January Supper Club: Theme Austrian

Our January theme is exactly what we love about our 10 year commitment to Supper Club thus far. Even this many years in we are still experiencing new learning challenges with food and cooking like; Austrian food. 

When Kris & Jeff,our hosts last month, sent out the theme of Austrian it was one that actually made us go, "mmmm... not even sure what an Austrian appetizer would be." Which is perfect, it caused us to research multiple sources and find out what recipes would actually fall under an Austrian theme. 

So we all gathered at Kris & Jeff's and initially our common theme of conversation was related to the lack of snow that many skiers in this group were bummed about.

The "no faces" shot Right to Left: Greg, Kris, Lisa & Jeff

Eventually, we stopped our belly aching and moved onto the food or rather belly filling. We were assigned appetizer. We made a recipe by Wolfgang Puck ( famous Austrian chef) for pretzel knots.

Accompanied by an Austrian cheese spread called Schmierkaese Cheese spread made with cream cheese and camembert. Very good but to be honest an odd consistency and a bit more pungent than expected.

Our main course was made by our hosts who have actually been to Austria. It was a wonderful tender pork dish served with sautéed cabbage.

Of course, I can't remember the actual name of the dish and if I did I'm pretty sure I couldn't spell it even if I did remember..

Arnie & Jenni made the side: yummy beets which Jenni didn't even like as a non-beet eater but were delicious.

Finally, Derek & Lisa made the most luscious crepe dessert with caramel. It truly was the perfect ending to the meal.

As usual it was a great night and one which inspired us to really share some different ideas for future themes that were fun and inspirational. Of course two weeks later I wish I would of taken notes about our ideas. (I guess 10 years in, we are all also 10 years older too...memories are less sharp.)

Supper Club: Holiday Cocktail Party

Yeah, she has nothing to do with Supper Club except being a really cute annoyance to our guests all night. But this photo is just too cut not to share.

In our many years of Supper Club gatherings I can't remember a December gathering that fell only 4 days from Christmas.  

We were happy to host Supper Club this month. It gives me even more reason to decorate for the season, which I enjoy doing regardless. 

So with the house all ready to go we decided that actually being so close to Christmas doing a theme that would be a bit less maintenance would likely be appreciated by all. We went with a typical holiday cocktail party theme. Everyone brought makings for a festive cocktail and a hearty appetizer. PERFECT, especially since almost all of our members love appetizers. 

It was a great way to kick off our winter break. 

Table set for a potluck style meal, holiday tunes a playing..... we were ready to celebrate.

We greeted everyone with our cocktail, a Tipsy Santa. Yeah, next time we would need to use a course type of sugar for the rim to help with the Santa hat look. But they actually were pretty tasty and tipsy.

Some great apps were included in the spread. 

(Of course per my usual Supper Club photography I remembered to start taking pictures after most of the food was gone.)

We made grilled lamb chops with a creamy mustard sauce and

Sliced Steak Caesar sliders.

Lisa & Derek made a fantastic Gruyere' cheese, caramelized onion & bacon dip (need we say more, YUM!) and

Brie with Peach Salsa Crostini. 

They served a delicious White Chocolate, Candy Cane Martini also.

Jeff & Kris joined us after attending their daughters choral recital. And they brought with a great platter of greek flavored pizza pinwheels.

They also made a refreshing Cranberry Amaretto cocktail.

Since it was an appetizer theme I just picked up some frozen eclairs and bite sized tastes for dessert. But given the sweet cocktails dessert was barely touched by any of us at the end of the night.

It was a great gathering during a very busy season to just sit down and nosh on some yummy food with some people who have become our Supper Club family.

From G, T & Sally P. we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Recipes:

All 3 recipes adapted from Rachel Ray Everyday Magazine Recipes. Linked below:

Sliced Steak Caesar Sliders

Lamb Chops with Creamy Mustard Sauce

Tipsy Santa Cocktail

Broccoli Salad with Toasted Pecans

Oh my, where did the time go. How has over a month passed and we haven't even posted a thing? We really can't say to be honest what happened except maybe: our summer vacation ended and we both had to go back to work. Me; 60+ hours a week hiring and getting ready for a new school year. G; starting a new role at the district level in a new district. Life is just consuming I suppose. 

That being said I'm hoping now that the year is up and going  and the sunny days are gone that we can actually sit down and share some good food with you all.

Last weekend another sign of autumn being in full swing for us was that Supper Club started up again after our annual summer hiatus. It's always a great gathering with our supper club friends. 

This month Jeff & Kris kicked off by hosting an autumn themed menu.

We all began by gathering out on their lovely patio catching up over the some delicious appetizers made by Derek & Lisa.

First up were these absolutely tasty corn fritters served with a chipotle cream and fresh salsa.

Next was a starter that was 100% new to the whole group; potted pork.

This was an interesting but delectable dish for us all to enjoy. Basically shredded pork in clarified butter that we smeared on crusty crostini with caramelized shallots and grainy mustard. This was so good. Literally there wasn't crumb left on either appetizer platter.

We chatted, caught, chatted some more, caught up some more and next thing you know it was almost 8:30 and we hadn't considered moving on to the main course yet.

We did get to the delicious main course which was a very appropriate for the season; beer- cheese soup with toasted bread croutons. Some how being totally out of practice in photo taking and blogging I got off course and totally skipped taking photos of both the soup and the great dessert.

But we can tell you the soup was fantastic. We brought a hearty but fresh broccoli salad with toasted pecans. Growing up both broccoli and cauliflower were always served with a cheese sauce. So a side to go with cheese soup seemed natural to me to be something with broccoli. I wanted one that was fresh and not laden with mayo so this recipe from Alton Brown met the ticket.

The meal was great as always and ended with a great autumn cheesecake made by Arnie & Jenni (again so remiss that I forgot photos, I promise to get back in the swing of this thing again soon.)

As always looking forward to our next gathering.

RECIPE:

Broccoli Salad with Toasted Pecans adapted from Alton Brown Foodnetwork

Ingredients
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 lemon, zested
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pound broccoli, rinsed, trimmed and sliced thinly on a mandolin
6 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
3 ounces coarsely chopped, toasted pecans or hazelnuts
2 tablespoons chiffonade fresh basil leaves
Directions
Whisk together the vinegar, zest, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper in a medium mixing bowl. While whisking constantly, gradually add the olive oil. Add the broccoli and toss to coat. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Stir in the tomatoes, hazelnuts and basil. Cover and allow to sit, at room temperature or in the refrigerator, for another 15 minutes before serving.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/fresh-broccoli-salad-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

A Hot & Spicy June Supper Club

Finally, June is here and we've even had some nice June like weather lately. The only thing making it even better is school is also out. With school out we were excited to host our last summer club gathering before our regularly planned summer hiatus. 

Our house is considerably smaller than all of the other couples so we love when we can have them all over and spread out on the patio when we host.

We all gathered together on this warm evening with the patio heater prepared to help keep us warm once the sun went down to indulge in some "hot & spicy" dishes. 

We couldn't really count on the weather fully cooperating when we put the theme out there initially and we knew we wanted to be outside so we went with a hot & spicy theme to keep us warm regardless of  the weather. Even Sally Porkchop was welcome at the party.

We started with some not so pretty to look at Grilled Smoke Gouda and Chorizo Stuffed Jalapeños. 

Yeah, they were pretty spicy. But also very tasty. We love to make grilled stuffed jalapeños although we usually stuff them with a crab mixture. The chorizo was a bit meatier but also quite delicious.

Next, we moved on to the main dishes and the heat continued to not disappoint.

G & I made two different versions of hot wings. G's versions a more traditional Buffalo style hot wing.

And I made my favorite more Asian inspired sriracha spiced wing.

We served them with spicy sweet potato fries.

Jeff (representing both Jeff & Kris who was sadly under the weather) brought both a beautifully colorful sliced pepper salad with dill

as well as some spicy cheddar biscuits that perfectly balanced the meal.

We all agreed we'd need to be taking our over the counter heart burn medicine  before turning in for the evening. But we also agreed although spicy the spice was well balanced and didn't overpower any of the taste.

We ended our enjoyable evening on the patio with Jenni & Arnie's absolutely scrumptious chocolate cake topped with some yummy ripe strawberries and a spicy glaze. 

Oh, so good. My palate was pleasantly happy with each course of our meal.

Our June supper club gathering has become G & I's official indicator that summer vacation is quickly coming. Meaning we LOVE June supper club. 

And we always love coming back together to share food with our dear friends when September rolls back around. 

Happy Summer to you too!

RECIPE:

Grilled Spicy Sriracha Honey Wings

5 #'s chicken wings & drummettes, cleaned

2 Tblspns canola oil

4 Tblspns Sriracha Sauce

2 Tblspns honey

2 Tblspns butter, melted

1 Tblspn soy sauce

2 Tblspns finely chopped cilantro

3 Tblspns toasted sesame seeds 

Salt & black pepper to taste

Whisk together Sriracha sauce, honey, butter, soy sauce and cilantro. Taste to check heat level. If sauce is too spicy add honey, set aside.

Heat grill to 375 degrees. Wipe grill well with canola oil. Grill chicken wings until cooked through with grillmarks. When done toss wings in sauce. Put on platter sprinkle with cilantro and sesame seeds. 

April Supper Club: Mexican Made Easy Theme

Our April Supper Club was hosted by Lisa & Derek this month. Lisa was making the main dishes from Mexican Made Easy by Marcella Valladolid and suggested we use her recipes as our theme for the month. Which was a great idea.

Having just returned from Mexico we thought, "perfect." Since we were assigned appetizers G really wanted to make the ceviche tostadas with chipotle creme that we learned to make during a beach side cooking class that we attended when recently in Cabo San Lucas. So we kind of detoured from the assignment  and great idea after all I guess. Sorry Lisa & Derek.

Lisa & Derek generously greeted us all with these fantastically beautiful Mexican Cucumber Martinis. They were quite the "kicker" to start off our Mexican themed feast. And feast it was.

We brought some typical "when in Mexico" starters of sliced cantaloupe and jicama squeezed with lime and sprinkled chile salt. One of G's favorite snacks.

Our main contribution was a  fresh rock fish ceviche to make tostadas with.

Served with a pumpkin chipotle salsa and a chipotle creme and 

our favorite to make; creamy guacamole both made and served in our beloved mocajate.

We love it because it's makes guacamole the most perfect consistency in addition to the fact that it brings back our memorable experience lugging  the whole awkwardly packed 40 pounds of it back on the plane from a Mexico trip several years back. 

Once we were thoroughly stuffed of course we moved into the dining room and onto Lisa's main entree with multiple dishes including; the most delicious corn and poblano lasagna,

creamy corn cups and Mexican style slaw. The lasagna and creamy corn were soooooo good. I can't wait to make both recipes ourselves in the future. By this point I was beyond full.

But Kris & Jeff made my all time favorite dessert Tres Leches Cake. And in my opinion it was spot on scrumptiously good. I had to indulge given it is my favorite and I rarely have the chance to enjoy it. But my full stomach that has been pretty strictly Paleo lately and was hurting on the drive home. But it really was worth it. 

Wow, we can't remember the last time we left Supper Club so stuffed. It was a marvelous meal and a fun theme. All of Marcella's recipes are linked below. We'll post our ceviche, chipotle creme and guacamole recipes in an upcoming future post. 

Can't wait for our May gathering. The word on the street the meal is going to be completely in the hands of the men. This is maybe the third time this has happened for our group in almost 10 years of our club's existence? So it's a treat when the guys step up. 

We'll see if it comes to be.

RECIPES:

Mexican Cucumber Martinis - Recipe here
Ceviche Tostadas w/ Chipotle Cream- Recipe soon to come
G&T's Creamy Guacamole- Recipe soon to come
Corn & Poblano Lasagna - Recipe here 
Creamy Corn Cups (Esquites)- Recipe here
Mexican Style Slaw- Recipe here 
Tres Leches Cake- Recipe here