Erin Scott Throws a Garden-Fresh Fall Dinner Party

Erin Scott's roasted heirloom tomato-and-pepper soup. The Yummy Supper blogger at home. A table set with mix-and-match dishware.

Photographed by Erin Scott

For Erin Scott, dinner isn’t just a way to mark another day’s end—it’s serious business. The former retail storeowner created the popular food blog Yummy Supper in 2009, as a place for friends to share recipes that were easy and healthy and showcased the bounty of the season. But as the site gained steam, the endeavor proved to be more than mere hobby. “It took me in a whole new career direction,” says Scott—one that she was more than equipped to follow.

“Trying to make people happy through courteous service is very similar to making people happy with food,” says the Oakland, California, native, who later quit the retail game in order to focus on Yummy Supper full time. It’s a skill that comes naturally thanks to her all-inclusive approach to cooking and entertaining, which gives her time to focus on the things that are most important to her: wellness, sustainability, and above all else, family. In fact, readers of the blog have become equally familiar with her children, Otis, 14, and Lilah, 10, who help brainstorm recipes, choose ingredients, and prepare myriad dishes of varying levels of difficulty.

Likewise, Scott’s new cookbook, Yummy Supper: 100 Fresh, Luscious, and Honest Recipes From a {Gluten-Free} Omnivore, is a similarly family-minded affair. “My kids have been oyster eaters since they were little, tiny guys,” she says. “It’s kind of hilarious seeing little guys slurp up an oyster.” So when Scott decided to include a recipe for a tangy mignonette, it was with the version that she had been serving her children for the last four years in mind. That’s not the only instance of art imitating life. A spaghetti dish topped with bacon and Swiss chard was created on the spot—using the last of what remained in the garden and refrigerator—after the family returned home from a vacation late one evening. And the pomegranate fish tacos that grace the book’s cover: they were Otis’s idea.

Scott's son Otis helps prep ingredients for the pomegranate salsa that will accompany the meal's fish tacos.

Neutral-toned dishes collected from Scott's travels let the meal's bright colors take the spotlight.

What better meal, then, to welcome guests on a warm, late fall evening? With Otis and Lilah as her sous-chefs, Scott invited friends over for a low-key supper that took advantage of the mix of seasons. “Here in California, we like the play of serving something you often think of as summer paired with something that’s associated with winter,” says Scott. If pomegranates are a harbinger of winter, then the chilled roasted heirloom tomato-and-pepper soup topped with garden-fresh basil is pure summer. “I love the mash up of the seasons,” she says. “It’s such a fun, special time.”

In keeping with the mix-and-match menu, Scott set the table with a collection of ceramic dishware, which she found at local flea markets and on travels from France to Istanbul. A lidded bowl was made by her ceramicist father-in-law; a 1950’s punch set—used to serve her watermelon punch—was purchased on eBay. But despite the varied shapes, styles, and sizes, the tableware followed one strict color palette: a creamy white. “I layered textures but stuck to neutrals because I like when the food adds color,” says Scott. To that point, a starter of radishes with herb butter imparted a warm green component to the rustic setting. “Why can’t what you’re eating become your décor?” she says. “It lures people to the table in a casual way.”

Another lure: the effortless honeydew granita that served as dessert. At the end of the meal, Scott and her dinner companions sat at the table with the doors open to the garden, marveling at the work they had accomplished together. “There’s something nice about not having a separation between guests and hosts,” says Scott. “Get people involved; invite people into the kitchen. You’ll learn more when dinner becomes a shared experience.”