We'll see your two courses and raise you one...

The Event: Dinner Club (Vol. 2, Episode 3)
The Team: Laura and Aoife
The Location: Andy and Aoif's house

Yeah, we kicked it! Go Team Laura and Aoif!

I'll keep this post short and sweet - those who are part of dinner club know our cooking spoke for itself!

Aoif and I decided to start with soup and homemade brown bread, with Aoif taking on the soup challenge and me the bread task.

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

You'll need
4 cloves garlic,
2 large onions,
9 carrots,
1 butternut squash,
2 sweet potatoes,
1 vegetable stock cube

How the magic happens
Chop onions and crush garlic and soften first. Then chop everything else and put in a pot, add a kettle full of water and boil for about 30 minutes. Check that  the veg is cooked and then liquidise to form soup! Easy peasy

Homemade Brown Bread

You'll need
550g coarse wholemeal flour
350g plain flour
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons bread soda
generous layer of wheatgerm
1.5 litres buttermilk (or milk soured with vinegar)

How the magic happens
Pre-heat a fan oven to 190 degrees. Using kitchen towel, grease two loaf tins with margarine and put them to one side. Put 550g of coarse wholemeal flour in a big mixing bowl. Add 350g plain flour to it. Put in a pinch of salt, and sieve in two teaspoons of bread soda. Mix that all up with a wooden spoon. Pour a generous layer of wheatgerm (you'll find it in the breakfast cereal aisle in the supermarket) over the top, and mix again. Make a hole in the middle and add 1.5l of buttermilk/soured milk. Mix like a good thing until it's all mixed together evenly then divide the mixture between the two loaf tins. Turn back the oven to 190 degrees and put the bread in on the middle shelf for 25 mins. After 25 mins have a gander at it, tap it, turn it around maybe, turn the oven back to about 160 degrees and put it back in for another 25 mins or so. Keep an eye on it all the while because fan ovens can differ and you might need to turn the oven down slightly. When the time is up take out your bread and turn it out onto a waiting wire tray. Turn it the right way up, let it cool and there you go - cheap, healthy, tasty, recession-tastic brown bread!

Moving on, main course was:

Philadelphia Pork Loin Rolls with Apricot
(We got this recipe from the fab Philadelphia recipe site - www.philadelphia.co.uk. Check it out whenever you're lacking inspiration for what to make!)

You'll need
200 g Philadelphia Light
175 g finely chopped apricots
1 tbsp chopped tarragon
4 pork loin steaks, each weighing about 125g
A drizzle of olive oil
300 g fine egg noodles
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
3 spring onions, chopped
1 tbsp chopped parsley

How the magic happens

Heat the oven to 200˚C.
Mix the Philadelphia Light, apricots and tarragon in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
Trim any fat from the pork loins. Place each loin in turn on a chopping board, cover with a layer of cling film and flatten out using a rolling pin. Then spread each loin with the Philadelphia stuffing. Roll up individually and tie using string.
Heat a drizzle of oil in an ovenproof frying pan and cook the pork rolls until browned – this should take about 5 minutes. Transfer the pan to the oven and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
While the pork is cooking, cook the egg noodles as directed. Drain, and then toss with the soy sauce, oil, ginger, spring onions and parsley.
Take the pork from the oven, remove the string and cut the rolls into slices. Serve on a bed of the warm noodles.

 
 So far so delicious! But we pressed on and didn't let anyone go home until after our

Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake (in a microwave)
Yup, it's as dangerous as it sounds; from now on you're just five minutes away from a mini-chocolate cake! A few people have requested I put up this recipe asap, so here it is!

You'll need
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa (although I used one cocoa and one drinking choc)
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons choc chips (optional, but we went with!)
a small splash of vanilla extract (or essence, or whatever mentions vanilla in the home baking aisle of the supermarket!)
a mug

How the magic happens
Add the dry ingredients to the mug and mix well. If you're adding choc chips, do it now! (If you leave it until after adding the milk, oil and egg they'll sink - you have to coat them in dry mixture.) Add the egg and mix thoroughly (I used a fork). Pour in the milk and oil and mix well too. Put your mug into the microwave and cook for 3 mins if you have a 1000 watt microwave, or 3 mins 45 seconds if you have an 800 watt microwave. The cake will rise up scarily high - don't panic! When the time is up let it cool a little then tip out onto a plate/into a bowl/into your mouth...
We added ice-cream and chocolate sauce to be extra indulgent, but you could always ice this as a little cake or add other goodies you fancy to it.

Unfortunately there was no scandalous conversation at this dinner club I can report on. It began with us helping each other out with work problems we'd come across during the week, and ended with silence as we all concentrated on not bursting!

Until next time,

Lollipop and Aoif x

Shepherds Pie, Eimear and I collaborate & Anne visits

Dinner club kicked off in fine style this month, with various non-drinkers, some suspicious pate bought from an off-licence and a very welcome visit from Anne. (On her way to glamorous New York)

We continued the mix'n'match approach to dinner club teams tonight. Myself and Eimear took charge of the cooking duties. This has long been billed as the clash of the titans. The others have a long held belief that the two of us would spark and argue over the cooking. 

I don't understand this, we're both easy going people, without strong views on anything. At no point would we ever shout at each other, wave ladles at each other, or threaten to dangle each other out a window. 

In any event, we decided on cottage pie. I made the mince, and bought some pate from an off licence. 

so, to make the mince for my recipe: 

1 Big load of mince 9 (approx 750g)

2 glasses of red wine

2  beef stock gel things (knorr)

1 wallop of tabasco sauce

1 large onion

Carrots

Corn

Salt

pepper

Wosterschireshireshire sauce

1) dissect the onions until they are in small bittles

2) Heat these in the oil of some sunflowers or olives until they are translucent.

3) Add the mince, and colour until it is the same shade as a fine chocolate easter egg

4) Unto this mixture, add the wine, until it is drunk as a poet

5) Lash in enough tabasco that your mother would say 'do you really need all that tabasco'

6) Dollops of Wostershireshireshireshire sauce

7) Boil up a kettle of Brisbane Hair gel (water) and add some of the knorr stock things to a glass of the boiled. Add this to yon concoction.

8) Add the veh-e-tables

9) cook throughout an episode of skins

10) take out enough mince to put in a quick sandwich for your tea.

11) put in  a casserole dish, and into a cool bag

12) put the cool bag in a box, put the box into the car, drive the car around the world. 

13) add mash,

14) brown mash

15) eat. 

January main course

Hey all!
I've decided to down tools for 20 minutes before getting into my day's work (what am I saying - I always ease into my day's work for at least 20 minutes!) and record what I made for mains for January's dinner club. We'll get last year's recipes up soon as, but I want to press on with this lest I forget.
The rules have changed a little bit this year. Last year we went from Andy and Aoif's house to Kev and Eimear's house to my house etc etc. But because little ol' me has been single for the duration of dinner club (well, actually with a rather large blip we won't mention but which at no point helped me out making dinner!) we decided to shake it up this year.
So in 2010 we're not automatically pairing partners with partners. It's going to get confusing, but this way we get to hang out with different friends more often and I'll have less of the workload than last year!
So...January dinner club was to take place in Kevin and Eimear's house, with me making the main course and Kev providing dessert. He WILL put up his dessert menu in the next few days (won't you Kev!)

My main course was simple, but tasty I think. My sister cooked it for me a couple of weeks ago. She stole it from her Polish housemate who has an Estonian mother. I think the recipe is Estonian originally. Or maybe just Ingrid's mother's own. Anyway, it doesn't have a name, but here's how to make it.

You'll need
As many chicken fillets as there are people
A packet of Kucharek (Polish seasoning - you'll find it pretty much everywhere these days)
Salt
Pepper
A tin of peaches (yeah, seriously)
Cheese (Edam or Emmental)
Rice

And also (because it's annoying when you start to follow a recipe and realise you don't have the necessary equipment)
A meat tenderiser
A large dish
A frying pan
A saucepan
A strainer

How the magic happens
Tenderise the chicken fillets (it's very satisfying - try save it for when you're feeling frustrated). Put a thin layer of Kucharek seasoning on the bottom of a large dish (large enough to hold all chicken fillets). Add a bit of salt and pepper. Lay the chicken fillets in the dish and cover with another thin layer of Kucharek seasoning. Leave to infuse overnight or for a day. When that's done, cook the chicken fillets in a pan while cooking rice in a saucepan. When the fillets are cooked through take them off the pan, layer peach slices on each fillet and put a slice of cheese on top. Pop in the oven for about five minutes to melt the cheese. Drain the rice and stir in a small bit of the old Kucharek seasoning, and serve - easy!

Pics to follow from Eimear. Anyone with suggestions of what we could name this dish let us know with a comment below :)

Dinner Club History

Kevin, Eimear, Laura, Aoife and myself began dinner club (lame name) a year ago. Tonight is the start of the second year of our new year's resolution. I failed to stop sneaking the odd cigarette, run a marathon or stop biting my nails. But I did eat dinner with good friends once a month.

Let's introduce everyone:

Kevin
A girl in college once approached Kev to interview him for an essay she was writing on the subject of 'success'. Kev works for a large charity, and as he says 'Serious illness is a growth industry for us'. He co-founded the Dublin City Musical Society, and, while able to reliably hit a golf ball 200 yards, has critical views on musical theatre. Kev lives with Eimear.

Eimear
Eimear hates powerpoint. She loves life & wants to experience as much of it as she possibly can. She's spent much of the last year working and studying at the same time, but somehow, has never looked tired. Of the group, she is the best dressed. Eimear sang with Christy from Aslan, wanted to be Maria from the sound of music, doesn't have a middle name, and comes from the Coldest place in Ireland.

Laura
Laura is the visionary of our group. She can see that there is a world beyond the day-to-day that the rest of us seem to be battling through. She is the member of the group who can strike up a conversation with a complete stranger, uncover the best in them, and become firm friends.

Aoife
Aoife adds a level of class to dinner club. She brings manners, consideration and heart to the table. Aoife is also from Wexford. She knows the full lineup of various Wexford GAA teams and can (and will) sing songs about them. She's the most beautiful woman in the world, and is completely perfect in every way. In an unrelated note, I'm engaged to Aoife.

Andy (me)
I drink too much coffee. I don't exercise enough. I end up in work too much. Even Aoife describes me as grumpy (and she's marrying me). I spend Monday to Friday wearing a suit and pointing at things. I spend Saturday and  Sunday trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep.

So that's us. This is dinner club. We'll try to blog the recipes at the very least.
Thank you and good night.