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Supper Club Tribute

Name: Supper Club Tribute
Start: 2016-10-14T19:00:00+00:00
End: 2016-10-14T21:00:00+00:00
Location: Humboldt House

October 14, 2016 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

$50

roulade
An ode to Midwest Supper Clubs! Originally, Jen and I made this meal as a big sendoff in San Francisco before we moved to Chicago. They were popular enough, we ended up having two ‘Last Suppers’ for 50 people. The Bay Area had never heard of many of these dishes that I grew up with in Wisconsin, but I’m pretty certain most of these are familiar to anyone in Chicago.
Come join us as we indulge in good food, good drink, and conversation with a community of people who know what a supper club is.

Here is the menu, and if you would like to join us, click here.

Rumaki

Water chestnuts, wrapped in smoked eggplant bacon, with a brown sugar, soy, ginger glaze. Rumaki is a mock-Polynesian hors d’oeurve that appeared around the 1940’s. It was always one of my favorites when I went to my Aunt Karens house. Here, of course, we make it vegan. If you haven’t tried rumaki, it might be your next party staple.

Seared Trumpet Mushroom Scallops with Cocktail Sauce

We’ll marinate king trumpet mushrooms, slice them into scallops, pan sear them, and serve them with some zesty cocktail sauce. Shrimp cocktail is a thing in supper clubs, but the scallop cocktail was even fancier. You’ll be feeling very retro when you’re eating your scallop cocktail, sipping an Old Fashioned, while listening to some Dean Martin. I’ll be sure to bring the tunes…

Artichoke Dip with Crostini

What more can be said? In the midwest, artichoke dip is always made with mayo. We’ll make ours with a cashew-based vegan cream cheese instead.

Little Gem Salad: Tofu Misozuke ‘Blue Cheese’ Dressing.

The classic ‘wedge’ salads often use iceberg lettuce, but we can do one better with little gem lettuces. Tofu misozuke is a traditional Japanese preparation where tofu is aged in miso for 1 – 3 months, which gives it a very soft ‘cream cheese’ texture, and a lot of umami. We’ll spike the dressing with some powdered sea vegetable to put it over the top. The salad will be served with green onion, fire roasted tomato, and fresh herbs.

Loaded Twice-Baked Potato

We’ll fill the baked potato with melted cashew cheese, crispy seitan bacon bits, broccoli crowns, and a whipped cashew sour cream. Topped with chives! In the last ‘Vegan Iron Chef,’ I improvised a loaded (mini) baked potato, and it was a bit hit with the judges. This time, we’ll hollow out the potato, mash it, and pipe it back in with all the delicious ingredients.

Root Vegetable, Chickpea, and Lentil Roulade

Black beluga lentils, chickpeas, and a root vegetable mirepoix are rolled in a wheat dough, and baked. Sliced, seared, and served to you with broccolini and a red wine and beet sauce. More French than Midwestern, but roulades have made appearances in a few fancy Wisconsin and Illinois restaurants.

Grasshopper Pie with Newman-O Cookie Crust

The ‘grasshopper’ is a classic after dinner drink made with Creme de Menthe. ‘Grasshopper Pie’ is a Midwestern supper club staple, and was always one of my favorite desserts. We’ll be making it with aquafaba, and a Newman-O cookie crust. Classic!

grasshopper-pie