The Foodies Want More

Late evening, time for dessert from Greg and Dan - Trionfo Della Gola

The Foodies (formerly known as the Supper Club) are a group of friends who love to cook, eat, drink, and laugh together at themed dinner parties. Our friends and family tell us they enjoy living vicariously through tales of our feasts so we’ll share the stories, pictures, and recipes here on the blog from time to time. Click here for previous Foodie Group posts, and here for the group’s origin story.

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Oh, that feeling when a musical performance engages your emotions so completely that you surge to a standing ovation, calling Encore, Bravo! Or, in the rowdier joints I’ve been known to frequent, you wave your cell phone in the air (or lighter, in the old days) and yell Wooooooooooooooooooo!  Hungry for just one more song, a final powerful experience to send you out the door, ears ringing, soul soaring, and walking on air.
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Well, that was the inspiration for this go-round with our group of foodies, substituting dinner for music as the medium. The theme is Encore!

With more than 12 years under our belts our Foodie Group has enjoyed a lot of meals together. (Read the origin story here.) That’s 67 dinners, give or take. An abundance of themes thoughtfully explored, multitudes of recipes gleefully devoured, waterfalls of wine and cocktails imbibed, and occasional outbursts of performance art, both planned and impromptu.
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Such a wealth of material in our repertoire! The time was right to revisit our past for inspiration. Ilise is our archivist, tracking the details of each meal since 2006 on a master spreadsheet from which we each selected a classic theme to reinvent for an encore performance. 

​​We expected that the Encore ‘hook’ would inspire our fellow Foodies to get creative and have fun with some of the past themes. 

There are some real goodies on that spreadsheet:
Duck and Cover; Red Square; Chocolate; and Booze on the Barbie, to name just a few. 
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​Before serving up the tantalizing details of this dinner, let’s set the mood with an Encore Playlist. Hit the Play arrow and settle in with a beverage of your choice.

Then get ready for More.

Drinks: Ellyn chose to revisit the Caramelized theme from 2013, preparing a Caramelized Pineapple-Jalapeno Cocktail. Turns out this is the same cocktail she made the first time around, and I’m here to tell you it was just as delicious for the Encore.

​Char-grilled pineapple is the key to this tasty tipple, and the mezcal brings a whole new level of smoky goodness. We all toasted with Cheers! and Bravo! in anticipation of another wonderful dinner party. Click on the photos to enlarge them and read the captions.

If you’re curious, here’s the menu from April 2013 when Caramelized was our theme:

• Drinks: Mezcal cocktail w/ caramelized pineapple and jalapeno; Assorted wines; and a Nightcap: Chocolate Covered Caramel (made with chocolate liqueur, butterscotch schnapps, and vodka served w/ a caramel straw in a chocolate cup)
• Appetizer: Caramelized onion and three cheese tart; Caramelized bacon
• Main course: Pork Bi Bim Bop; Pickled quail eggs; Korean cucumber salad; Shishito peppers; Seasoned perilla leaves; and two types of Kimchee
• Dessert: Croquembouche with rum and Kahlua custard

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Appetizers: Karen and Kathleen offered a fresh take on the Favorite Restaurant Recipes theme (2007). They made Neapolitan style pizza on the grill, inspired by Spacca Napoli here in Chicago. Kathleen and Karen have made a point to source the same ingredients used by the restaurant and feel they are thisclose to a match.

Arriving at the party with a giant pizza oven attachment for the kettle grill in tow, the Ks proceeded to make two flavors of pizza: Margherita, with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil; and Prosciutto with mozzarella and baby spinach. Fresh, light, chewy, and utterly delicious! ​Click on the photos to enlarge them and read the captions.

Here’s what was served in January 2007 when Favorite Restaurant Recipes was the theme:

• Drinks: Concord Grape Cobbler inspired by No. 9 Park; selected bottles of Witness Tree Pinot Noir, which we first enjoyed (very much!) at Blue Hill
• Appetizer: Lentils with Warm Spinach and Goat Cheese inspired by Mia Francesca
• Main course: Duck and venison (sorry, the details are absent)
• Dessert: Crème brulee (short on details here too)

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Main Course: Ilise and I went hog-wild with the Pig Out theme, originally presented in 2012. We hauled out the smoker and barbecued up some sweet meat treats fit to eat. North Carolina style pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw and pickled onions, Kansas City style baby back ribs, and beef ribs were on the menu – hey, it says to Pig Out, so we did! We rounded out the meat with classic soul food sides including collard greens and corn pudding. (Click on the names of each of the dishes to be linked to the recipes, pictures, and more.)  ​​Click on the photos to enlarge them and read the captions.

Pig Out menu from August 2012:

• Drinks: Canadian Bacon Cocktail served with maple glazed bacon; Spicy Pineapple Pepperitas made with pepperoni and jalapeno pepper-infused tequila; and assorted wine
• Appetizer: Sausages and pickled veggies; Flatbread with apples, caramelized onions, Asiago and maple-candied turkey bacon
• Main course: "Polenta Portobello Pig Out Platter" with three stews:  the Tuscan Wild Boar stew (made with regular pork instead of boar), a classic Ragù Bolognese; and Parsley-Pipián pulled chicken
• Dessert: Chocolate and vanilla ice cream served with warm chocolate ganache and ganache-covered strawberries and dried pineapple

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Dessert: Always the overachievers (and we love them for it!) Greg and Dan married two themes in one magnificent dessert – the Trionfo Della Gola. This unusual and wonderfully addictive sponge cake is layered with a watermelon pudding, squash preserves, and chopped pistachios.

This dessert fits perfectly for the Regional Italian Cuisine theme we enjoyed in 2011 – this recipe represents Sicily – and it also ticks the box for our 2007 theme, Cookbook from the Year You Were Born – sorta. Although this particular cookbook – Mimmetta LoMonte’s Classic Sicilian Cooking – was published more than a few years after Dan and Greg were born, Greg did receive the book as a birthday gift from his mother, so we’re going to say he gets style points for this one. Click on the photos to enlarge them and read the captions. 

Here’s the menu from the January 2011 when Regional Italian was our theme:

• Drinks: Gin martini, Negroni, Bellini, Italian beer, Italian red wines & homemade Limoncello
• Appetizer: Lazio Region - Ceci alla Romana, Peperonata alla Romana & Gaeta olives; Roman Legionnaires Farro soup and Gnocchi alla Romana
• Main course: Emilia-Romagna Region - Pasta Bolognese, Chicken wrapped in Prosciutto di Parma, Risotto with Parmigiano Reggiano and aged balsamic vinegar & Broccoli rabe
• Dessert: Trentino Alto Adige & Veneto Regions - Semifreddo al miele and Apfelnusstorte (or Torta di Mele)

​And here are the details from our Cookbook from the Year You Were Born dinner in December 2007:

• Drinks: Tangatini (a martini made with Tang, but not from a cookbook), Gin Gimlets and French wine
• Appetizer: Salmon mousse, and Vichyssoise
• Main course: Coq au vin
• Dessert: White layer cake with Maraschino cherries, and Brandy Balls

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So there you have it – an Encore performance of the foodie group’s favorite themes. I was intrigued to see what everyone picked. As usual, the dinner party was a huge success – mouthwatering food, delicious drinks and wine, and best of all, sparkling conversation with an amazing group of dear pals. Bravo to you all, my Foodie friends!