Last weekend, as part of a delicious event series thrown by our friends at Kitchensurfing and onefinestay, we gathered together with a handful of Chalkboard friends for a morning of restorative yoga and brunch al fresco.
The Venice home, part of onefinestay‘s portfolio of exceptional homes available for travelers, made the perfect backdrop for our healthy-style girl’s brunch. The patio of our onefinestay home was lined with flower-decked tables by Glasswing Floral just outside the home’s gorgeous, sun-washed kitchen where Chef Stephanie Matthias and team whipped up her to-die gluten-free, organic dishes. Before brunch, our crew of artisans, yogis, raw chefs and holistic pros cozied up on the poolside terrace for a few downward dogs led by the ladies of How You Glow.
As rejuvenating as a yoga session with these LA mavens can be – incense-inhaling and all – yoga left everyone famished and fully focused on the trays of fresh Pressed Juicery Citrus 3 mimosas lining the kitchen counters. Editor’s note: If you’ve never given a Citrus 3 mimosa a try – this is the summer for it. Simply match two bottles of Pressed Juicery’s Citrus 3 to every one bottle of champagne and mix up the grapefruit mint magic with your bubbly to taste. Pure heaven – and a Chalkboard gathering staple!
For our family-style brunch, Chef Stephanie created the perfect post-yoga spread: a gluten-free quinoa tart, spicy avocado toasts with Maldon sea salt, kale and arugula salad with pears and goat cheese, a huge berry salad with citrus zest, and yogurt with her signature homemade granola.
Her pièce de résistance was this recipe for individual strawberry and pistachio galettes, delicious, gorgeous and quite low in sugar.
We chose Stephanie for our brunch from a diverse line-up of Kitchensurfing chefs, each available for parties of all shapes and sizes: small family dinners, blow-out dinner parties, even at-home cooking classes. We love the concept of Kitchensurfing and the way it brings the private chef option to the table for more home entertainers!
Below you’ll find Chef Stephanie’s recipes for her killer kale salad and the berry galettes. For the quinoa tart recipe, click over to our friends at How You Glow and get all the deets there!
Kale and Arugula Salad with Feta and Toasted Almonds
Serves 10
Ingredients
Salad:
4 cups kale
4 cups arugula
1 1/2 cups raw almond slices
3 oz sheep’s milk feta, crumbled
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 1/2 cups toasted breadcrumbs plus 1/2 cup for garnish
3 Tbsp Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
Dressing:
1 garlic clove, pounded into a fine puree
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
juice of one or two lemons, to taste
3-4 Tbsp high-quality olive oil
Directions
For the dressing:
Mix the garlic, vinegar, salt and lemon juice in a small bowl. Whisk in the olive oil slowly, tasting as you go. Add some extra salt and pepper to taste, if needed.
For the salad:
Thoroughly wash all the kale and arugula leaves. Dry in a salad spinner and lay out on a clean kitchen towel to soak up any excess water. Cut the kale leaves off of the stalks and roughly chop. Put all the kale and arugula in a very large salad bowl.
Preheat oven to 300F. Lay the raw almond slices in an even layer on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 10-15 minutes. Check the almonds every five minutes or so, giving them a stir each time. They can burn really easily so pay careful attention to this step. Allow them to cool before adding them to the salad.
Add the cherry tomato halves, cooled almond slices, breadcrumbs and parsley to the salad. Give the whole thing a few good tosses so everything mixes together.
Garnish with the extra breadcrumbs and then the crumbled feta.
Just before serving, add the dressing to taste and toss the whole salad.
Gluten-Free Strawberry and Pistachio Galette
Makes 20 two-inch galettes
Ingredients
Short crust dough:
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp tapioca flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp glutinous rice flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 cup sorghum flour
2 Tbsp organic sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp guar gum
1 cup (2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, diced
3 large eggs
Strawberry compote:
6 oz strawberries, diced
2 1/2 Tbsp organic sugar
1 tsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Pistachio topping:
1/2 cup unsalted natural pistachios
1/3 cup organic sugar
1/3 cup superfine brown rice flour
2 Tbsp cornstarch
6 Tbsp cold, unsalted butter, cubed
Strawberry topping:
3 1/2 cups strawberries, thinly sliced
Directions
For the dough:
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine all the dry ingredients and mix on low speed to blend. Add the butter and beat until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs – be careful not to overdo this part or your crust will not be nice and flaky. Add the eggs and mix on high speed until the dough turns in on itself.
Dust a clean work surface with glutinous rice flour and turn out the dough. Knead the dough for three turns. Divide in half and form each half into a disk. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.
Remove both disks from the refrigerator 15 minutes before rolling out. Dust your work surface with glutinous rice flour. Roll the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2-inch cookie cutter, cut 10 circles each from both disks of dough. You might have to re-roll the dough more than once to get 10 small disks. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and chill for another 30 minutes.
For the compote:
Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook until thick and concentrated, about 5-7 minutes. Chill until you’re ready to assemble the galettes.
For the pistachio topping:
Place the pistachios in a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the sugar, flour and cornstarch. Pulse to combine.
Add the butter and pulse until the mixture forms a crumbly dough. Set aside until ready to use. Freeze whatever you don’t use in a freezer bag for up to one month.
For the galettes:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Remove the baking sheet with the pastry disks from the refrigerator. Top each disk with 1 teaspoon strawberry compote, enough strawberry slices to form a single layer and some of the pistachio crumble.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the crust and crumble topping are golden. Let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes before picking them up.
