Everyone in my family knows that our Aunt Cynthia not only loves, but really knows food. She has been a part of the slow food, local and organic movements for much of her life, culminating in her book The Eco-Foods Guide – a bible on making sustainable food choices.  Cynthia also runs a marketing business called ‘Seed to Shelf‘ that focuses on marketing efforts with sustainable food products that are dedicated to the advancement of the local, seasonal, organic movement.  So with my Uncle Lee’s 60th birthday this past weekend, we knew we were in for a not only delicious (did I mention Cynthia is an amazing cook?) but local and organic meal as well.  It turned out to be an excellent menu that I wanted to share here to give you some ideas on doing a similar party.

One of the first things you’ll notice about the menu is that it’s aggressively seasonal and local.  Most of the things we ate were from the many Western Massachusetts farms that surround the Amherst area.  Cynthia, as you might imagine, is a member at Brookfield Farm, a community supported farm that neighbors her home – and also frequents farmer’s markets where she purchases basically all of her food during the growing season.  Here’s how it all came together:

Hors D’oeuvres: I’ve always felt that the appetizers you serve are the most important part of the entire meal – not only are they the first things that your guests see and taste, but they’re the perfect little bites, something I love.  Cyn and my step-dad Bill set us up with a selection of three apps: first, olive-stuffed cheese balls, crunchy and absolutely savory, these were really good and awesomely unique.  Baked cheese balls are good on their own, but with the olives in them are even better.  Next, Bill made his signature Hawaiian Musubi – but added some mildly sweet plum sauce and scallion, which took the already great dish and kicked it up a notch.  Cyn also made artichoke dip, which as I’m sure you know, is a super savory and delicious cocktail snack.

First Course: As the first course as we st down, Cynthia decided to highlight the real stars of the summer growing season in the northeast – tomatoes and corn.  She made a deliciously smooth and cool Gazpacho, served with a slice of corn custard.  The gazpacho really tasted quite simple, including some cucumber, anchovy paste and fresh herbs, which was nice because it gave the tomatoes a chance to shine, as they should.  With the height of the tomato season here, the tomatoes were left raw instead of roasted.  The soup was finished with a small dollop of sour cream and some basil oil.  The corn custard was an awesome addition, a little like a quiche, and topped with a little cheese, I dipped mine into the soup and really enjoyed it.

Second Course: The second course was a shared antipasto.  It began with an amazing olive tray, including goat cheese and pimento stuffed green olives, as well as Kalamata and black olives.  The next tray was a combination of cheeses and salami – including smoked mozzarella, Camembert and some delicious fresh salamis.  My sister Elise came with some homemade baguettes that were really excellent (nice work Sis) and we had a perfectly rounded out antipasto course.

Entree – The Main Event: The main course featured a combination of four items: first we sampled what Cyn called ‘Pam’s Chicken‘ which was an amazingly tender chicken casserole-esque dish, made with dijon mustard, bread crumbs and cream.  This was a very French interpretation of chicken casserole and was rich, tender and delicious.  The chicken was paired with a Mushroom Galette – a torte-like dish made with homemade pastry dough and stuffed with delicious mushrooms, onions and a bit of cheese.  Next item on the plate was a roasted peach that Cynthia seasoned with some rosemary and cinnamon and roasted in a hot oven or broiler.  This softened the peach beautifully and the savory seasonings made the peach more savory than sweet – a really interesting interpretation.  The final dish on the plate was a selection of young, local carrots – purple, orange and yellow represented – roasted in the oven and tasting like they had been finished with a little salt and some honey.

Cyn then put everyone over the top with a refreshing little post dinner salad of some baby arugula, ripe pears and Gorgonzola, topped with some balsamic vinaigrette.  A great end to the meal.

Dessert: Perhaps even more impressive than the whole dinner was the birthday cake that Cynthia’s daughter Emily created.  Topped with fresh strawberries, this was an espresso-chocolate-strawberry birthday cake, served with some mixed berry gelato.  Emily is 16 years old and clearly has her Mom’s talents in the kitchen.  This cake was as moist as can be and the espresso and fruit made it a sublime end to the night.

Sometime I’ll track down Cyn to provide some of the recipes for you all, but for now, I hope that the review gives you some ideas on what to serve for your next dinner, as this one was really excellent.  Hopefully the pics speak for themselves!