Culinary Fool: Cooking Club

35th Dinner Club - Russia

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:27:09 GMT

I know I say this often but every time I type out or say the number of the current dinner club gathering I am just amazed at how long we've been doing this! For a long time I posted about every gathering and I'm sorry to say that over the years I have had to skip over a few. If you look back at past posts you'll see they are often pretty detailed. But I'm hoping to pick up and do them on a more regular basis this year. We'll see how that goes....

But, last Friday we had our 35th gathering; the second one for 2008 our sixth year of gatherings. The theme was "Russia" and she specified that dishes should reflect more of the czarist mentality not the peasant food. This was our first foray into that country and I have to say that when R announced the theme I wasn't too excited. Her main dish sounded great! But I was assigned salad and didn't feel too inspired. And, in general, I don't think of culinary greatness when I think of Russia.

I am happy to say that Friday's dinner was wonderful!! I'm not sure if I have a skewed opinion of Russian food, which very well could be and one of the reasons I love this club, or if we are all just getting really skilled at ferreting out good recipes. Most likely it was a little of both.

We started the night with one of my favorite things: caviar and vodka. I was actually jealous that M2 got the appetizer as making the little buckwheat blini is one of my favorite things. With the ecological troubles with imported caviar she chose to serve all domestic caviar - which is finally getting recognition due to the issues with Russian and Iranian varieties. She served three kinds of caviar so that we could sample the different flavors: Ikura, which is salmon roe is beautiful with its large orange beads and definite salmon flavor; Paddlefish, a fish found in the Yellowstone and Mississippi rivers, has a beautiful small, grey bead that resembles Sevruga; and Golden Whitefish from Montana, which has a beautiful small golden bead. I liked them all and had a hard time choosing a favorite.

For the main course, R made Coulibiac which is poached salmon wrapped in pastry. What I thought was very cool about this dish was that not only was it delicious but she used the recipe her mom had developed for Ladies Home Journal back in the 70s! Along with the Coulibiac, K made a earthy Kasha and Wild Mushroom casserole, that I think would actually be great as a main dish, too.

It took me awhile to find a salad that I thought sounded good, interesting and would complement the main dish but I managed to do it! I was really happy with the result. I made a carrot salad that is actually nearly as much apple as carrot. It's fresh and light and was the perfect complement to the richer fare on the menu. I used this recipe and the only thing I did different was that I used double the amount of dressing ingredients and even then the salad was only lightly dressed. The horseradish in the dressing is a really nice and unexpected flavor.

For dessert M prepared a traditional Easter dessert, Pashka, which is a sort of cheesecake. It was really light and tasty. The lemon flavor was especially refreshing!

All in all another very successful dinner - not only was it tasty but we all learned a little something. And there are recipes we'd use again. Perfect!

29th Dinner Club Meeting: The Herbfarm Cookbook

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 02:16:46 GMT

Last night my dinner club group met for our 29th dinner! We are well into our 5th year now and I am happy to say still going strong - in fact maybe stronger than ever!

K was the host last night and for our theme she decided that we should all pick something from a cookbook she has but has not used too often. The cookbook is The Herbfarm Cookbook, the first cookbook written by Jerry Traunfeld, the chef for The Herbfarm located in Woodinville. It is a high-end restaurant where the focus is all on fresh, mostly local and the interesting flavors and uses of herbs. They have a huge garden (and have even added cottages - I guess so you can just fall into bed after consuming for several hours...) Dinners run $160 - $200 per person before tax and tip. They are normally 9 courses and that cost includes the wine pairings. Each night has a set menu, with variations only for vegetarians.

Note: In between the theme selection for our dinner and the actual dinner, Jerry Traunfeld announced his immanent departure from The Herbfarm. He has been with the restaurant since 1990 and is synonymous with the place. In fact I'm certain that many people were surprised to find that he wasn't the owner. Good news for Seattle is that he plans to open his own place. And, I'm guessing, that the reputation and menus he established at The Herbfarm will be continued with his replacement. Still, will it really be the same?

R started us off with herbal champagne cocktails. Made with Prosecco they were refreshingly light and sparkly. Along with our cocktail she served a soup for the starter course. I can't wait to make this soup on a warm summer's day. It was a cold soup made primarily with cucumber. A bit of green pepper added a little heat and Italian parsley, cilantro and mint were the herbs that added a tangy freshness.

We took a short break while K seared the pork tenderloin on all sides and then placed it in the oven to finish. Once in the oven we gathered around the table to enjoy an Herbfarm salad. M had this course and was amazed to find that the recipe for a fairly simple salad was 6 pages long! The recipe is mostly an instructional chapter on how to select only the best greens, how to harvest them, which varieties will provide variety and interest and then the recipe for the dressing. There is an amazing amount of background information!

Our main dish was an herb-crusted pork tenderloin, cooked until medium-rare and then topped with a red-pepper and hazelnut sauce. It was amazing! M2 had selected a decadent accompanying dish - a cheesy, herb polenta. Soft, warm and stringy with cheese it was a great contrast for the tenderloin.

After all of that we lingered for some time at the table giving ourselves a bit of time to make room for dessert. I had dessert and decided to make a recipe that I'd wanted to try for quite some time - lavendar shortbread. Since one of our members is not crazy about lavendar I decided to make a second batch using one of Jerry's recommended substituions, Lemon Thyme. I loved this shortbread recipe! It's easy and the resulting cookie is a bit crispy but still tender.

The cookbook suggested several ideas to serve along with the cookies. I toyed with making some sort of herbal ice-cream but just knew that we would all be pretty full by the time we got around to dessert. So I deciced to stick with a simpler recommendation, fresh fruit.

The raspberries were looking particularly good that day so I simply washed them, sprinkled them with a tiny bit of sugar, topped them with lightly sweetened whip cream and added a sprig of fresh mint for color and flavor for those who chose to eat it!

Another succesful dinner and another night of friends and laughter! If you've been thinking about starting a cooking club now is the time to do it! I highly recommend it! You can read about how we got ours up and running and see past themes and menus by viewing the Cooking Club posts.

You can also see more photos here.

26th Dinner Club: Sicily Summary

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 04:43:51 GMT

When I selected Sicily as our theme for this month it was with the idea that thoughts and food of a Mediterranean island would bring a little sunshine into what is normally a dreary Northwest winter. Well, our winter has been anything but dreary with several snow days which have been followed by many days of sun - sometimes starting with a little fog but definitely not rainy and gray as our January days are prone to be. So Friday was actually a pretty nice day but that just enhanced our Sicilian feast.

Little note: Every time I think of Sicily I remember my Italian Grandfather teaching me the rhyme, "Austria got Hungary ate a little Turkey dipped in Greece, something in the middle and Big Boot Italy kicked little Sicily into the Mediterranean Sea. Or something like that - doing a web search turned up all kinds of variations!

Everyone arrived at almost the same time. M2 had cocktails and appetizers and planned to finish both once she arrived. We started heating the oil for the Arancini with Peas and Mozzarella - little balls of risotto stuffed with mozzarella and one! pea, rolled in bread crumbs and then fried until crispy on the outside and the cheese was melted on the inside.

While the oil was heating she made up a batch of Strega-Nators - a new name but based on old Sicilian liquor, Strega. Strega, like many other spirits from France and Italy, is flavored from a mixture of herbs and was first created by monks way back in the late 1800s. The name, Strega means witch and is tied to a legend that witches gathered in the town where the liqueur was created. As with all things like this there is overlap between truth, fiction, history and myth but who really cares what the truth is when the final product is such a lovely ingredient? The mix of this fragrant liquor with citrus juice was really refreshing and tasty. I think we were all a little surprised - not that we expected something bad but we just weren't sure what to expect - this is what makes dinner club so fun!

While we were sipping M2 was frying away and soon we had a big batch of Arancini ready to consume. We made our way into the living room to start a long and languid evening of eating!

I've mentioned that early on we had some trouble with everyone bringing too much food as we sometimes even made two of our assigned dished when we couldn't decide between options. Over the years we've gotten much better at portion control but every now and then we hit a night where we could have fed 2 or 3 times the number of people at the table. This was going to be one of those nights!

This time it was related to the chosen recipes and the amounts each made. M2's Arancini recipe made a good 16 to 18 little balls of fried risotto. And they were so good! A little salty, crispy but not greasy, soft and gooey on the inside. The recipe she used called for just one pea to be placed in the center of each ball and we spent quite some time discussing why this might be the case, and then searching for our precious pea to make sure we didn't accidentally ingest it without appreciating the little treasure it represented.

M2 had served two per person with a plate of extras and if there wasn't a full dinner following I would definitely have had more! In fact, I could easily have made my meal of these. I had a one for breakfast the next day and even cold - right out of the fridge - it was tasty, smooth and satisfying.

After we had rested a bit we decided to go with a pasta course, following the more traditional Italian lineup. K had responsibility for this course and chose Pasta con Acciughe e Pomodoro from Jamie Oliver's new cookbook. She had a hard time selecting her final recipe, she told us, and had wavered back and forth and finally settled on this one based on anchovies. Good job, K!

Made with raisins, pinenuts, breadcrumbs and lots of wine we will soon see these ingredients echoed in another part of the menu. The anchovies themselves melt into the sauce becoming a salty influence more than anything else. The sweet raisins were such a nice surprise in the mostly savory dish. This recipe made enough pasta for us to have as a main course. Or actually as our only course! But we managed to keep our servings down a bit in consideration of the rest of the meal to come. We had moved to the dining table at this point and we lingered and savored, sipping wine and preparing for the next round of Sicilian treasure.

While the others let the first two courses mellow I moved back to the kitchen to finish the main course, Involtini all Siciliana - or veal roulades stuffed with cheese, breadcrumbs, currants and pinenuts. Do those ingredients seem familiar? As we've discovered with some other regional meals sometimes common ingredients seem to weave a common thread throughout our selections.

I had stuffed and rolled the veal a bit earlier and the rolls were held in place with long sprigs of rosemary. There were really rather beautiful! I had a bit of a challenging time getting them cooked evenly through though. With the sprigs sticking out two sides the rolls could not be completely seared on all sides. I have a few idea on how to make this work better next time but I have to test them before I recommend them. The smaller rolls cooked fine but a couple of the larger rolls were a bit undercooked in the middle.

Along with the Involtini, R served Caponata a lovely mixture of sautéed eggplant, onions, and celery with olives, tomatoes and capers. When making the recipe she felt there were too many onions but I thought the final product was nicely balanced. There were a lot of onions but their sweet structure pulled all the other pieces together.

Again we took a bit of a break after this course. I should mention that I'd selected three wines to have with our meal. All based on the Nero d'Avola grape of Sicily I thought it would be fun to do a little taste test to see which we liked best. The first was all Nero d'Avola and was called Lamuri -which apparently means heart, one was a Nero d'Avola and Cabernet Sauvignon blend and the third was a Nero d’Avola, Merlot, Syrah blend. The table favorite was the Lamuri although I also really liked the Cab blend. They were all nice wines. And I had no problem finishing the last glass or two over the next couple days!

We ended with a beautiful, palest green, creamy dessert, Pistachio Gelato. Fresh from the ice-cream maker just a couple hours earlier it was nutty, a bit sweet and fragrant with a bit of lemon. Made with milk and egg yolks but no heavy cream it was smooth and silky without being overbearing. It was a very lovely finish to a very lovely meal. As a little extra treat I also pulled out a bottle of Limoncello that I had made this summer. I have to say the Limoncello has really mellowed into a wonderful way to finish a meal. Although it is sweet, the clean lemon taste and high liquor percent keep this liqueur our of the candy column.

We started and finished a few more topics of conversation and finally wound down about 11:30. A four and a half hour meal - now that is dining as it's meant to be done. With focus on friends and conversation along with the food.

You can see more photos here and see the menu with links to recipes here.

23rd Dinner Club - Mexico: Summary

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 23:59:16 GMT

It had been quite some time since our last gathering and we had all been dying to get back into our dinner club meetings. One of our members had been out of town for most of the summer but she was finally back and we were raring to go! As soon as we had all gathered and the conversation starting flowing it was though no time had passed at all.

Our Mexico dinner club gathering started out where you might expect - with tequila! But maybe not in the way you would expect. M2 had appetizer and cocktail duty and decided to go with a more traditional way of drinking tequila. It was in a shot glass but was a nice tequila appropriate for sipping and was accompanied by another little glass of Sangrita, a sweet and spicy chaser.

There are various recipes for sangrita but hers was based on citrus and hot chilis. Unfortunately, I can't drink tequila but I did sip the sangrita and it was really great! I could actually see adding it to a Bloody Mary to make sort of a Mexican version of that drink. The tequila was served along with Queso Fundido, basically a Mexican fondue. M2 combined three versions in one pan. The common element was the cheese but each section had it's own star ingredient: chorizo; mushroom; and poblano chile. Served along with small pieces of tortilla it became a finger food. Each of the different ingredients provided a different character or you could combine them for all kinds of tastes sensations.

We lingered over appetizers for quite some time but eventually made our way to the table. M had been wanting to make Carnitas, that lovely and fragrant shredded pork dish, and that's where our theme for this month started. Her version was a little different than what I've had in the past. It had lots of orange in it, was amazingly fresh and spicy tasting at the same time. She'd made pickled jalapeños and carrots, guacamole and had tortillas to accompany the meal.

I had been assigned salad and decided to go with something that I hoped would really provide contrast to the carnitas, Berza con Cilantro, or basically a Mexican version of coleslaw. I really liked this slaw and loved it piled on top of the carnitas in a tortilla! It started with thinly shredded cabbage as most coleslaw does, then added onion, and cilantro to the mix. But what really made it stand out, in my opinion, was the dressing, which was a lime vinaigrette. It was so refreshing!

R had the side dish and had decided to create her own version of tamales. Using a basic recipe for the cornmeal she then added nopales, cactus leaves. She had created quite a large pile of them - very ambitious for such a labor intensive item! She wasn't that pleased with them but I thought there were a really great idea.

We spent some time combining the various items in different ways to come up with all kinds of taste sensations.

Along with the dinner were more tequilas. M had three more to offer in addition to M2's bottle. Those drinking tequila spent some time comparing and contrasting the various types with each other trying to decided if repesado or anejo was their favorite and why.

After the meal we spent a little time lingering at the table before K assembled our dessert. She had originally had one idea and then about a week before our meal, switched ideas and we are glad she did! Not that the first idea would have been bad, just that what she brought was so good! For dessert she'd made Mango Sorbet - simple, tasty and heavenly. It was the perfect light ending to our meal.

As with other cuisines we've encountered there was a very common element in many of our dishes. Citrus was present in nearly everything: the Sangrita used both orange and lime juice; the carnitas used an entire orange; the coleslaw was heavily influenced by lime juice; and the sorbet also included lime juice as an ingredient. It's fun to see how local ingredients really enhance and influence local flavors.

23rd Dinner Club - Mexico: Menu and Recipes

More photos

22nd Dinner Club: Indian Summary

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 21:19:57 GMT

As mentioned in the recipes post this was our first repeat theme dinner but it did not even resemble our first Indian dinner. Well, that's not 100% true; we had naan at both dinners and the dessert was Kheer but the type of kheer was much different.

I had responsibility for the cocktails and appetizer. Finding authentic Indian Cocktails is a bit of a challenge as alcohol has not been a huge element in Indian lifestyle and, in fact, is not consumed by many Indians due to a variety of societal reasons. Beer is rather common and during British rule cocktails definitely had their place but still these were Western cocktails served in an Eastern setting, not concoctions native to India. So after a bit of research I settled on an Indian-influenced cocktail, the Diwan-e-Khas. It turned out I couldn't find one ingredient, Khus, but the recipe only called for a trace amount so I don't think it affected the final cocktail too much. This cocktail was really refreshing, a bit fruity and it packs a big old punch! It's deceptive with all the fruit tastes - try it but be careful!

I was not as happy with the mini-naan I made. First, the recipe was off and I had to bake them way longer than indicated. And by the time they were golden they were also too dry. I think where the recipe was off was with the oven temperature. I liked the idea of these and would try them again but would bake them at 425ºF or maybe even 450ºF. With the chutney, even though they were on the dry side, they were good. The chutney was a locally produced Indian-style Mango Chutney. It was very good.

After enjoying our cocktails M2 put the lamp "popsicles" in the oven to broil. It seems everyone (but me!) has been to Vij's and all who have been there rave about the lamb popsicles. And now I know why! Lamb is already one of my favorites but top it with the Curry Cream and it is raised to a whole new level. The best part was that M2 had made so many we each got to take some home. I ate mine for breakfast the next day!

Along with the lamb we had a fresh cucumber salad made by R. The cooling yogurt, cilantro and cucumbers were the perfect foil to all of the spices in the other dishes. K's contribution was Aloo Gobi a yummy cauliflower and potato dish. At first blush the combination of those two items doesn't jump out at me but after trying this dish I'm sold! The ginger, cumin, mustard, cilantro and other spices elevated this dish to a wonderful taste sensation.

We ended the meal with Kheer. At our last Indian dinner we also had Kheer but it was made with vermicelli noodles. Let's just say no one has chosen to make it again.... This version was made with rice and was fragrant with raisins and almonds. M did make several adjustments to the recipe, however, and they are noted in the recipe. It was a very yummy ending to another great meal!

22nd Dinner Club: Indian Menu and Recipes

21st Dinner Club: Puget Sound Crab Feed Summary

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 15:14:44 GMT

The night of the party was absolutely beautiful! For a while I toyed with having appetizers out on the deck but, as often happens with these spring days, around 6:00 the wind picked up and brought a chill back to the soft spring air. Instead, we stayed inside and pretended that the sun outside was the warm sun of summer.

Because this menu I'd picked from Tom's Big Dinners is really a summer menu there were a few substitutions that would need to be made throughout the evening. The first was in the Peach Sangria. Peaches just aren't in season and instead R used mangoes which bring the same summery color and sweet element to the drink. The sangria was great - light and refreshing - it would be nice to make up a pitcher and spend a lazy afternoon on the deck sipping through it! R had been a little worried about the squid, never having worked with them before, but in our area you can find both cleaned and uncleaned squid so she went with the cleaned - makes the work much easier! The squid itself was so great! The sambal oelek in the marinade added just a bit of heat. We removed the squid from the skewer and placed it directly on the garlic toast covered with lemony arugula. The combination of tastes and textures was heavenly! It was another one of those starters I would have been happy to have for the entire meal!

We served the Chop Salad with Corn, Snap Peas and Bacon; the Mac and Cheese Salad with Buttermilk Dressing and the Crab with Sea Salt Butter and Ginger Mayonnaise all at the same time.

K had lucked out and picked a wonderful smoky bacon for the the Chop Salad and it was a great counterpoint to the fresh peas, corn, cukes and other vegetables in the salad. The dressing, a mustard vinaigrette, was nice and bright as it had a nice bit of fresh lemon juice in it. I say lucked out on the bacon, as she just happened to use a pack her boyfriend's mom had sent him from Montana - we all wish we knew what it was!

The Mac and Cheese salad was great - a simple pasta salad with greens and buttermilk dressing. Tangy and a little sticky, this salad would go with just about any summer meal from picnics to grilled steak from the BBQ! And it would be a great make-ahead dish, too!

Crab - what can you say about our beautiful, local Dungeness Crab? We love it. My local Central Market has a big tank of live crab so I picked a few up, brought them home and cooked them about 2 hours prior to serving them. Any kind of crab is good but fresh from the pot crab is the best! We all had a little surprise for the night though. We are pretty much crab purists - give us a crab to crack, a little melted butter and some lemon and we are good to go. No need for dips or dressings or anything that might hide the taste of our crab! Well, that has all changed now! The Ginger Mayonnaise was so good with the crab - even though my homemade mayo flopped, dang it! - the ginger and chives lightened and added a bit of heat to the mayo. A touch of it on a big ol' hunk of crab leg and the ginger actually enhanced the flavor of the crab. Genius. In fact, M2 liked it so much she bought crab and made the mayo the next day just so she could have it again!

For our finale we had the Blueberry Cornmeal Crostata with whip cream. M2 did a great job with this dessert. The crust was soft yet a bit crunchy with cornmeal, the berry jam was sweet but not too sweet and mellowed with the buttery crust and whip cream. It was really the perfect ending to the meal.

I have one regret about this meal, well two. One it just didn't last long enough! But I can fix that by making it again. The other regret though is that somehow I overlooked Tom's wine recommendations for the menu and somehow got in my head that Sauvignon Blanc was the wine for the night (it was in the sangria). I would have liked to have done the meal with Tom's wine choices. We did, however, have a very nice Sauvignon Blanc from one of my favorite areas. It was the 2004 Forefathers from Marlborough, New Zealand. Nice and crispy, dry and a bit minerally it went very well with all courses.

We all agreed this was a wonderful menu and meal. I know at least a couple of the members plan to do the whole menu at some point. Although it is intended as a summer menu, for us it was the perfect reminder that summer will soon be here and it brought that season just a bit closer as we ate our way through the summer tastes.

21st Dinner Club: Puget Sound Crab Feed Menu and Recipes

20th Dinner Club: Fireside Dinner Summary

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 05:49:17 GMT

For a little while it seemed the weather might be too warm for a Fireside Dinner on the night of our gathering. But shortly before our meeting time, the spring weather turned our way and a huge thunderstorm rolled in - rain, hail, sleet - you name it, we got it! As I walked up the sidewalk to R's place each step was crunchy with the icy remains from the storm.

I was the last to arrive and there was already plenty of activity going on. Stewart, R's new cat was "entertaining" in the living room. M was in the kitchen preparing her seared Foie Gras with Sautéed Apples. At least that was what she should have been doing - apparently on her way out the door she grabbed the wrong can from her pantry. On a recent trip to France she had stocked up on some supplies and didn't look close enough at the labels. Instead of foie gras she'd grabbed rillettes! No worries. This is a dinner club - we love the new and unexpected. It's (usually) fun when things go wrong and you have to improvise - right? Well, once you get over your disappointment it is. And once you realize you are the only one worried about it and no one else cares.

A few minutes after I arrived M flamed her dish and we started serving. We actually all liked the new version and the part we really loved was the wine she'd brought to accompany the dish. The Quarts de Chaume Domaine des Baumard, 2002 was really amazing! Very sweet, it would also make an excellent dessert wine but was heavenly with this apple-y appetizer.

Next was the Caesar Salad. M2 found a great dressing recipe and it was the perfect way to segue from the rillettes into the main meal. Crispy romaine topped with garlicky, anchovy dressing - yum!

Then it was time to move on to the main and side dishes. R brought a huge pot of cassoulet to the table. She had actually combined recipes to come up with the best of all worlds. This version of hers was savory, creamy, crusty, wild and comforting all at one time. Each bite revealed some new taste depending on what exactly you got in it. My favorites were the bites with sausage, duck or best - both together! At the end of the meal we had so much left that nearly everyone took home enough for another meal or two and R still had enough to freeze for future use!

The tian I made worked well with the cassoulet. The combination of vegetables was savory, yet sweet with the taste of the sautéed onions. The rosemary had infused all of the vegetables with that slightly wild taste that is so indicative of the herb. The one thing that I'd caution is that this is best brought right from the oven to the table. I had made the dish at home and then transported it to the dinner, planning to just reheat it for a few minutes prior to serving. While that worked okay, the olive oil from the dish had slightly separated and didn't look quite as nice as the dish had when first pulled from the oven. Overall though it was light enough to not compete with the cassoulet, yet distinctive enough to hold its own. M2 had asked me about the word "tian" and at the time I didn't remember the meaning. I checked it out when I returned home and remembered that tian was originally the name of the dish used to bake the vegetables and at some point became the term to represent vegetables prepared in this manner.

For our finale, K made Lemon Creme Brulee. It was light and delicate and the lemon taste was the perfect palate cleanser after all the substantial foods we had consumed. She did the final torching to caramelize the sugar at the table so we ended the evening with a little show.

This was a great soul-satisfying meal. Now that spring is here I may need to wait a couple months before trying the cassoulet but the tian will work perfectly with all the produce available at the local Farmers' Markets. I'm looking forward to trying it again with slightly different vegetable combinations.

Next up: Puget Sound Crab Feed

20th Dinner Club: Fireside Dinner Menu & Recipes

19th Dinner Club: "Wine Night" Summary

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 21:31:00 GMT

I know that you are probably tired of hearing me say this but this was another yummy and fun, dinner and night! The thing is, it's always true! I wouldn't lie... I think part of it is as we enter our 4th year of doing this - that is so amazing! - we've really settled into a rhythm. And I suppose, maybe most importantly, even though we didn't all know each other that well in the beginning, over time we've developed such a great camaraderie that there is absolutely no stress (except what one might put on oneself) with these dinners. We just all look forward to seeing everyone; getting caught up with anyone we haven't seen in awhile; and after checking out the recipes that have been posted online, getting to taste all of the contributions.

For this meeting M2 had appetizers and cocktails. As you can see from the photo her choice was beautiful as well as tasty. The richness of the Brie with the earthy notes from the mushrooms was a perfect way to start the evening. And for her cocktail she chose Prosecco, which I personally love. Of all the sparkling wines, Prosecco seems to embody a party in a glass more than any of the others. I guess because it's light and seems more effervescent than the other sparklers. It just makes me smile when I see it and then drink it.

As I mentioned in the Menu and Recipes post, although I originally thought that I'd do something creative, I soon decided it would be best to stick with something simple. The rest of the menu was just starting to look too rich. So I did a simple Champagne Vinaigrette over mixed greens lightly embellished with Parmesan and a few herby croutons. This recipe was a bit heavy on the mustard, I think. I'd probably reduce it a bit next time.

I did however, make my own champagne vinegar from some leftover champagne (now that's an odd concept...) that I'd had. If you follow the recipe link, you'll see that Martha says to make vinegar from champagne, just let it sit at room temperature in an open bottle for a few days. I find it much easier to just add a bit of apple cider vinegar, or really any vinegar, to your champagne and it immediately turns.

Next was the main event! K's perfectly cooked lamb - grilled until crispy on the outside, pink and juicy on the inside - was plated with R's luscious risotto. This was truly a match made in heaven! Although K had given us each 3 chops - normally 2 is considered a "serving" - we took the one remaining chop and cut it up so that we could have one final bite each. And everyone had seconds of the risotto, too. Absolute perfection!

We ended the meal with wonderfully decadent Chocolate Crepes, Gewürztraminer Syrup and a side of Vanilla Ice Cream. Oh my. The Gewürztraminer Syrup really added a beautiful fruity yet not-too-sweet element to the rich chocolate and ice cream.

It's actually a wonder that we got dessert since M's kitchen was out of commission on this day so she came to my house to do her prep work. While "helping" her I dropped the bowl of crepe batter and probably half of it went flying all over my refrigerator and kitchen floor. Lucky for me that M is a very good sport! And, as we joked about at dinner, it was probably a good thing because none of us needed a second crepe but if they had been available we might all have been tempted!

Our next dinner is planned for mid-March and our theme is "Fireside Dinner". Doesn't that sound cozy?

19th Dinner Club: "Wine Night" Menu and Recipes

18th Dinner Club: Soul Food Summary

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 15:14:01 GMT

Friday night we gathered at M's to begin our Soul Food dinner. I had appetizers and cocktails and had come up with something I thought was a representative and a bit different than normal fare. Many of the appetizer recipes I'd found involved deep-frying and, while I love my fried foods, just for ease of preparation at someone else's house I wanted something different. I decided to start out with Sausage Balls, a recipe I found on a couple different Soul Food specific sites; Deviled Eggs, an all time favorite but with a bit of a twist; and Sazerac Cocktails.

There are many recipes for Sazeracs and I was looking for the most traditional I could find. The original Sazeracs were made with Rye Whiskey, an alcohol that brings back memories of a Canadian friend's wedding, partying with her family the night prior, "losing" one of the bridesmaids somewhere in the house and finding her late the next morning in the back of a closet! It can be strong stuff! Anyway, it was time to try it again but my memories of it were of something strong and a bit sharp. I don't know if it was the brand or that I'm 20 years older but I really liked the Sazerac with Rye! Definitely a grown-up drink but very tasty! I also brought along a little bourbon whiskey, as that is sometimes substituted and it also made a tasty drink but I like the idea of the more traditional rye.

The meatballs were pretty good, too. I had modified the recipe pretty substantially as the recipe I had chosen had way too much cheese and Bisquick for my taste, which I realized as I was mixing them up. The version I made was still a little solid (still a bit too much Bisquick?), I thought, but tasty. I happened to have chipotles in adobo sauce open and I decided to make a little dip for the meatballs made with ketchup and blended chipotles. It added a nice spark of heat to the dish. It always amazes me how much people love deviled eggs! For me they were such a common thing growing up that they've never seemed all that special. Years ago when I thought I might go into catering, my partner and I catered a wedding for 200 and the bride and her mom wanted deviled eggs (and lots of them) as part of the buffet. I can't remember the exact number but I know we used something like 20 dozen eggs that night and they were all eaten! But back to this dinner... I wanted something a bit unusual so I used Kathy Casey's idea of adding blended chipotle to the yolk mixture and then I topped them with a little diced red onion for some color and a bit of sweetness. Even the dog loved these! :-)

M had requested that the next three courses be served all at one time and that salad actually be a vegetable of some sort, not a salad - did that make sense? She had chosen fried chicken as the showcase main dish and, as in so many times past, decided to make two versions. I think part of this was due to her new toy, a DeLonghi Deep Fryer, she'd purchased for this dinner - and says she has lots of plans to use! :-)

Both versions were good - perfectly crispy on the outside, tender and moist on the inside! We all preferred the Tyler Florence version just a bit as it had more seasoning in the flour which added quite a lot of taste.

R brought Collard Greens with Red Onions and Bacon. How can you go wrong with that combo? The smoky bacon and sweet onions were nice contrasts to the bitter greens. I'd actually like to have them alongside scrambled eggs sometime. K chose macaroni and cheese as her offering, but not just any macaroni and cheese! She used a recipe from Grand Central Bakery that included five types of cheese! Yum! It made a huge dish and this would be great as just the main dish for your meal accompanied by a little salad (to make you feel less guilty...) and a nice glass of wine.

For the finale, M2 made Sweet Potato Pie! We had to take a little break before jumping in - two types of chicken, piles of greens and mountains of mac and cheese had taken their toll! But once we took the plunge we were all very happy indeed! Sweet Potato Pie is very similar in taste to pumpkin pie but a bit more dense. M2 made a perfect crust - light, buttery, flaky - to hold the custard and then added more goodness to the whole thing by serving a scoop of premium vanilla ice cream alongside the pie. I happen to like pumpkin pie, but several others at the table indicated they don't care for it that much. However, they all loved this Sweet Potato version. I think the denseness of the pie was more pleasing to them.

With this meal we complete our third year of cooking club. Hard to believe we've had eighteen wonderful experiences all ready! I can remember when the club was just a glimmer of an idea... :-)

Our next meeting is scheduled for later in January and we already have the theme, "Wine". All dishes will need to included wine in some way! Oh, the ideas are already racing through my head!

18th Cooking Club: Soul Food Menu & Recipes

17th Dinner Club: Asian Fusion Summary

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 03:07:53 GMT

It was a warm evening in Seattle, but the feel of fall was in the air. We made our way to M2's cozy apartment bringing our various Asian-Fusion offerings. I arrived rudely early - traffic was not nearly what it should have been for a Friday night with a Mariners' game due to start at 7:00 But M2 was ready and graciously allowed me in! :-) The rest of the group arrived shortly after and the festivities began.

A couple of comments about this meal. First, M2 had her recipe posted early on and others seem to follow suit so it seemed like there was really good coordination of this meal. Lemongrass seemed to be the ingredient of the day - two of the recipes featured it prominently and I actually changed my dessert recipe since what I had originally picked out also featured Lemongrass. A common ingredient has been something we've seen before and it can add a nice theme throughout the meal but, as you know, it could also be a bit of a one-note experience if you are not careful Finally, each of us commented on how simple/easy our individual offerings were to make. Not sure if that is a reflection of the theme or just what we each chose. Anyway, each element of this meal worked really well with all the other elements and since each piece was so easy this would be a great meal for entertaining.

We started with a great combination of rich and clean - the Crab Lemongrass Tartlets being amazingly rich but the Sake Sangria being perfectly cleansing! It was a great combination. The tartlets were crabby, rich with cream and eggs, yet you could taste the lighter element of the lemongrass. The cucumber and the ginger in the sangria were light and refreshing. One of the best things about it, was that R was able to make up a pitcher ahead of time and then just serve it as we requested a glass (or two...) without having to leave the party. Wonderful!

K's salad was another wonderful combination of peppery arugula, tart goat cheese and and a spicy lemongrass concoction.

Simple yet tasty this salad was perfect alongside our main meal. And it coordinated so nicely with the table setting, too! (See the photo in the Menu and Recipe post.)

This salad is extremely versatile and would be great accompanying just about anything from a steak to a pasta dish.

M2 and M plated the halibut and Crazy Coconut Noodle Toss on the same plate. M2 had selected beautiful thick halibut steaks for our meal. They were first marinated in a simple combination of soy, ginger and sesame oil. After perfectly broiling the fish it was sauced with a bright green, fresh cilantro-lime pesto. Perfection! The fish was really lovely both with and without the pesto.

We gave M a bit of a bad time about the name of her side dish, but that was only until we had our first bite! She used a fettuccine noodle instead of the spaghetti the recipe specifies but I think it was a better choice. The vegetables and herbs mixed with the noodles was light and refreshing but the coconut milk added an element of luxuriousness to the dish. These two dishes seemed like they were planned by the same chef seeking flavors, colors and textures that enhanced as well as delighted the palate.

At this point we were really stuffed. It's amazing how a series of rather light feeling dishes can still fill you up! We waited a bit for dessert but finally had to get to it before we all fell asleep at the table! I liked this dish as it was sort of an Asian version of gingerbread. The candied ginger and cardamom cream lending an Eastern influence and a lighter texture to the normally robust gingerbread. However, I'm not positive that I would make it again. Mostly because the flavors are not necessarily what an average group of dinner companions might expect or appreciate. I think that candied ginger is a bit of an acquired taste and it is defintely prevalent in this dessert.

Overall I'd say this was one of our best coordinated meals! We talked about how we've often picked one recipe or another to duplicate but in this case we could all see replicating this entire meal! I'd say that was quite a success!

17th Dinner Club: Asian Fusion Menu & Recipes

16th Dinner Club - Tapas to Meze: Summary

Fri, 05 Aug 2005 17:12:45 GMT

Fun! Fun! Fun! Perfect day, perfect food, perfect people, perfect party!

I couldn't have asked for a better day! It started sunny and beautiful and there was no doubt it would stay that way. I happily set up the deck with a table for the drinks (all wines for this dinner), one for the small plates and one for everyone to sit at. I put up an umbrella to shade the wines, and strung a couple of strands of lights to add a festive element a bit later when the sun dipped below the horizon (which is pretty late up here at this time of year - 9:00 pm on this night). I put flowers on all the tables, then set up citronella torches in case we needed them to keep flying critters away (luckily we did not).

As everyone started arriving we put the food off to the side for plating a bit later, poured glasses of Proseco all around, sat at the table and took a little time to relax and enjoy the day.

Since these were all small plates - no actual courses - the plan for the night was to plate everything, place it on a serving table and allow everyone to pick and choose as they please - as if they were in a tapas bar. Once we were about ready to actually eat, I set each person up at a "station" in the kitchen to do their plating. R and I both needed a bit of oven time so we put our dishes in the oven and then got out of the way for the others. As each person finished plating they moved everything out to the serving table (seen above on the right). Once everything was out of the oven and on the table we jumped in.

Everything looked so good, that no one was able to limit themselves to one choice at at time! Instead most people took two items, filled their wineglass and then the oohs and aahs began!

I think this may have been one of my favorite dinners yet! And I don't think I'm saying that because it was my idea and I was hosting - although I'm not 100% sure of that! :-) The range of taste and textures was wonderful. And most of the dishes could be prepared entirely ahead of time. R chose to reheat the bisteeya but I don't think it was necessary and I needed to brown the cheese on the gnocchi but that was 10 minutes and I had completely assembled the dishes earlier. Well, let's get into the food!

I'll start with the Iced Tomato Soup - This is one of 30 varieties of Gazpacho found in Spain. K's version was so fresh with a great play of flavors and textures. I think I've mentioned before that I love having an active role in a dish and this one fit the bill perfectly! It was up to each of us to garnish the soup as we wished. The garnishes each had their own role in the soup itself, too. We could choose from bread cubes, cherry tomatoes, red onion, bell pepper and cucumber. I added a bit of everything expect pepper.

As I ate the beautiful creation I thought that I could have been happy with just that for dinner. It was the perfect cool and refreshing dish for a warm summer evening. But I couldn't stop there - nope, I had four more dishes to check out!

When M2 saw the name of this dish, she knew it was the one she'd make! M2 had The Levant as her area. This dish is from Turkey and there are a couple of theories about the name of the dish - Baked Stuffed Eggplant to Make a Priest Faint. You'll have to find the cookbook to check them out! :-)

M2 did a wonderful job with these! I even noticed that one club member who normally doesn't care for eggplant ate nearly all of her portion! They were perfectly cooked: the eggplant tender; the stuffing sweet and savory with onions, tomatoes and currents; and everything woven together with fragrant spices. Again, I would have been happy just eating this all night!

M's Caprese Salad was wonderful and refreshing with basil from her own garden but it didn't turn out exactly as she had hoped.

For quite some time M has been on a quest to make her own mozzarella. Her tactic has been to purchase curds from local sources and then make the mozzarella from that point. Well, she just can't seem to find curds that make the texture and taste that she has been hoping for. And this time the cheese she made went from curds to solid mozzarella in no time. She brought us a slice of her "pizza cheese" (as she dubbed it). You'll see it on the side of the plate, but then used a really lovely local mozzarella made by Port Madison Farms on Bainbridge Island for the salad. We buy their cheese nearly every week at the U-District Farmers' Market. They use only goat milk and each year expand into more and more varieties. This mozzarella is new for them this year and it was my first taste of it. Yummy - a bit tangier than cow's milk mozzarella. M2 has made mozzarella completely from scratch before and the two of them agreed it's probably the best way to go. (Good thing, because I have all the ingredients in my fridge just waiting for me to get to it!) Isn't Caprese the ultimate summer dish?

R chose Bisteeya has her dish from North Africa. Although traditionally made as one large pie, R met the tapas requirement by making individual servings in phyllo wrappers. Bisteeya is from Morocco and in that country you would find it made with pigeon but R chose chicken for this version.

The phyllo was flaky and buttery and the dusting of powdered sugar on the top was a nice contrasting element to the savory combination inside. In my mind, this would be the perfect street food, too. Self-contained in it's phyllo wrapper, each bite released the smell and taste of exotic markets in far-flung locations. The nuts added a nice crunch and the mixture had meshed into a sum greater than its parts.

Last, and I hope not least, was my Gnocchi. I had never made gnocchi before but decided to take the plunge for this dinner. My country was Southern France and gnocchi in France is not made from potatoes, as it is in Italy. Instead it's made from a dough, similar to gougere dough.

Well, the gnocchi was a bit challenging because I didn't really know what to expect. I think, in making the dough, I would cook it just a bit longer next time to dry it out a bit more, like I do for my gougeres. And then to form the gnocchi you place the dough in a pastry bag and cut off portions as you are dropping them into the boiling water to cook. This took a little coordination! Again, I think if the dough had been a bit more dry this may have been easier. And really it wasn't that hard, once I got the hang of it, it went pretty smoothly. I did have to cook the gnocchi about 12 minutes, instead of the recommended 5 - 10 ...say it with me now... I think that was because the dough should have been a bit drier. :-)

However, I have to say they turned out pretty dang good! They were nice soft little pillows and the sauce is simple but outstanding! And I really liked that I could have it all assembled ahead of time and then just pop in the oven for the final browning before serving.

As I mentioned earlier, we started with Proseco and then had a selection of wines from the countries represented. K brought a beautiful red from Spain, Abadia Retuerta Rivola 2002. I'd purchased a variety of roses. We opened one from France, Commanderie de Peyrassol 2004 and one from Italy, Alois Lageder 2004 Lagrein. The Commanderie was pale, very light and refreshing. The Alois was deep, full-bodied and tasty! They were both excellent wines and someday I may write up my tasting notes on them and the other roses I've been working my way through, this summer! :-)

One of the best parts of this dinner is that I ended up with several containers of leftovers! I was savoring soup, bisteeya, eggplant and gnocchi for several days after the party - how lucky did I get?

Next it's M2's turn to host, so stay tuned for more culinary cooking club adventure in early September!

16th Dinner Club - Tapas to Meze: Menu & Recipes

15th Dinner Club Meeting - Greece Summary

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 16:00:36 GMT

Thursday night was a beautiful night! We assembled at R's house at 7:00 pm and decided to take advantage of the evening and her view of Lake Washington by having our appetizers on her front porch.

This was M2's second meeting and she is already into the swing of things. (And she came back - we didn't scare her off last time!) She had appetizers and cocktails. She plated two appetizers, Cumin Sticks and Dolmas, and brought out a bottle of Ouzo to be served with a little water over ice. Before adding water we tried the Ouzo just over ice and decided it was smooth enough to drink on it's own. This was a little surprising since all of our past experience with Ouzo had been with a harsher version - obviously we hadn't been too savvy about picking our brand! The Dolmas was very good but what we all fell in love with were the Cumin Sticks! They were savory and covered with cumin seeds - a perfect cocktail accompaniment!

We then moved inside for the next courses, which we had previously decided to serve all at one time. R was very brave and cooked the lamb on her grill. After the last cooking club grilling episode at her house she made sure she kept an eye on it all! And it was a great decision! The lamb was perfectly grilled; a little crusty on the outside, juicy and pink on the inside. It didn't need the sauce but the hint of lemon was a nice contrast. Yum! K used an "old family recipe" for her Tzatiki and had warmed the pita just before serving. I love that wonderful fresh taste. It always feels so healthy to eat it! I was happy with my salad, too. It was also very refreshing and will find its way onto menus at my house this summer. I used banana peppers, which kept the pepper taste from overwhelming the rest of the flavors. I soaked the sliced onions in cold water for 15 minutes before adding them to the salad - that takes the bite but leaves the flavor in onions. Although the recipe calls for 8 oz of cheese, I used about half that and it was plenty! You can really adjust the amount of each ingredient based on personal tastes.

To finish off the meal we had M's Fanouropita, a pie in honor of Saint Fanourios, about whom little is known! This "pie" turned out much different than expected. Based on the picture she found with the recipe, this should have been flat, almost like pecan pie. As you can see, hers turned out more cake-like. The recipe called for self-rising flour and she used the normal substitute of all purpose flour and baking powder but somehow it turned out very fluffy! And very good! It is an olive oil based cake and has that great flavor that the oil brings to the batter.

We sat around and talked while finishing our cake and wine. We closed a little on the early side, as this was a "school night". My fault since I was going to be out of town for my nephew's graduation the next night. (By the way I made the Market Stall Tart again, at the request of my sister and it was a hit again!)

One thing we decided at this meeting, though, was to try to meet a little more often. Maybe it's because we've gotten into a rhythm and the planning isn't as much work as it used to be, but it seems to be a long time between meetings right now. So we are going to try to meet every six weeks and see how that goes. We actually have the next two meetings scheduled already! I host next time and I'm really excited! Look for the next write-up in about six weeks!

15th Dinner Club Meeting - Greece Menu & Recipes

14th Dinner Club - New Orleans Summary

Mon, 11 Apr 2005 14:59:21 GMT

Friday night we convened at K's house for our 14th Dinner Club meeting. It's amazing that we are part way through our third year! We talked about how it seems both like we've been together forever yet like we have barely started our meetings.

Meeting time was 6:30 and I tried to get there a little early to do final assembly on the appetizers and then get going on the Ramos Gin Fizzes. However, I guess everyone was anxious as nearly everyone was there prior to 6:30! M2 arrived about mid-way through and we did introductions all around. She seemed to fit right in and I'm sure that by next time it will be like she's been part of the group forever!

We started with the Profiteroles and Fizzes. A couple of notes about the Profiterole recipe: the batter for the profiteroles themselves would probably make about 30 golf-ball size puffs - maybe more; the filling was the right amount for 20 (as the recipe states); I made 1/2 the butter sauce recipe and it was enough to drizzle over 20 and probably would have been enough for 30, too. Also, I did not use Emeril's Essence as the recipe calls for. Instead I just tossed in some of each of the ingredients used to make his Essence and that worked just fine.

At first I thought the Butter Sauce was just over the top for the Profiteroles but I really liked the buttery and citrusy elements it added to the spicy crawfish filling. These were really good and actually fairly easy to prepare, even though they are rated as Expert for proficiency - don't let that scare you at all. I was really happy with the Fizzes. As you may know, I took some time to get these right! And I really want to thank Danno for his perfect timing! Everyone seemed to enjoy them (even M wanted to and she really doesn't like gin). They are just such a fun drink with their frothy texture and refreshing citrus tang. I think you should try them out this summer!

Then we moved on to salad. R's Italian Salad had everything but the kitchen sink in it! She had arranged them beautifully, so they were a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach. She also mentioned that her recipe made way more than needed - especially of the muffaletta olive salad. We all got some to take home!

Next up was our catfish, dirty rice and maquechoux. The sauce on the catfish was very similar to the filling in the profiteroles - in fact if you choose to make this recipe I think you could make a batch of either and use it in both - did that make sense? :-) If you are in the Seattle area and are looking for crawfish and catfish, both K and I found our supplies at Central Market in Shoreline. The catfish was fried to crispy perfection and the spicy crawfish sauce added the superlative New Orleans' bite of spice! Yum! The two sides were wonderful accompaniments - M did a great job in selecting these. The maquechoux was a happy combination of crispy sweet corn, onions and tomatoes with just a hint of green pepper and spice. It was the yin to the catfish's yang. The dirty rice creamy and smooth with a bit of spice also but just enough to make it interesting not hot. The combination of the three took me right back to Bourbon Street! (Actually probably somewhere off Bourbon where the "real" people go to eat...).

Although we were all pretty stuffed at this point we weren't going to miss an opportunity to indulge in bread pudding - especially one with bourbon sauce! We all rested a little as M2 made the sauce and plated up the dessert, with M assisting. (Although her recipe says it's for 8 - 10, it was really about enough for 6 servings.)

Heaven. Soft and cinnamony with a buttery bite of whiskey. That's all I can say.

At this point we were all in a bit of a food coma! Our meeting broke up earlier than normal because we just had nothing left to give - that meal was so good that we just needed to leave K with all the dishes and head home to our comfy beds.

14th Dinner Club - New Orleans Menu & Recipes