Gluten Free and Getting Married: The Tasting!

Recently, we had the tasting for our wedding menu at Willowdale Estate in Topsfield, Ma. Mike was excited about his "favorite part of wedding planning", but I was kind of nervous because of the need for gluten food. So many places have told me that they "do gluten free all the time" only to be completely underwhelmed and sometimes glutened. In my first Gluten Free and Getting Married article I mentioned that Willowdale Estate offered multiple methods to achieve a suitable gluten free wedding for me. I chose to have all of my passed hors d'oeuvres, entree options, sides and deserts made gluten free & tree nut free. On top of passed hors d'oeuvres we also have a cheese, cracker etc. station during cocktail hour. This will have fresh regular bread, regular crackers and possibly some kind of pasta salad. Basically, anything that isn't obviously gluten free like bread and crackers is being made gluten free. This saves me a lot of worrying and makes it easier for the kitchen and waitstaff when it comes to cross contamination. 

After our tasting, I have no more worries about the food or the menu.



Willowdale Estate

Chef Joe Joyce at the Willowdale Estate is amazing. After tasting the food for our wedding I asked Mike if I could marry Joe instead. You could tell that a lot of care and love went into preparing our menu. Joe even spent time cleaning out the fryer and replacing its oil so he could experiment with gluten free fritters made with Bisquick baking mix. I was completely blown away by this. I spend a lot of time fidgeting with different gluten free recipes, making things I once loved with Celiac safe ingredients because I can't eat the gluten laden options. Having someone do that for me so I can feel included is extremely heart warming. 

When we first started to think about what we wanted in a wedding, we almost immediately thought about Mexican Food. Mike and I have bonded on our shared love of Mexican Food, both authentic and Tex Mex. I've been to a lot of weddings in the last few years and none of the food has been all that memorable. I'm pretty positive that won't be the case with our wedding. It's been several weeks since the tasting and I still salivate thinking about the delicious polenta. I keep asking Mike if we can married sooner just so we can eat that food again. Here's a review of the plates we tried for our tasting. One thing you'll notice is that unlike a lot of other places, Willowdale Estate doesn't make you share your three options with your future spouse and any guests you might bring. You actually get each entree in its entirety served to you. So, if you have three entree choices... you're getting three dinners. This was really nice because you don't have to fight your fiancee for what's on the plate, but slightly overwhelming since I couldn't possibly eat all the food that was given to us. 

Grilled Chicken Skewers With Apricot Dipping Sauce &
Crab Cakes

Our appetizer options consisted of grilled chicken skewers with apricot dipping sauce, mini crab cakes, goat cheese/ basil/ roasted tomato quesadillas & baby twice baked potatoes with bacon and chives.


The chicken, was magnificently tender and flavorful. The sweetness of the apricot dipping sauce was an excellent pairing. The crab cakes, made of real crab, were baked to a nice level of crispness. The quesadillas, made with corn tortillas, were crisp and tasty. I've used corn tortillas on many an occasion, but have never gotten them to taste this good. Our group's favorite was the mini twice baked potatoes. They were really delicious and perfectly seasoned. I think Mike would have eaten them all if we had let him.

Goat Cheese, Basil and Roasted Tomato Quesadilla &
Baby Twice Baked Potatoes with Bacon and Chives

The next part of the tasting was our salad. Mike is not a fan of "field greens". When he initially heard we were having them instead of the other salad option, (which contained gluten and tree nuts), he grumbled. At the tasting... he cleaned his plate. The salad was beautifully presented in a cucumber slice with shaved carrot and mint on top. The dressing was light, refreshing and tasty.

Salad

The first course we tried was a statler chicken breast with cilantro lime sauce, sweet potatoes and roasted baby zucchini. The chicken itself was very mildly flavored, but the sauce with it was fantastic. The veggies were roasted nicely and went very well with the meat and sauce.

Statler Chicken with Cilantro Lime Sauce,
Zucchini & Sweet Potatoes

Our second menu option was a flank steak with corn, squash and red pepper succotash. This was Mike's favorite. I think he would have eaten three more plates of this if we had let him. My mother, who usually refers to any corn that isn't on the cob as "demon corn", gleefully chowed down on the this succotash. If you know her and have ever observed her grumpily picking corn out of her food while muttering, you know that this is a huge compliment. 

Flank Steak With Roasted Red Pepper, Corn &
Squash Succotash with Carrots

Last, but certainly not least was my personal favorite and the vegetarian option. Our vegetarian option is going to be polenta with sauteed greens, fresh tomatoes, smoky black beans and a cauliflower/ cumin paste. This was phenomenal. The polenta had a bit of asiago cheese in it, which made it rich and delicious. The tomatoes were fresh and the black beans, which were made with liquid smoke to keep them vegetarian were dynamite. Joe even called the company that made the liquid smoke to make sure it was gluten free!

Polenta with Sauteed Chard, Fresh Tomatoes,
Smoky Black Beans and  Cauliflower with Cumin 

At the end of the three fantastic dinners we tried, they even brought us a desert plate of fresh fruit. By that point I didn't have much room left, but I did have a few slices of fresh pineapple.

Fresh Fruit

The entire experience was terrific. Each course was paired with our choice of red or white wine and I think they even offered us coffee after, which I had to turn down because I was so full. I wish I could do it all again tomorrow and let it be known right now .... I am eating at my wedding!