vegan supper club: inaugural dinner

Vegan Supper Club began many moons ago when the cows were crying and the lambs were screaming and we were hungry. Something like that. Well, rather, the real story is that vegan cupcake friends wanted like minded individuals to dine with them, but also to do some of the cooking so they didn't have so much work to do. I think that's how it went. You'll have to ask them.

So the theme was "fall" and the hosts were serving butternut squash ravioli. I of course chimed in with "BRUSSELS SPROUTS!!!" and the others claimed soup and salad. Being the vegan cupcake friends, the hosts also provided dessert.

The first course came with spicy pumpkin peanut soup cooked by some friends (who also have a blog!!!). It was delicious!!!!!! The soup was not thick like you might think, but rather a nice, light, pumpkiny, peanuty, spicy, delicious soupy treat. They call it Thai; I called it Yum.

It was paired with host's famous bread:


Breadmaking seems so "old world." But it's so worth it; this ain't no Wonder bread. (I mean that in the best possible way!). (My brother also makes his own bread and pizza crust too.)

Next course was this amazing fall salad. It included greens, of course, but also apples, figs, candied walnuts, pepitas, radishes or turnips or something little and white (from their garden!) and I don't even know what else. Each bite revealed some new secret, rendering this salad something from the category 'delicious'; it's not hard to find a 'fall greens' salad, especially when it's fall. But this one was unusually delightful.

And then came the most fantastic raviolis you've ever experienced: they were not too soft and not too rubbery, but rather the perfect noodle consistency. I'm fairly well-versed at ravioli-making in particular and noodle-making in general, but these raviolis were so well crafted that I contemplated selling them. I mean, we're only blocks from the Hill!!


But here's the thing: the topping. You can't put a cream sauce on a vegan ravioli, and a red sauce will mask the delicious squashiness... so what's a girl to do?

It wasn't so so long ago that I tried my own hand at butternut squash raviolis. They were not for a vegan crowd, however, so when the recipe called for a "brown butter glaze, I delivered (actually, it was the butter crowd of my parents and co. so it was perfect). But the raviolis, as delicious and successful as I could have hoped, in the end, tasted like butter to me.














Vegan Supperclub Friends' raviolis, being vegan, were not coated in a thick butter sauce. On the contrary, they were topped only with a small dollop of caramelized onions. Wha? Who'd a thought? It was perfection. The sweetness and creaminess and tanginess of a caramelized onion complemented the sweet-yet-savory squash-filled little pasta pockets. I still dig the idea of a sage-brown-butter glaze, mostly on account of the sage, and the word glaze, which sounds so delicate, but next time maybe I'll try it with more sage, some Earth Balance, and a little caramelized onion action.

Anyway, I digress. this entree was accompanied by my first attempt at BS and the meal was completed with S'mores Vegan Cupcakes. I'm telling you this today, because VSC2 is forthcoming!!! Yum! Indian Delight!!!!