The last time that we did a supper club was last Fall, it’s been a while! Since I started daddy day care (edit: I’ve been told it’s “parenting” when the kid is your own), it has been increasingly difficult to devote a lot of time to food. Nicholas is really on the move now and keeps me busy, and since I’m on parental leave right now I don’t have teenagers to help me test recipes. Lately most of my time goes into steaming finger foods and making a variety of purees to ensure that the kiddo is getting everything he needs. In case your curious, the reviews have been good so far – in particular, Queenie, our dog, has definitely gained a few pounds from snacking on anything that hits the floor (except bananas, apparently).

To start: This dish is quite simple and easy to do, maitake mushrooms dressed with a little bit of oil and seasoned with salt, then air-fried until crisp (pan-fried works well too if you don’t have an air fryer). Served with a truffle mayo.

For the main: “Fish N’ Chips”. Fried cod fritters with smashed potatoes, served with a cauliflower & parsnip cream and sorrel infused oil. (Don’t worry, we ate more that just that. I had another 10 cod fritters and potatoes on the side along with a coleslaw as dinner.)

Dessert: It’s strawberry season, strawberry and chamomile go well together, and we also happen to have some chamomile in the backyard… I tried two different platings of the same dessert (above): strawberries and a chamomile panna cotta. Neither dessert is ready in my opinion. Megan and I both said that it would fit more as a pre-dessert/ palate cleanser in a multi-course dinner. I know often “less is more” but this definitely needed more components to add texture (like something crunchy and spongy) to the plate. First, we sous vide’d the strawberries with 10% sugar to the weight (if you don’t have a machine, in a stainless steel bowl wrapped nicely, and warmed over a double boiler will also work). For the panna cotta, we simply steeped milk with fresh chamomile and set it with gelatin mass. I’m still not happy with the texture, so not ready to share any findings just yet.