Thinking about winter..

Currently we are experiencing a heatwave here in the UK. I have just harvested my Turks turban squash and my beans have all gone dry to seed now...and yet my tomatoes suddenly no longer require a kitchen window sun bath in order to bloom red, they are going crazy on the vine. It's balmy and barmy...! I am not sure if I should make a pot roast and sort the log pile or get the BBQ fired up...we did that twice last week. I am in culinary confusion.
Last month I looked at my Christmas decorations, items I have loved since childhood and collected over the years. I had a thrill of excitement on a chilly day, imagining nips of Port, planning festive menu's and making my home festive and beautiful for Chrimbo (as we call it in my family).

I LOVE Christmas. I love Autumn, I love mushroom hunting and watching the leaves turn and fall...bedding in for the winter, getting cosy, baking with my little boy and having good friends over for roasted meat, red wine and maybe a lazy DVD in front of the fire. Simple things.

Yusuf and I are trying to plan our winter menu's, it has not been easy with this warm weather. The September Club was an excellent evening with some brilliant newbie Supper Clubbers. It is a joy to meet real foodie enthusiasts out here in the wilderness. I truly enjoy meeting all of our new members and often wish I cooked less so I could chat more. But, I do love cooking.

We are a major fan of Vietnamese food and have become more than fans of Luke Nguyen's book 'Songs of Sapa'. It is an exquisite book of not only wonderful recipes, but Luke's journey through family, heritage, history and of course Vietnam. The photography is utterly beautiful and I find myself often drawn back to the book for inspiration. A while back I decided to cook every recipe in the book, for no other reason than pleasure. So far I have cooked about 10 recipes, food I share with my family. The savvy part of me (which is actually not very savvy!) should be sharing this on the blog. I will do my best to try.

I made his Cassava cake, which I served with coconut ice cream, pineapple and passion fruit salsa and passion fruit syrup. I wish I had taken a photo, all I can say is it was delicious and I now keep frozen Cassava in my freezer (along with lime leaves and banana leaves) at all times. Damn yummy!

With this wonderful heat and sun I have been drawn back to Luke's book and I would like to create a special menu over winter inspired by his collection of recipes. I will try to convince Yusuf that this Christmas should be Vietnamese....

The October Menu

Halloween special.....

There will be a Pumpkin carving competition this month. Bring along your pumpkin creation and have the chance of a free meal for one at the January supper club! Last year there was an exciting array of pumpkins lighting the Supper Club dining room, from Lional Richie to modern art! The winner gets a free pass to our January club!!

Menu

Figs with Pecorino and honey with freshly baked lemon bread


Meaty
Osso Bucco with Rissotto alla Milanese
and Gremolata

Veggie
Shallot Tart Tatin with Rissotto alla Milanese
and Gremolata

Poached Quince with Cardamon ice cream and Pistachio brittle

Pots of fresh tea and coffee
BYO

I am a hopeless blogger!

After our break away from our little supper club over the summer I have been trying to catch up with all of our members old and new. We have had so much interest and I realise I have utterly abandoned the blog! So I am here and will attempt to keep you updated with our events.

We are fully booked this month, but as always we can squeeze you in last minute if you want to drop us a mail.

We are surrounded by wonderful produce were we live and I am excited to announce my first success at growing squashes will be debut at our table! I have been growing vegetables for three years now and have failed with squash every year. This year I took action and hacked some trees down to let in more sunlight. I have tended to my babies all summer, feeding them, even singing to them! I have three beautiful 'Turks Turban' squashes that will grace our meal. That makes me very happy indeed. All of the fruit and vegatables this month will be found locally, which also makes me very happy! Such a wonderful time of year.

Yusuf will be creating the most visually spectacular pudding this month, what that man can do with a pear and some pastry is quite exciting I must say...I am looking forward to it.

September 30th 2011

Menu

Pan fried red mullet with fennel, orange and carrot salad

Meaty
Slow roasted shoulder of lamb with
cauliflower cous cous, beetroot puree, braised celery,
confit garlic and roasted Turks Turban squash

Veggie
Wild mushroom tart with
cauliflower cous cous, beetroot puree, braised celery, confit garlic
and roasted Turks Turban squash

Pear tart tatin with star anise and cinnamon ice cream

Pots of tea and coffee

Byo

The February Menu 25th Feb 2011

The Menu

Fresh rolls with peanut sauce
Fresh rice paper rolls with rice vermicelli,prawn,mint,basil,coriander,carrot and peanut.
Veggie option-as above with mung bean shoots

Carnivores

Stuffed Squid with Sesame dressing and fine ribbon salad

Bobby Chinn's Chicken wings
Skewered wings with lemongrass,oyster sauce,chili and honey

Rice Noodle Salad with green papaya

Spiced Roasted Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps
with sweet and sour sauce

Vegetarian Option

Wok Tossed Asparagus in Garlic

Grilled Aubergine with Nuoc Cham

Deep Fried Bean curd with Lemongrass

(Salad and noodles above included)

Desert

Cassava cake
with Coconut ice creme and caramel peanuts

Fresh pots of Tea and Coffee and jugs of water on the table

We take a small break..

During January Yusuf and I will take a break from cooking at our Supper Club. Yusuf had the busiest month of cooking during December and is well overdue a rest in the kitchen, as am I. We will be cooking in February again with a South East Asian inspired menu. Vietnamese fresh rolls will be making a come back. (a personal favourite of mine!)
Our Christmas club was great fun and we met some wonderful new foodies. Secret Santa was a great hit..though a few people did forget to bring a gift and it was left to me to 'create' the odd gift here and there...dried shrimp was a successful one, a tin of condensed milk was not quite as well received.
Cooking churros con chocolate for over 30 people was rather overwhelming I must say..by he final batch I was wishing I just had a big fat Churros van outside the house, like I have seen late at night in Spain. Maybe next time.

This month I will be detoxing. No meat, dairy, wheat, coffee, tea or alcohol. Lots of vegetables, brown rice and fruit with the odd bit of fish. Understandably this goes against most of our days of experimenting in the kitchen and cosy nights drinking a glass of red. It will be rather a large challenge I must say, but I will endeavour to have a very healthy month in preparation for our next event, where no doubt all of the rules will fly very quickly out of the window.

I have been very lazy with this blog!

Dearest Foodie folk,
Apologies for the lack of anything for the last few months. We have still been running every month, but I have been so busy I have updated our Facebook page over this page. So I promise to keep up with this element of The Unthank Supper Club. We are still in full swing and our members list is now over 400! Not bad for a little club in the depths of Norfolk.

We have just had a wonderful November meal of Catalan rabbit and chorizo stew. I was so impressed with how many people sat and ate a whole plateful of rabbit! Yusuf and I like our game fresh and not hung, so there was a wonderful fresh and very 'ungamey' flavour to the stew. Personally I loath hung meat, it actually makes me feel very ill. I wonder if there is a bit of a macho approach to hanging meat?....The whole hang it until it's head drops off really is revolting. We did have a lot of clean plates I must say.