Jessie Bluebell Keilt stood on stage at Golden Gate Park looking out into a crowd of 60,000 people. “It was just a sea of dots,” recalls Keilt, a private chef who is accustomed to working behind the scenes in kitchens at homes and wineries. This was far from a typical day for her, but it wasn’t wholly unfamiliar either.
She shared the stage with several other grown children of the founding members of the Grateful Dead to introduce the final day of the Dead & Company shows in early August that marked 60 years of the band’s music and its indelible cultural impact, which is still felt here in Sonoma County in the bohemian spirit of community and acceptance that defines west county, especially.
Keilt’s father is the late Robert Hunter, who was a poet and lyricist for the Grateful Dead. Her mother is also an artist. Growing up in a home surrounded by poetry and art along with the music of her extended Grateful Dead family left Keilt wondering as a teen how she fit into this world of creative minds.
“I always had this feeling that I wasn’t an artist,” she says. “It wasn’t until I started cooking my own food that I realized there is art in food. It’s how I make art.”
The Santa Rosa-based chef, who owns Blue Blossom Catering, says her mother was a huge inspiration for her in the kitchen, calling her mom “a bit of a culinary genius” who made meals with foraged wild foods such as rabbit, mushrooms, and stinging nettles when the family lived in England.
Foraging mushrooms is still one of Keilt’s favorite pastimes. She sources seafood from a fisherman friend, and her garden, tended by her husband and brimming now with heirloom tomatoes and berries, is a constant source of culinary inspiration. It’s where she turned when creating an early harvest season menu inspired, in part, by the Grateful Dead that she made for an intimate gathering of the band’s family and friends.
She spent a portion of her career as a chef cooking for several members of the band and their families, so chose local, seasonal dishes she knew they would enjoy, rooted to the place they continued to call home even though their fame afforded them the opportunity to live anywhere in the world.
“We live in a world of abundance here,” says Keilt. “Everything is juicy and peak and flavorful. What a lucky place to be.”
Find chef Jessie Keilt at blueblossomcatering.com.
Heirloom Tomato Soup With Grilled Cheese Soldiers
Makes 8-10 servings
This course was created with a wink and nod to fans of the Grateful Dead. “Grilled cheese sandwiches are one thing you could rely on having outside of every show,” says Keilt. Trixie Garcia explains that was for reasons “purely economical — and there are a lot of vegetarians” as Deadheads sold the sandwiches to make a few bucks so they could follow the band to the next stop. Serve this soup with your favorite grilled cheese. Keilt cuts them into long, crustless strips called “soldiers” that are ideal for dipping.
2 ½-3 pounds fresh heirloom tomatoes (about 10-12 medium)
6 whole garlic cloves, peeled
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup unsalted butter (can substitute olive oil)
1 large yellow or white onion, diced
4 cups chicken stock
¼ cup fresh basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ cup heavy cream or Greek yogurt
Preheat oven to 400 F. Place the tomatoes and garlic on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Drizzle on the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir with a large spoon or your hands to ensure everything is coated. Roast for 30 minutes then remove from the oven and set aside. Place the butter in a large heavy-bottomed pot. Melt the butter over medium-high heat then add the onions. Cook the onions until translucent and just starting to brown, about 10 minutes.
Add the chicken stock, basil, and oregano to the onions. Carefully add the roasted tomatoes and garlic along with all of the juices to the pot as well and stir to combine. Add in the baking soda and continue stirring. The mixture will bubble up for a moment and then settle. After the mixture has come to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
Pour the soup in to a blender, or use an immersion blender, and puree it until nice and smooth. You may need to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender. Be careful on this step because the soup is hot. Return soup to the saucepan over low heat and stir in the heavy cream. Bring the soup back to a simmer while stirring; you don’t want it to boil. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed. Serve with grilled cheese soldiers on the side.
Garnish ideas: Shredded Parmesan cheese, fresh basil or oregano, toasted sourdough bread.
Fig and Burrata Salad With Champagne Vinaigrette
Makes 4 servings
This salad is a simple and delicious way to showcase end-of-season figs.
8 ounces mixed salad greens
10 figs, halved
1 tbsp. avocado oil
1 tbsp. butter
2 balls of burrata, halved
Edible flowers for garnish, optional
For the vinaigrette:
1 clove garlic
¼ cup Champagne vinegar
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
½ tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
First, make the vinaigrette. Place garlic in a mini food processor or blender and pulse until finely minced. Add the Champagne vinegar, mustard, honey, lemon juice, salt, and pepper and process until blended. Scrape down the sides, pour in the olive oil, and process until emulsified. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Store in an airtight container until ready to use.
In a large skillet, heat avocado oil over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add figs, cut side down, then the butter. Cook about 3-4 minutes until figs have caramelized some and given up some of their juices. Remove from heat.
Add salad greens to a large bowl and toss gently with 3-4 tablespoons of vinaigrette. Arrange the salad greens evenly among 4 plates and top with five figs each. Add a burrata ball half to each plate, drizzle with a bit more vinaigrette, and garnish with edible flowers, if desired.
Halibut With Beurre Blanc
Makes 4 servings
Beurre blanc is a sauce that elevates most any dish and is especially good with our abundance of fresh seafood, but can be used with poultry and fresh vegetables as well. Chef Jessie Keilt served her halibut on a bed of roasted delicata squash and garnished with fresh microgreens.
1 ¼ pound halibut filets
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
For the beurre blanc:
12 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-sized chunks
2 tbsp. dry white wine
2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp. shallot, minced
¼ tsp. kosher salt
1 pinch white pepper
¼ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
First, make the beurre blanc. In a medium saucepan bring wine and vinegar to a boil. Add shallots, salt, and pepper. Lower heat to a simmer and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. There should be about 1 tbsp. liquid left. If you reduce too far, add 1/2 tbsp. of water to re-moisten.
Remove pan from heat. Whisk in 2 pieces of butter into the reduction. Set pan over low heat and continue whisking butter into sauce a chunk at a time, allowing each piece to melt before adding more. Remember to maintain low heat and never let the sauce come to a boil once the butter is added or the sauce will separate.
Remove sauce from heat and whisk in the lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning, then strain through a fine sieve into a bowl. Hold over low heat or, better, a warm water bath while you cook the fish.
Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Season halibut filets with salt and pepper to taste, and add to the pan and sear, adjusting heat so you get a deep golden brown sear. Reduce heat to medium high, add butter, and use a spatula to turn the filet over, cooking about 3-4 more minutes until the fish is just cooked through.
Spoon beurre blanc on serving plates, add halibut filets, spooning more sauce over them as desired.
Panna Cotta With Strawberry Coulis
Makes 8 servings
Although we often think of strawberries as a spring fruit, their season lasts until the first rains of autumn. As if in a farewell to summer, strawberries will provide a final flush of fruit that Jessie Keilt turns into coulis and jam when the bounty is more than she can eat fresh.
“When your environment provides you with beautiful things you don’t want to be unappreciative,” she says. “Using them feels like a good way of saying thank you for what you get.”
For the Panna Cotta
1 ½ cups whole milk
1 packet (1/4 ounce) of unflavored gelatin powder (1 tbsp.)
6 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, split open
2 ½ cups heavy cream
For the Strawberry Coulis
1 lb. fresh strawberries
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Place the milk in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Stir well and set aside to bloom for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath in a bowl or deep-sided baking dish by adding water and ice to about halfway up the sides of a small saucepan.
In a small saucepan, combine the cream, sugar, and vanilla extract or vanilla bean and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from the heat and whisk in the softened gelatin/milk mixture. If using vanilla beans, scrape the seeds into the mixture and discard the pod.
Set the saucepan in the ice bath (making sure the top of the pan is well above the surface of the water), and whisk until the mixture is lukewarm. Rub the mixture between your fingers. There should be no grit from undissolved sugar or gelatin. Pour the mixture into 8 individual ramekins and let cool, uncovered until no longer warm.
Rinse the strawberries in cold water and remove the stems. Add berries, sugar, and lemon juice to a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring often. Turn the burner to low and allow mixture to simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat, and using a blender, puree the mixture into a smooth sauce. It should coat the back of a spoon. Strain the coulis to remove the seeds and allow to cool. The coulis can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored, covered, in the refrigerator.
To serve: Top panna cotta with a couple of tablespoons of the coulis. Garnish with more fresh berries of your choice.