Recipe: How To Throw A Supper 'Lip' Club for Movember

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab for Movember

All donations of £10 or more to ferdiesfoodlab Mo Space  are entered in our the prize draw! (unless anonymous of course!)

 PRIZE: 2 SEATS at the head of the ferdiesfoodlab banquet, any available date! (worth £100)

To donate check out the ferdiesfoodlab Mo Space 

Current entrants: 0     Chance of winning: 100%

 

Even if you only pledge a fiver via the ferdiesfoodlab Mo Space it will really help, every pledge counts!! 

If you want to throw a supper club - a supper fun way to fundraise -  First of all sign up for your own Mo Space here, and click register. This will allow you to collect donations!


Throwing a supper club is simple if you get all your Mo Bros & Mo Sistas involved! Here's the basics

skinning the fish for the Ceviche

ingredients (serves as many as you want!)
for the supper
some drinks,
some people, 
a menu idea (recipes in Movember book - see here)
some food
a fat chunk of NASA ('nice and safe attitude' or 'naise an saif ackitude' as Joy would say!!)
and somewhere to eat together

for the garnish
couple more drinks
some righteous tunes, aye!
a little conversation!!

When I were a lad . . . . . . all we had was a  ZX spectrun with 48Kb of RAM

 

apparatus / equipment
spatula for keeping naughty Mo Bros & Mo Sistas in check, spank!
wooden spoon with cake mix on (carrot is often better than a spatula)

Table's ready - guests are all pitching in!!

method 
Get all your Mo Bros & Mo Sistas to come early and help you with the prep and the cooking (good for social bonding innit).
Make sure everyone has a drink and a job and the tunes are flowing.
It doesn't have to be 6 courses, rack and mac and a sticky toffee pudding will do (maybe add a green starter).

Rack and Mac . . . . sings with delight, lush!

thinking ahead 
Don't forget to have a camera, to catch the fun.
Make sure the shopping is done and the drinks are in before the Mo Bros & Mo Sistas arrive! (doesn't hurt if they bring a few drinks of course!)
Sounds easy right? But you won't be laughing when you've run out of gin and tonic, and you realise you don't have any pork shoulder! Someone's going to have to go for replacements and necessaries!!! (never happened at the foodlab! ahem cough!)

Nice Mo Bro!

what could go wrong? (notes)
* You forget to tell everyone it's for Movember and give them a link to your MO SPACE so they can donate.

* You're completely battered before you've done all the required prep, could get messy! Get all your chopping done early!
 
* Somehow I didn't raise any Mo!! Make sure everyone knows it's for Movember

Don't forget to have a little fun along the way - it's for a good cause - MOVEMBER

to serve 
Make sure your plates are warm and everyone has something to eat that agrees with them!! ENJOY and remember to give!

techniques used 
A little bit of love . . . always : ) 
Some camaraderie. 
A little showboating - where appropriate!
A little lubrication - right from the start (very shortly after the love), fix the Mo Bros & Mo Sistas a wee dram as they arrive!
 

Thanks for coming Mo Bros & Mo Sistas Big smiles, CHEERS!!!!!

links 
Please donate here!
Create your own Mo Space HERE!

~ menu ~ 

Sustainable White Fish Ceviche Edamame

Arroz al Horno w/ con Verduaras (Asparragos y Judías) y Salsa Picante

Dessert Cointreau Sorbet

~

(recipes in the book)

~

Here's what we did last week!

SOME SUGGESTIONS (some with recipe links)



Perfectly formed Baps (use 90g for pictured)

 

Will You Marry Me - Slow Roast Lamb and Roasties

Nothing like a fresh loaf of Homemade Bread - use 700g of this dough in a loaf tin for a lovely bit of bread!

Pan Fried Duck Breast w/ Vegetable Green Curry & Noodles - use your imagination for the green curry!!

It's the little touches that can make a dish, we use Micro Shrimps fried in clarified butter to garnish our Vietnamese pancake sushi. Crispy little fellas went down quite well! 
 

Two tone Mac and Cheese - Tomato on the bottom and a gorgeous Cheese Sauce on the Top!! (post coming) There was a lot of complaining when I cooked this for an unsuspecting person who shall remain nameless - needless to say plate was clean on return!!! : )

Smoked River Cobbler, Plaice & Salsa Picante w/ Coriander Black Rice and Wonton Crisp Salad










 

Rack of Lamb - Classic, simple, tasty!

Rub with a little oil and salt, sear in a heavy based roasting tin, until golden (pic) roast for 15-20min @ 200C

No mate! On the front of your face!! Your Mo's gone east!

Win A Seat At Our Exclusive Dinner Party In Aid Of The Jamie Oliver Foundation

By Leluu

Yesterday, we found out that we are in 5th place for the Best Food Blogger of 2010 as voted by people to Quadrille on Twitter. How fantastic is that? We are ever so chuffed! We absolutely love cook books in any shape or form and Quadrille publish many of our heroes such as Janet Street Porter, Mark Hix, Antonio Carluccio & Simon Hopkinson among many greats. So as you can imagine, we are thrilled!.

And we've got more good news for everyone as well! We've teamed up with Yell.com for an amazing supper club event in aid of The Jamie Oliver Foundation and we are really pleased to announce that you can win a fantastic meal at our supper club on Tuesday 1st March 2011.

Yell have set up a reviews site, you can let others know what you think of the meal you had at Fifteen to Pizza Express and every time you review a place, Yell donates 25p to a list of charities you can chose from including The Jamie Oliver Foundation. For this event only, they will be donating 50p to the foundation.

How "flipping" cool is that - I think Moss from The IT Crowd would be very happy indeed! Not only will you be telling everyone about how great a place is (or maybe to avoid it), you get Yell donating to The Jamie Oliver Foundation for writing as little as 140 characters!

We are huge fans of Jamie Oliver himself. In the last 10 years, we've followed Jamie through his cooking to all his great political achievements and movements in food knowledge. The man is a hero! I love that his passion never ends and how he has this charitable foundation for the importance of awareness of food and nutrition and how that impacts everyone's lives as well as children and vulnerable groups.

 

We met Jamie a few months ago and became even bigger fans. He is just such a great bloke - very charismatic but also down to earth and humble - much like how we see him on TV.

To enter the competition, go to Trusted Places's blog here - all the instructions are there, when you select The Jamie Oliver Foundation and review something, you are entered into the competition and we will get to pick the best written, quirky and funny review. You will then win a dinner at our supper club.

Unfortunately, Jamie will not be there himself as he's probably trying to change the way Americans are eating at that time but there will be Naked Wines - a great independent wine maker - almost on tap - 'cept it'll be pouring from bottles! Prosecco from Follador, it’s been around since 1750’s and very prestigious in Italy, but only just launched in the UK.

For food, Fin & Flounder have sponsored some sustainable fish for a couple of dishes and Habour & Jones will be supplying us with ingredients as they already do so for Fifteen. Simon will be making some great food - you heard he is good, well, I tell you - the guy can really cook well and he is getting one of Jamie's apprentices from Fifteen to help out too. Sold? Go and enter. You can sweet tooth us by commenting here too.

Campaign - Fight Hunger: Eat In

By Leluu

Last week, we hosted a dinner party sponsored by Unearthed & Campo Viejo in aid of Action Against Hunger’s Fight Hunger – Eat In Campaign.

It was a great dinner party, we had many bloggers attend – Thank you so much to: The London Foodie, Kavey Eats, Ooh Food, Feed & Gastro, Rachel McGormack, Hungry In London, Greedy Diva, Vintage Macaroon, The Grubworm, Eat Noodles- Love Noodles, Fin & Flounder, A Pinch Of Salt, Gastrogeek, The Gourmet Traveller, Mathilde's Cuisine, One Million Gold Stars and Gin & Crumpets.

It is so easy to be far from what is happening to other people in the rest of the world, simply because it is very far away from us. We live in a place where everything comes in abundance, so for once, we can use the abundance we have, turn it around and play our part in the huge scheme of things, to help others and generate awareness. Every little does help - like they say, each flap of the butterfly wing changes the course of things around the world.

Action Against Hunger which is a long running non-governmental, non-profit, non-religious organisation,  committed to humanitarian action that help communities in many countries, including that of those in Africa, build and sustain skills such as farming so that the communities can have a kick start in supporting themselves. They are also there in emergency situations such as natural disasters.

The campaign is about eating in, cooking for friends and in return, your friends can donate some money towards the charity for the meal. What a great idea! As its Autumn/ Winter, the days are shorter and our teeth are chattering and our warm breath steams the air – its indoors time and this is when we all feel like inviting friends around for a cosy dinner: be it your best Heston show-stopper or Jamie’s 30 Minute mac ‘n’cheese, we can all take part, have fun and help others who can only dream about living the way we do.

What we served:

 Potato Omelette and Picante Sauce w/ Duck Mousse, Oyster Mushrooms Noisette and Garlic Bread

 Sweet Corn Veloute w/ Chorizo Film

Pork Meatballs w/Chipotle Sauce, figs and white wine w/ Russian Salad

 Pears poached in Vanilla & Champagne

 served with Serrano Ham, Lambs Lettuce & Watercress Salad

Flamenquines (Cordoban Rolls)

 Baked Rice w/ Catalan Sausages, Pork Ribs, Pave, French Saucisson Sec

 Churros With Green & Blacks Dark Chocolate w/ Orange Zest, Chilli & Cinnamon

Photography of food above by Ollie Harridge - Secret Dinner Party
Menu design and chef - Simon Fernandez

Simon (Fernandez) was very excited about designing the menu and trying out many things we hadn't served before at the supper club such as the flamenquines and churros: themeing the menu Spanish. The baked rice was a favourite and it was really wonderful how he bought down the whole baking tray and served it up at the dinner table. Everybody went a little crazy for those Vanilla Pears poached in Champagne (recipe to follow) and loves how he manages to compliment Unearth's Serrano Ham and is just wonderful at making food.

I met Simon nearly two years ago in my kitchen. It was Boxing Day and I usually do a get together for some close friends and me. On this occasion, it was for Fatima, Aggie and William – I wasn’t going to do much – just three courses, but Fatima called me up at the last minute informing me that she would like to bring her boyfriend (Christian) and his brother (Simon) too – if that is OK- erh, … yes but no! I didn’t have enough food.

Last minute dash to the shops and admittedly to the corner Vietnamese takeaway and grabbed bits, presented it all in lovely little plates, a few candles, wine glasses and wine! And voila – you have your little dinner party. Don’t forget to put on some nice music that everyone can appreciate. It took me 45 minutes to arrange, dinner parties can be as easy or complicated as you wish.

From that point, Simon and I were destined to do many dinner parties together. We get such a massive buzz out of cooking for friends – it’s obviously an addiction.

Hosting a dinner party can come very naturally to some people but it is a logistical nightmare to others. If it takes all the fun out of your day then let encourage someone else do it – or just take it easy. Don’t do things you can’t do or have never tried before – make a fun night for your guests and experiment in your own time (is what I think).

I’ve been to some dinners where the host is frantically in the kitchen, throwing pots and pans; others where – the host has no idea we’ve all been waiting for 5 hours – hadn’t she better roast the potatoes – we’re starving here!

The key is to cook things that can be made well in advance, if anything needs doing, its heating up or touching up at the end and ‘service please’. Ideally and essentially, the tables should be set before hand with clean glasses and cutlery and the dinning area should always be tidy, inviting, clean and candle lit. The music should be on – too, something happy, not Martha Wainwright on about some man (no matter how great her music is). Don’t forget about you – and what you need to be, to be comfortable – like throwing on some high heels or if you are a boy – a nice shirt.

You want to join the party too and you want everyone fed, watered and happy – it should all be enjoyable for everyone. Impress with flavours, and home cooking rather than fannying around with a pair of tweezers – unless you are really good at it. Get people to help you out too – if anything – you get to spend time with your friend as they are peeling the potatoes and setting up a plate of antipasti from Unearthed (FYI Unearthed donate every penny from their products to Action Against Hunger)

I love having people help out, I have no problem with delegating – see it as bonding.
If you are a relaxed host, then your guests will be relaxed. Good food, good music, big smiles, Campo Viejo Cava, fairy lights and a candle lit atmosphere does so well to carry across comfort and happiness – and all for a good cause too.

After the meal, don’t be shy about asking for a donation - its what its about (get it out of the way) have a little box ready or have Action Against Hunger’s Donation Page ready on your computer screen and make everyone get out their cards if they didn’t bring cash. It’ll take 5 minutes and you can get back to enjoying the rest of the evening/ day.

You can create prizes, or even play poker for the charity. Improvise and enjoy. Then go give the money to Action Against Hunger.

Thank you to Simon Day, Founder of Unearthed for providing us with great products for our dinner parties last week - it was a delight to have him come round and host a dinner party.
Thank you to Sophie from Action Against Hunger for bringing awareness to all our guests.
Thank you to Campo Viejo for the wonderful Cava, Rioja and Rose.
Thank you to all our guests who attended and for their donations and for raising awareness to such a worthy cause.
Thank you for the fantastic help in the kitchen from One Million Gold Stars, Trail of Our Bread, Libbielush and Stuffyaface. Thanks guys and gals!
 Thank you to Wild Card for making it all happen.

Charity Dinner For Action Against Hunger With Unearthed

Back in the day of long sizzling summer, when our toes were hungry for ultra violet and our knees became a shade darker- we had mega picnics, one at Henley Royal Regatta and secret garden parties with champagne on tap. To top it off, we won a holiday to Croatia! It has been great.

One morning, we were sent a whole box of Unearthed goodies because we had tweeted how wonderful their Parma and Serrano ham tastes. For foodies, something like this is like being in seventh heaven. We got to play around with the ingredients and simply just enjoyed them too.

One thing lead to another and we were asked to host a special charity dinner party by Unearthed, using Unearthed products (any way we see fit) to raise money and awareness for the humanitarian organization - Action Against Hunger. (wow – what an honour).

Heidi Drummond, Head of Events at Action Against Hunger, comments:  “Based on our long-standing relationship with the foodie industry, we were keen to offer an eat-in option to our annual restaurants campaign, encouraging foodies to host a dinner party and invite their friends to make a donation in return for the delicious meal. Hosts simply have to pick a menu, invite their guests and get cooking. We have prepared lots of helpful tips and materials including invites and recipes for people to download; it’s an easy, fun way to make a difference.”

Back in September, culinary luminaries such as Raymond Blanc, Marcus Wareing, Francesco Mazzei, Giorgio Locatelli, Vivek Singh, Cyrus Todiwala, Jun Tanaka, Mickael Weiss, Oliver Rowe and Tristan Welch came together to launch Fight Hunger Eat Out - the UK’s biggest foodie fundraising campaign - to help fight child hunger in some of the world’s poorest countries.

To raise awareness for Action Against Hunger, we have invited foodies of London town for a one off dinner party event at home, at our supper club – It will be hosted by Simon Day – the founder of Unearthed®

Simon Day is such an inspiring figure, he travels the world and brings back the most flavoursome ingredients for his selection. There is Chorizo from Catalunya, Duck Mousse from Brittany, Rillettes from Le Mans, Prosciutto from Como and Feta from Volos, olives from Palestine amongst many others–

"while unearthed was born out of the enjoyment of food and flavours we’re also aware that for many people in this world, food remains a worry and a necessity in short supply, rather than a joy. We share Action Against Hunger's vision of a world without hunger and are proud to be the first National Ambassador Brand of their latest foodie initiative. The charity's work has begun to inspire our team already and we look forward to making food less of a concern and more of a pleasure for others in future."

Our Menu will be something like this:

Sweet Corn Veloute w/ Chorizo Film

Potato Omelette and Picante Sauce w/ Duck Mousse, 

Oyster Mushrooms and Garlic Bread

Serrano Ham w/ Champaign Poached Pears and 

Watercress Mixed Green Leaf

Flamenquines

Pork Meatballs in Chipotle Sauce w/ Russian Salad

Baked Rice

Dessert: TBC

As usual, we are spinning with excitement! The cold is starting to kick in and its time for more dinner parties – we hope that many of our friends, readers, followers and guests will be inspired to host their own dinners to raise money and create awareness for Action Against Hunger to help build, maintain communities and health care in places like Zambia where Unearthed are supporting long term solutions to hunger.

We will be reporting back. If you have any questions you would like to ask Unearthed or Action Against Hunger, please use the comment form and we will be sure to ask them for you.




Thank you to Wild Card PR for the opportunity to do something very worth while and meaningful.