Photo by Laura Grier from Beautiful Day Photography   

I had such a fun night hosting a seasonal dinner with two amazing chefs, Pace Webb of Taste of Pace and my aunt, Carol Cotner Thompson. Planned for just before the holidays (aka the season of indulgence), the dinner was super clean and showcased beautiful, seasonal produce. I was happily overwhelmed by the variety of local produce here in LA and let the flavors of the season shine. We started with my beet tahini dip, some gorgeous heirloom cauliflower, and a seasonal salad featuring bitter greens from the farmers market. Pace and Carol followed with dishes that included a truffle butternut squash quick pickled pear risotto and a braised mushrooms sunchoke cashew puree with meyer lemon confit and date cocoa harissa.

             Me and my aunt, Carol Cotner Thompson. Photos by Laura Grier from Beautiful Day Photography

   L: Heirloom cauliflower to go with the beet tahini dip + chia flax crackers.  R: Bitter greens with watermelon radish + pomegranate arils.

L: Beet carrot puree, fried weiser di ciccio broccoli, lemon + pistachio. R: Dessert was an array of citrus supremes or a “citrus kaleidoscope”. Think oro blanco grapefruit, tree ripe oranges, cara cara oranges, and caviar limes with beet tarragon reduction, sherry vanilla bean reduction, and port earl grey reduction.

Pace, Carol, and I want to share a huge thank you to everyone who made the evening possible. Thank you to Apartment A for hosting, the guys at Cocktail Academy for the freshest seasonal cocktails, Celadon and Celery and Borrowed Blu for styling and providing beautiful flatware, Good Eggs LA for the perfect citrus, and most importantly, to all of our guests! We’ll see you next time 🙂

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