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 ! 

hola Espana - 25 June 2011

Our last dinner was terrific! Thanks very much to Helen for whipping up such an amazing night of seasonal ingredients.  I still remember the rabbit terrine (and will for a long time) - we'll have a post up soon with more details & pictures from the night.

In the meantime, we've been planning the next dinner, which is happening on Saturday 25 June.  This time the inspiration comes from Spain, and the menu will look something like this:

Melon with jamon 2005

Pimientos de padron
"Gazpacho"
Stuffed cherry tomatoes
Little saffron tortillas with smoked paprika alioli

Pea and sherry soup with chorizo oil & croutons

Pyrenees style slow-cooked lamb with sherry & paprika
Poor man's potatoes

Pineapple/fennel

Crema Catalana

Turrón

The menu features old & new - a couple of recipes from El Bulli, along with some Spanish classics.

As usual, seats are limited for dinner, so if you're interested, let us know asap.  We'll be allocating seats by the end of this week - hope to see you at a Gastronauts' dinner soon.

May Dinner - A Salute to Hugh

Gastronauts' next dinner will be held on Saturday 28 May 2011. This time the dinner draws inspiration from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the driving force behind the River Cottage.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is committed to seasonal, ethically produced food, and the menu reflects that focus. If you don't know much about him, here's a video that gives you a quick idea of what he stands for.

Our "Salute to Hugh" menu will look something like this:

Potato & fennel soup shot
Pear & blue cheese canapes

Beetroot & Barambah feta soup with parsnip & thyme bread

Pressed rabbit terrine wrapped in prosciutto

Slow roast beef brisket
Roast pumpkin garlic, chilli & rosemary
Roast beetroot with apple balsamic

Sloe gin & blackberry jelly

Quince crumble

If you're interested in attending, please get back to us quickly - as usual, seats are limited.

We hope to see you there!

April Dinner - Share plates inspired by Ottolenghi

Gastronauts' April dinner was all about share plates, with inspiration drawn from the food served at Ottolenghi restaurant in the UK. Ottolenghi's driving philosophy is that everything is hand-crafted with care and attention, from basic raw ingredients. With 11 people attending, it was our most ambitious dinner yet, but Richard V managed to handle it with casual aplomb.

We all enjoyed the following terrific food through the course of the night:

Aubergine-wrapped gnocchi with sage butter

Broccoli with tofu, sesame and coriander

Okra with tomato and ginger

Cauliflower and cumin fritters with lime yoghurt

Mushrooms with cinnamon and lemon

Grilled barramundi with green olive salsa

Beef and lamb meatballs in tahini

Slow roasted pork belly

Caramel and macadamia cheesecake

Lemon meringue pie

I'd have to say that my favourites were the pork belly, gnocchi and the meatballs, which were a fantastic match with a punchy, flavoursome tahini. As much as those dishes stood out for me, it was brilliant to have such a variety of food on the table.

After all that savoury food, the caramel and macadamia cheesecake was a winner with pretty much everyone. As full as we all were by that stage, it was too good to pass up. Showing no mercy on our stomachs, a cheese plate then meandered around, just in case none of us needed to eat for the next week.

This was also Gastronomy Gal's first trip to a Gastronauts' Supper Club dinner, and you can read her post on the night here.

It was great to see four new faces at this dinner, and we look forward to meeting some new Gastronauts at our next dinner on 28 May 2011.

April Dinner - Share Plate Soiree

The menu for our next Gastronauts dinner will feature share plates, inspired by the food from Ottolenghi in London. Share plates are perfect for a supper club dinner, and here's an idea of what will be on the table:

fennel and feta with pomegranate and sumac

aubergine-wrapped gnocchi with sage butter

broccoli with tofu, sesame and coriander

okra with tomato and ginger

cauliflower and cumin fritters with lime yoghurt

mushrooms with cinnamon and lemon

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grilled mackerel with green olive salsa

beef and lamb meatballs in tahini

slow roasted belly pork

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caramel and macadamia cheesecake

lemon meringue pie


Kick off time for dinner will be 7pm. If you're interested in coming, let us know soon, because seats are disappearing very fast.

Hope to see you there!

Another Great Dinner, Moroccan Style

This post has been a bit slow to appear, but we all had a delicious night of Moroccan food at our last dinner in November.

All the Gastronauts present enjoyed this menu:

Mint tea
Olives with harissa
Spiced nuts

Moroccan tasting plate
Spicy prawns
Lamb & mushroom kebabs with yoghurt, mint and sultana dressing
Orange and radish salad

Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives
Spiced lentils with pumpkin
Beef meatball tagine

Almond cream pudding

Fresh dates
Sesame biscuits

Luckily Danielle from Digella Emporium was good enough to write a post about the evening (along with photos), which you can read here.

Hope to see you at the next dinner!