Chicken Soup for the Soul

CSFTS is a Jewish supper club hosted by Sue and Ian Waxman at their home in Prestwich. This one, ‘Balabusta Delight’, was the third they’d hosted and it’d grown in scale to 18 dinner guests from 10 at their first event.
The concept of supper clubs is quite simple: you buy a ticket to dine at someone’s house and enjoy your meal with a wide range of people you wouldn’t ordinarily get to meet. Sounds odd and slightly daunting I know, but having been to a few of these now, I can assure you they are a great way to discover new ‘foodie’ goings-​on in Manchester; not to mention meeting lots of lovely people in the process. Pretty much all of them are bring your own booze, too.
On to the supper club itself. Balabusta is a Yiddish expression to describe a good homemaker, so we were imagining delicious Jewish family dishes served straight from the heart of the home. Having never eaten this type of cuisine before, I really didn’t know what to expect.
We were all seated at a long table in the Waxmans’ large dining room and our names were written on the menus so we knew where to sit. After some quick introductions and hellos to some familiar faces, Sue welcomed us all and this swiftly followed by the starter: a trio of fish. This comprised chopped and fried gefilte fish with chrane (horseradish and beetroot sauce) and crispy smoked salmon kreplach (a dumpling) served with tangy tabbouleh (vegetarian salad).
The next course was Matzah ball chicken soup with lokshen (flat egg noodles) served with a chopped liver choux bun and traditional breads.
After this came the hearty main course: Moroccan roasted chicken, tzimmes (Jewish sweet stew), potato kugel and green beans in tomato sauce with onions and garlic.
We needed a slight rest after this, to enable us to enjoy the dessert of an apple and challah (Jewish braided bread) pudding with a pot of creamy sesame halva. This was the highlight of the night for me.
With our souls and stomachs fully content, we left for home. It was a great, fun night and I’ll definitely be going to another one.
Tip: for details of upcoming events, follow Sue on Twitter (@schmalznpepper).