Wrap up for July, August, Sept

Hello Soupies...

I am ashamed. I should be flogged or at the very least forced to not eat at the next soup club meeting. I have failed my loyal constituents, but more importantly, myself by falling behind on soup club wrap ups. Forgive me? Forget me? Feed me to the wolves wrapped in bacon and truffle oil.

Enough of drama, let's just get down to business.

Here's the quickie (I've been well versed by men I've dated in the past) of July and August.

July: Jessy hosted our lovely AA soup club at her cute and tres chic Little Tokyo apartment. We loved the food, but the door man loved us more. Did we ever bring a plate down for that guy? I was hoping someone would get boozed up with me since there was alcohol in every dish and drink we consummed, but alas, I was the only bum who didn't have to work the next day.

I made a delicious cheddar beer soup. I combined my two favorite things, beer and cheese. A minute on the lips a lifetime on the hips, but that's the chance I take. Drum roll please... The big winner (no shock here) was Laine's beer battered zucchini with homemade aoli with rosemary and thyme and black pepper. As if his talents weren't already disgustingly amazing enough, the zucchini and herbs he used were grown by his own hands in his west hollywood community garden. It seriously was effin delicious. Instead of presentation, we gave a prize for best cocktail. Fatimah won for her lynchburg lemonade. It was alcoholy and lemony and made me wanna take my clothes off, but Jordyn (she's 9) and marley (she's a dog) were present, so I showed some self restraint... Congrats to the winners and congrats to everyone who came to our AA meeting. The rest of you, should take a cold hard look at yourselves in the mirror and ask yourselves if your addiction is more important that home grown zucchini...

August:
Ok, so brevity is not my strong suit, but I'll try. Dina and Alyssa played host at their adorable home in Sherman Oaks. Dina, I'm moving in next Sunday fyi...This was the Russian Roulette challenge where I told everyone the theme the day before. Everyone rose to the occassion and every single person got a vote in some way shape or form. Everyone was to created a dish using things that were already in the kitchen. For those who had no food, I allowed everyone to purchase two supplementary items at the store. Dina made a delicious split pea soup that rivals Anderson's secret recipe. The winner of best overall dish and best dish created soley from items in her pantry was Jessy for her fish curry. It was spicy and curry-riffic. Delish. Laine won for best presentation for his mousse two ways. There was a lemon mousse and a white chocolate mousse topped with decadent home made whipped cream. I personally ate two, but I'm a glutton. Kudos kids.

Amost there...

September!

This was quite the fun soup club. The theme was movies and if I were more clever I'd try to write this whole thing with lines from movies, but alas, I'm not. Laine hosted once again at his West Hollywood digs. We even got to play pin the nipple tassle on the stripper courtesy of his movie of choice Showgirls. I won and I'm still waiting for my prize...

Voulez vous couchez avec mois, Christine? She was our soup maker this go around creating a divine french onion soup inspired by the location in her film Moulin Rouge. Oh lala, c'etais merveilleux! The gruyere cheese was plentiful and the broth was perfectly beefy and oniony.

The host Laine's movie was Showgirls. He made meat on a pole, cause that's what strippers are! He frenched a lamb rack, which is very difficult, which was accompanied by a homemade taziki of greek yogurt with chopped mint, parsley, rosemary and garlic. He coulda been a contender! Ok, he was THE contender. His rack was so juicy he won, but since he bought the gifts he let the second place winners take the prize. Tiff and I shared the 2nd place title so we also shared the candy bra gift. Tiff's movie was Like Water for Chocolate, which she made a chocolate soup dessert. It was yummy. It was hot chocolate on steroids, but the good kinds that don't make you break out, but give you just enough bass in your voice. My movie was Spirited Away an animated movie. I made a dish with lots of crap in it. It was little ramekin filled with noocles, bok choy, mushrooms, pork belly, quail eggs, and pickled fennel, which was an homage to a scene in the movie where the little girls parents pig out on a variety of food.

In a land far far away (Tujunga), Diana and Jamie renderred some delicious food interpretations of Sixteen Candles and There's Something About Mary. Diana made a luscious chocolate cake from scratch with a nice whipped topping and strawberries. She of course had the pre-requisite 16 birthday candles ablazed on the top of the cake. Jamie made an avocado shrimp ceviche in honor of his home state and the setting of the movie, Florida. Good on ya.

They enjoy being a girl. The girls Jessy and Linda were in full force and full costume as Amelie from Amelie and someone from Fried Green Tomatoes. I was buying it, but what I really was sold on was Jessy's nod to Amelie with her blueberry creme brulee. That girl's addicted to crack, the crack of the bruleed sugar that is. In lieu of tomatoes, Linda cooked an appropriately southern dish of fried okras. My mouth waters just thinking about it.

There is no earthly way of knowing how JR came up with his concept of rice crispies aglowing. JR showed up as the candy man himself Willy Wonka. He revamped an old classic (rice krispie treats) and warped them into a candy genius' fantasy dessert. They were shades of pink, purple green, white, coconut (that ain't a color)... They were shaped into a dome of krispie goodness complete with fake grass. They were so inventive and eye poppingly fun that he took the prize for best presentation. He gave the set director for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory a run for his money. He won a candy jock strap, which is perfect for a sweets man.

As God as my witness I will never go hungry again, because I certaintly ate way too much food at this soup club event. What fun we had. We came, we ate, we dressed up, we got close and personal with a stripper. What more could one ask for?

Til next time... Live long and prosper.

x,
the prez

Soup Club LA June Wrapper

Hello Soupies!

Come one, come all to the greatest show on earth! Soup Club LA's June wrapper! What fun we had at our country fair/circus themed soup club. Food with all the fixins. Hearty soup that would make grandma do the doe-see-doe. Games that awoke the inner dirty kneed child in all of us and left some of us a bit bruised (sorry kids). The elephant woman, bearded, lady and ring master, made an appearance as did some local country bumpkins. All in all, it was fun to revert to some good old fashion fun.

Get yer soup hear! First time Mike's "Blue Ribbon Vegetable Soup" was so delicious people couldn't help but vote for it. It was hearty, light, and fresh. It had a cornucopia of vegetables including corn, tomatoes, potatoes, bell peppers, kidney beans, and carrots. There was also a nice bit of rice to add some starchy carby goodness. Kudos to Mike on a fabulous first effort! Yeehaw!

Lisa and Chris (JR's bro) brought the fair sweetness with their dessert contributions. Lisa made a delicious and healthy apple crisps. Layers of apples, drenched in brown sugar, butter and cinnamon were topped with a sprinkling of toasty oatmeal flakes. It left all the kids lickin' their spoons clean. Chris Reid made a delicious strawberry topping/sorbet for a sponge cake. The fruity goodness of the strawberry topping was deliciously acidic with a nice punch of sweetness. The cold and half frozen consistency was a welcome relief on this warm June evening.

Family freaks of nature Bearded woman Brown (Tiff) and Elephant Lady ring master (yours truly) gave it good ole college try with their dishes this month. Tiff made a delicious and classic dish of sausage and peppers. She sauteed onions, green bell peppers, and Eye-talian sausage with olive oil, salt and pepper and placed the deliciousness on french rolls. I made a take on the traditional corn dog and made corn burgers. I seasoned ground beef with salt, pepper, and sauteed garlic. I took the beef and put stuffed a piece of cheddar cheese inside then dipped it in a traditional corn dog batter. I deep friend it and voila, corn burgers. If I'm honest, it looked less appealing than it tasted, but if you were blind, you'd have loved it!

Joint Chief of Chefs/2nd VP Laine made an incredible homage to the classic fair fave, kettle chips. He made delicious chips out of beets and carrots. They were crisp and perfectly seasoned. Once you popped you couldn't stop. He made a homemade blue cheese ranch dip. It was soo good it'd put hidden valley to shame and cause foreclosure on their farm. It was soo good that it was one point shy of soup club glory.

Now for the winners who were also newbies!! Alyssa and Dina did not walk into their first soup club, they ran and stomped all over us old food fogies. They truly were blue ribbon caliber with two excellent dishes. Alyssa won top honors with her take on corn dogs, the shrimp dog. The shrimp were large and succulent and batter was light and fluffy. The cocktail sauce was a little spicy and a little tangy. Fabulous dish. Dina's dish won for best presentation. Her "amuse bouche" rendition of sausage and peppers were not only tasty, but ridiculously cute in mini red and white containers. The crunch of the baguette was offset by the moist and well seasoned sausage, onions and peppers. Cute and delicious, just what I like in my food and person I date. Congrats ladies!

Not only was the food fabulous, the games were as well. We played the three legged race, which Alyssa and Dina won. We also played water balloon toss (can't remember who won) and a ball toss game. Thought some people won the battle, everyone took home a little prize.

Thank you to everyone who came. We had a fun time! Thank you to JR for allowing us to invade his lovely craftsman home. It's my favorite soup club venue.

The next soup club will be on Sunday July 26th. I need a soup maker and a host. Who wants to volunteer for one or both? The theme is what I like to call Russian Roulette. I will tell you the theme the day before and you never know what trigger I will pull... So, good luck.

x,
the prez

p.s. pics to come
p.s. I'm so awful I never posted the May wrapper. The winners from May: Laine won best overall dish for his delicious beer batter fried zucchini. Instead of best presentation, we did a prize for best drink. Fatimah won best cocktail for her Lynchburg lemonade! Jessy provided the gifts, which were cute t shirts from her job as a designer for graphic tees!

April Wraper

Hello!

It's that time again to listen (fine, read) me dribble on and on about what a fabulous soup club we had last month. Luckily for all of us every word I say and re-tell is true.

We had a fruity time this past soup club. We missed a big chunk of our regulars, but we pulled through and had a great time because of the our two old schoolers returned. We were a small, but mighty group of 8.

Jamie made a deliciously lime soup, which was very similar to a tortilla soup, but much limier and spicier. It was the perfect combination of acid and heat and texture from the tortilla strips. His beautiful wife Diana brought a delicious dish of figs wrapped in prosciutto.


Oldies Matt Brown and Fatimah brought the fruit funk as well. Matt made a to die for smoothie that was the perfect drink for such a hot day. It was a new take on an old favorite, Orange Julius. That Julius ain't got nothing on Matty Brown.


Fatimah made delicious shrimp tacos with a home made avocado and mango salsa. Again, a nice balance of acid and sweetness. It as a nice crisp straight forward dish with just enough pizazz to make it fun. It was also a wonderful dish for a warm day.


Silvia came with a classic Indonesian dessert, that I can't even pretend to remember how to spell or say. Let me just say this Indo-licious! It was a soup like dessert comprised of avocado, coconut milk, condensed milk, palm fruit, lychee, pineapples and a couple other exotic goodies. It was also a perfect beat the heat dish. I myself couldn't stop eating it.


Tiffany made a delicious take on nachos. Home made potato chips topped with rocquefort, apricot preserves, and brie. Salty meets sweet, what a delicious combo. I just wished there was more, but thankful there wasn't so my stomach didn't grow any larger than it had.


Now for the winners... Laine and I tied for first place for best overall dish and yours truly won for best presentation! Laine made delicious stuffed and panko fried olives with a Meyer lemon dipping sauce. His winning recipe is above for the nitty gritty details. I must say that I kept eating those little suckers for two days and the panko crust remained crunchy. I don't know which gods you prayed to, but I've never eaten a friend food out of the fridge without reheating that remained crispy and crunchy.


I made a pan seared steak with a blackberry cherry sauce. It was a simple straight forward dish, which is not usually my thing. Great chefs make great sauces, so I wanted to test my metal and see if I could rock and roll on a simple, but important component to many dishes.


I also made a dessert amuse bouche which was take on cheese cake. I stuffed raspberries with brillat savarin cheese, dipped it in cherry preserves then dipped them in graham cracker crust.


We also played a little food game. Everyone wrote down a food related question and we each drew one and gave our answers. There were three questions relating to food and sex and a few people declined to answer. We are apparently a much saucier group than I realized. Food and sex... What a combo, especially warm brie according to a certain red head in the group...

Enjoy the photos! Clearly I need help in formatting! Oy vay... sorry. Next soup club will be May 17th. I will send out an email regarding that.

Peace and Chicken Grease,
Prez B

CRISPY STUFFED OLIVES W/ APPLE & GARLIC AIOLI

I won our fruit challenge with this recipe and it was rather easy to make. It just took some time to get the olives stuffed.

Olives:

2 10oz. jars colossal olives
1/4 lb spicy italian turkey sausage
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 eggs, whisked
flour
panko breadcrumbs (italian seasoned ones if you can find)

Aioli:

1 apple, grated
1 lemon, juiced
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
sea salt
course black pepper

For the olives:

Pull the pimentos from the olives with a toothpick, rinse the olives and soak them in plain water for as long as you can (overnight is fine) to get some of the brine out. Mix the chopped garlic into the loose sausage (taken from it's casing if it was a link). Put the sausage into a ziplock bag and cut the tip of one corner off. Use the bag to pipe the sausage into the olives. Toss the stuffed olives lightly with olive oil, then toss them in flour, shake off excess flour, dredge them in the whisked eggs, then roll them in the panko. Fry in very hot oil for 3 minutes then transfer to a cookie rack over a brown paper bag to let oil drain off.

For the aioli:

Blend the egg yolks, apple, lemon juice and garlic in a food processor or blender. Blend in 3/4 cup of oil then slowly add in the other 3/4 cup as it blends. If it is getting too thin you can stop adding some of the oil. Salt and pepper to taste.


Enjoy!

xx
Laine

New Baby Soupy, Cash!

Hey Ya'll... Here are pics of baby Cash (Melissa and Keith's first born) wearing the bibs we gave them at Feb Soup club! So cute. It looks like little Raoul (their true first born) couldn't resist getting into the action. I don't blame him, it's very 2009. Congratulations to Melissa and Keith! We all look forward to meeting your bundle of joy.

Chayote and Carrot Ribbon Salad

I didn't have an actual recipe, so I'm just gonna do the eyeball method.

2 chayote squash
1 carrot
1/4 of a red onion
Olive oil
lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
2tsp Fresh dill
Siracha (optional)
Truffle oil (optional)

Shred the Chayote squash into long pieces. You can also cut them into thin strips about the size the thickness of a spaghetti noodle. Create carrot ribbons by taking a peeler and peeling of ribbons of carrots. Thinly cut onion to match the texture of the carrot ribbons and chayote shreds. Place all the shreds into a bowl.

Chop up the fresh dill. Add as much as you like.

Squeeze lemon on the salad. Then drizzle some olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze some Siracha on the salad to taste. Drizzle a little truffle oil to taste. The last two steps are optional. It adds a little heat and woodiness to the salad.

Chill. Serve. Eat. Enjoy

x jen

Antelope Sausage & Beets

Ok, I'll start.  Here's the recipe I followed for my antelope sausage and beets concoction.  The original recipe called for home made polenta but I was lazy and used store bought, which turned out fine.  Enjoy!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 sausage links (italian, polish, etc.)

• 2 bunches beets

• 1/2 thinly sliced onion

• 6 cloves garlic, chopped

• 1/2 cup red wine

• 1 sprig rosemary

• 1/2 habanero pepper, finely chopped

• 1 package store bought polenta

• 1 tbs olive oil

• salt & pepper to taste

• 15oz can chicken stock

Directions:

1 - Cut beets in half moon shape, toss with olive oil and roast in oven at 450 for 25 mins

2 - Saute sausage in pan until cooked thru, about 8-10 mins

3 - Remove sausage from pan and set aside.

4 - Add olive oil and onions, cook until just soft

5 - Add garlic and habanero, saute for 2 mins

6 - Add wine and deglaze pan, scraping the tasty bits off the bottom

7 - Add chicken stock and rosemary and reduce liquid by half

8 - Throw the sausages back in the pan with the gravy 

9 - Follow directions on polenta...I just micro-waved it for a minute or so

10 - Plate up!  I used ramekins for individual servings.  Beets on top of polenta with sausages on top of it all.  Load up with the gravy and dig in! 

Jamie

 

JANUARY WRAP-UP

WELCOME

Welcome, soupies.  Here is a place for news about upcoming Soup Clubs, past glories and shared pics and recipes.  The blog is open for all to post, so just ask me for the log in info if you don't have it and start uploading those recipes.  

I'm so excited I could poop rainbows.

xx

Laine