It's been a week since my first supper club happened and it all seems like a dream now. I was really exhausted the following day but still managed to drag my sleepy head out the door to a foraging workshop in the Phoenix Park, more on that later. Wow...supper club- It does take a lot of work, between cleaning the house, shopping for all the ingredients, cooking... not to mention the washing up!! Thankfully my housemate bought a very, very large plastic basin in which to throw the dirty plates -a highly recommended supper club accompaniment! My brother helped me plate up and serve on the night. A helper is absolutely necessary, a helper and a very, very large plastic basin....And if you're doing one, get the helper to take photos of things too - a few things didn't get snapped before they were devoured, but sure you live and learn!

The order of service......

Fizzy Early

Prosecco & French lemonade with earl grey tea spheres

Nibbly Bits

A selection of sourdough bites to ‘amuse-your-bouche’

Pears & Graces

Red & white chicory boats filled with Wicklow & Cashel Blue cheese, pears, roasted hazelnuts & a quince syrup

Little Bo Peep

Slow cooked lamb shanks with sweet leeks & cannellini beans in a rich tomato sauce, with buttery moist mashed spuds.

Oranges & Lemons

Marmalade ice-cream sandwiches with a cup of lavender & lemon wibbly wobbly tea

Closing Time Tea

Builders tea, herb teas, espresso or straight up black & a selection of petit fours

I started with a cocktail of Prosecco, French Lemonade & Earl Grey tea spheres. I had recently bought a molecular gastronomy kit & from this I adapted a recipe to create the spheres.

Prosecco, lemonade & earl grey tea spheres

For the nibbly bits I toasted thin pieces of sourdough bread in the oven, with a drizzle of olive oil & a sprinkle of fresh pepper & Maldon salt, on a medium heat until they were really crispy. I topped them with the following;
Cucumber with a yogurt, tahinni & mint sauce
Guacamole with pomegranate
Buffalo Mozzarella, chili and lemon zest

These were all gone when I thought of the camera -I'll look at the silver lining here!

The starter comprised of chicory boats filled with Wicklow and Cashel Blue cheese, roasted hazelnuts, pear and a quince syrup. I made the quince syrup simply by melting the quince jelly in a pan, with a little bit of water -same way you'd make a jam glaze.

For the main course I braised and slow cooked lamb shanks. To save myself some time I cooked them the day before for. I used a Darina Allen recipe from her brilliant Forgotten Skills cookbook. Here follows the recipe for 4 people.

Braised Lamb Shanks;

Turn oven on to 150'C/Gas 2
4 lamb shanks - any excess fat removed, pierced twice to insert a sliver of garlic & 2/3 needles of rosemary both wrapped in half an anchovy -braise the shanks in olive oil on a hot pan
Remove lamb shanks to a casserole dish and add 225g of streaky bacon, I used pancetta -crisp this
Add 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, 1 leek, 1 onion -roughly chopped -allow to brown a little
Add 225 ml of decent enough red wine -simmer off the alcohol
Add 300ml of chicken stock -I used veg.
Add two strips of dried orange peel -I used fresh along with a sprig of thyme, 2 sprigs of rosemary & two bay leaves
Pour the veg. & stock mixture in around the shanks and cook for 2-2&1/2 hours
In the meantime make your tomato sauce, 110g chopped onions sauteed, only after they have sauteed do you add 1 clove garlic
Next add 900g of tomatos -I used passata, 2tbsp of two of the following herbs (thyme, parsley, marjoram, basil, lemon balm) Salt, pepper & a little bit of sugar to taste.Cook for 30 mins on a low- heat with the lid on.
When the lamb is ready, add a tin of cannellini beans to the tomato sauce and add to the casserole dish -cook for a further 45-60mins

I served the shanks with 'oxymoron' spuds -fluffy, buttery mashed potato....yummy!

Dessert was to have the most 'play' on my little Victorian twist - but what to do? Afternoon tea was born in the Victorian era. I knew I wanted to make marmalade ice cream, as my brother had made some lovely marmalade a few weeks back. But I couldn't decide how to serve it and what to serve it with. Eventually I settled on marmalade ice cream sandwiches, using shortbread and a fragrant jelly, served in tea cups. I used Jamie Olivers' shortbread recipe.

Shortbread;

Oven to 150'C/Gas 2 note- this makes a large quantity of dough.
Cream 250g butter & 125g of caster sugar, I used icing sugar as it's easier when you don't have a food processor like moi!
Add 250g of plain flour & 125g of semolina or cornflour -I used cornflour
I rolled them out on a floured surface & cut out the right sized square for me, place on a non-stick baking tray, prick with a fork -bake for 15 mins or until golden
I had dough left over -so I put some lavender flowers in & cut out small star shapes for petit fours, cook for less time, 10 mins, depending on your oven.

Basic Custard Ice-Cream;

Serves 5
200ml milk & 200ml of cream -into a sauce pan & scald them, this means waiting for bubbles to appear on the sides but not 'boiling' the mixture.
Take two egg yolks to which you add 50g icing sugar
Very slowly add the hot milky cream to the egg mixture -stirring with a whisk all the time
When all mixed together, put back on a low-ish heat and stay with it, stirring constantly, until the custard has formed -you know this has happened when the mixture thickens enough so that it coats the back of your wooden spoon.
Now remove from the heat & allow to cool. Speed this up by transfering to a glass bowl or another container and when most of the heat is gone put it into the fridge to chill. This helps when you put it into your ice-cream maker.
Pour into your ice-cream maker, when it's finished in there scoop about 3 dstp of marmalade in & place in your freezer.
If you want to make a vanilla custard, take a vanilla pod, slice it and scrape the seeds out, put the seeds into the cream & milk, along with the pod and scald it. Once you've made the custard pass it through a sieve to remove the pod and any bits of cooked egg.
After 2/3 hours & intermittent stirring, I popped the mixture into a well washed juice carton.This was to be my mould, I wrapped it in cling film & put it back into the freezer for the night.

Lavender & Lemon Wibbly Wobbly Tea;

Fills 10 tea cups
Take 10 cups of water, 10 tsp dried lavender flowers, 12 tsp caster sugar, juice of 5 bergamot lemons & 2 regular lemons (6 regular if you can't get bergamot) place in a saucepan.
Allow the mixture to reach a simmer so that the lavender infuses, leave to cool and strain out the bits 'n' pieces.
Sprinkle over 12 tbsp of agar-agar flakes (Japanese setting agent -available in health food shops and food specialist shops)
Give a quick whisk at the beginning, then wait until it starts to simmer & whisk for about 3 mins. Or as per packet instructions.
Pour into moulds & allow to cool, refrigerate over night.

I had some lemon curd which I swirled through whipped cream & blobbed on top to serve.

For the petit fours I used my lavender shortbread, leaving some as they were but half dipping the rest in dark chocolate. It's a really great combination & I would definitely recommend the biscuits as a gift for someone. I also made truffles, my friend had given me a bar of Seed & Bean coconut raspberry chocolate so I used that -although the flavours were very subtle so I wouldn't use that particular bar for that purpose again. But to eat alone -very nice!

So the first one is done and dusted. It was exhausting, exciting and eye opening. Will i do it again ? For sure!