Christmas Scandinavian Style

Wow, it’s that most wonderful time of the year again and we’ve been looking forward to this event since last year! In honour of our Christmas excursion to Copenhagen, we had to do a Scandi themed event to close off 2013. Recommended to us by Nigella herself, we used Trina Hahnemann’s beautiful Scandinavian Christmas book as our guide, along with Signe Johannsen’s Scandilicious series.

Over two cold and blustery nights, our wonderful array of guests we welcomed into the warmth and festivities of the Manor. A soothing mug of Glögg (The Scandi version of mulled wine) warmed our diners a treat before we brought through the canapes. The Glogg extract was a mix of blackcurrant juice and Christmas spices, all boiled down to make a wonderful festive cordial that could be added to red wine and brandy. A perfect winter warmer and less sweet than typical mulled wine.

I created three little morsels to tickle the tastebuds and get our guests into the festive spirit. First off were little endive cups filled with my Scandi version of a Waldorf salad – Apple, celery, walnuts and of course beetroot (lovingly home pickled by Dan). The cups looked like they were filled with bright pink sweets! The flavour was bitter, sharp and sweet, this was indeed a delightful mouthful.

Next up were seared beef crostinis with horseradish cream – my take on what you could find on any Smörgåsbord. The beef was meltingley tender which paired well with the creamy pungent horseradish.

December Menu – Scandinavian Christmas

It’s almost December, which can mean only one thing. Our Scandinavian Christmas extravaganza is nearly here!

We’re super excited about this one and created a menu that should showcase the best flavours Scandinavia has to offer (Elk anyone?) and that its not all dill beetroot and gravadlax… although they do feature!

A bit of wintry celebration before we close the Manor for the new year. We’d love to know what you think of our Nordic feast.

Afternoon Tea with a Bang!

This past weekend we held one of our rare afternoon tea events. We like to change up our events to include and indulge in one of our favourite culinary activities – baking! As usual we added on the usual Dinner at the Manor spin on our interpretation of afternoon tea. We didn’t use a specific book as inspiration for the event, we thought we’d use some autumnal flavours, new techniques and get some inspiration from treats that you’d usually associate with bonfire night.

Our guests for the afternoon were a lovely group of ladies – some repeat guests and some new. All looking forward to sampling our savoury and sweet morsels. To start things off with a bang, our welcome cocktail came in the form of a dark and stormy – dark rum, lime and ginger beer. A zingy, spicy cocktail to get the tastebuds tingling for the savouries. (Non drinkers got a “stormy” – the same drink sans rum!).

November 2013 Menu – Bonfire Afternoon Tea

The nights are drawing in and the weather is becoming increasingly colder. We’ve devised some Autumnal warmers to keep our guests cosy at the Manor next month at our Bonfire themed afternoon tea.

Bonfire night favourites coupled with seasonal ingredients, these treats will ensure our guests’ Saturday afternoon starts with a bang. Homemade breads, pastries and cakes full of big flavours are on the cards so we suggest our guests skip lunch and dinner!

What are your favourite afternoon tea treats?

Dinner at the Manor turns two!

Two years ago I hit the big 3-0 and as part of a ‘things to do before I’m 30’ list I thought I’d copy the likes of London and start up my own supperclub. It seemed far too a frightening thing to do all by myself and so I partnered up with my baking champ friend Sticky Pinny. People either thought we were bonkers for inviting strangers into my house and charging them for food, or they were completely intrigued by it. Now over 26 events, around 500 guests, and about 4000 plates of food later we’re still going strong and celebrating our two years as Leeds’ longest running secret supperclub.

Last year to celebrate our first anniversary we got blog readers to vote for what we should cook based on some of our most popular dishes from the past year of cooking. This year, however, we thought we’d give our own recipes a go. Readers will know that usually we base our events around a single cookbook in order to give them some use away from our cram packed book shelves! Anyway it’s our birthday so we thought it was our turn to shine!

October 2013 Menu – Dinner at the Manor turns Two!

How time flies when you’re having food fun!? Dan and I have been running Dinner at the Manor now for almost two years! It seems like yesterday when we opened up the door to our first guests. We were hooked!

To celebrate, we’ve created an extravagant 7 course menu (with a few added surprises!) that we feel epitomises mine and Dan’s cooking styles. This is the first time we’re going it alone without a cookbook and cuisin to rely on, exciting and scary at the same time! The food will be fun and hopefully something different for our guests old and new!

Get the champers and party poppers out, it’s going to be a party!

Lebanese? Yes Please!

This weekend saw Dinner at the Manor launch into another Middle Eastern Feast! We’ve run a few previously, using Ottolenghi as our tome. This time we took inspiration from Lebanon and used the beautiful Lebanese Kitchen by Salma Hage as our guide for the evening. We love Middle Eastern flavours and playing with spices and we were looking forward to sharing some unique dishes with our lively bunch of guests. The weather was on our side this weekend and the sunny weather was reflected in the food.

We kicked proceedings off with a zesty apple, mint, lemon and ginger cocktail – the base for this was Dan’s homemade lemonade, spiked with spicy ginger and topped up with apple juice and vodka. A real refreshing drink to get those tastebuds ready for the rest of the meal.

The canapes were a trio of tasty morsels. We had to get some falafels on the menu and this time we whipped up a carrot and cumin variant. In its raw state the mix seemed very different to the ones we served up at our Ottolenghi event, very wet in texture, but once fried they were soft yet crisp, offset nicely by the sweet pumpkin hummus and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Lebanese Kitchen – September Menu

It seems like forever since our last event – we’ve probably seen the back of Summer but then again our first Autumn event brings cuisine from the more exotic climes of the Lebanese Republic.

We’ve based the event on Salma Hage’s Lebanese Kitchen – a huge book on all things Lebanese and I have to admit it took us a while to finally agree on the menu. We love Middle Eastern cuisine and can’t wait to cook up a feast for our guests. Let’s hope they love the menu as much as we do!

The Battle of Manor Vs Food!

‘We’re Dan and Susie and we’ve done nearly every job in our supperclub biz…’

and yes we’ve come over all Adam Richman for the weekend as part of our eagerly awaited Manor Vs Food event!

We love Man Vs Food and can often be found salivating over our TV at the images of huge greasy burgers, smoky ribs and melted cheese..well, melted cheese on pretty much everything! So what better theme for a supperclub – huge portions and lots of spice!

We didn’t focus on a specific recipe book for this event, however we did look to Jamie Oliver’s ‘America’ for some inspiration as it’s a good beginners compendium to regional American food, including BBQ.

New Dates at the Manor – Book Now!

As promised, here are the new dates for the rest of 2013 and beyond! We’re super excited and think we’ve hit upon some really exciting themes. We’re even more excited that two years on people still want to come to our little West Leeds supperclub! Click on the event links below for more details. Book now to avoid disappointment!

After an overwhelming response, our events have all sold out. Keep your eyes peeled for 2014 dates later in the year.

Friday 11th & Saturday 12th October – Our 2nd Birthday – Both events Sold Out
In a change to our usual “theme” we’re exposing ourselves for this one and are “doing ourselves”! We’ll be showcasing some of the ideas we’ve got tucked away for a special 8 course extravaganza!

Saturday 9th November – Bonfire Afternoon Tea – Sold Out
Any excuse to get the vintage china out! Due to the success of our last afternoon tea, we’ll be bringing some wintry, warming touches to the Manor for a cosy afternoon tea.

Saturday 7th December – Scandinavian Christmas – Sold Out
To get us into the mood for our Christmas trip to Copenhagen, we’ll be bringing a Scandinavian Feast to the Manor to see in the festive season!

Saturday 25th January – Peruvian Cuisine, inspired by Ceviche – Sold Out
As traditional with us at the Manor, we’ll be bringing sunnier climes to Leeds in the depths of winter! This time from South America, Peru to be exact. Will there be guinea pigs? Who knows!

Spaces are limited so please book on if anything takes your fancy! For those who do book on, we’re looking forward to welcoming you to the Manor already!