rss
email
twitter

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Winter Feast - 4 August 2012

Winter is almost over, so we thought we'd sneak in a dinner before it disappears.  Our next dinner will be held on Saturday, 4 August 2012, and will be a winter feast.  Think comfort food - hearty and warming - exactly what you want to eat on a cold, wintry night. 


The menu will look something like this:

Celery soup, Cashel Blue cheese and toasted hazelnuts

Slow cooked Vietnamese brisket with rougail chouchou

Boiled bacon, Savoy cabbage and parsley sauce

Pecan pie & espresso ice-cream

Salted chocolate truffles

There are a few dishes in there you may not have come across before, so we thought a bit of menu commentary (from Richard - who's cooking this one) wouldn't go astray:  

When I was first planning this menu, I hit the cookbooks, looking especially for slow cooked recipes.  Then I started thinking about where I had eaten the best "comfort" food, and memories of Ireland came flooding back.  I lived in Ireland for a year, and I think it's fair to say that it doesn't get a lot of sun.  So you need warming, hearty food to cheer you up (along with a beer or two).  From that point onwards, the menu pretty much wrote itself - it's mainly made up of my favourite Irish food memories.  The pecan pie was my favourite dessert at The Mermaid Cafe in Dublin, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  I'm looking forward to talking those memories through on the night with you, as each dish is served.

The dish which is obviously not Irish is the slow cooked brisket.  The punchy, distinctive Vietnamese flavours will serve as a contrast to the more "traditional" wintry flavours of the soup and the main course.  I've just come back from three weeks in Reunion, where I became addicted to rougail.  Rougail is a garnish served with most creole dishes in Reunion.  It usually consists of a raw vegetable, pickled with a good whack of chilli.  Initially I was a bit skeptical of it, but I was quickly converted, and it's terrific for cutting through slow cooked, creole stews - I thought it would be a  perfect accompaniment to the rich flavours of the brisket.

All we need now is some cold weather for the night!  We'll be allocating seats this week, so if you are interested, let us know quickly - there has already been a fair bit of interest in the night.

We hope to see you there.

Monday, April 16, 2012

The Picnic!

Thanks to everyone who came along to the picnic.  Although the weather wasn't kind to us, and it ended up being an indoor "picnic", that didn't get in the way of a terrific afternoon of food.  Here's what we ate (until our stomachs could take no more):

Red velvet cupcakes


Chicken and tarragon pie

Beetroot and goats cheese tart

Gazpacho with pide bread

Goats cheese and herb quiche

Ricotta almond slice with passionfruit jelly

Beef and horseradish choux pastries

Spicy Dr Pepper pork with BBQ corn salsa

Crack pie


Limmer's gin punch jellies

Cherry tomatoes with goats cheese and capers

Korean pork pancakes with spicy sauce

Swan shaped choux pastries


Swede and potato pasties

Cherry strudel

Sorry there weren't more photos, but I was too busy eating!  Seeing as we had so much amazing food and everyone had a great afternoon, we'll definitely be doing another one later in the year.

Also, we were lucky enough to have Fiona from Tiffin along to the picnic, and you can read more about it (with better photos) on her blog here.

Hope to see you at another Gastronauts event soon - looking like our next dinner will be on 19 May 2012.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Summer Picnic - New Date

We've got a new date for the Summer Picnic - Saturday 25 February 2012.

The picnic will be at New Farm Park, starting at 3pm.

Please read the original picnic post for more details.  We hope you can all make it, even if you've never been to a Gastronauts' dinner before - the more the merrier.

If you are coming, please let us know, so we have some idea of numbers, and what food you'll be bringing along - email us at gastronautssupperclub[at]gmail.com.

See you at the picnic!