Cooking Club Season Four! Our second gathering of our “year” which runs the school calendar year. We meet every other month, usually on a Thursday night, and Courtney is our gracious hostess. I put my friend Catherine and I in the middle because we are team #noonions!! We always know that our respective dishes will not have any onions. š
Is there anything better than a crisp glass of sauvignon blanc after a busy day?
Tina is one of our amazing cooks, she’s going to post these on her blog over the weekend and I will definitely share the shit out of this one. It’s a squash, shiitake mushroom and goat cheese puff pastry turnover. Swoon. Check out her latest recipe that is going on my menu next week – a potato and sausage roast over arugula. How delicious does that sound?!
Lindsay made a pizza stuffed mushroom. Back when we first started we all brought recipes printed out for everyone to take home, but that’s slowly gone by the way side. I found a very similar recipe, which is also going on my weekly menu next week – check it out here.
I am so happy I love mushrooms now – I didn’t even like mushrooms until five years ago, now I love them. If you haven’t tried a vegetable you’ve sworn off since childhood – give it a try – you might be surprised!
Catherine made Ina Garten’s Tuscan roasted potatoes with lemon. Holy balls. First of all, I puffy heart potatoes, and second of all, the pop of lemon made this dish. And, not surprisingly, this is also going on my Sunday dinner menu.
Are we sensing a theme here? This will also make my Taco Tuesday night menu! Donna made this roasted cauliflower “burrito” bowl – roasted cauliflower, black beans, rice, corn and sliced limes with diced tomatoes. Shhh…..I might add pan seared steak to my taco night with this š
You can see MaryBeth’s salad up in the first picture – I’ll have to add it down here later tonight. She texted me and said “I am just making a salad.” Just a salad?! It was her take on her favorite salad from Trader Joe’s – it had baby mozzarella, mixed greens, pine nuts, cherry tomatoes with this amazing balsamic dressing – I’ll need to get that recipe from her – so good!
Julie was in charge of dessert, and made this gluten free shortcake with a layer of chocolate, topped with fresh strawberries and fresh whipped cream. Swoon. Um, in case you were wondering, this was insulin worthy.
My plate – a little bit of everything! Well, maybe a lot of bit. š
LOVE.
Did I mention I was head chef?! I decided to make an artichoke and spinach dip stuffed chicken breast. But the chicken portions I got were smaller, and not thick enough to slice and stuff, so I improvised – thanks to an overwhelming response on my dilemma about how to cook these, I decided to just make chicken rolls and use toothpicks to secure while cooking. It worked!
Sadly, I am going to post the recipe for this tonight – I left the recipe in my recipe book on the counter of my kitchen, and I want to make sure I get it right. But the filling is 4 tablespoons fat free cream cheese, 2 tablespoons Alouette garlic and herb cheese spread and two cups of fresh spinach.
I spread a generous tablespoon of the filling in the chicken, and just rolled them up and secured with a toothpick. I seasoned the outside of the chicken with salt, pepper and paprika. These stayed rolled in my fridge for 24 hours before cooking. Since it was cold outside, I packed these in a cooler with ice packs in my car when I was at work. Worked just fine!
I cooked this at Courtney’s house and it took exactly 14 minutes – 8 minutes on one side over medium heat, then flip and cook 6 minutes over low heat. I cooked these in my cast iron skillet with grape seed oil. When the chicken came out, I deglazed the pan with about 1/3 cup of pinot grigio, and then added half a cup of my homemade chicken gravy – just 2 tablespoons of butter, two tablespoons of flour – cook that over medium heat, stirring constantly, then slowly add two cups of chicken broth. Once cooled, you can store it in your fridge. I think I may do a whole recipe post tomorrow on this – so stay tuned! I did think it was a bit bland, but everyone loved it. I may add some crushed red pepper to the pan sauce when I post this tomorrow.
Oh, and I also sprinkled with a bit of shredded Parmesan cheese over the top. Yum!
It’s not what’s on the table that matters most, it’s who’s in the chairs. š
Catherine always buys Courtney the new Ina Garten cookbook, and flags recipes that she thinks Courtney will like, or what dishes she wants to make together with her – I love this idea.
Thank you ladies for another wonderful evening of friendship and food. I am blessed!
I am always so delighted to see all of the glorious food and the beautiful tablescape. It looks like you had a great evening!
It was so much fun, as usual. Jealous of that kitchen though!
Everything looks super yummy. You are truly blessed. I admit I am so envious of your life.
Aw, thank you! I am blessed – a roof over my head, great family and friends. š I’ll get that gourmet kitchen one day when I win the lottery š
Everything looks wonderful right down to the tablescape!! I WANT THOSE PIZZA MUSHROOMS!! Thanks for sharing! You ladies are so lucky to have each other to do this with. Too bad you’re not still trading the recipes or compiling them in some way… you could have published a cookbook!! Have a great weekend š
I can’t wait to remake those pizza mushrooms – so good!! It is a fun night – I think the Cooking Club has just evolved about a get together, and while the food is celebrated, our friendship means more than the food on the table š Happy weekend!