Today was one of those catering jobs where Chef Jered gets to be super creative with his menu! Before I went on maternity leave, I was the Special Events Coordinator at the YWCA. One of my biggest events of the year is the Women of Distinction Awards, an evening where women from Edmonton and surrounding areas are recognized for their amazing contributions to our community in a variety of award categories. There is a lovely cocktail and appetizer reception, silent auction and award ceremonies.
Part of my job is to collect unique and luxury silent auction items for the fundraising portion of the evening. Of course I always hit up all my family and friends and that includes Chef Jered and Thrive Catering. Thrive donated a private in home four course Chef’s Choice menu with wine pairings from Sherbrooke Liquor Store.
In a fun coincidence, a past Women of Distinction nominee and her nominator ended up taking the certificate home and this weekend they claimed their prize having a “ladies night in” dinner with their girlfriends!
Chef Jered put together a delicious meal. The appetizer was three Dungeness Crab Cakes served on a mango aioli with a fresh mango salsa on top. Tara, the sommelier from Sherbrooke paired the crab cakes with a Joie Alsatian style white noble blend. The salad course was Chef Jered’s take on a Nouveau Waldorf Salad with ribboned celery, julienned apple and celery root with candied pecans, grapes, parmesan cheese petals and a honey dill vinaigrette. The salad was paired with a Southern Australian white Sauvignon Blanc Semillion blend from Brabo.
The main dish was one of Chef Jered’s signature dishes – a Deconstructed Stained Glass Lasagna with Pork Ragout and Sweet Pumpkin Ricotta filling, finished with a balsamic reduction. Chef Jered makes the pasta noodles from scratch, pressing fresh herbs like sage, oregano and parsley inside the noodles. Tara paired this course with a Barberra.
To finish for dessert we served a Guinness chocolate cupcake with an amber beer and molasses ice cream, paired with Cafeino a unique new red wine infused with coffee flavours.
The ladies were all very happy with the food, and we received a lovely email from the host the next day:
“Lisa and Jered, We want to thank for the wonderful meal on Saturday night. The food was delicious and you did a wonderful job of presenting it. I will definitely recommend Thrive Catering to anyone looking for this kind of service. Expect to hear from us again!!!!”
