Weddings in Vermont

It is September and with it brings the beginning of same sex marriages in Vermont. We were so delighted to host four weddings this past week. The first was of Megan and Lindsay of Indianapolis, Indiana. They were wed on Tuesday, the first day of legal marriage. It was a small affair but was officiated by our favorite Justice of the Peace, Leni Brown, who herself will wed her partner of many years this October. We here at Deerhill Inn offer a package for a wedding for two which includes the justice of the peace, flowers, wine and cheese in your room when you arrive, flowers for the ceremony, champagne and hors d'oeurves after the ceremony and a celebration dinner including wine and a custom designed six course tasting menu which includes your own wedding cake.

As Megan and Lindsay were leaving for their honeymoon in New Hampshire, our next couples were arriving for their ceremonies on Friday. It took some planning and a lot of work for Leni as she performed all three ceremonies for Michael and Ron, Jennifer and Debbie and finally Andi and Aya. The weather has been spectacular for the past week and the Inn was full of happiness and good cheer as we celebrated with these couples on their momentous and historic weddings.

Luckily for me, the three couples decided to eat on three consecutive nights rather than all in one evening.

Very interesting for me, was the food for Jennifer and Debbie. Debbie is wheat intolerant and most hors d'oeuvres start with a wheat platform of some sort. I dug into my repertoire and offered them beautiful local yellow plum tomatoes stuffed with local goat cheese and dusted with oil cured olive powder, smoked salmon served on crispy potato pancakes with a dab of creme fraiche, fresh crab meat salad tossed with basil mayonnaise and fresh corn served in cups made from pickling cucumbers and finally chicken skewers that had been marinated in red wine and rosemary and quickly grilled. I found it satisfying that I could come up with such tasty morsels.

For their wedding dinner, we started with an amuse bouche of chilled yellow pepper and tomato soup with a fresh fennel salad, moved on to a cornmeal crepe studded with fresh corn, bacon and scallions, stuffed with goat cheese and served with heirloom tomatoes and a drizzle of basil oil. I have been making this dish for years and have always made the crepe batter with a mix of corn meal and flour. I tried the recipe with only corn meal and was pleasantly surprised by the lighter texture and cleaner taste of corn. You learn something new every day. I followed the crepe with a diver scallop crusted with pignolia nuts and served with wilted arugula and local tomatoes tossed with extra virgin olive oil and extra coarse sea salt, then moved on to a roulade of grilled Italian eggplant stuffed with local Maple Brook Farm smoked mozzarella and grilled red pepper that was served with a fresh tomato sauce, then a salad of local mesclun greens tossed with roasted beets, local blue cheese and a vinaigrette made with green grapes, champagne vinegar and walnut oil and presented an entree of pan-fried saddle of lamb garnished with olive oil braised baby fennel, glazed fresh figs and a red wine sauce.

James, my intern, created a beautiful wedding cake of a flourless chocolate and almond cake that he filled with a chocolate caramel ganache and covered with vanilla buttercream and decorated the cake with nasturtiums picked from the garden.

I find it relatively easy to create gluten free menus because I use so many vegetables and use no flour in my sauces, a habit I learned while working with Madeline Kamman so many years ago in Newton Centre. But it is satisfying to create a luxurious menu for people who have to sacrifice certain foods due to allergies.

It was a wonderful weekend and we are now looking forward to another wedding celebration this coming weekend. This one will include a barbeque on Friday evening and a dinner celebration on Saturday with the happy couple and 27 of their friends. We look forward to the event.