February 2013: Fat Tuesday Feast

February kicks off Lent for many, but before it begins those in the south know how to through a fabulous Fat Tuesday Feast. Our was held a little late due to scheduling conflicts and illness, but it was fabulous all the same!

The Hostess

The Theme

Fat Tuesday Feast

The Menu

Appetizer: Artichoke Dip

Sides: Crab Maison | New Orleans-Style French Bread | Miss Daisy's Red Rice

Main Dish: Chicken and Andouille Étouffée

Dessert: King Cake

Background

Some call it Fat Tuesday, others Carnavale, but no city quite captures the essence of Mardi Gras like New Orleans. This month’s menu is spicy, rich and full of Nawlins flavor, so set a festive table, gather your friends and laissez les bon temps rouler!

Color. Texture. Spicy. Sweet. We never need an excuse to celebrate, but we took special advantage of this month’s opportunity.

January 2013: A Vegetarian Harvest

2013 Started off with a warm and cozy dinner...

The Hostess

The Rookie

The Theme
A Vegetarian Harvest

The Menu

Appetizer: Gougères

Main Dish: Farro Risotto and Leek and Potato Soup
 Side Dishes: Marinated Beets With Walnuts and Blue Cheese
Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Kale Salad
 Dessert:Torta di Sant'Antonio with Freshly Whipped Cream

Drink: Twelve Mile Limit Cocktail

Background

It was a cold and rainy night in December when I picked out this menu. Doesn't that type of weather make you want to curl up with a bowl of thick soup by a crackling fire? 

I didn't tell my boyfriend there would be no meat until our dinner guests had already arrived and were bringing their dishes into the kitchen. He was...less than excited. I think only one of the guys was "okay" with the idea. The other two filled up on meat products earlier in the day. Honestly, I didn't miss the meat. The farro risotto and the soup were very filling. The salads were a perfect accompaniment. The ladies began by toasting to our first dinner of Supper Club 2.0 with glasses of Twelve Mile Limit cocktails (the recipe described it as "potent" and I can confirm it is). Gougères started the evening's menu off as described on Saveur's website, but you'll have to check out that post for the final verdict.

After the men were fed and the children were tucked in a back bedroom with a few packages of glow sticks to entertain them, the ladies ended the meal in the kitchen with a slice of Torta di Sant'Antonio (a story all it's own)  and a dallop of freshly whipped cream. Perfection!

2012 ends and 2013 begins

2012 has closed out and I am happy to report Supper Club was a success. This blog, well...not so much. Though Six Kitchens met eleven months out of twelve, we did not find the time to share the recipes and stories with you all. The "golden wisk" goes to "The Writer" for attending all eleven dinner.

Like every year, there was lots of change. The typical trials and tribulations that occur when and group of six women come together.

I am so glad we made it through the year and we enjoyed it so much, we have decided to continue this journey into 2013. However, 2013 will see a slight change.

In 2012, we tried the concept of pushing ourselves outside our cooking comfort zones. Let's be honest, sometimes we only nudged ourselves beyond that line. The hostess for the month picked a theme and various dishes from the web and away we went.

In 2013, the menus will be more structured. We are selecting menus from Saveur. Good golly, so many yummy choices. I had the daunting task of selecting January's menu. First one out of the gate and so many ones to chose from. It was a cold rainy evening when I was looking through them. The type of evening when comfort food is what you want. Warm thick stew. Roasted vegetables. Steamy rice. That is what was calling my name and tempting my palate when I browsed page after page of menus. Stay tuned for January's menu to see what I picked and how the recipes turned out.

Thanks for joining us on our culinary journey as begin Six Kitchens Supper Club 2.0

Happy New Year!!

Behind The Scenes: The Roux

I wasn't too concerned when I picked the gumbo. I knew (from watching all of those 30-minute meals with Rachel Ray) that if I prepped as much as I could the night before I would be that much ahead in the morning. The day before, I prepped all of the vegetables. I was a chopping fiend. My 4 year old sous chef even helped.

When evening fell all of the veggies were chopped and tucked away in labeled containers in the fridge, dread settled in as I climbed into bed. ROUX! HOW AM I GOING TO MAKE ROUX??

I started posting on Facebook as the night hours ticked by.

My mother, the southern cook, was out of state and only offered, "I should have taught you honey."

Thanks for the support mom!

Meghan posted that she used Alton Brown's oven technique.

I quickly searched the web for more information on this proven technique (well, Meghan said it was proven). I located a video of the technique, it look easy enough and I am visual learner.

I ran to the store first thing in the morning and purchased a cast iron pot. Luckily I found a scale in the kitchen and was able to weigh out the flour. This was the simplest and easiest way to make roux. Who knew? Well, Meghan did...and I am so grateful she did.

When I spoke to my mother a few days later I was so proud to tell her it worked, and teach her something new about cooking roux!


The ingredients: 

This is part of the magic...measure your ingredients by weight rather than by volume. If you are scratching your head and wondering what that means, put away your measuring cups and pull out your food scale.

3/4 oz oil

3/4 oz flour


The Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the center position.

2. In a cast iron dutch oven, whisk the flour and oil together until they form a thick paste. It will resemble the paste your used in kindergarden, the kind they told you not to eat but you did anyway and then wondered why you did because it tasted nasty. Yep, that stuff. 

 
3. Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes.

It will not appear much different within the first 30 minutes
rest assured you are on the right track. 

4. Whisk and return to oven for 30 more minutes.

5. Whisk again and return to oven for 30 more minutes. The roux should begin to darken at this point.

Notice the roux has begun to darken,
it will also have a nutty scent to it. 

7. Roux is done when it is medium brown to red brick in color.

8. Remove from oven and use immediately. Smile to yourself because to just made roux and didn't burn it!

Enjoy!

June Supper Club: Louisiana Comfort Food

The Hostess

The Theme

Louisiana Comfort Food 

The Menu

Appetizer: Crab Cakes

Main Dish: Gumbo - chicken and sausage
Side Dishes: Cheesy Grits, Red Beans and Rice, and Cornbread – southern style
Dessert: Cajun Cake

Drink: Sweet Tea, Hurricanes, and Abita beer

Background

Growing up, my mom, who was raised in Louisiana, filled our Massachusetts home with the flavors of the south. I remember visiting my maternal grandmother in Alexandria, Louisiana and driving to back-woods hole-in-the-wall-locals-only restaurants to devour baskets of hot fried catfish and savory hush puppies.

My father's sister and brother-in-law ran a restaurant, The Plantation Manor, in Alexandria. Even after my uncle retired and moved to California, he still cooked up a mean gumbo and 30 years later, we have finally convinced him to dust off his hush puppy recipe.

When I finished my undergraduate degree and was considering where I would pursue my graduate studies, one of my top choices was the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. I spent two exciting years in Knoxville,  and was blessed to eat more than one meal with my classmates' families.  Though Knoxville's traditional dishes are a little different than Louisiana's,  I enjoyed them all the same and today reflect fondly on my memories of sharing comfort food with family.

It made sense, then, that when my turn to host Supper Club came up, I broke cornbread with my Six Kitchen family and created new memories of enjoying  southern comfort food.

Deciding on the menu was only half the fun. With the busy summer months upon us, only three kitchens were able to cook. Heading to my parents' beach house for the weekend, I helped my fellow cooks escape the heat and dish up heaping plates red beans and rice, gumbo, cheesy grits, and cornbread, washing it down with hurricanes, sweet tea, and Abita and topped off with Cajun cake.

While we missed the other kitchens, we all agreed, good southern soul food with good friends is a great way to spend a June evening.

Behind the Scenes: Stir-Fried Bok Choy and Lettuce with Mushrooms

Truth be told, I am not the chef of the family. Sure I can cook. Some things rather well. But if a recipe has more than 6 or 7 ingredients I generally move on to a different one. When I looked at the list of dishes, without opening the actual recipe, this one seemed easy. And it was. Once I bought all of the ingredients. And in the end I am glad I chose it. But of course when trying not to disappoint The Gourmet, I was a bit stressed to make sure everything was as perfect as possible.

In the end everything was great. But there was this moment:



I am a rule follower (at least when it comes to trying out a new recipe). I wanted Chinese Rice Wine. I did not want to settle for Sherry.

After making my husband run to 3 different stores he ended up at a liquor store buying dry sherry. And beer.

I am from a big city where when looking for specialty ingredients my biggest dilemma was choosing which Asian market to go to. Here in our little town, not so much. I am already having trouble finding the panang curry paste for our next Supper Club. Which is tomorrow. Cue panic.

Behind the Scenes: Drying Tangerine Peel

Of all the stories to come out of our Chinese New Year recipes, one of the funniest was from our Hostess.

Tara's recipe for Salt Baked Chicken required dried tangerine peel.

An ingredient that caused the rest of us to back slowly away from the recipe.

Our stalwart leader, however, is also very inventive and decided to just peel and dry a tangerine peel in her oven.

Too bad she didn't tell her husband.

When she went to check on it, it was gone. Her husband had tossed it in the trash thinking it was, well, trash.

After she'd been drying it for hours.

Interestingly enough, not only was he still alive and well on the day of Supper Club, but she was able to dry more tangerine peel.

She's just that good.

The Concept: Supper Club

When you Goggle "supper club" you learn the term refers to restaurants that offer a social atmosphere.

Wikipedia shares that

A supper club, in general, refers to a dining establishment that also functions as a social club. The term may describe different establishments depending on the region, but in general, supper clubs tend to present themselves as having a high-class image, even if the price is affordable to all.

Only part of that above description applies to what I thought I was getting myself into when Tara invited me participate, the social club part. I wanted to take a little bit of time to share with you the concept, and maybe you will be inspired to start one of your own.

Recipe for Supper Club, Six Kitchens-style

Frequency: Monthly
Participation: 6 families
Location: Rotates between the 6 families participating
Menu: Established by host family with the goal to pushes us out of our cooking comfort zone

Can I be honest? Anything that involves cooking is pretty much outside my comfort zone. However, for the more advanced culinary participants the comfort zone is a little more narrow. This involves trying not ingredients, spice profiles, and some other than I don't recall (and have not watched enough Food Network shows to pretend to understand. Spice profile? I take it that isn't the shape of the bottle the spices are packaged in ).

1. Once the host family develops the menu for the evening, the items are divided among the participating families.

This is how I ended up making Mango Pudding for our inaugural supper club. The menu was listed, everyone picked. And I got to choose between the Baked Salt Chicken, Shrimp, and Mango Pudding. Recall, cooking in general is outside my comfort zone? Though the recipe description for Baked Salt Chicken included the word "simple," the thought of cooking a WHOLE chicken and simple did not compute in this cook's mind. Mango Pudding, now that looked simple and something I  and my four year old sous chef could pull off.

2. Each participating family prepares and brings their contribution to the meal on the scheduled night.

It's a potluck meal with a predetermined menu.

3. Everyone enjoys the food and the camaraderie.

Behind the Scenes: Stir Fry Shrimp

I don't know very many people who don't love shrimp.

Myself included.

But there are some people who can't eat shrimp without a trip to the emergency room.

Myself included.

So when Tara's menu came out complete with Stir Fry Shrimp with Garlic and Chile Sauce, my first thought was, "Good GOD, but that sounds amazing."

My second thought was, "Is my epi pen expired."

I've been known to swell up like a balloon from the slightest cross-contamination. The thought of ten adults and nine children dishing up their food with big spoons and not paying attention to minor details like shrimp juice, made me a little nervous.

Until I showed up at Tara's house.

I should have known that Tara - one of the most organized people I know - would have it all in hand.

Behold: The Shrimp Spoon

Behind the Scenes: Sweet and Sour Chicken

When I picked the Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe I did so for one reason and one reason only - it was the only item that looked vaguely familiar besides the pot stickers and Dolly had already called dibs on that one.

But I had a big problem with this recipe.

First, I can't stand touching raw meat. It's weird. I know. And it's also 90% of the reason why I'm a flexitarian. Touching it makes me shudder and break out in a cold sweat. I gag. I actually gag.

I've figured out a few ways to cope with this weirdness - and I realize it's weird. I use tongs - a lot. I buy my meat pre-cooked. I bribe friends and family to do it for me.

The Sweet and Sour Chicken required the pieces to be cut up into 1/2" chunks and cooked in spices and oil. I was nervous that my typical method of cooking a chicken breast whole and then cutting it up would diminish the taste. So I did what any meat-a-phobe would do.

I asked my butcher to cut it for me.

Albertson's has a cleanly lettered sign saying their butcher shop will do any cut of meat. So it made sense to me that they'd cut my chicken.

I made my request and stood there while the butcher's stood agog.

"You want me to cut the chicken into cubes?"

"Yeah. The need to be 1/2". And I need two pounds."

"You just want it cut up."

"Yep." I felt my face turn red.

"If you don't mind my asking, why? Most people just cut it up at home."

"I don't like touching raw meat," I said to the butcher, a man with an apron smeared with blood.

"Okay," he nodded slowly. "It'll just be a minute."

I have to tell you, it made prepping my dish much easier. All I had to do was open the package and dump the chicken in with the oils and spices. I think I'll be asking my butcher to chop up chicken more often.