The Gourmet Club: A Full Course Deal

By Nancy Noel Marra

The Gourmet Club: A Full Course Deal tells the story of six couples as they form a group designed to share fine dining experiences. However, over the years these 12 people find they have come to share much more than just food! The Gourmet Club: A Full Course Deal has it all: an entertaining storyline plus recipes for all the delicious food served at the club 'meetings'. Bon Appetit!

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 9, 2001
• ISBN: 9781475918984

Nancy Noel Marra

Nancy Noel Marra has been a teacher for the past 23 years. Nancy has a Master?s Degree in education and is a frequent presenter at professional conferences. Her career has brought her from classroom teaching to environmental education to gifted education. She was awarded the 1996 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. Her short story, A Hug from a Teenage Boy, was included in Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work. She has two other works available through iuniverse.com and Barnes & Noble: The Gourmet Club: A Novel Cookbook and The Book Club: Just Desserts. She and her husband have one daughter and reside in Montana.

Book preview

The Gourmet Club:

A Full Course Deal

Nancy Noel Marra

Writers Club Press

New York Lincoln Shanghai

The Gourmet Club: A Full Course Deal

Copyright © 2000, 2006 by Nancy Noel Marra

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any

means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the

written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations

embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Writers Club Press

an imprint of iUniverse, Inc.

iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

iUniverse

2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite 100

Lincoln, NE 68512

www.iuniverse.com

1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

ISBN-13: 978-0-595-14879-0

ISBN-10: 0-595-14879-4

ISBN: 978-1-4759-1898-4 (ebook)

Contents

Chapter One

The Gourmet Club

HAPPY NEW YEAR

MENU

Chapter two

Carol and Todd

Chapter Three

Marcy and Tom

Chapter Four

Gourmet Club

LOUISIANA NIGHT

MENU

Chapter Five

Helen and Rob

Chapter Six

Patricia and Nick

Chapter Seven

Gourmet Club

MEXICAN NIGHT

MENU

Chapter Eight

John and Melinda

Chapter Nine

Alec and Kim

Chapter Ten

Gourmet Club

INTERNATIONAL NIGHT

MENU

Chapter Eleven

Carol and Todd

Chapter Twelve

Helen and Rob

Chapter 13

Gourmet Club

A TASTE OF ITALY

MENU

Chapter 14

Patricia and Nick

Chapter 15

Melinda and John

Chapter 1 6

Gourmet Club

COUNTRY CHRISTMAS

MENU

Chapter 17

Marcy and Tom

Chapter 18

Kim and Alec

Chapter 19

Gourmet Club

SEAFOOD SPLASH

MENU

Chapter 20

Carol and Terry

Chapter 21

Jill and Todd

Chapter 22

Gourmet Club

NIFTY FIFTIES

MENU

EPILOGUE

Dedicated to my husband and daughter

who have afforded me the time and support

needed to complete this work.

Thank you for always considering

my efforts worthwhile.

Chapter One

The Gourmet Club

You know, looking back now, forming the Gourmet Club began so innocently, so spontaneously, that it’s hard to believe how it all ended up.

My husband Alec and I were looking for something exciting to do for New Year’s Eve and some fun people to do it with. Usually we spent the entire Christmas vacation at my sister’s house in Arizona, but this year we had decided to stay at our own house for a change and share the holidays with Alec’s side of the family. Since we hadn’t been in town for the last few years to celebrate New Year’s, we really didn’t know what there was available, or if anyone else would be interested in doing something with us.

After calling a couple of friends to get their input, we learned that several hotels offered a night of dining, dancing, and drinking, but that many of our friends had stopped going to these because so many people just got completely out of it. Who wants to spend such an eventful night with a bunch of strangers who also happen to be drunk and obnoxious?

Or who wants to be driving on the same streets with people who have lost all sense of judgment? It didn’t take us long to start looking for a ‘Plan B’.

Alec and I decided it would be memorable and fun to have a dinner at our house. Since we had twelve place settings of china, that meant we could invite five other couples besides ourselves. We asked Carol and Todd, Helen and Rob, John and Melinda, Patricia and Nick, Marcy and Tom and they all said yes! Alec put a piece of plywood over our pool table in the basement to serve as our table, and then set up twelve folding chairs. I found a huge white tablecloth my mother had given me years before as well as a gold candelabra-and somehow our makeshift dining room actually looked very appealing! We even hired a couple of teenage girls to serve the different courses and to do all the dishes so that none of us would have to worry about clean-up detail.

New Year’s Eve that year was terrific! Alec and I rang in the new year with great food and great friends. Our meal was absolutely delicious- each couple had brought the special dish I had assigned them. Plus I had prepared six folders, one for each couple, something we could keep as a memento. The folder contained a copy of our New Year’s menu that I had printed in my best calligraphy plus a Polaroid snapshot to truly ‘capture the moment’.

Of course Alec and I had bought noisemakers, hats, tiaras, confetti, and champagne for the traditional midnight observance. At 12:00 we all kissed and hugged and wished each other the best for the oncoming year.

When all was said and done and it was time to call it a night (actually a morning), the twelve of us decided that the evening had been far too special to limit it to just once a year. Why not regroup every few months and try out lots of great new recipes…the complicated kinds that sound so good but take so much time to make that they definitely require a special occasion? We’d take turns at playing host and hostess and whoever was having the group at their house would get to decide the theme for the evening and the recipes to use. And so the Gourmet Club began.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

MENU

Scorpions

Camembert Aux Noix

Pinot Noir Wine

Broccoli Salad

Two Hour Rolls

Potato Puff

Crown Roast of Pork with Bread Stuffing

Applesauce

Mud Pie

Coffee Royal

SCORPIONS

3/4 C sweet-sour mix

Combine ice, rum, brandy, sweet-sour mix, and orange juice in blender; blend. Serve in a 14 oz old fashioned glass. Serves 8. (To make your own sweet-sour mix, simply combine 1 cup lemon juice with 1/2 cup sugar.)

CAMEMBERT AUX NOIX

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Blend in pecans, a few drops of hot pepper sauce, and lemon juice. While Camembert is still firm, cut the wheel in half horizontally-making two thin wheels. Spread bottom wheel with butter mixture. Put second wheel on top and chill until filling is firm. Slice in thin wedges 1/2 hour before serving. Serve on toast point. Serves 8.

BROCCOLI SALAD

Trim broccoli and separate heads into flowerets. Steam until crisp-tender, about five minutes. Rinse in cold, running water and drain well in colander. Place in large salad bowl and add tomatoes and onion. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours. Combine the mayonnaise, soy sauce, lemon juice and seasoned salt in small bowl. Set about 1/4 cup aside. Gently toss remainder with the broccoli-tomato mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste and toss again. Arrange lettuce leaves on individual salad plates and spoon salad into mounds, dividing evenly. Sprinkle with the chopped egg and cashews. Spoon about 1 tsp of the reserved dressing on top of each salad. Garnish with an olive. Serves 8.

TWO HOUR ROLLS

Dissolve dry yeast in warm water. Allow to stand approximately 5 minutes. Cream sugar and shortening; add boiling water and beat with mixer. Add egg and beat. Add yeast and water mixture. Add salt and flour; mix well. Let rise 1 hour. Mix down and form into rolls. Put in a greased pan. Let rise 1 hour. Bake for 15-20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

POTATO PUFF

Mix potatoes, cream cheese, egg, onion, and flour at medium speed until well blended. Switch to high speed until fluffy. Fold in carrots and pimento. Add salt and pepper. Spoon mixture into a greased casserole and bake uncovered in a 300 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Serves 8. (Can prepare ahead and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before baking.)

CROWN ROAST OF PORK

Allowing two ribs per person, ask your butcher to shape two or more sections into a crown. Cover ends of bones with cubes of bread while baking. Fill crown with bread stuffing and then roast according to weight (40-45 minutes per pound at 325 degrees). Add no water and do not baste during roasting. Replace bread pieces with paper frills (found at most kitchenware stores) before serving.

BREAD STUFFING