The Supper Club

Back, from left, are John and Holly Gomez; Sarah and Michael Bentley and, seated, Jenn and Ed Sivak.

Jenn Sivak of Northeast Jackson spent a recent Saturday afternoon preparing Greek
chicken with yogurt sauce, roasted potatoes and green beans for her supper club.

"I usually do
something with 10 or fewer ingredients," said Sivak, an occupational
therapist at Methodist Rehabilitation Center and mother of two children.

Sivak
and her husband, Ed, director of the Mississippi Economic Policy
Center, gather with three other couples once a month to eat supper and
spend time together.

"We all used
to live near each other, but now we don't," said Sarah Bentley, a
Northeast Jackson resident who, as a program analyst for the Enterprise
Corporation of the Delta, manages projects dealing with the Mississippi
Gulf Coast and recovery from Hurricane Katrina. "We're all committed to
supper club once a month because we enjoy being together."

Herbed potatoes.

Each couple hosts club members
three times a year, and the host and hostess determine the menu,
prepare an entree and dessert and serve it in a casual setting at home.
The only boundaries: One supper club member doesn't eat red meat, and
another dislikes coconut flavoring.

Sivak
turns to back issues of Cooking Light magazine for inspiration. "I used
to subscribe years and years ago, and now I cycle through them," she
said.

Cooking for supper club
offers a reason to try a new recipe, she said. Chicken, fish and pasta
dishes have been popular, she said.

The
group has met for about three years, and the opportunity to eat someone
else's cooking is always a fun night out, Bentley said.

One
of the most memorable creations served by Bentley and her husband,
Michael, a lawyer, has been individual catfish filets cooked in brown
paper bags.

"You serve it in the
brown paper bags, and each person cuts open their own bag," she said.
"I don't have any kids so I have more time than others to cook."

Thai
Chicken Noodle Toss Salad with peanut dressing proved to be popular,
too, she said. So did a shrimp boil, which lent itself to dining
outside.

Members range in ages
from mid-20s to early 30s, and they don't worry about sharing recipes
the old-fashioned way on note cards or scraps of paper. Recipes are
posted on the club's private blog, Bentley said.

Members offer these suggestions about organizing a supper club:

Death by Chocolate

1 box of brownies

2-3 boxes of chocolate pudding

Lg. container of Cool Whip

2 bags of chopped Heath bars

Kahlua (optional) - Can drizzle on brownie layer

1. Make brownies according to package; cook and warm.

2. Make pudding according to package and cool.

3.
In glass bowl, layer 1/2 of warm brownies, 1/2 of chocolate pudding,
1/2 of Cool Whip, and 1/2 of chopped Heath bar and then repeat. End
with Heath bars sprinkled on top.

Roasted Potatoes with Herbs

2 tbs. chopped garlic

1 tbs. olive oil

1 1/2 lbs. Quartered Yukon gold or red potatoes (about 4 cups)

Cooking spray

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1/2 tsp. grated lemon rind

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees

2.
Combine garlic and oil in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook two
minutes or until golden, stirring frequently. Remove garlic with
slotted spoon and set aside.

3.
Drizzle remaining oil evenly over potatoes in large bowl, tossing well
to coat. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on baking sheet coated with
cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Bake at 475 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden.

Garlicky Green Beans

4 cups green beans, trimmed

1 1/2 tsp. butter

Cooking spray

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1. Cook beans in boiling water two minutes. Drain and plunge beans into ice water; drain.

2.
Melt butter in small nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over
medium heat. Add beans, salt, pepper and garlic; cook two minutes or
until heated. Yields four servings.

Marinated Greek Chicken

1 cup plain low-fat yogurt

Peel of 1 lemon, finely grated

1 1/2 tbs. lemon juice

2 tsp. dried oregano

2 tbs. parsley, chopped

1 clove garlic, pressed

1/4 tsp. salt

Black pepper to taste

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Combine
yogurt, lemon peel, lemon juice, oregano, parsley, garlic, salt and
pepper. Place chicken in glass baking dish and spread half of the
yogurt sauce over chicken. Cover and refrigerate several hours.
Refrigerate remaining yogurt sauce.

Preheat
oven to 375 degrees. Bake chicken for 30 minutes. Broil chicken about 5
minutes more or until lightly browned and cooked through. To serve,
spoon remaining yogurt sauce over chicken. Makes four servings.