Craig Case, host of
The Inn Crowd, and chef
Michael Hutchings welcomes local realtor
Keith Berry to the kitchen at the historical
Casa del Herrero. The name Casa del Herrero translates as house of the blacksmith. Keith has been in the real estate business since 1964 and is a native of
Santa Barbara, California. While growing up Keith attended Franklin School,
Santa Barbara Junior High School and Santa Barbara High School, graduating in the class of 1957. Upon graduation, Keith entered the United States Navy serving on the USS Helena and at the submarine base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As a graduate of local schools, Keith knows the area schools, understands the cultural diversities and appreciates the unique history of this prestigious area. He is also an enthusiastic cook and enjoys preparing dinner for friends.
Few of Montecito’s legendary estates remain essentially unchanged. The Casa del Herrero, designed by architect George Washington Smith and completed in 1925, is noted as one of the finest examples of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in America, is included on the National Register of Historic Places, and in January 2009, was designated a National Historic Landmark by then Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. Docent Anthony Miller conducted a tour of the estate with Craig Case.
Historic South Terrace
George Fox Steedman, an industrialist, engineer, and amateur architect, had a vision for the house and grounds that went beyond fashion, and he assembled an extraordinary team of architects, landscape architects, antiquarians, and horticulturists to produce the Casa del Herrero estate (House of the Blacksmith)—recognized today as a masterpiece of the Country Place era. His participation in every detail of the property’s buildings, furnishings, and gardens is the reason the estate makes a single artistic statement that is greater than the sum of its parts. Today the entire 11-acre site is owned and operated as a historic house museum and garden by the Casa del Herrero, a 501(c)3 public non-profit organization, with the goal of preserving the house and grounds, as well as the family’s collection of antiques, books, sketchbooks, drawings, and horticultural records.
We had unique cooking appliances to cook with on this episode. For the first episode, we prepared the meal in the rather small kitchen inside the home. The kitchen features a restored 1936 Magic Chef range. What was special about the range is the temperature control on the oven. This allowed for precise baking. I managed to find a 1936 cook book issued by the manufacturer of of the Magic Chef range. I used the cookbook as a basis for the first episode's menu. The two course meal starts with a trout stuffed with crab and served with hollandaise sauce. Dessert features the Sunshine Cake that I garnished with fresh berries, one of my favorite dessert additions, and a vanilla custard sauce.
In the Smithy's Den
The second episode was filmed in the garden. We had use of the incredible BBQ that was forged by Mr. Steedman. It's build like a BBQ battleship and showcases his skill as a designer and blacksmith. The utensils, tongs, shovels, are industrial strength. One of my other passions in metal sculpting and the metal shop at the estate is metal smith's heaven. Every tool you might need for making metal objects from forges, planishing hammers, power tools and anvils are neatly arranged and at the ready.
Below are a few examples of my metal craft.
The menu for the second episode is a riff on contemporary California-casual BBQ dining. The first course is a salad of grilled peaches, burrata cheese and prosciutto dressed with basil oil, balsamic vinegar and little lettuce sprouts. A NY Steak with red wine butter, asparagus and BBQ baked fingerling potatoes followed. We prepared dessert of lemon tart in the Magic Chef range.
Join is on The Inn Crowd Saturdays at 6:30 on ABC affiliate KEY channel 3. Check times as the show sometimes is preempted and airs at a later time.View the show on-line at the Santa Barbara News Press. Look to the right side of the web page for a link to the show. YTS Digital Films produced and directed this show. Foley Food and Wine Society is our host and provides wines from their vast portfolio.
Put on your apron, grab your food processor and hang on to your whisk. We have new episodes in great locations with interesting guests coming to you this year. I'll provide the recipes, the rest is up to you. See you in the kitchen.
Tastefully,
