macarons

This past spring I had the dream job of shooting some food for my dear friend and amazing chef Catherine Gettier of Catherine's Catering. After years of working in restaurants, Catherine is following her heart and has just opened her own catering business.

macarons with raspberry sauce

We decided that since I've been taking some pictures of food and she was trying to launch a web presence, not to mention a business, we'd work together to start to build a portfolio of photos she could use. But let me tell you, making the leap to catering was a brilliant move on her part; the woman is busy. It took us forever to get together to take some photos, and even then we didn't get everything done that we wanted to. It's a process, people.

spring rolls

But this post is not about that process of shooting these photos and building a portfolio for her website. It's about Catherine and her amazing food.

spring rolls

We met years ago. Our kids were in school together for a bit, and Catherine did all the catering for our school functions. Can I say that no one can steam asparagus like this woman? Seriously.

fruit platter

She's a French-trained chef, and all that skill shows not just in how amazing her food tastes, but in the style she brings to everything she does.

sweet potato biscuits with ham

I've had her food at intimate receptions, weddings, cooking classes and large gatherings, and it never fails to please. Oh, the cooking classes were so much fun!

salmon biscuits with dill

We had so much fun while she was here for the photos. Catching up on our kids and our lives. It was an effortless few hours of shooting beautiful food.

I was thrilled for the opportunity to help her start to pull together some images for her website, and I can't wait for us to do more.

madelines

madelines

Her food is a work of art. Who wouldn't want to spend time with it?

Locals? Interested in a phenomenal caterer, who also happens to be a delight to work with? All the details about Catherine's Catering, along with some of my photos, can be found here.

Adapted from Tyler Florence's Lemon Curd Trifle with Fresh Berries

1 pint each, raspberries, blueberries & blackberries, gently combined

1 pound cake, sliced

1 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Several spoonfuls of jarred lemon curd (I totally cheated, folks!)

Limoncello, if desired (ha)

Whip the cream with a mixer until it forms stiff peaks, and then add the sugar and the vanilla. Gently fold in the lemon curd until well blended.

Cover the bottom of a trifle bowl (call your neighbor if you don't have one) with slices of pound cake, arranging them to fit. Drizzle with Limoncello. Don't be stingy here. Repeat: don't be stingy here. The pound cake can get dry, and the Limoncello can help keep it moist. Cover the pound cake layer with a layer of the whipped cream. Top the whipped cream layer with a layer of the berries. Repeat the layers (drizzling the pound cake with the Limoncello) until you're out of ingredients (we got three layers out of our stuff), ending with a layer of berries. Garnish with fresh mint. Our trifle sat in the fridge for about 5 hours, and by the time we ate it, it wasn't terribly lemony. I don't like a ton of lemon flavor, and even I was a bit disappointed. It's a balance, I guess. More Limoncello, and we might have had soggy trifle (soggy trifle = no good). Sitting longer might have also meant soggy trifle. By the next morning (And yes, we had trifle for breakfast, there wasn't that much Limoncello!), it was just about perfect. So I might advocate making this the day before. And sharing. So much better shared.

The light was so lovely when I took these pictures. That pre-rain lovely light. I'm almost tempted to turn this post into a PDF and make a recipe card out of it!

catherine's catering :: sneak peek {life}

trifle {life}