My O My O My, What a TOUGH one this was!! Plates & Records’ most recent edition took place this past weekend, themed Seoul-Ful Braai: A Rooftop Dinner Edition and let us tell YOU, something things did not go as planned. For example, our South African – Korean infused dinner was intended to take place on a rooftop. We woke up to find clouds looming over us and rain pouring down ALL. DAY. LONG. We made some quick stressful changes in the morning and switched location from a rooftop in LIC to a loft in Greenpoint. Phone calls were made to obtain tables, bowls were bought, space was secured, crisp was bakd, and announcements were made to our guests.

We lost prep time in the kitchen, we braai’d in the rain under an umbrella, we sliced off half a finger during a frenzied veggie chopping episode, we baked in Joann’s house as this house didn’t have an oven, we squished people onto the couch for lack of tablespace, and we convinced guests to help roll the dumplings before boiling. In the end: WE MADE IT HAPPEN.

And guess what?

It was AWESOME. We were on SUCH a high running around frantic the ENTIRE day. Miraculously enough, EVERYTHING was delicious, EVERYTHING on the menu was made and consumed as planned.

There were joyful chatters, there were mouths and bellies being stuffed, the record player shouted Fleetwood Mac and old school Korean rock, umbrella’d smokers hung out on the desk joining Ram and his raincoat at the grill. Guests volunteered to help roll mandu, fry eggs (Thank you Talisa!), display the mandu so it doesn’t stick together and self-destruct, chop veggies (Thank you Talya & Elsa!), and grill up South African sausages and intensely marinated chicken. The energy was amazing, everyone was blushing, aglow with the awesomeness of gathering folks around an 18 foot long table eating some ridiculous good food.

For this edition we were joined by a very special sponsor. Banchan Terroir ever so graciously donated their locally sourced and made kimchi, chopped and used to fill our mandu. Jullia gave an awesome speech explaining her story, something about wanting to call her product kimchi crage (crazy + rage) and how she collaborated with a Frenchy chef to make the super fresh, crunchy, just-spicy-enough, and organic kimchi. Banchan Terroir is not available in many places but she just made a batch and you MUST get your hands ON IT! Check out the website, chop it up, and do as we do, MANDU!

Our recipe of the meal is the ubiquitous Korean mixed veggie rice dish: Bibimbap. It’s uber simple and we are ever grateful to Maangchi for her divine service and ability to introduce us to Korean cooking. Recipe can be found here!

Thank you Evi T’Bolt for all the photos, see some more on our flickr page! Also a big shout out to our guest chef Veronica for keeping us sane!!

Thank you guests for your help, your support, your company, your awesomeness and see you soon! (but not too soon because we’re butt tired and need a break).

Plates & Records is at it again! We return in full force for a summer infested menu featuring dishes that highlight our South African and Korean heritage and we are grateful to be joined in the kitchen by chef Veronica Chan of World to Table. She has graciously opened her rooftop in Long Island City and we’ll be chopping and grilling away an amazing menu fusing our crazy tastebuds together!

Please join us AUGUST 22nd for the best friggin’ braai of the summer!

Details:

August 22, 2010

5pm

5-09 48th Ave

#8B Rooftop

Long Island City, NY 11101

$25

Bring your own plate and record!

RSVP to platesandrecords@gmail.com by AUGUST 20th.

Menu:

Boozy Chicken

Boerwors

Bok Choy Kimchi

Bibimbap

Kimchi Mandu

Asian Pear Crisp

photo courtesy lauren silberman

Thank you everyone who came out to our Plates & Records comeback Brunch Edition. It was so awesome so see friends and new faces hang out at Joann’s backyard amidst an at times tumultuous wind factor breezing through. The food came out awesomer than we could’ve expected and we found it a miracle that the sun decided to pop out of the rain and clouds 15 minutes before brunch time.

photo courtesy lauren silberman

We will concur brunch is definitely less stressful than preparing dinners for a large crowd. Most of the items in the menu such as the kimchi omelette and french toast was made to order which cuts down on stressful prep time before the actual event. Ram was responsible for the phenomenal savory tart with caramelized onions (he used 18 onions for 2 tarts!), grueyere cheese, and roasted tomatoes. They were so amazingly savory and smooth. Joann made some wild berry scones the night before which were not too sweet but lather some guest star chef Georgie’s lemon curd and some raspberry preserves and you’ve got an orgasm in the mouth. We also loved spreading it out on the french toast Georgie graciously made (to order).

photo courtesy world to table

The kimchi omelette was a concoction Joann created that simply involves using kimchi butter (courtesy skimkim), eggs, kimchi (courtesy Mama O’s), chopped carrots, chopped soppresetta, and diced cheddar cheese. It is SO DAMN good, there’s an Umami Oh Mommy thing going on right as you taste the first bite. Oh, and you HAVE to top with with a dash of cock sauce (sriracha) and ketchup (the organic kind with not as much sugar).

photo courtesy world to table

The crowd seemed to love it, enjoying the outdoors and the sun, chatting and mingling, eating and bloating. We’ll have some recipes that you can find on the left sidebar shortly, til then we hop you can join us for the next supperclub get together, we’ll let you know as soon as we know.

Check out our flickr page for more photos and join us on facebook!

Email us to join our mailing list! platesandrecords@gmail.com

Plates & Records is BACK!!

The untrained kitchen trio has been trimmed to a duo (Andrzej is happily burning his skin under the Australian sun) and we want to feed you Brunch!

We are capping the shindig to twenty folks because we have to ease our way back into supperclub cooking, otherwise we will potentially burn Joann’s kitchen down and fry Ram’s brain.

$20 (for food, entertainment, and lap dances)

RSVP to platesandrecords@gmail.com

Menu:

*Kimchi Omelette
*Brioche French Toast with Maple Syrup, Berries and Bacon
*Savory Tart with Caramelized Onions, Gruyere, and Roasted Tomatoes
*Wild Blueberry Scones with Clotted Cream and an Assortment of Jams
*Tea & Coffee with Buttermilk Rusks

Plates and Records is very happy to participate in Greenpoint Food Market which launches this Saturday. See how one of us organized the darn it thing we couldn’t possibly not contribute something delicious. We’ll probably cook up a storm making savory mini tarts and quiches. If you want to see something at the market to taste and devour give us your suggestions!

See you there!

Saturday, Sept 12 from Noon – 6pm

129 Russell Street between Nassau and Driggs Avenue in duh, Greenpoint!

Thank you EVERYBODY for attending the third Plates and Records Super Supperclub Dinner. It was a HUGE success despite  freak out sessions and long periods of stressed silence in the kitchen. All that hair-pulling nervousness was TOTALLY worth it, we were so happy to see you enjoying our food, rubbing them bellies and licking them lips in deep gratification.

About 20 guests gathered at Brooklyn Fire Proof in Bushwick on Saturday and mingled at the bar sipping capetown collins and munching on mini pies. The menu was South African and choosing dishes came naturally for Ram and Andrzej who lived them for numbers of years before transplanting to NY. Ram was in charge of the meat and veggie mini pies served for hor d’ oeuvres which were soft and tender, warm and chewy. Once everyone sat down along the wall they were served watermelon rocket, which simply consists of watermelon, rocket (arugula), and feta. It is the most amazing light and summer combination there is, certainly our favorite this season. The main course was derived of bunny chow, a Durban street food involving a loaf of bread functioning as a bowl housing a stream of chicken and vegetable curry. Andrzej poured his love and spice in this masterpiece chopping peppers, mixing spices, and stirring coconut milk without a glimpse of a recipe. The bunny chow was accompanied by braaied mielies in herbed butter and oh what fun it was to grill a tray of corn on the grill wrapped in butter and herbs. The morogo was also a simple and delectable dish, both fashioned by Joann, combining simmered ground nuts with spinach with a dash of salt and pepper.

The finale to the course was melktert, a recipe Joann was given to from Ram’s African Kitchen cookbook. The custard was thick and full of subtle flavor with a slight chewy texture and the star of the tart was vanilla. Whole vanilla beans were steeped, scraped, and stirred into the custard mix and lovingly poured into a feathery and delicate tart base.

Again, the three of us were slightly stressed and on the brink of multiple nervous breakdowns and sometimes we swear never to step into the kitchen again but it’s only during the dinners themselves, sharing our labor of love and gleaming at our guests’ satisfied grins that we concur, it’s TOTALLY worth it.

After the dinner our friends Fall of Another Year and Anxieteam graced us with some tunes in the outdoor alley. We rocked out, pumped our heads and feet, and laughed at all the silliness some of the songs instilled. Thank you for playing for Plates and Records!

Check out more picks on our flickr page. And if you’ve got any pictures from the evening, please add to our page!

Stay tuned for upcoming super supperclub meals.

On a side note, the dinner was covered by News Channel 12 Brooklyn. Exciting!

**UPDATE**

Here is the awesome band lineup!!!

Anxieteam

Fall of Another Year

Surfer Blood

The Nymphets

Join us for a South African Themed Super Supper Club

Saturday August 22

6-8pm

followed by music from Fall of Another Year and possible more

Brooklyn Fire Proof Cafe and Bar

119 Ingraham Street Brooklyn NY 11237

rsvp with dietary restrictions

platesandrecords@gmail.com

PLEASE BRING PLATE AND RECORD

Quirkiest plate or record gets free dinner!

$25 for meal and a good time

Menu

Hor d’Oeuvres

Curry Chicken and Potato Pea and Tomato Pies

Appetizer

Watermelon Rocket

Main

Bunny Chow

Braaied Mielies with Herb Butter

Morogo

Dessert

Melktert with raspberry coulis

Cocktails

Malawi Shandy

Capetown Collins

Last Saturday was the opening of the India Street Mural Project and we got to set up a manly grill and BBQ for a couple hundred visitors who came to enjoy the beautiful murals, awesome live music, and of course, delicious food. Joann helps with organization for North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition, a public art advocacy group whose first project was the mural and plans to continue beautifying the neighborhood with various projects.

After a pizza induced meeting and a daylong of shopping and prepping we arrived at the mural site with simple beef burgers and veggie burgers made from bulgar wheat, pinto beans, soy sauces and some spices. It was a condiment friendly BBQ stand where each burger was typically donned with perilla leaves and lettuce from our backyard, yogurt infused harissa paste and pickled ginger sauce to be dolloped atop each well rounded juicy burger. There were also your staple tomatoes, onions, cheese, ketchup, mustard, and relish in case you weren’t daring enough to exoticize the burgers with our very special sauces.

We were very proud of our combination of perilla leaves and harissa paste, whose cilantro-mint-ish rugged texture and roasted pepper and chili mash blended together with such a kick ass blow it caused some to yelp nearly inappropriate phrases of pleasure and contentment. We’re pretty sure this will be the start of a new burger trend.

We also made homemade lemonade infused with either mint or rosemary. We stood there hand squeezing 120 lemons and nearly broke our wrists off but it was such a delicious drink that we don’t mind laboring over them again.

Thank you to all our friends who came to support and flip a burger or two. Special thank you to punk ass sister Julie whose money counting and collecting skills are incomparably off the hook.

July 3rd marked the inaugural supperclub dinner of Plates and Records. It took place at Joann’s house filling up the kitchen and backyard with all that is spice and aromatic in Indian cuisine. We’ve cooked a many times together for friends in the past but it was exciting to cook as an official pack of food “authorities” sharing our amateur skills with all our beloved. Prep took a few meetings of brainstorming and menu planning and we assigned ourselves separate dishes to cook for the evening. Dinner time brought about 20 guests who sat in the backyard and were served each dish in a comforting family style environment. Our basic rule of BYO plates and records were not very strictly followed, but we let it pass, for now.

Menu

Roti

Coriander Chutney

Mango Rice

Eggplant Curry

Dry Okra Curry

Tandoori Chicken

Pomegranate Beef curry baked in yogurt and spices

Everyday Dal

Fresh Mangos

Email us at platesandrecords@gmail.com to be added to our mailing list or if you’d like to host a supperclub.

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