The tradition continues...

I have a great group of friends in lovely Fernandina Beach and we all like good food and good booze. Almost three years ago a few of us got together and started a supper club. Although at first it was loosely held together, as time went on we organized and became the Second Monday Supper Club. It went pretty well for about a year and a half and then three of the core members moved away. And we really miss them. I think we fell apart a little at that point, but my great friend Susan and I have been working pretty hard to get us back together. How it works, we pick a theme and everyone who attends contributes something...food or alcohol. We have had some pretty amazing dinners so far and I am happy that we are still going strong. 

The ladies on India Night. Silk scarves for all.

 Bundled up for our Oyster Roast!

The Oysters. Yummmmm....

And a few birthdays were celebrated during our dinner parties.

(This particular cake was for Colin's birthday--the cake had an 80's theme-decorated with a slinky, rubicks cube, Wayferer's and some 'cocaine' made out of powdered sugar.)

July's theme was "Hometown Cooking" which involved us making a dish that reminded us of our hometown, be that something native to where you grew up or something that was prepared in your home. For me it was easy, I grew up on Hilton Head Island and a dish that makes me think of home is Daufuskie Deviled Crab. Unfortunately I couldn't find the real recipe, I believe it is a protected historic document or something, but I made what I remembered my mother making as a child, sans the crab shell. She also made Savannah Red Rice, which is one of my favorite things ever. Some of the other dishes were chicken enchiladas, Jambalaya, shrimp and grits, roast beef, boiled shrimp, Cuban pork, apple crisp and some really yummy cheesy potato casserole. What I was really impressed with this go round was the creativity in the alcoholic beverages. I mean, these guys went all out.

The crab before it was baked to a golden brown.

Cheesy potato casserole (yummm) and the finished rice with some cornbread and the pot of Jambalaya.

Cuban pork and the finished Deviled Crab.

Two of the guests were from Georgia, and they made peach themed beverages: peach sangria and a white peach vanilla punch. Both were a complete success. Another, from Tennessee, made a 'moonshine' punch...she called it Meemaw's Moonshine Madness, and that it was, whew. I made a sweet tea vodka punch infused with lemon and mixed up with some club soda to make it fizzy, because I like fizzy. 

Booze!

Savannah Red Rice

Ingredients:
1 each      Red and Green Pepper
1 each      Sweet Yellow Onion
4 each      Pieces of Bacon
1 can        Tomato Paste
1 can        Petite Diced Tomatoes (10oz)
1 can        Crushed Tomatoes  (12oz)
3 cups      White Rice
3 cups      Water
2 sticks     Butter
hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste

Some of the ingredients.

The peppers, onion, bacon and tomatoes simmering in straight sided saute pan.

In a large straight sided saute pan, dice peppers, onions and bacon. Saute bacon in 2 tablespoons of butter until starting to crisp. Add onions and 2 more tablespoons of butter. Saute until becoming translucent. Add peppers, cook until soft. Add Tomato paste and cook for 3-5 minutes stirring to combine thoroughly. Add a little salt, pepper and hot sauce. Add diced and crushed tomatoes. Cook for -8 minutes. Add rice. Stir together and cook for 8-12 minutes, until liquid starts to evaporate. Add water slowly, stirring in completely. Pour rice mixture into pyrex, or other, baking dish. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45-1 hour. You will need to take out of the oven every 15-20 minutes and stir, adding water when necessary. Once it has been cooking for 30 minutes, taste and adjust seasoning. Re-cover and place back in the oven until the rice is soft and delicious! 


Mom would serve this with sauteed shrimp or chicken. It makes a great side to any basic meat or fish preperation. Delicious


As for the deviled crab, I loosely based mine on John Taylor's recipe that can be found on Epicurious.com. I used club crackers instead of saltines and I did not use the sherry, but only because I forgot to put it in. Oh well...it was still pretty darn good.


To me there is nothing more fun than a good dinner party. Next month our theme is 'toppings'; I will provide the base ingredients and everyone else will provide the toppings. We even plan to have a sundae bar! Perfect for a hot August evening.


Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Somewhat Homemade, Somewhat My Idea

My good friend at work, Paige, turned me on to a great blog-- Picky Palate. Great ideas and lots of fun pictures. Recently I made a recipe of hers Oreo Truffle stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies. Oh My Goodness delicious! I mean ridiculous. She has all these fabulous stuffed cookies...candy bars, Oreos, s'mores, brownies all stuffed in chocolate chip cookies. I mean these are amazing. She has lots of other wonderful things too, but the cookies are really fun. So, after making the oreo stuffed cookies, I started thinking....


The aformentioned Paige also made the most wonderful cookie brownie combination that we call a Brookie, so I took the two ideas and smooshed them together and made a layered brownie cookie stuffed with Snickers bars and Resse's Cups. The bottom layer is a good old fashioned Toll House chocolate chip cookie, topped with a miniature Snicker or Resse's Cup and then filled in with brownie. The brownie mix is my favorite Ghirardelli Super Fudge Brownie. So, these are somewhat homemade and somewhat my idea.

The First Step: The Cookie Layer.

Toll House cookie mix, mini Snickers and Ghirardelli Brownie Mix

The Second Step: Pre-bake the cookie layer.

I used a small ice cream scoop to put an even layer of cookie in each muffin pan.

The Third Step: Put the candy on top of the cookie and fill it in with brownie mix.

I baked the cookies for about 6 minutes and then put the candy in.

The Fourth Step: Bake.

With the brownie mix on top.

After baking, I added some chips to add more chocolate...because they needed it!

The Fifth Step: Eat
I suggest making sure you have a glass of milk to go with it.

Recipe...or list of ingredients.

What you need:

Muffin/Cupcake pan and liners

Your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, plus extra chips for topping.

Packaged brownie mix.

Miniature Snickers bars or/and miniature Reese's cups.

Oven.

Line the pan with paper liners. I usually spray the pan, just in case. Next, make the cookie dough. I like the classic Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Using a small ice cream scoop (about a 1.5 oz scoop), place a scoop into each liner. Bake at 350 degrees for 4-6 minutes. Remove from oven. Place one candy in each cup. Cover with a spoonfull of brownie batter. The cup will be about 2/3rds full. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes until the brownie batter is set. Remove from oven. Place around 5-6 chocolate chips on top of each brownie to create an icing of sorts, or you can ice with your favorite chocolate icing. (The Ghirardelli mix has an icing with it and it's pretty darn good.) 

Let them cool down a little before digging in. And, seriously, have that milk handy, you are going to need it.

Pretty Things

Again, it has been f-o-r-ever since my last post. Maybe if I could remember my sign in name I would post more often....hmmm. 


It has been a busy spring and early summer for myself and the staff of the Omni Amelia Island Plantation. As we are in our first year of becoming an Omni Resort, we have been making a lot of changes. In my department, Garde Manger (the keeper of the food, we do all the cold food preperations as well as make cheeses, sausages etc...and peel a lot of fruit), the major changes we have made have been to the presentation of our food. I am quite proud of how far our little department has come and I am looking forward to raising the bar again. 


In keeping with that spirit, I thought you might like to see some of the things we have been up to in the kitchen. Below you will find a few of our new amenities, canapes and some brilliant fruit carvings. 

First up: Amenities

At the hotel, we offer our repeat guests and our special guests amenities. The amenities are also used to welcome group contacts or other special guests, such as all the folks from Omni corporate headquarters that have been visiting getting ready for our upcoming renovations.

This is an example of the "Study of Oranges" 

dreamed up by our Garde Manger Brennan Pickren.

It is made up of a sweet potato orange pana cotta, various supremes of citrus topped with serrano ham, candied orange peel, blood orange fennel tarts, homemade grapefruit soda with yuzu whipped cream and various other seasonal citrus.

This is probably the Garde Manger's most complicated amenity, but it sure is pretty.

An example of a cheese plate, this one is not our standard "Goat, Sheep, Cow," but it gives you the idea. This one has goat cheese, brie, housemade bellini jam, chocolate covered strawberries and some yummy nuts.

Next: Canapes

In the banquet department we make a lot, I mean a lot, of pretty little canapes of various shapes and sizes. These are a few of my favorites. Definitely not the only ones we do, but some of the ones I have made lately.

Goat cheese with bee pollen and fresh honeycomb on little flower shaped crostini. 

They make me think of bridesmaids luncheons and girly tea parties!

Beef tenderloin and roquefort butter roulade on focaccia crostini.

Delicious!

 A big ole platter of tomato bruschetta crostini with smoked mozzarella creme. So good.

And now...a few pictures of others peoples work. 

Featuring my bossman and our newest associate.

First picture: Watermelon basket with birds and flowers. 

Second picture: Shrimp tempura roll w/ wasabi quinelles.

All of the above were made by my bossman, Brennan Pickren,

 (check out his blog foodbros.blogspot.com)

And now, a few pictures of the watermelons our newest associate carved. I am pretty sure she would be happy to never see another watermelon again, but they were really amazing.

 I am looking forward to learning a lot from her.

Seriously, I don't think I have ever seen carvings like these in real life. She is quite good.

Last, but not least, the marvelous cake that the pastry department made for 4th of July. 

A giant picnic table adorned with a whole lot of edible treats. Several of the other outlet chefs contributed to the cake, including yours truly...I made the FRUIT BOWL!

Cake fruit bowl covered in fondant and filled with rice krispy treat fruit. The kernals on the corn are candy corn and the apple pie is not really apple it all, it's rice krispy treats. Don't you just want to take a bite out of the burger or a big bowl of the beans. So much fun to make. 

And it was absolutely gorgeous.

The aftermath...

That concludes the self congratulatory part of my blog. Look for pictures from Second Monday Dinner Hometown Favorites next week. I am making my mothers, well, Daufuskie Island's, deviled crab and moms version of Savannah Red Rice. 

Thank you for reading.

Salted Carolyn