SSC: Goodbye Summer! Edition

Finally, after our short hiatus (due to the trials of furthering my education) SCC is back and better than ever! Just in time for the cooler weather, we'll be here to hook you up with some of our fall favorites....but first, a sumptuous summer wrap up brought to you by our favorite curly haired vixen, Phoebe!

- Christa


For this edition of Supper Sanity Club we went with the theme “Good Bye Summer!" With the help of our new SSC member Manika, (who let me take over her apartment because I live in a something that is smaller then a bread box), we put together a dinner showcasing foods to help us transition from summer to fall.

We made a lobster chowder, as something warmer for the changing weather, but still with lobster that screams summer. Next, we put together a salad with both light leafy greens and blueberries for that final summer harvest, but a maple dressing with walnuts for fall flavor goodness. Once we had a few amazing side dishes and dessert brought to us by our fellow Supper Clubbers, we had the perfect meal to take us into the new season. Enjoy!

- Phoebe


Maple, Blueberry & Walnut Salad with Goat Cheese
I have promised my family, (who have been nice enough not to disown me because of my comedy,) that I wouldn't give away our maple soy vinaigrette, but, I will give you the basics because I love you guys too!

Vinaigrette
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
lemon juice
maple syrup
tamari
crushed garlic

Mix ingredients together in a bowl. Pour into a salad dressing container or a jar with a tightly sealable lid. Shake!

Salad
spring mix of dark leafy greens
a mix of cherry tomatoes
blueberries
crushed walnuts
chunks of goat cheese
Changs Crunchy Noodles ([fried wantons] if you can't find just use croutons)

Toss salad ingredients together. Top with vinaigrette.



Lobster & Fish Chowder
This is rather expensive to make, but you can use it as an entree if you double up on potatoes, and onions.

1 sweet onion
butter
garlic
salt
pepper
parsley
white fish (cod, mahi mahi, halibut, etc.)
celery salt
potatoes (yukon, or russet)
1/2 quart half and half or whole milk (don't be a pussy!)
canned lobster meat (can be found in any super market, just ask at the seafood counter)
fresh corn the cob, boiled or roasted
Old Bay

Sauté sweet onion in butter and garlic. Put about 3 inches of water in bottom of pan, add some salt, pepper, and a pinch of fresh parsley. Boil, then lay in your fish and cook at a still bubbling but at lower temp for about five minutes. Lower to a simmer and add celery salt.

At about four minutes into simmering, put in peeled and cubed potatoes. Take off heat and add a little butter. Whole thing should cook for about 5 minutes.

Cool down to a simmer and add half and half. Cut corn off cob. Add corn, canned lobster meat and Old Bay.

Voila!


Lentil Orzo with Pistachios and Cranberries
Our mysterious girlfriend Manika is not one for recipes,
she just lets it happen! Much to our delight, what happened was deliciousness!





orzo, cooked and cooled
seasoned lentils, cooked
4 pieces bacon, chopped and browned until crispy (High quality bacon works best, Manika used bacon from the butcher at Whole Foods)
cranberries
goat or feta cheese, crumbled
olive oil
lime juice
seasoning to taste
roasted pistachios
chopped parsley

Toss all ingredients together and serve at room temperature.



Roasted peppers with Feta Dip

Peppers
baby peppers
salt
pepper
olive oil

Toss peppers with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put on cookie sheet and roast at 375 for 40 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Dip
3/4 cup feta cheese
1 cup yogurt
2 tbsp preserved lemons (chopped)
2 tbsp capers

Blend all ingredients together quickly. Serve with peppers as a dip. Yum!




Lime Sugar Cookies with Blueberry Cream Filling
A fantastic recipe borrowed from www.sinfullyspicy.com!

Cookies
1 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt 6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp white granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice


Blueberry Cream Cheese Filling
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1.5 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 tbsp blueberry paste [recipe below]

Blueberry Paste
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
2 tbsp water
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp cornstarch

Prep for Cookies
In a medium bowl, sift flour,baking soda & powder, salt. Set aside.

In a larger bowl,cream the butter and sugar thoroughly until fluffy. Add the lime juice & vanilla and beat until combined.

Gradually add in the flour mixture and gently combine with a spatula to bring together into a dough. You might need to add a tbsp or more of milk at this stage if required to make a soft dough.

Divide the dough into 2 small balls. Take a piece of plastic wrap, put the dough balls on it and flatten with palm to make a disc. Wrap the discs with plastic wrap. Repeat the same with 2nd dough ball. Chill both discs for about 30 minutes.

Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper. Avoid using aluminum foil. Extreme heat will burn the cookies on the bottom.

After chilling, take one disc out, unwrap it and place it between two sheets of parchment paper. Initially, you may find it little difficult to roll because of the chilled dough. It will soften as you go along.

Roll the disc using a floured rolling-pin into a sheet about 1/4″ thick. Using a floured cookie cutter cut the cookies from the rolled dough.

Using a floured thin spatula, transfer the cookies to the lined cookie sheet. Picking up the cookies with fingers will deshape them.

Preheat the oven to 350. Chill the cut cookies again for 15 minutes.

Once chilled, bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until the sides start turning brown. Cool completely on a cooling rack.


Blueberry Paste Prep
Tip in the blueberries, water and sugar to a small sauce pan. Cook it on low heat until the blueberries are soft and mushy. Transfer to a blender. Blend on high to form a puree. Dissolve cornstarch into lemon juice.

Transfer the puree to sauce pan again and add cornstarch mix. Cook on very low heat for about 5-8 minutes until you get a thick paste. Cool completely before adding to the cream.


Blueberry Cream Filling Prep
Make the filling by beating the cream cheese & butter with an electric mixer. Mix in powdered sugar until smooth. Add 2 tbsp of the cooled blueberry paste above to make a smooth mix.

Assembly
Pipe or spread 1-2 tablespoons of blueberry filling in the center of a cookie. Top with a second cookie and press together until the filling reaches the edges of the cookies. Store in an air tight box for up to 3 days.



Booze Pairings!
Okay guys, here's the thing, this particular night we drank about 9 bottles of wine so while I can't get to all of them, here's a review for one of my favorites.

Big Claw White Wine, $14
Big Claw is a new wine specifically designed to pair with lobster. It is a crisp, balanced blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Colombard, Gewurztraminer, and Chenin Blanc from the North Coast. This fantastic wine was the unanimous choice as “the perfect wine to go with lobster” by members of a panel of wine and food professionals chosen by the Lobster Institute in
Maine, an organization dedicated to the preservation of lobster.

Steve Melchiskey of USA Wine West (with offices in California and Maine) and Tim Wissemann of Mariner Beverages (Portland, Maine) are the designers of this wine. It went phenomenally with the lobster stew, but was also just sweet enough to pair with the spicy peppers, and smooth and buttery enough to go to with our desert.

-Phoebe

















The ladies, looking classy!












A scientific experiment: The effect of 9 bottles of wine on classiness...




Cheers!
Christa & Phoebe






About Phoebe

Phoebe is comedian, and wine shop manager, who is also somehow pursuing a masters degree in clinical social work. Though she has no real food credits on her resume, she's well versed in wine and food pairing. She was raised on farm fresh food in Maine, learned about Asian cooking during her time in Thailand, became a seafood fanatic living in Newport RI, and is now well on her way to becoming a full fledged foodie/functioning alcoholic in Boston.

Hummus Among Us (3/1/11)

It's the SSC you guys have all been waiting for! It was finally my night to take on Supper Club...and this time, I brought out the big guns. Middle Eastern night. You may say to yourself, hey, that chick's not Middle Eastern at all. And yeah, you'd be right. Somewhere in my quest to explore food that I do not understand (note my love of Ethiopian food), I sort of picked up a few things along the way. I've always been a huge fan of spanakopita (AKA spinach pie, to all you uncultured folks,) so I thought I'd share my version of it, along with some other traditional dishes.

So with the help of my absolute favorite Middle Eastern grocery store (I think technically it's Armenian/Turkish), Arax Market, a little guess work and my love of all things delicious and booze oriented, let's just say, I made things happen. Awesome things. Seriously.


Spanakopita

Ingredients:
1 16 oz bag of frozen spinach
½ package frozen filo
1 ½ packages (6 oz) feta cheese
1 or 1 ½ large onion(s)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Olive oil (enough to saute onions with)
Cooking spray
Glass pan

Preheat oven to 350. Thaw (or cheat and microwave, but not too much cuz it gets too dry) filo dough. Thaw or microwave frozen spinach in a large bowl. Squish out and drain excess water. Set aside. Chop up onions. Saute until onions are clear and a few of them are a little brown around the edges. Add onions, feta, egg, nutmeg and lemon juice to spinach.

Spray glass pan. Take about ½ of the filo dough and lay it out on the pan. Spray in between every few sheets of filo. Put spinach mixture into filo dough and fold up. Spray in folds so they stick together and spray top. Put in oven for 20-25ish minutes. Remove from oven. Enjoy!



Ahmed's Awesome Hummus*
(Admittedly, we did not actually have time to make this, but I have it on good authority that it rocks!)

food processor or blender
chickpeas (both dried/boiled or canned work )
tahini
garlic
parsley (fresh)
mint (fresh)
lemon (Lots and lots)
cumin powder
cayenne pepper
paprika
salt
olive oil
water
red bell pepper (just a tiny tiny bit)

Optional Spices
all spice
five spice
white pepper
coriander powder
lime
onion

Slowly add ingredients to a blender and keep adding to taste until it gets the right constancy.

(The water, tahini and olive oil will make it more liquidy so add a little at a time until you get the desired consistency.)

*Yes we actually know a guy name Ahmed and yes he actually has a great hummus recipe.

In additional to all this wonderfulness, I also made chicken stuffed with feta and sun dried tomatoes from my awesome crock pot cookbook and some of the other ladies brought couscous, delicious lamb meatballs, and an awesome Greek salad.


Of course, I also made my usual trip to Arax Market in Watertown. I love that place, mostly because, although it's filled with a lot of food that, while basically undefinable by American standards, still manages to all look delicious. I think they've got the best baba ghanoush ever and they have a really wide variety of different types of baklava. I opted for both.
Oh and don't forget, they also sell hookahs and shisha, for all you tobacco fans.




While they don't have a website, you can find their info on Yelp, a weird Facebook page that sort of misrepresents them or you can just go straight there. Check it!





Arax Market
585 Mount Auburn St
Watertown, MA,



Booze Pairings
Cocktail: Ouzo Cosmo
2 parts vodka
1 part orange juice

Mix ingredients with ice in shaker and pour into martini glass. While we realize ouzo does not sit well with everyone, this cocktail is a lot of fun. Even if you don’t like the anise flavor, we know you like 100 proof…

Beer: Brooklyn Lager
It is not often one encounters a lager this interesting. Even the copper color of this beer is totally different from most others. This brisk crisp beer tastes of pear and apple but also has an exciting finish. Its fruit and acidity paired perfectly with all of the dishes on our table that night. It was especially delicious with all the feta in the Greek salad and spanakopita.

Wine: White
Falanghina Feudi San Gregorio Sannio $15

Escape the Pinot Grigio rut with this awesome crisp white Italian! Its nose is fruity and floral but its palate is crisp and lively and it has a wonderful long finish. It pairs perfectly with Greek food, especially Christa’s delicious spanakopita!

Wine: Red
Juan Gil Monastrell $15

Monastrell is Spanish for Mouvedre but should also mean yummy. This is a powerful wine. It has strong aromas of red fruit, spice and vanilla and in the mouth it has smooth tannins and its alcohol gives it a rich body. Its oaky notes, though, makes it perfect to pair our Greek dinner: It can stand up to the spices of all the dishes without overpowering any of the delicate flavors. It is 15%, though, so you might want to limit yourself to just one bottle per person…


....And of course photo documentation of the event, for all of you voyeurists...

Cheers!
Christa, Rachel & Phoebe







About Christa
Christa is a comedian, artist and graphic designer living in Boston. Because most of her family is fresh off the boat, she knows a thing or two about traditional European cooking and baking, provided that the recipes are in English (Thanks a lot, crappy American school system!). She also has a vast knowledge of fancy-smancy beers made by smelly hippies. Although she has no food credits to speak of, generally speaking everything she makes is considered to be "damn good." Check out her design portfolio site, Shameless Design, if you feel like it!