Eat*Drink*Cleveland: Cooker Girl

Cooker Girl's Supper Club

One of the best things about having friends to like to cook is that you know that dinner parties will always be delicious. But when one of your friends graduates from the Western Reserve Cooking School, things get elevated to a whole other level.

My friend Sarah of Cooker Girl hosts bi-monthly Supper Club and it's always a lot of fun and delicious. She picks a theme (baseball, BBQ, soup, etc.) and everyone brings something to eat and drink. Isn't this beverage dispenser adorable?

When I first started attending, the food was delicious, but Sarah's training had caused these events to get better and better. As she learned more, we all have benefited. I think having someone complete this training makes us ALL want to up our game for these parties! You can't really bring store bought chips and salsa when the hostess is whipping up so much YUM.

This month's theme was Restaurant Inspiration. At first I wondered what people world bring but as it turns out, there are a whole lot of great restaurant dishes you can make at home.

Here's what we had:

Soft pretzels - Auntie Ann's
Parmesan & Rosemary Fondue with chips - B-Spot

Hummus and pita chips - Aladdin's

Mixed greens with roasted beets, walnuts and goat cheese - Mia Bella

Zuppa Toscana - Olive Garden
Fettuccine Alfredo - Macaroni Grill

Pumpkin gnocchi with sage & brown butter - Deagan's

(This pic is the gnocchi waiting to be sauteed. I was so eager to eat them, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product!)

Blueberry fruit pizza - Cici's
Orange Julius with rum - try it - it's delicious!

Popcorn pots de creme - The Greenhouse Tavern

Yield: Around 8 pots de crème

2 cups cream

3 oz. milk

2¼ oz. sugar, divided

6 egg yolks

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. vanilla

¼ cup butter

¼ cup popcorn kernels

Begin by small dicing the butter and placing it into a pot along with the popcorn, then place on high heat. Pop the kernels until the pops come about three seconds apart. Immediately remove from the pot and place into a bowl.

Add the cream, milk, half the sugar, salt, and popcorn to a large pot, stir, and place over medium high heat. Once the mixture reaches a simmer, turn heat off and strain it into a pitcher. Add vanilla and stir to combine.

Place egg yolks into a bowl with the remaining sugar and whisk to combine. Using a ladle, temper one third of the cream into the yolks while constantly whisking. Then return the egg and cream mixture back into the remainder of the cream and stir to combine.

At this point the base is ready to bake or can be refrigerated and baked within two days.

If baking immediately, set up a deep baking pan and line with paper towels. Then place ramekins in the baking pan—as many as will fit snugly so that each lies flat on the bottom of the pan. Fill each cup with the base—about one quarter of an inch from the top. Fill the pans with water until the ramekins are halfway submerged. Cover with parchment and foil, set in an oven preheated to 325° and bake for 50 to 55 minutes.

If baking base from a cold state, set the pot de crème as if baking immediately, but allow to bake for at least one hour.

Remove from oven and once the custard has set, place on a sheet tray in the refrigerator to cool. Once cool, cover each pot du crème with plastic wrap and return to cooler until ready to plate.

* When set, the custard will still wiggle in the ramekins slightly, but will not appear watery. If pulled too soon, continue to bake, checking every five minutes until the custard is set. If pots de crème appear swollen at all they have, unfortunately, been overcooked, have curdled and should be discarded.

Caramel:

2 cups sugar

2 oz. water

½ tsp. lemon juice

½ cups cream

2 Tbsp. butter

Combine sugar, water and lemon juice in a pot over high heat. Cook until a light amber color develops. Remove from heat and add cream and butter, stirring until smooth and emulsified. Caution: During this part of the process caramel will be extremely hot and volatile. Cool and store at room temp. Yields 3⁄4 of a quart.

To serve pots de crème, remove from cooler and top with about 11⁄2 Tbsp. of caramel, or until top is completely coated. Sprinkle a small amount of sea salt on top and serve.

The popcorn pot du creme was every bit as swoon worthy as the Greenhouse Tavern's and was the perfect way to finish off the night. Everyone should have a friend that cooks like Sarah!

What's your favorite copycat recipe?