Cooking Club XVII

Cran & Brent hosted the latest cooking club. Yes, Brent is back! Lucky for us he has Saturday nights off again. Cran has a friend who is from Korea, so they decided to plan a Korean themed menu with her help. She even gave us authentic seaweed sent from her family for our soup! They thought they'd be funny and send us the menu in Korean characters. Good thing for the Internet so we could translate. 

The menu was very unique. We started with an appetizer and soup course.
Korean Pancakes Duo
Miso Soup

Everything in this course was delicious. One of the pancakes was very spicy with lots of peppers. It was more of a traditional pancake base. The other had more of an egg base and we added in veggies and sausage. The soup (fresh seaweed included) was the best Miso soup I've tried. I'm not a big tofu fan but I was able to stomach it in this. 

For the main course we had:
Bulgogi over Rice Provides
Crispy Sweet Potatoes in Caramel Sauce

The Bulgogi was awesome. Such a good flavor in the meat. We all decided the red lettuce was a bit bitter for the dish and would be better with regular lettuce. The sweet potatoes were very caramely and paired great with the bitter lettuce.

For dessert we had:
Red Bean Cake
Korean Coffee

We were all a little skeptical of this cake to start with. Who puts red beans in a cake? I will say the red bean paste you buy is sweetened. I tasted it raw and it was alright. This picture makes it look good right? The top of it actually was edible. But then you get to the inside...

Sticky, ewwy, gooey mess. It was awful. (I made it, I can say that) There was a little mishaps with the mixer and some of the ingredients flying all over the room. I'm not sure that was the reason for the texture. We don't know if it's supposed to be like that or if it's cause we had to make it dairy free. Either way, we won't be making it again. But always fun to try! The coffee made up for the dessert. It was wonderful especially for being instant. 

Cooking Club XVI

It was Justin's and my turn to host. The theme this time was small bites. It came from these super cute dishes I got as a gift and really wanted to use. We tried to make an easier menu because Cari was bringing Baby Christopher and Jenny has been put on limited movement.

Sleeping Baby - We made sure he wouldn't fall off.

Appetizer

Crab Stuffed Jalapeno Peppers served with Avocado Salsa Sauce

These were awesome (and used my new dishes). Justin and I actually stuffed the peppers ahead of time to let them get really chilled before frying. I think that helped them stay together.

Spicy Chicken Bundles

Great lettuce wraps with just a touch of spice. We served them with a soy sauce based dipping sauce. I got this recipe out of one of my cookbooks. There was pretty easy to make and I will definitely be making them again. 

Soup

Banana Bisque with Cinnamon Croutons

This soup got mixed reviews. I thought the flavor was fine but wasn't a huge fan of the texture. It was too runny. I felt like I should be drinking it with a straw. Others really liked it and some not so much.

Entrée

Fat Doug Slider Burger

OMG. Fat Doug knows what he's doing. Soooo good. The tangy mustard coleslaw on top was my favorite part. 

Kale Chips with Lemon Mayonnaise

These also got mixed reviews. I was not a fan at all. I think my quote was they taste like garbage. I really wanted to like them because kale is such a great super food but my taste buds weren't having it. I did like the texture though. Light and airy. Again some others liked them and gobbled them up. 

Dessert

Butterscotch Fondue with Popcorn

Chocolate Fondue

Fondue - need I say more? The butterscotch was a little runny but still tasty. And you can't go wrong with chocolate. Great way to end the night. 

Cooking Club XV

We were back to Lindners for this Cooking Club. No official theme this time. Jenny said she based the menu off of the main entree (Flank Steak). It was a really good meal!! Definitely making some of the recipes again.

Cocktail
Orange Blossom Lemonade
We started the evening off with a new drink recipe. It got very mixed reviews. Some people couldn't drink it cause it was so syrupy, others went back for seconds. It was decided that adding a shot and a half of vodka per glass was needed.

Enjoying our cocktails.

Trying to some artsy photos.

Kensi joined us again. She was much better behaved this time. She slept for a first few hours and spent the rest of the night either chowing bottles or playing on the blanket. 

Hors D’oeuvres
Crab Salad in Endive
This dish was nice and light, plus very tasty. I would definitely make again. We changed the original recipe from lobster to crab.

Caramelized Bacon
The star of the night. I will be making this again soon. It wasn't too hard to make and it was so so good. Sugar and bacon - does it get any better?!? It'd be great to serve or bring to a party. It said you can make it ahead of time and keep at room temperature. I would cut the bacon into smaller pieces and serve that way.

Main Course
Flank Steak Mosaic
Cabbage Rice Purses in Vegetable Broth
Cucumber and Watermelon Salad with Hoisin-Lime Dressing

This steak was very impressive looking and it also tasted great. I wish I had a recipe link. It has a layer of omelet, carrots, green beans, green olives, and pimentos wrapped instead of the marinaded steak. The steak is wrapped in bacon and cooked. Mmmmm so good. The rice purses were a pain to make and didn't have a ton of flavor. The cucumber and watermelon salad was alright.

Dessert
Mixed Berry Gazpacho with Basil
Dessert turned more into ice cream served with berries vs a gazpacho topped with ice cream. For some reason our berries didn't cook down into a lot of juices. We forgoed topping it with olive oil and pepper. Either way it was great ending to the night.

Cooking Club XIV

These cooking clubs numbers are getting so high that I'm going to have to start Googling how to do the Roman Numerals soon! The theme this time was The Best of Mardi Gras hosted by Cran and her new date Cari. The table setting included masks for everyone to wear and get into the spirit.  

We started the night off sipping on hurricanes. Oh my were they delicious and went down way too easy.

Appetizer course was Crab Avery. It was very good with lots of spice! The recipe actually said to eat it with a spoon, but we all agreed it was better on crackers which added a nice crunch. 

We all modeled our masks.

Cari was too busy baby tending to put hers on. Kensi made her first appearance at cooking club. She wasn't sure about the whole thing and was quite a fuss bucket that night. Why does she always act so much better in the evenings at home than when she is out?!

The main course was Boudreaux’s Zydeco Stomp Gumbo, Artichoke Bites, and Louisiana Fried Okra. The gumbo and okra were delicious! I will for sure make the gumbo again. We had a bit of a mishaps with the artichoke bites. Jeff and I were making that recipes. I was baby bouncing and calling out the amounts to Jeff, while he measured and put them in. Unfortunately the liquid smoke came out really fast. There was supposed to be only 1/2 teaspoon in the recipe and a really good dumping came out instead. All you could taste was a smokey flavor in the balls. We all took one bite of it and left the rest. I think they would've been really good if you had left the liquid smoke out all together.

A new rule was created that night. Anyone who royally screws up a recipe has to wear "The Serpent of Shame." Jeff was the lucky first one to follow the new rule.

Jeff and I redeemed ourselves though on the dessert. We fried up some Beingets that everyone loved. We gobbled up the whole tray. Cran & Jenny whipped up 2 sauces - raspberry and chocolate. Great way to end the night.

Cooking Club XIII

It was Justin and my's turn to host Cooking Club this round. Since it was in December we decided to do a theme of Holidays Around the World. We started the night with 2 different drinks from Europe - Wassail  which is like a spiced cider, and Clogg, which is like a mulled wine. We made both so they could be drunk with or without alcohol. I thought both were delish but overall Wassail was more popular. 

We traveled to Asia for appetizers.
Ukoy - Shrimp Patty  - This turned out great. Everyone loved it. Hard to beat a deep fried patty.
Maruya - Banana Fritter - This one was ok. It seemed to be more like a pancake than a fritter. We used the plantains as the recipe recommended and decided it would be better with actual bananas.

For the soup course we traveled Africa.

L’hamraak Garagh - Pumpkin Soup -  Everyone loved the soup. It was thick and rich. We thought it could've used some sort of a garnish on top for presentation.

Next up was South America. 

Tamales de Carne - This recipe I got from a friends Mom. I had actually made these before and knew they were great.
Pastel de Quinoa - Quinoa Sausage Casserole - The top recipe of the night. I will definitely be making this again. Even using the diary free cream cheese, it still turned out so good! I had some problems finding chorizo and ended up getting dried links from World Market. I think they actually added to the dish instead of using a crumbled chorizo. 
Pina Mango Salsa de Arandanos - Mango Pineapple Cranberry Sauce  - This was good but nothing overly special. 

Dessert was from Australia. We made a Plum Pudding, which is a cake with brandy soaked plums, walnuts and a brandy sauce over it. It wasn't bad, but I'll say no one finished it or wanted to take the recipe home. :) I thought it had a flavor a bit like rye or pumpernickel bread. 

Another fun and successful night. Hard to believe we'll be bringing a little baby to the next one!

Cooking Club XII

Another Cooking Club for the books. This time we traveled to the other side of the world and experienced Vietnamese cooking. It was quite a treat and I discovered a way that I actually like tofu! I never thought that would be possible, but that's exactly why I love Cooking Club so much. It expands my horizons to foods I would never try at home. The teams were: Justin & Cran, Cari (subbing for Brent) & Jenny, and Jeff & I.

The cocktail we tried to make was bubble tea! I think half of us liked it but it was a lot of work and very different from the bubble teas you can buy. The bottom of the recipe even recommended just going to buy yourself a bubble tea and save the trouble of making it. 

The first course was a Beef Faux Pho. I have always wanted to try a Pho so I was very excited for this course and it didn't dissapoint. The base soup has noodles and beef. Then it was topped with bean sprouts, cilantro, radishes, lime and Sriracha sauce if you dared.

The main course consisted of: 

Spicy Lemongrass Tofu. I really liked this. The tofu was crispy on the outside and creamy in the middle. It was a very spicy dish. Jenny & Cran declared it too spicy for them. Jeff, Justin, and I thought it was great that way. I even spooned the toppings onto my rice so I could eat it all. I'm not sure I could eat tofu as a main dish but it worked well with the others.

Sweet and Sour Shrimp & Pork Crepes. This dish was the winner of the night. The crepe filled with sauted shrimp and pork, topped with herbs and a sauce and then wrapped in lettuce. Almost everyone went back for seconds. It was definitely the one that took the most work too but worth the effort. 

Beef and Green Bean Vietnamese Stir Fry. This dish was ok. The beans had a good crunch to them, but I thought it was a little bland.

For dessert we had Mango Coconut Sticky Rice. This was very good, but heavy and we were all pretty full by then. The rice was very sweet and went well with the mangos. 

Great night. I loved the theme. Thanks Lindners!!