Room Forty

In the Kitchen : Making Purée

lindsay — Wed, 01 May 2013 15:28:39 +0000

Sometimes it’s nice to mix it up and puree something other than potato. Celery root looks pretty intimidating, but it’s very easy to make celery root puree, and the flavor is insane. Part 2 of our “triologymaybemore” of simple in the kitchen preparation tips.

STEP 1: Take 2 pounds of celery root. Square off the knobbly madness so that you have straight edges to work with. Peel off the outside skin with a vegetable peeler, so that only the white flesh of the root is left. If there are indents of rough exterior, cut them out.

STEP 2: Peel 1/2 a large potato (we like yukon gold) or a little over 1/2 a pound. Cut the celery root 1 inch squares. Cut the potato into 2 inch squares since they will cook faster the celery root. (the potato give the celery root puree body).

STEP 3: Place the cubed celery and potato in a sauce pot. Add 4 cups of whipping cream. You want to make sure the cream just covers the vegetables. Add 1 tablespoon of sea salt and 1 teaspoon of white pepper. Add a few fresh bay leaves and a few sprigs of fresh thyme.

STEP 4: Cook covered on medium heat for 45 minutes, or until celery root is fork tender.

STEP 5: Remove bay leaf and any thyme sprigs. Transfer all sauce and vegetables from saucepan to blender. Puree for 30 seconds, just until smooth. Do not over puree or the starch from the potato will make your puree gummy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve or store covered in the fridge up to 5 days.

Enjoy!

In the Kitchen : Roasted Vegetables

lindsay — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:51:48 +0000

STEP 1: Get some great vegetables–preferably organic. The farmers market is a great source, however grocery stores that sell great organic produce will work as well. Remember, great flavor starts with great product. Peel, trim or prepare the vegetables so that everything that remains, once cooked, will be edible. The green tops from baby vegetables are totally edible.

STEP 2: Gather some fresh herbs, (we like thyme and bay leaf), a few cloves of garlic, good quality salt (maldon, or kosher), a pepper grinder, and olive oil.

STEP 3: Heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. This step is actually the launch pad of perfectly cooked veggies. If you use too much oil, the oil won’t heat, and you’ll end up steaming your veggies. If you wait too long and overheat the oil your veggies will burn. Patience is the key here….leave the burner at medium, and give the oil a few minutes. When you see the oil begin to smoke, you’re ready to cook.

STEP 4: Place the herbs and garlic in the oil first, and cook for a few minutes. Move the herbs around the pan with a work spoon. This will infuse the oil with flavor. After a few minutes, place the veggies in the pan. Season with salt and freshly cracked pepper.

STEP 5: “Caramelization” is the process of cooking the veggies until they release the natural sugars inside, and result in a beautiful golden brown color. As each side of the veggies caramelizes, turn the veggies so other sides can cook and caramelize. Once the veggies are fork tender, remove and serve. If you are serving later–under-cook the veggies, so that when you reheat prior to serving, you do not overcook.

Spring Los Angeles Pop-Up Dinner

lindsay — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:26:02 +0000

Join us Thursday, May 9th for our Spring Los Angeles Pop-Up Dinner.

SPECIFICS:
What: 5 courses, bring your own wine, good times
When: Thursday, May 9th, 2013
Where: Somewhere in L.A. As always our dinners attract the ‘adventurous aficionado’ as menus and locations are not pre-published.

SOLD OUT

Spring OC Winemaker Dinner

lindsay — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:23:29 +0000

Join us Saturday, May 11th for our Spring Orange County Winemaker Pop-Up Dinner.

SPECIFICS:
What: 6 courses, 6 wines, good times
When: Saturday, May 11th, 2013
Where: Somewhere in O.C. As always our dinners attract the ‘adventurous aficionado’ as menus and locations are not pre-published.

SOLD OUT

Los Angeles Pop-Up | The Last Bookstore

lindsay — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:30:43 +0000

We love pop ups…it’s how we started our business. But behind the veil, our set up and back of house team has a love/hate relationship with them for one reason: logistics. We love connecting with our friends and cooking for them, we love sharpening our pencil and coming up with new menus…..but there’s always that variable component of logistics that requires us rolling up our sleeves and hauling gear for a few blocks. Every once in a while, a location comes along that is so rad….that our WHOLE team is fired up, and so excited about the location, that the logistics fade to black. Enter….The Last Bookstore…..We called our friends Heidi and Josh Spencer, owners of the Last Bookstore, and asked them how they felt about closing the store 8 hours early, cutting a reading short by some famous New York author, shuffling out all the customers, letting us invade their space, and blending awesomeness….they said: “let’s do it.” Opening cocktail: “Papa’s Boy” tequila. grapefruit. lime. luxardo maraschino.
A massive shout out to sweet emilia jane for the perfect floral vision. Foraged and installed with love by Emilia….we love you!Our craft cocktail genius Dan Thompson is from the Northwest. Something about used books, killer cocktails, insane food, low light and old couches had DT feeling right at home. All cocktail recipes are Dan Thompson originals and the guests were losing it over not just the cocktails, but on how well they were paired with the courses. Nice job Dan!Pictured above: on the left: paella bites. blood orange foam. on the right: “grilled cheese + tomato” smoked tomato bisque. brioche + brie grilled cheese. Pictured above: on the left: white anchovy. heirloom cherry peppers. bagna cauda. on the right: guacamole sorbet. grilled shishito. cippolini petals.

Fun with liquid nitrogen. From fresh to frozen and shattered in seconds. Boiling cold. Once again, unencumbered by the challenge of executing 6 courses with multiple components out of kitchen we built in a bookstore, Chef Libry leads his team over the hurdles and into the memories of some super happy people. We started this journey because we believe pausing the frenetic pace of life, to take time for a great meal with good friends, is something that matters. Here’s to another great memory. The final thanks goes to our friend Ashley Keleman for all the photos. Thanks Ashley! See you next time!

Randy Fried

lindsay — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 04:32:06 +0000

Randy Fried is our events and office manager. We’ve learned the hard way that beyond just bringing killer food, great events require bringing great people, and LOTS of stuff. That’s Randy’s department. From staffing, to rental lists, to site visits, to providing all the required documentation, Randy lives with the endless lists that make an event successful–and keep the kitchen running. Once an event has confirmed, he springs into action—literally, he springs. He and Libry have a lot in common. Randy wears suits on his off days, listens to jazz, drinks gin martinis and orders Lincoln town cars to take him home from a club. Why? Cause that’s just how he likes it. Up Town.

Lisa Johnson

lindsay — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 04:31:03 +0000

Lisa Johnson heads up sales for the roomforty team. Originally from Iowa, Lisa relocated to Chicago and was part of the thriving Chicago Hospitality and Events scene. With stints at Event Creative, and Restaurants America, her clients and event scope ranged from Chicago foodies, to brides, to high profile corporations, to sitting American Presidents and everything in between. After deciding that the cold had taken it’s toll, she packed up and headed west, and joined the roomforty team. She oversees the sales process from inquiry to event date, and has a knack for understanding people’s vision for an event, and converting that into a custom menu. As the resident health nut of the bunch, marathon runner and yoga devotee, while the rest of the staff are often enjoying macaroni and cheese or short ribs (or La Esquina Tacos) for daily family meal, she can often be found munching on raw kale and tofu. Good times.

The Cream Los Angeles | March 10th, 2013

lindsay — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:22:00 +0000

What do you get when you cross a cross a community of craftsman, curators and creators with 800 curious consumers? You get the Cream. Yes. Of the Crop.The lovelies of Bash, Please have taken their industry soiree through the stratosphere, and we are SUPER pumped to join in the festivities.

This Sunday, March 10th, 2013. We’ll be smiling our way through the sold out masses serving up the goods. See you there!

Beth Helmstetter’s 35th

lindsay — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:58:13 +0000

Our friend Beth Helmstetter called us up and told us she was going to do a little low key birthday get together, and asked us if we’d do the dinner. Beth’s one of our favorite planners around, and does killer work, so we were excited (and a little nervous) to oblige. As if 5 Courses on a Hollywood rooftop wasn’t dramatic enough, Los Angeles served us up a rare rainy night, and being outside (yes, there was a beautiful clear tent) with the rain coming down over the city lights, just added to the magic of the evening. A huge thanks to Steve Steinhart for the amazing images.

Our craft cocktailer Dan Thompson makes wicked cocktails… all house made infusions, cordials and mixers, and super fresh. So fresh and so clean clean.

A beautiful first course. Our “cedar planked salmon” which is really arctic char crudo on grilled cedar. And an even more beautiful birthday girl.

As we’ve said before, it’s okay to L.A. It’s an amazing city.

The Chai Nage foam juxtaposed with the squid ink paint gave the fish a crazy cool complexity.

Check our more images by Steve Steinhardt Photography from the celebration over on Beth Helmstetter’s blog. Happy Birthday Beth….thanks for letting us play!

Staff Holiday Party

lindsay — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 21:49:37 +0000

At long last…the holidays finished (as of our final 2012 event on New Year’s Eve) and we had a chance to gather our core staff together for a little merriment.

Our sous chef Scott Shulman is by FAR the most stylist member of the crew.

What do caterers eat at their holiday parties? Rad tacos. Casa Blanca in Venice does it right….they send out a tortilla lady to press fresh tortillas á la minute (which is a word never used in Mexican Cuisine) and some of the best catered tacos we’ve ever had. Biz Manager Dave Matt is concentrating super hard right now.

Young Luke Ford makes a mean margarita. And yes….he grows a mean stache.

Two bits of trivia about our executive Chef. Number 1: Libry Darusman shares a birthday with Christmas? Think that’s cool to be born on Christmas? We think he’s heard a lifetime of “sorry I forgot to call dude…yesterday was crazy.” Number 2: Want to know what our chef’s favorite food is? Candy, candy and more candy. When he heard hostess filed for bankruptcy this year, he was not a happy man. We sported a hostess cupcake birthday cake in honor of the man. Happy Birthday Libs!

These guys are in it for the love of the craft. So good to see the workforce have a beverage on a night off. On behalf of everyone in the roomforty family, thanks for a great year. We’re raising our glass to a killer 2013!