“Fall classics” theme for supper club tonight. Very tasty!
More weekend deliciousness: a giant (if blurrily photographed) tiramisu — recipe courtesy my father-in-law — that went quite well with the double-chocolate biscotti at last night’s potluck.
Our Supper Club went for a French bistro lunch theme today, and it was delicious!
Liz and my contributions were
- some grilled green and white asparagus (tossed in a lemon, olive oil, shallot, and fresh thyme dressing), and
- a decadent recipe for Chicken with Morel Mushrooms, from Ina Garten.
If I get more of the recipes from folks, I will definitely share!
More goodies from last night’s farmers market-themed Supper Club at our house.
Foreground: from Mary, a delicious mixed green salad with lemon vinagrette, over grilled nectarines, with belgian endive and chevre rolled in sesame seed.
Background: from Nina, flank steak “sliders” — grilled flank on mini pizza dough rolls, with asparagus and some other vegetables in a delicious cream sauce, and topped with crispy kale.
They were all delicious, though I was somewhat partial to my Spring Vegetable Fritters. (But I’m biased, of course).
Spring Vegetable Fritters!
So I invented a new recipe for tonight’s “Iron Chef/Farmers Market” themed Supper Club — spring vegetable fritters. I was totally freestyling, but it turned out great, and an excellent appetizer for a spring meal. The recipe take about 45 minutes to create, plus the time to make pizza dough, if you want to make your own.
Ingredients
Dough:
Pizza dough (I used a Mark Bittman recipe, but you can use your favorite or buy it from the supermarket or a local pizzeria.
Vegetable oil for frying.
Filling:
2 tbsp butter
1 shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
10 stalks thin asparagus, diced into tiny pieces (1/4-inch cubes)
5-6 mushrooms (I used shiitake and button), finely chopped
1 cup frozen petite peas, thawed.
4-5 tbsp herbed goat cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste
Grated/shredded parmesan
Directions:
Dough:
- Cut room temperature dough into 2” balls, flatten slightly and let sit for 10 minutes
- Heat 2-3 inches of oil in a heavy pot/wok, to 350 degrees (using a candy thermometer)
- Drop 2-4 dough discs into oil, cooking for 1-2 minutes on each side, until golden. Dry on paper towels.
Filling:
- Heat butter in medium or large pan, over medium high heat.
- Add shallot, sautee for 2-3 minutes
- Add garlic, cook for 1 minute
- Add asparagus, then mushrooms, sautee for 3-4 minutes
- Add peas, cook 1-2 minutes, until heated
- Turn heat to medium low, stir in goat cheese until melted — mix filling and remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste
Assembly:
- Cut tops off the dough discs
- Fill each with 1-2 tsp of filling
- Top with parmesan cheese
- (Optional) place in broiler for 1 minute, or brulee the topping with a culinary torch.
Homemade samosas — tasty when baked, but much tastier fried!
The culinary theme of this weekend appears to have been homemade dough (though surprisingly, it didn’t involve bread or pizza).
On Saturday, we made some delicious fresh fettucine, w/ brown butter, sage, and butternut squash, while watching the first four episodes of HBO’s Rome with Jasen.
Sunday, Liz made one of her famous apple pies (I promise to share my brother-in-law’s recipe someday, but it’s two pages long, single-spaced, and I haven’t yet had the inclination to type it into a blog post), and we made some delicious potato and pea samosas.
Potato-and-Pea SamosasAdapted From Mark Bittman’s “The Best Recipes in the World” (which is one of our go-to cookbooks, and a great present for any culinarian on your holiday gift list).
For dough
- 2 cups flour, plus more as needed
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons cold butter
- 2 tablespoons yogurt
For filling:
- 2 large baking potatoes (russets work well), peeled and roughly chopped
- 1-2 stemmed, seeded and minced jalapeno (or hot red pepper flakes to taste)
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup thawed frozen or fresh green peas
Neutral oil for frying, if using
Bittman’s Steps (via Flour Grrrrl)
- Combine the flour with a large pinch of salt, the butter and 2 tbsp of the yogurt in a food processor; turn on the machine and, a few seconds later, add about 1/2 cup water. Let the machine run, adding a little more water if necessary, until a dough ball forms. Knead the dough for a moment by hand, adding a little more flour if necessary, and wrap it in plastic.
- Put the potatoes in a pot and add salted water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until quite soft, 10 to 20 minutes; drain and mash with the spices, the remaining 2 tablespoons yogurt and jalapeno. Cook the peas briefly in boiling salted water (feel free to use the water from the potatoes). Add cooked peas to potato mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- (You can prepare both the dough and filling a day or so ahead. Refrigerate until ready to use.).
- Sprinkle a work surface with flour and divide the dough into quarters. Cover three of the pieces and divide the fourth into six pieces. Roll each piece into a round ball and roll each ball out into a 3-inch diameter circle. When you have rolled out the first six, put about 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center of each. Brush the rim of each with a little water, fold over and seal well. Keep covered with plastic wrap while you finish with the remaining dough.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees or put at least 3 inches of oil in a saucepan or other deep vessel, turn heat to medium-high and heat the oil to about 350 degrees.
- If you’re baking put the samosas on a nonstick or lightly greased baking sheet and baking until golden, about 30 minutes.
- If you’re frying, cook as many as will fit without crowding in the hot oil until lightly browned, about three minutes, turning once or twice. Drain on paper towels and serve hot.
We baked yesterday’s version, since we were traveling across the city for a pot-luck, and they were very tasty, served with a tamarind sauce that I whipped up (equal parts tamarind paste, warm water, and brown sugar, then adjust to taste), and a cucumber mint raita.
They tasted good when baked, but for the full experience—and decadence—it’s totally worth it to fry them, as we did for our supper club a few weeks back. (The front pot below has samosas frying, while the back is warming our favorite spicy lentil soup). 
Another Supper Club favorite, Bhavna made this delicious Smoky Barbecue Chicken recipe, from Tim Love, and we all, well, Loved it. So tender, so delicious:
INGREDIENTS
- 1 gallon water
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- Three 3 1/2-pound chickens
- 10 pounds hardwood lump charcoal
- 9 garlic cloves—6 smashed, 3 minced
- 1 bunch scallions, coarsely chopped
- 1 fennel bulb, finely diced
- 1 jalapeño, finely diced
- 1 dried ancho chile—stemmed, seeded and coarsely chopped
- Tim Love’s Wild Game Rub
DIRECTIONS
- In a pot, combine the water with the salt and sugar and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the salt and sugar dissolve. Let the brine cool to room temperature.
- Set three large oven-roasting bags in a large roasting pan. Put a chicken in each bag and pour one-third of the brine in each. Tie the bags and refrigerate for 4 hours.
- Set up a grill for indirect grilling: Light 5 pounds of the charcoal on one side of the grill and hang a grilling or oven thermometer on the opposite side of the grill.
- Remove the chickens from the brine and pat dry. In a bowl, combine the smashed garlic, scallions, fennel, jalapeño and ancho. Toss with 2 tablespoons of the Wild Game Rub and stuff into the chicken cavities. Tie the legs together with string. Rub the outside of the chickens with the minced garlic and 1/2 cup of the Wild Game Rub.
- Set the chickens breast side down on the grill opposite the coals. Cover and cook at 325° to 350° for 1 hour. Add the remaining 5 pounds of charcoal to the grill as needed to maintain the temperature. Turn the chickens, cover and cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the inner thighs registers 160°, about 1 hour and 30 minutes longer. Transfer the chickens to a carving board and let rest for 10 minutes. Carve the chickens and serve.
We made this fresh Mexican Pineapple Salad for Sunday’s Mexican-themed pot luck.
Quick and easy,and a fresh unusual taste. It was our first time using jicama, which has a mild taste and an apple-ly sort of consistency. It seems like a great ingredient to add crunch to future salads!
The recipe (via epicurious) is from a 2009 issue of Gourmet, showing us again that the magazine continues to give long after it has been put to rest.
1 (3-pound) pineapple, peeled and diced 1/2 pound jicama, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces 1 (7-to 8-ounce) avocado, cut into cubes 1 small red onion, thinly sliced (1/2 cup) 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar Toss together all ingredients with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
Taking a cue from the commenters, we added lime juice and fresh cilantro, and added salt and pepper to taste.
