Gourmet Club Kickoff 2005

Saturday October 1st provided a warm autumn, evening to kickoff this year’s Gourmet Club in Campus Green. The Gourmet club is one of the oldest organizations in Campus Green with menus dating back to the early 1980’s. Every autumn we meet to socialize, greet our new members and enjoy the company of old friends. This is the only meeting of the year where the entire membership meets as a group; it’s the kickoff of our new season.

This year, twenty four couples have joined Gourmet Club, the largest group in recent history. Gourmet or Dinner Clubs are becoming popular again in many areas of the country, in fact Cooking Light Magazine has devoted a section of the website to organizing and launching such clubs.

This year the kickoff was held at the Price’s residence. Back by popular demand, Alan Mirikani returned to offer his evening of wine tasting and wine trivia. Alan has been in the field of hospitality over 30 years. He studied and apprenticed as a hotel and restaurant merchant in Germany and Sweden. He served as wine steward at the Hyatt Regency Chicago and the Ritz Carlton Hotel. He has owned and operated his own catering business, and managed such restaurants as Truffles, Morton’s of Chicago and a chain of over 50 restaurants in four states. This years topic was Sparkling wines, the group tasted examples of four excellent sparking wines and learned why they are called sparkling wines instead of champagne. In addition to tasting sparkling wines and the members own food, the group sampled hors d’oeuvres created for us by Naperville area restaurants, Heaven on Seven, Hugo’s Frog Bar, Café Buonaro, 10 West and Branmor’s.

The four sparkling wines featured included;

Domaine Ste. Michelle Luxe 1999, Luxe is a very delicate Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine crafted in the time-honored méthode champenoise tradition. As in Champagne, only free run juice is used which results in extremely delicate flavors. The 1999 vintage, juice was fermented in French oak after inoculation and aged for 12 months to build layers of flavor and creaminess. The second fermentation in the bottle lasted 20 weeks and then the wine was aged for 3.5 years for added complexity.






Domaine Ste. Michelle Cuvee Brut Nicely balanced, Brut is not too dry and not too sweet. This crisp and jazzy wine delivers delicate apple and citrus characteristics with a fresh, light toastiness.







Chandon Blanc de Noirs is characteristically a delicate salmon color. Dark cherry, currant and strawberry dominate both aroma and flavor with hints of cassis and blackberry. These red fruit flavors build in the mid-palate and finish with a soft, lingering, creamy texture.









Chandon Riche pairs particularly well with rich and spicy foods and fruit based desserts. Winemaker Tom Tiburzi and Chef Chris Manning explain that this sweeter style wine coats the palate and balances the heat of spicy foods, complementing dishes featuring chilies, cilantro, lemon grass, or green curry. This wine works equally well with rich foods like patй and foie gras, or desserts like fresh fruit tarts. For a refreshing apéritif, pour ice-cold Chandon Extra-Dry Riche into a chilled flute.

These quotes were provided by the vintner’s own literature. As you might suspect there was no consensus on the best sparkling wine in this group but everyone had one or two favorites. All of these wines were very affordable with the possible exception of Luxe which retails in the $20-30 dollar range.

The Gourmet club is always interested in new members, even if our current roster fills up we always have room for substitute diners, substituting is a great way to tryout the club without making a commitment. For more information, contact a board member.

Sophia & Mike Gabriel………416-6320
Deb & Dave Gorski…………..369-8389
Pam & Ken Price……………..983-5376
Sue & Jim Retterer……………961-5694


Some frequently asked questions about Gourmet.

Q. What is the Gourmet Club?
A. Gourmet is a group of your neighbors that get together for social dinners four times each year.

Q. What if I’m not a gourmet cook?
A. If you can read a recipe and follow directions, you should have few problems as all the recipes are tested by the planning committee the month before the dinner.

Q. What if I do have problems?
A. We will give you some phone numbers, to our planning committee, they have pre-tested all recipes and can help answer your questions.

Q. How large are these dinners?
A. Dinners consist of four couples, the host couple and three guest couples.

Q. Will I have to cook all day to get ready to host?
A. Not at all, as host you will be given the menu plan a week in advance, the host couple will prepare the entrée and assign the other dishes to the guest couples.

Q. Will I dine with the same couples each time?
A. No, the schedule is arranged so the groups are different each time. In fact you will not meet everyone in a single year. We do host a kickoff party in September to allow everyone to meet.

Q. Do I have to pay for all this food?
A. The way we share costs is, at the conclusion of each meal the host polls each couple for the cost of their ingredients adds them up divides by four giving credit to each couple for money already spent.

Q. How often does the group meet?
A. Gourmet Club dines together four times per year, November, January, March and May. Meals are generally scheduled the third Saturday of the month. In addition we meet in early autumn for out kick-off event.



Here's a favorite recipe:

ROAST STUFFED PORK LOIN WITH GRAVY
8 servings

5 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 ¼ cups chopped onion
1 ½ cups fresh white breadcrumbs*
9 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (such as parsley, thyme, chives, marjoram, and rosemary)

1 4-pound center cut boneless pork loin roast, trimmed and butterflied

2 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 cups canned low-salt chicken broth

Preheat oven to 375° . Melt 3 tablespoons butter in heavy, large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until tender and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Mix in breadcrumbs and 6 tablespoons fresh herbs. Season stuffing to taste with salt and pepper set aside.

Line work surface with large piece of plastic wrap. Arrange butterflied pork on plastic and open like a book. Top with another large sheet of plastic. Using mallet or rolling pin, pound pork until about ½ inch thick, 10 inches wide, and 13 to 14 inches long. Discard top plastic sheet.

Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Spread breadcrumb stuffing evenly over pork. Starting at one long side and suing the plastic sheet as aid, tightly roll up pork. Discard plastic sheet. Tie pork with string at 2-inch intervals to hold shape. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Place in skillet (not non-stick) and sear for a couple minutes on at least two sides . Use the skillet to prepare the gravy. Now, remove the meat from the skillet and place on a rack in large roasting pan in the oven uncovered. Roast stuffed pork until thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 160º, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Transfer pork to platter; tent with foil to keep warm. (Do not clean roasting pan).

While the roast is cooking in the oven, prepare the gravy using the skillet used for searing the meat. Set skillet over medium heat. Melt 2 tablespoons butter and add 2 tablespoons of flour and remaining 3 tablespoons of herbs and whisk over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Then slowly whisk in 3 cups (2 small cans) of chicken broth and bring mixture to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Boil gravy until thickened to sauce consistency, stirring constantly, about 4 minutes. Season gravy to taste with salt and pepper. Cut pork crosswise into ½-inch thick slices. Pass gravy.

*Use 2 to 4 day old bread. Peppridge Farm sandwich bread works well. Gingerly pull it apart with a fork, being careful not to crush bread. Do not pack down to measure. Use at once.