A cocktail party with Emeril -- come see my photos! What do you think about our partnership?

Recently, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia hosted a party at our Starrett Lehigh offices in New York City.  The reason for the celebration was to honor our new partnership with Emeril Lagasse, his company, and the strategic partners of Emeril. We asked Pierre Schaedelin, chef extraordinaire, to do the cooking. True to form, Pierre created a beautiful buffet of the most delicious food. Come and take a look!

Oh, and by the way, check out the cover of the July/August issue of Everyday Food, on newsstands June 23. For the first time ever, Emeril and I appear on the cover with wonderful grilling recipes inside!

Presented in our Macy's leaf dishes is a lovely salad of fresh hearts of palm, avocado, and pickled wild salmon. Fresh cream of asparagus soup, made from my just-picked garden asparagus, was served in small votive candle glasses.

The asparagus soup was a big hit -- it tasted very rich and creamy; however, Pierre does not add any cream at all except for the tiny dollop on top.

In honor of Emeril's culinary background, Pierre created a very interesting salad of fresh crayfish tails, tomatoes, fava beans, and potatoes.

One of the chef's highly coveted dishes is homemade pate campagne.

Stacked square cake pedestals from Macy's were perfect for an assortment of thinly sliced salami, head cheese, and hams from Schaller & Weber.
 

Pierre often makes colorful terrines of vegetables in aspic -- this one was fresh, tender green asparagus covered in a thin layer of smoked salmon.

Bisteeya -- pigeon pie in Morocco -- is encased in crispy light layers of phyllo and then dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar.
 

There were wonderful cheeses, grapes, and assorted toast -- a great offering for the hungry guests.

Homemade puff pastry cheese straws are something I have always loved at cocktail parties. I sometimes coat them in cheese, paprika, poppy seeds, and even spicy cayenne pepper.

Olives, cornichons, fruit bread, nuts, and other condiments were served in more of the Martha Stewart Collection leaf dishes sold at Macy's.

Pierre never trained as a pastry chef, but he is creating the most delectable sweets -- shortbread with lemon meringue topping, rhubarb crumble, and brownie ganache.

Totally yummy.

Even more yummy.

These desert recipes are all in the new "Martha Stewart's Cookies" book -- lime meltaways, ginger snaps, biscotti, and many more.

Here is the man himself, dressed formally in a suit and tie standing with our board chairman, Charles Koppelman.

Emeril, Charles, and me.

Just the two of us -- do you know that we pioneered the genre of television "cooks" on the Food Network? The path was paved, of course, by the great luminaries of cuisine, Julia Child and Jacques Pepin.

Emeril, Eric Linquest, and Dave Wenner. Most of Emeril's partners came into the city for the gathering.

Tony Cruz, Emeril's business partner, and Adam Marla.

Lucinda  Scala Quinn, our editorial director of food, and Greg Barton, our general counsel. Greg worked hard on our acquisition of the Emeril businesses.

Emeril and his agent, Jim Griffin.

Sheraton Kalouria, president of television at MSLO, book publisher Bob Miller, and his aunt, who happily tagged along.

Comments

[Desiree']

Martha,
I think it's wonderful how much you share about different things going on in your life and MSLO. I am glad you added Emeril to your company. The party looked absoulutely fabulous. You are an inspiration!

[Rowaida Flayhan]

Dear Martha,
Congrats on the partnership.
WOW!!!Yummy and delicious food.
God Bless, wish you always success.
Best Regards,
Rowaida

[Tina]

I love Emeril! I love grilling! :)

[Mary]

Martha! Thank you so much for your daily blog, it really is a nice break for me!

[suemare]

It was wonderful seeing the 2 of you together with Charles Koppelman.
I love reading your blog. I read it each day~!

[michael anthamatten]

I love the new partnership. I like that it offers diversity, and still measures a MS standard of quality. The company needs more extended ideas of 'Fine Living'. Perhaps a T.V. Network to showcase, travel shows (my favorite) and home decor, lawn and gardening, etc. A network that represents MSL magazine one page at a time.

[Lilysmama]

I like the idea of serving the soup in votive candle holders. I will have to try that!

[Darrell White]

As a male viewer (and investor in the company), I'd like to see the company work on brining in more male viewers. For instance, Martha will often say phrases such as "as we focus on our female viewers". Perhaps change that to "viewers" or something like that. To use the word women somewhat isolates men from your show. I personally believe there is room to incorporate men into the Martha world.

Thanks for listening

[Kathy]

Hi, Martha,
What a cocktail party! Congratulations to both you and Emeril on your partnership. Pierre, truly another chef extraordinaire, created so many beautiful dishes. I can just taste the salad with hearts of palm, avocado, and pickled wild salmon and the cream of asparagus soup as well as the salad with crawfish tails, tomatoes, fava beans, and potatoes and the cheese straws. The desserts do look so yummy. The pate campagne and the bisteeya are intriguing and I hope to try them sometime.
I like those leaf dishes.
Thanks for the glimpse into your celebration.
Kathy

[Pam]

In response to Maureen, who said that a little bit of testosterone in the MSLO was a good thing; I am not so sure about that. I just LOVE that Martha finds and promotes talented women.
However, of all men I know, Emeril is the most female friendly. Also, I love them both as chefs and as incredible energetic personalities, so I think their bonding will create fireworks!!
And obviously, for the woman who asked why the partnership--for challenge and MONEY!!
Good Luck Martha and Emeril

[Stephane]

I don't know why some people are shocked that MSLO partnered with Emeril. I think both companies complement perfectly, since they target different markets.

[Joseph Brennan]

Martha:

This is my second comment. I hope you don't mind.

I'm with Michael Anthamatten who suggested in his comment that you start your own television network. I've been thinking about that a lot lately and it would certainly be a good thing!

I also want to apologize for incorrectly spelling a couple words in my comment, particularly "ganache". Duh! It was right in front of me...and I have an English degree from Vassar.

Oh, well, these things serve to keep us humble. I guess that's what happens when it's 1:00 am and I'm tired.

[Ann]

Wasn't Dionne Lucas the first television chef?
The party looks fabulous. Good luck on your new venture.

[Claudine]

I was never a big fan of his before, the Bam over the top was a little to much for me. But since he has the Martha seal of approval and when he is on your show or GMA he is a little more calm. So now I think it is a Good Thing!

Claudine

[Piecake]

What is on the wall in the photo behind Tony Cruz and Adam Marla? It looks interesting.

All the food looks wonderful. She is one lucky woman with such a talented chef (and for many other reasons).

I didn't know Martha was on the Food Network. Interesting.

[Margie]

Pierre, Martha and Emeril,

Congratulations on the success of your skills.
Pierre, I was exhausted and I only had to look at the pictures. What work you have done--so fine.
Martha and Emeril--I will enjoy watching as a huge canvas is developed into a beautiful landscape--or will it be modern art? Anticipation of things to come...

[Patty]

Love the pictures from the party. When I grow up I want to be able to throw parties like that :-) The leaf dishes caught my eye the first time they were shown and I'm still a huge fan of them.

Martha, thanks for so generously sharing your life with us.

[Corinne McFarlen]

Two of my very favorites,both have been a great influence on my sucess as a Very professional Excutive Camp Chef,it doesn't get any better than this.

[Ley]

I'm excited about the pairing! I think your personalities will work SO well together. Congratulations! :)

(The food looks AMAZING, especially in those gorgeous leaf dishes!!)

[Vivian Love]

Everything looks so yummy! Thanks for sharing with us. Good luck on your new venture with Emeril. I'm sure it will be awesome.

Vivian Love,
Quilts With Love, California

[A devoted viewer...]

Everything looks wonderful, of course!!! The network idea is a good one...now go get Mario Batali and Sara Moulton. Congrats on your new partnership!

[Lori]

I love Martha!

[Janna from Honeyed Hashette]

Everything looks fantastic!
I would love to try the crawfish and fava bean salad. I am excited about your partnership and to see what wonderful things the two of you come up with...for all of us. :)

[ShopLittleGifts]

Very beautiful buffet. I love the rhubarb crumble in the little leaf dishes. Welcome Emeril. Hope to see you do lots of interesting shows/segments/articles with Martha. Maybe a trip with the two of you visiting and dining in New Orleans. That would be fun!

[Jessica]

Wow - this is making me salivate!! It looks delicious.