Private Chef Services for Retreats, Dinner Parties, and Small Events
Based on abundantly beautiful Whidbey Island, Washington, Nourishing Cellar composes meals with the freshest of produce, meat, dairy, eggs, and grains from our farm and our neighbors’ farms (as much as the seasons allow). We believe that local, seasonal, thoughtfully-grown-and-raised food can have profound effects on our mental, physical, and social states.
Our services include on and off-site catering and private chef work for intimate affairs such as dinner parties, holiday brunches, birthday celebrations, casual-gourmet weekday meals, small weddings, rehearsal dinners, and private retreats. We work with our clients to craft nourishing menus including those with gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free, carnivore, and vegetarian needs.
How is Nourishing Cellar all about farm-driven cooking?
Well. It's a long story. But suffice it to say we are farmers and cooks, we live in a farming community, we live in a world that revolves around food. Yes, we all live in a food-driven world, but we at Nourishing Cellar spend most of our waking (and dreaming) lives thinking about food: how it is grown, how it is harvested, how to cut it up, saute it, bake it. We wonder at how the soil nourishes a seed into a thin radicle into roots and stems and leaves into a living sun-filled being that will eventually grace an heirloom dish in our kitchen or compost back into loamy earth. We wander into the woods and gently clip nettles for soup, cleavers for tea, and chickweed for salad. We dream about perfectly browned pork chops from the pig down the road and the delight of field-harvested dandelion leaves dripping with a blackberry honey vinaigrette. We aspire to watch the grass grow and tend the animals that complete the cycle of land-stewardship and nourishment. We philosophize about the magnificence of a world that would put food first for the health of our bodies, our families, our community, our land and sea and sky.
Whether we support a farmer at the market or a neighbor down the road, or plant seeds in our very own backyards, it starts with the soil, water, and intention for life otherwise known as growing food.
Sample Menu: Omnivore Retreat
Day One:
Lunch
Roasted Carrot Ginger Fennel Soup
Sunflower Seed Pate and Vegetable Nori Wraps
Lemon Verbena Cookies
Dinner
Baked Salmon with Lemon and Dill
Browned Butter and Sage Northern Beans (vegetarian)
Kale, Carrot, and Squash Wild Rice Sauté
Pumpkin Cornbread
Apple Crisp
Day Two:
Lunch
Potato Leek Soup
Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Kale Caesar Salad
Dinner
Roasted Local Pork Chops with Herb Compound Butter
Roasted Rosemary Portobello Mushrooms (vegetarian)
Creamy Polenta
Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Carrot Cake with Lemon Maple Cashew Frosting
Day Three:
Lunch
Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
Vegetable Quiche
Sourdough Bread
Dinner
Sole over Parsnips, Carrots, & Beets with Herb Butter
Ginger Orange Tempeh (vegetarian)
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Roasted Cauliflower
Cinnamon Rice Pudding
Day Four:
Lunch
Black Bean, Sweet Potato, & Carrot Soup
Fiesta Coleslaw with Herb Cashew Dressing
Mexican Brownies
Dinner
Stuffed Delicata Squash with Local Lamb and Veggies
Vegetarian Stuffed Squash
Beet & Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese
Gingered Pear Upside-Down Cake
Sample Menu: Midsummer Brunch
Garden Quiche with Farm Fresh Eggs (available with gluten-free crust)
Roasted Potato and Yam Hash with Kale and Herbs
Field Greens Salad with Carrots, Radishes, Cherry Tomatoes, & Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette
Summer Fruit Salad with Fresh Mint Leaves
Spiced Zucchini Muffins with Homemade Blackberry Rhubarb Jam
Sample Menu: Dinner Party
Sample Dinner Menu
Appetizers
Dungeness Crab on Heirloom Tomato with Lemon and Herb Salt
An Assortment of Glendale Shepherd Sheep's Milk Cheese with Local Rye Bread, Nuts, and Homemade Pickled Vegetables and Jams
1st Course
Butterhead Lettuce Salad with Seasonal Veggies and Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette
Main Course
Roasted Wild Salmon over Shredded Root Vegetables with Herbs
Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Mushroom Cream Sauce
Sage Dusted Sweet Potato and Kale Gratin
Dessert
Spiced Zucchini Cake with Coconut Ice Cream and Fresh Berries
Tea and Coffee with Chocolates