 Dishes for a Tuscan Picnic

SustainablePantry.com was asked to cater a birthday party for a family member. Andi (the birthday girl) and Marshall are huge foodies and we wanted the menu to be delicious while still remaining simple and vegetarian friendly. The party was on the beautiful roof of Matthew’s sister and brother-in-law’s apartment in the East Village–and we were blessed with great weather. The theme was Tuscan Picnic–it was a huge success.

Cheese Board:

Fairway was out of Tallegio (the HORROR!)…We ended up with a good selection: a blue, a triple cream (not with the Tuscan theme, I am aware, however a crowd pleaser), a hard Italian cheese, and a semi-soft Spanish cheese. We also marinated some small mozzarella balls in pesto (defrosted from a previous meal), and made a simple white bean spread (canned cannelloni beans, garlic, olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper and sage). I’ll let Matthew tell you about the baguettes that he MADE. FROM. SCRATCH.

Grilled Vegetables:

A nice selection of many seasonal veggies: carrots, zucchini, asparagus, fennel, garlic and red pearl onions. The trick here is to cook many batches—I use 2 half-sheet pans lined with parchment paper–and cook each vegetable in a single layer on 400F (tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper) so that the veggies don’t steam, which tends to happen when there are too many vegetables on each pan.

Arugula Salad with Pear and Candied Walnuts:

This dish really speaks for itself–it was (you guessed it)–arugula, pear and candied walnuts. The walnuts were tossed with brown sugar, butter, salt, pepper, and a dash of cayenne pepper, then roasted for about 20 minutes in a 400F oven.

Orchiette with Sundried Tomato and Bulgarian Feta:

We took another divergence from Tuscany to Bulgaria since they have the BEST feta–thanks to Eldad for showing us the feta light. I have written about this pantry fave before. To read the whole recipe, click HERE. Needless to say, it was a hit.

Squash Risotto Cake:

This was a new one. I originally wanted to make risotto balls, but decided last minute that I wouldn’t have the time, so the risotto cake was born. First, I made the risotto. It was standard risotto (saute, add arborio rice, deglaze, add broth in small increments), but I sauteed diced acorn squash with the mirepoix and used a combination of Pacific Organic butternut squash soup and veggie broth. When the risotto was cooled, I added grated parm cheese and 2 eggs, then pushed it into a springform pan with olive oil on the bottom. I split the batch into 2 pans so it would be thin, almost pizza-like, and garnished with roasted pine nuts and sage. It cooked for about 20 minutes in a 350F oven.

Roasted Salmon with Tzatziki:

Such a great party dish: salmon is roasted with just a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and dill. It is served at room temperature with Matthew’s famous tzatziki sauce. For the sauce: Fage (or any good Greek yogurt), dill, grated cucumber, salt, a dash of sherry vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice. Also, note, this dish isn’t Tuscan.

Goat Cheese, Fig, Caramelized onion and Arugula Panini:

Back to Italy, we made paninis… With some store-bought ciabiatta, good quality fig paste, goat cheese, arrugula and The Griddler, you, too, could make paninis.

The Spread:

In hindsight, it wasn’t really Tuscan, but more of a hoge-podge of Medeterranian flavors.

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