The Picnic!

Thanks to everyone who came along to the picnic.  Although the weather wasn't kind to us, and it ended up being an indoor "picnic", that didn't get in the way of a terrific afternoon of food.  Here's what we ate (until our stomachs could take no more):

Red velvet cupcakes

Chicken and tarragon pie

Beetroot and goats cheese tart

Gazpacho with pide bread

Goats cheese and herb quiche

Ricotta almond slice with passionfruit jelly

Beef and horseradish choux pastries

Spicy Dr Pepper pork with BBQ corn salsa

Crack pie

Limmer's gin punch jellies

Cherry tomatoes with goats cheese and capers

Korean pork pancakes with spicy sauce

Swan shaped choux pastries

Swede and potato pasties

Cherry strudel

Sorry there weren't more photos, but I was too busy eating!  Seeing as we had so much amazing food and everyone had a great afternoon, we'll definitely be doing another one later in the year.

Also, we were lucky enough to have Fiona from Tiffin along to the picnic, and you can read more about it (with better photos) on her blog here.

Hope to see you at another Gastronauts event soon - looking like our next dinner will be on 19 May 2012.

Summer Picnic - New Date

We've got a new date for the Summer Picnic - Saturday 25 February 2012.

The picnic will be at New Farm Park, starting at 3pm.

Please read the original picnic post for more details.  We hope you can all make it, even if you've never been to a Gastronauts' dinner before - the more the merrier.

If you are coming, please let us know, so we have some idea of numbers, and what food you'll be bringing along - email us at gastronautssupperclub[at]gmail.com.

See you at the picnic!

Summer Picnic

Before Christmas rolls around, we thought it would be a great idea to get everyone together for a picnic. Seeing as the last few dinners have filled up very quickly, and people have missed out on attending, a picnic allows for a larger group to enjoy Gastronauts goodness. So the first ever Gastronauts summer picnic will be taking place on Saturday 10 December.

The general idea is for everyone to bring a plate to share, bring a few drinks and enjoy delicious food all afternoon. It will be a great way for everyone to meet all the Gastronauts, as we generally only get to see a few of you at each dinner.  Even if you've never been to a Gastronauts dinner, please come along for the afternoon -we're all very friendly.

The picnic will be at New Farm Park, starting at 3pm.  While we will attempt to have a BBQ nearby, there will be limited cooking facilities, so pre-prepared plates are going to be best.

Hope you can all make it & see you at the picnic!

Off to Italy!

It's only been a couple of weeks since our last dinner, but things are rolling along nicely for our next dinner on Saturday 15 October 2011.  This time the food will be taking its inspiration from Italy, which has no shortage of amazing food and wine.

Our menu for the night will treat your tastebuds to these flavours of Italy:

Assaggini:
Olive ascolane
Veal and ricotta polpette
Dates, taleggio and prosciutto

Crab ravioli with horseradish butter
Ricotta fritters

Porchetta

Contorni:
Red cabbage and hazelnut salad
Zucchini alla poverella
Roast potatoes

Semifreddo

With porchetta on the menu, seats are going to fill up fast!  Let us know if you'd like to come along.  We will be allocating seats to this dinner by the end of this week.

Hope to see you at a Gastronauts dinner soon!

September Dinner - Cassoulet

As a result of overseas holidays, spending too much time in our day jobs and general busy-ness, a couple of months have gone past without a Gastronauts dinner.  But don't despair, we've been beavering away and now have two dinners coming up over the next 6 weeks or so.

The first dinner will be on Saturday, 24 September, with the spotlight shining on cassoulet and classic French food.  We wanted to sneak in a cassoulet dinner before the weather warmed up too much, so it's happening in just under two weeks' time.

At this stage, the menu is likely to look something like this:

Selection of canapes & charcuterie

Cassoulet

Crème brûlée
Tarte au Citron

Brillat-savarin

We're still working out the final menu, but the food on the night will be rustic, classic and French. 

If you'd like a spot, let us know quickly, as we'll be allocating seats this week.

And if you can't make it to the September dinner, our next dinner will be happening on 15 October 2011 - more details will be up soon.

June Dinner - Hola Espana!

We had lots of interest for our last dinner, with all the seats disappearing quickly.  This time it was all about Spain, with the menu treading the line between Spanish classics and more avant-garde El Bulli dishes.

I was too busy cooking to keep notes or take photos, but luckily Gastronomy Gal was one of the guests - you can read her thoughts on the night here.

We have a couple of dinners coming up in September and October - more details will up soon.  If you'd like to be a part of a Gastronauts' dinner, send us an email - gastronautssupperclub[at]gmail.com.

Hope to see you at a Gastronauts' dinner soon!

Our "Salute to Hugh" Dinner

This post is well overdue, but we had a fantastic dinner in May, with the food drawing inspiration from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Helen and Daniel hosted the night, with 8 Gastronauts attending a feast of regional and seasonal food.  With the aromas of amazing food floating around the kitchen it wasn't long before the pear, blue cheese and thyme canapes started wandering around the room.  These were a lovely way to start the night, and the fresh thyme really lifted the flavour of the rich blue cheese & crisp pear.  Keeping on a theme of finger food, we then each had a shot of potato & fennel soup.  I love tapas type starters, and this was just what we all needed on a cold winter night.

After everyone had said hello and enjoyed a glass of prosecco, we shifted to the table in readiness for all the amazing food that was still to come - we didn't wait long for a bowl of beetroot & cumin soup with spicy yoghurt dressing to arrive.  The colour of the soup was stunning, and it quickly disappeared from everyone's bowls.

Then it was time for the pressed rabbit terrine.  Although admittedly this didn't look like your textbook terrine it was the standout dish of the night for me.  Not having eaten a lot of rabbit, I was really looking forward to this - the terrine melted in my mouth, with a wonderful richness of flavour.

Although I would have been more than happy to eat this terrine for the rest of the night, the show must go on, and the next course was slow roasted beef brisket, roast potatoes with garlic, chilli & rosemary and roast beetroot with apple balsamic.  This was perfect fare for a cold winter night, although our stomachs were starting to reach their limits by this stage of the night.

After all that wonderful food, a palate cleanser was called for - tonight it was sloe gin and blackberry jelly.  These were so good a few of us started drinking sloe gin shots afterwards (which also probably explains why there are no more photos).  The sloe gin and blackberry flavours complemented each other so well - rich, but with good acidity to cut through the lingering tastes of the previous courses.

We finished off the night with quince crumble and ice cream - a tasty, warming and rich dessert that was just made for a miserably cold winter's night.

A big thanks goes out to Helen for putting together another fantastic night of seasonal and local food. 

We hope to see you at a Gastronauts dinner soon !