It seems gathering our supper club has been a bit of a challenge this winter. For our January date most of the state of Washington was covered in snow and a thick layer of ice. Many of our club couples were still and had been without power for days when our January Saturday had arrived. We were finally able to pull of our first Supper Club gathering of 2012 at Jenni & Arnie's with at least half our couples in attendance in February.
Jenni had actually wanted to host this Cajun New Year's themed menu inspired by the 2012 January Bon Appetit for our January gathering and since that didn't happen we just stuck with it for our February meal. It was actually perfect given it was Mardi Gras week.
Lisa & Derek prepared these wonderful Shrimp & Hearts of Palm Remoulade lettuce wraps to kick off the meal. They were delightfully fresh and tart. And Jenni gave us a quick lesson about what Hearts of Palm actually are. Silly me thought they were made from artichokes but now I'm straight they are made from the shoots of palm trees.
Link to Shrimp & Hearts of Palm Remoulade recipe from Bon Appetit: Here.
Jenni & Arnie made us a hearty Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. It was warm and comforting exactly what I expect from a gumbo. The recipe calls for File' powder, something I'm unfamiliar with not sure if Jenni used this ingredient but would be interested to learn what it is.
Link to Chicken & Sausage Gumbo recipe from Bon Appetit: Here.
We were on own to find side dishes since the Bon Appetit menu didn't include a side dish. I googled Cajun side dishes and came across a site called Bella Online that had a slew of Cajun & Creole recipes. Because I'm never good at narrowing it down to one I made two.
First was a salad of sort called, Louisiana Style Fresh Green Beans. Simple and fresh.
I started off the easy route by purchasing bags of cleaned and trimmed green beans that were ready to go. Given fresh out of the garden green beans aren't readily available in our area currently this was the way to go.
I started by quick boiling the green beans
and then blanching them in ice water to keep them vibrant and green.
Next I made the vinaigrette.
The recipe called for Creole mustard that I couldn't find so I substituted this Hot & Sweet Mustard that we found at Trader Joe's.
The dressing came together quick in the food processor.
Then I set them in the fridge to come together for several hours until it was Supper Club time.
Recipe for Louisiana Style Fresh Green Beans link: Here.
Next I made the Okra with Tomatoes dish made with Andouille sausage.
This dish was pretty tasty. Not having eaten lots of okra its always good to try a dish that requires you to cook with ingredients that you don't always use to get you out of that rut.
This recipe was also very simple and because its served over rice it could easily be served as a main dish as well.
Recipe link for Okra and Tomatoes: Here.
Supper club is always an evening we enjoy each month to get together and enjoy good food with friends.
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