Chef Christa Lynch hosted “Morebeza, A Love Letter to Cape Verde” for our A NIGHT IN pop-up series.
Photo Cred: Chef Christa Lynch
Morebeza, which translates to welcome to my home, welcome to my space, Chef Lynch invited guests to experience the home comfort of Cape Verde. Her upbringing and memories of home inspired Chef Lynch’s carefully curated menu for our A NIGHT IN series. In developing the menu, Chef Lynch wanted to bring Cape Verdean dishes to the forefront, presenting its rich history and culture.
Staying consistent with Cape Verdean culture, Chef Lynch prepared a fresh salad with roasted butternut squash and toasted pumpkin seeds for our first course. Using only seasonal ingredients, she brought elements of the Cape Verdean lifestyle to the plate.
For our second course, she served a peri-peri chicken with turmeric cauliflower rice, roasted peppers, and tomatoes. Incorporating peri-peri spices, Chef Lynch provided a punch of flavor and a historical backdrop to the blend of Cape Verdean and Portuguese seasoning.
Our third course was a traditional Cape Verdean dessert, a fried goat cheese ball with house guava jelly. She used fruits commonly prepared in Cape Verde to bring the meal to a sweet close.
"Designing this menu was a little bit difficult for me because I am giving New Yorkers a taste of Cape Verdean food, but it is a culture many people don't know about. They don't know what to expect. People are completely unfamiliar with this group of islands very close to Senegal. But, it's a culture that is rich in its history and fruit and vegetable options, which I incorporated. It's rich in its music."
Brooklyn Braised, Chef Lynch’s farm-to-table business, offers catering for intimate gatherings, special occasions, workplace dining, and live virtual cooking classes. Giving back to her community, Chef Lynch provides hunger relief initiatives and equitable hiring practices for formerly incarcerated women and men.
Follow Chef Christa Lynch by supporting her business, Brooklyn Braised.
Explore Adá, the only Experiences Marketplace that centers global Black food culture.
