Next dinner - South America!

Thanks to all who came to the last dinner - we had a terrific crowd. It was great to have a few new Gastronauts attend, and there was enough food to feed an army...

We tried our best to squeeze in another dinner before Christmas, but the silly season got the better of us.

Not to worry, because it didn't get the better of us for long, and our next dinner will be on Saturday 19 January 2013. This time we'll be taking your tastebuds on a tour of South America.

Our menu is still being tweaked, but will be something along these lines, full of delicious South American treats:

Pisco Sour & Empanadas

Quinoa Soup

Steak with Peruvian Potato, Chimichurri, salad & Sopa Paraguaya\

A delicious Dulce de Leche treat for dessert

Our hosts for the night have just been to South America and can't wait to share a night of great food with you.

If you are interested in attending, you'll need to get in quick - as usual seats are very limited.  Hope to see you at a Gastronauts dinner soon!

(The picture is a pisco sour jelly shot from Pisco Trail - you can find the recipe here)

Winter Feast - 4 August 2012

Winter is almost over, so we thought we'd sneak in a dinner before it disappears.  Our next dinner will be held on Saturday, 4 August 2012, and will be a winter feast.  Think comfort food - hearty and warming - exactly what you want to eat on a cold, wintry night. 

The menu will look something like this:

Celery soup, Cashel Blue cheese and toasted hazelnuts

Slow cooked Vietnamese brisket with rougail chouchou

Boiled bacon, Savoy cabbage and parsley sauce

Pecan pie & espresso ice-cream

Salted chocolate truffles

There are a few dishes in there you may not have come across before, so we thought a bit of menu commentary (from Richard - who's cooking this one) wouldn't go astray:  

When I was first planning this menu, I hit the cookbooks, looking especially for slow cooked recipes.  Then I started thinking about where I had eaten the best "comfort" food, and memories of Ireland came flooding back.  I lived in Ireland for a year, and I think it's fair to say that it doesn't get a lot of sun.  So you need warming, hearty food to cheer you up (along with a beer or two).  From that point onwards, the menu pretty much wrote itself - it's mainly made up of my favourite Irish food memories.  The pecan pie was my favourite dessert at The Mermaid Cafe in Dublin, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  I'm looking forward to talking those memories through on the night with you, as each dish is served.

The dish which is obviously not Irish is the slow cooked brisket.  The punchy, distinctive Vietnamese flavours will serve as a contrast to the more "traditional" wintry flavours of the soup and the main course.  I've just come back from three weeks in Reunion, where I became addicted to rougail.  Rougail is a garnish served with most creole dishes in Reunion.  It usually consists of a raw vegetable, pickled with a good whack of chilli.  Initially I was a bit skeptical of it, but I was quickly converted, and it's terrific for cutting through slow cooked, creole stews - I thought it would be a  perfect accompaniment to the rich flavours of the brisket.

All we need now is some cold weather for the night!  We'll be allocating seats this week, so if you are interested, let us know quickly - there has already been a fair bit of interest in the night.

We hope to see you there.

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.