It’s hard to believe that we are already going into our third year of independence from the restaurant business.  As luck would have it, our decision to close Soma restaurant (in order to focus on our private chef and catering services) coincided with the three worst year in recent economic history, and therefore the absolute worst time to be a restaurant owner.  Fortunately for us, people continued to get married, splurge for private dinners, and to utilize our skills for their special events.

As the worlds economy slowly recovers we are often tempted to get back into the business, however it is very unlikely. Throughout the numerous events that we have had the privilege to cater we’ve come to embrace to intimacy of focusing on one client’s individual wants, desires and fantasies that make up their own perfect evening.  Each and every menu we have executed over these years has been a direct collaboration with our client and also allowed us to creatively interpret there likes and dislikes into a distinct “Soma” menu.

We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for the opportunity to be a part of your past and future catered events.  Gracias!

Here’s one of our classics:

This sauce is great with fish, chicken, pork, or tofu (well, pretty much everything).

You can spread a nice thick crust on top of something good and bake it to your desired tempreature or  just serve a dollop of this on top of your favorite protein.

Soma Thai Pesto

1 cup cilantro, roughly chopped and packed

½ cup each of mint & basil (preferably Thai) leaves, roughly chopped and packed

½ cup shelled pistachios

1 Tablespoon fish sauce (or more, to taste)

1 Tablespoon brown or palm sugar

1 Teaspoon citrus zest

1/3 cp. fresh lime juice

3-4 spring onions, roughly chopped

1-2 spicy chiles (thai, serano or jalapeno), seeded and chopped

2-4 medium cloves of garlic, peeled

1 inch piece of fresh ginger(peeled and chopped)

¼ cup grape seed oil (add more if you need to)

pinch of sea salt (to taste)

First put your garlic, ginger, pistachios, spring onion and chilies in your food processor and pulse a few times, then add the rest of your ingredients and continue to pulse until everything is finely chopped and you get a semi-smooth, but still chunky texture.

Cover and chill until ready to use.  If you’re not baking it, let it come up to room temp before serving.

It keeps for few days covered and refrigerated.

*You can also add fresh grated coconut (1/3 cup) or fresh lemongrass to step it up a bit more…

**The lime may cause the herbs to discolor, so if you don’t plan on using it right away you can add the lime juice just prior to serving.