Last Saturday, we had the opportunity to participate in something that was completely new and fantastic for us. We’ve hosted many parties in the past, but nothing quite like this.
You see, a friend of mine here has a supper club just down the street called Festin. And she recently asked if Stefan and I would be interested in working with her to host an evening.
In case you aren’t familiar with the concept of supper clubs, they are basically underground restaurants. They are usually held once or twice a month in the home of the host, who is usually a hobby chef but might also be a pro. The number of guests usually ranges from 10 up to 24, depending on the supper club and the location…and what the hosts are able to accommodate.
Stefan and I have hosted quite a few large dinners in the past. In fact, for the last 6 years, all of our Thanksgiving dinners have been 10-14 people. So we knew that we could handle a table of that size. But inviting a bunch of strangers into your home and suggesting that they make a donation to the supper club for the food and wine you serve is still a foreign concept to us…and it’s downright nerve wracking! In this instance, it was far more stressful for Stefan, because he was the chef for the evening while I worked as a sous chef. Since he always does such an incredible job of whipping up amazing meals for the two of us in our kitchen (and prepared a delicious meal for 4 1/2 at Christmas), I had full confidence in his abilities.
The menu we selected is one of our favorites, and we’ve made various components of it several times since we’ve moved to Berlin. It’s especially nice because we can obtain all of the main ingredients at our local famers’ market at Winterfeldplatz, and we were able to use a few of our homemade goodies in the dish as well, like Champagne vinegar, red wine and raspberry syrup which all came from the farm. And after we thought about the things we wanted to prepare, we realized we could have a nice 4 elements dinner with water, air, earth and fire!
We started off the evening with a sparkling wine welcome drink with raspberry syrup. Then we got the food started with the water element: sesame crusted Seared Ahi Tuna with a wasabi-soy sauce reduction and seaweed salad. This dish was actually one of our favorite things to eat in a restaurant in Miami that no longer exists, Tu Tu Tango. It was all about tapas and they made a mean seared tuna — which Stefan has managed to replicate beautifully. The tuna is coated in a crust of sesame seeds, then quickly seared in the pan. We use sashimi-quality tuna from the market that practically melts in your mouth!
Next up was “Air.” This was smoked duck breast on a bed of mixed baby greens with our homemade champagne vinegar as a vinaigrette. The duck breast is cut into thin slices and provides a wonderful balance to the champagne – dijon vinegrette.
The next course was “Earth,” a roasted filet of lamb in a red wine reduction, served with sautéed fennel and mashed sweet potatoes. The lamb was just fantastic and cooked to perfection, not too red and not too brown. Fennel is sautéed in the pan, and to finish it off, a shot of vinegar and pinch of sugar are added. The mashed sweet potatoes are made with a bunch of butter and a touch of cream, to really bring out their sweetness.
I unfortunately got carried away when it came time to plate the chocolate lava cakes with bourbon vanilla ice cream and forgot to take a photo. But let me assure you that they were SO good and totally gooey in the center, just like they’re supposed to be.
After the cooking frenzy and a bit of tidying up in the kitchen, we actually had the opportunity to sit down with our wonderful guests and chat a bit. We had a lovely group of guests from all over Europe and the US, and really enjoyed getting to know all of them better. Most of them we’ve also already been in contact with again and hope to meet up with again soon.
Now if your mouth is watering and you’re wishing you could recreate your own supper club at home, I’m going to be sharing some of the recipes from our evening soon. Although they are high class, they are also surprisingly simple to make yourself with a bit of practice. 😉
Trackbacks/Pingbacks