Backyard Wedding Dinner - Honoring Late Summer Veggies

dreamy california greenery and produce.

When we finally decided to have a wedding celebration, it was, of course, non-negotiable that I would be cooking. I received the constant advice to cater rather than cook - "it's the last thing you'll want to be doing that week," "you want to be able to enjoy your wedding," "don't add more stress," and yada yada yada with perfectly reasonable pleas for practicality. But cooking for my guests was of course the point. To gather them together, to take the opportunity to nourish and celebrate and pamper them in the way they have supported and enriched my life to get to this point. So while I never faltered in my resolve or eagerness, it was certainly a bitch to get this on the table on time. I didn't want to be cooking once cocktail hour started, so I had a few key pieces of the strategy:

• choose as many serve-cold menu items as possible

• plan everything to the exact detail (more on this later) so any volunteer hands could easily find work

• be open to help but not require it

Menu:

Starters: (buffet during cocktail hour)

• Corn & shishito dip (NYT Cooking)

• Assorted homemade pickles (from Big Vegan Flavor, Nisha Vora). + tomato jam (NYT Cooking) + strawberry jam (Alison Roman)

• Crispy smashed potatoes with green goddess dressing (from Big Vegan Flavor, Nisha Vora)

Share: (family style at the table)

• Israeli salad (amazing fresh tomatoes + cucumber + parsley + lemon / S&P / EVOO)

• Grilled corn and zucchini on arugula with pistachios (dressing)

• Whole grilled eggplant with spiced harissa butter and tahini (inspo)

• Marinated white beans (bon appetit, added sun dried tomatoes)

• Grilled portobello with avocado chimichurri (Minimalist Baker)

• Baked rice with slow roasted tomatoes and garlic (NYT Cooking)

• Salmon with herb-lemon marinade (NYT Cooking)

Dessert: (recklessly and drunkenly served to table by me + help)

• Peach cobbler (NYT Cooking)

• Chocolate mousse (bon appetit) w/ coconut cream (Minimalist Baker)

Planning & Prep:

~5 days before:

• pickles and jam

• non-perishable grocery shopping

Two days before:

• produce grocery shopping

• green goddess dressing (potatoes)

• salad dressing

• marinated white beans

Day before:

• corn & shishito dip/salad

• tahini sauce (eggplant)

• salmon marinade

• mousse

• coconut cream

• chimichurri

• mushroom marinade

Day of:

• Morning:

  • israeli salad

  • chop/prep grilled veggies

  • prep rice pilaf ingredients

  • prep cobbler

  • table setting

• For the afternoon/evening, I divided the tasks by area of the kitchen to make them easier to delegate, and made instructions extremely clear (i.e. draw a picture of plating it, say what time the oven should turn on, etc.):

  
  

Oven (2 ovens)	Grill (delegated)	Plate
potatoes (par-boiled and then baked, started ~1hr before cocktail hour) Rice pilaf (put in oven ~1 hr before dinner service) Salmon (put in oven start of cocktail hour) Cobbler (put in oven at start of dinner)	eggplant (keep on for hour+) corn cobs (can grill early and serve cold) zucchini (same as above) portobellos (keep warm-ish on top rack)	zucchini salad eggplant salad (added a harissa butter charcuterie plate/pickles

Bonus: Wedding Cake

My sister and I made this NYT Cooking coconut cake for the wedding and used these cake stabilizers and a transport box -- actually quite easy!