Week 7: St Andrew's Day, Greek Style

Though more coincidental than intentional, this week we celebrated St. Andrew's Day with a menu from a country that holds him as its patron saint. That's right... Greece! Yes, St. Andrew is the patron of more than just Scotland; though, according to people here, the Scots invented not only St. Andrew, but sainthood itself. Nonetheless, our feastday included a toast to a new job, to post-doctoral funding, and to our final culinary adventure of 2006.


The normal menu structure was altered for Greek Night. Although there are many great Greek dishes to prepare, most of them lend themselves well to starter portions. For example, it is less likely that anyone will eat a main-portion of flaming cheeze, good though it is. So instead of "Starter", "Main", and "Dessert", our menu consisted of five starter portion dishes, consummed buffet-style, and a dessert.

As usual, here are the recipes for you to enjoy. Opa!

Spanikopita

Dolmadakia & Eggplant Salad

Tzatziki & Baked Feta
Saganaki & Ice Cream Topping

Week 6: Thai a yellow ribbon...

OK, so we didn't need ribbons to hold together our "Thai Tacos," but big hands certainly helped. Tonight the very helpful theme of a little something to eat before getting cooking was continued with some GRBs, that's Glutinous Rice Balls, for those who aren't already "in the know." The bean paste in the middle tastes a lot like peanut butter, in case you ever find yourself on the other side of the world from Skippy.


Probably the most colourful meal to date, the Thai-Ups need sweet chili sauce like burgers need ketchup. Do not spare the sauce!

Starter: "Thai-Ups" (wraps)

Main: Curried Fish...

...with green curry paste.

Dessert: Coconut Ice Cream

Week 5: Italy: Recipe, or work of art?

Ever notice that things just sound better in Italian? How can "Strwaberries and Chocolate Sauce" compare with "Chocolate Zabaglione," or "Lemon Chicken" with "Chicken Piccata"? Well, on this night it's safe to say that we discovered what "a rose by any other name" is all about. You can call calamari "fried squid #8", if you want, and it still tastes great.

Starter: White Bean Dip, and...

...Calamari

Main: Chicken Piccata

Dessert: Chocolate Zabaglione

Week 4: Arise, Iron Chef Japanese!

Tonight's challenging, secret ingredient is... batter?

Well, ok, so Japanese wasn't a huge stretch for many of us. However, we'd never done tempura before, and since they charge so much for it in restaraunts, we thought it must be hard. Funny thing about a cooking club, though: you can find out what's really hard and what's not. Tempura, although hot and oily to make (see the picture of Matt, who took up the frying duties, below), is not.

The inspiration of this night, however, did come from other quarters.


Nikki (above) had the idea to bring some bubbly- cava for 3.99 from the local grocery store. We also started right off the bat with some (pre-fab) rice buns filled with red bean paste, and some edamame, so we could cook without gnawing off our arms. And so began two new traditions for the Club: pre-cooking bites and bubbly cocktails. On this occasion a not-overly-sweet plum wine provided the "cocktail" part of the "bubbly cocktail," and proved to be a hit.

Starter: Vegetable Tempura

Post Tempura

Main: Sushi...

...and Chicken Yakisoba
Dessert: Green Tea Cake

Week 3: The Leaning Tower of Mmmmm

Returning to the more familiar environs of the Italian kitchen didn't mean a return to familiar recipes. Not only were culinary horizons extended outward, they scaled upwards, as well. For butressing support, we needed more cooks. So we were joined by two friends who were soon to leave Edinburgh, but not before being made to create Tiramisu from scratch and mashing potato through a sieve.

The vegetale stacks not only looked great, but held their form from prep to plate. Fresh pesto certainly helped the flavour, as did a nice bit of wine. There was enough gnocchi to feed an army, with the result that many of us began to nod off before dessert could be served. However, the coffee and chocolate of tiramisu revived us all- some of us for longer than others.

Starter: Roast Vegetable Stacks...

...made with fresh pesto.

Main: Gnocchi with a gorgonzola sauce

Kitchen Kabaret

Dessert: Tiramisu

The Three (bearded) Amigos

Week 2: And now for something completely different...

How many times in your life can you say that you've eaten Afghani food? That many, eh, smarty-pants? Well, most of us weren't able to until the night we were put through our delicious lamb and tomato paces. Perhaps the only thing that surpassed the amazing food made this night was the incredible journey through Islamic cultural history we enjoyed after dinner, courtesy of our resident expert and friend, Jamal (below).


The lamb biryani and lamb kofte, although we made them together on the night, are actually two separate dishes. In the O'Neill household the eggplant dip and the lamb kofte, served with the "salad accompaniment," are the only Cooking Club recipes we've repeated twice since trying them the first time. We skip rice in favour of toasted flatbread- lightly oiled flour tortilla wraps under the grill, actually- which provides more than enough of a vehicle to convey the dishes.

Starter: Eggplant Dip

Main: Lamb Kofte...

...with a Lamb Biryani (rice dish).

Side Dish: fresh veg and herb salad

Dessert: Baklava

Week 1: Where it all began... Scotland

For our first go 'round at this newfangled "cooking" thing, we decided to try something different, but local. "Haggis," the cry went up, only to be followed by a chorus of doubtful moans, likely at the thought of all that sheep gut. "What about veggie haggis?" said our "all-things-beans-and-lentils" resident experts; which led to the need for a whisky cream sauce, and just enough caloric room for a very traditional Sticky Toffee Pudding. Tack on a traditional cream soup for a starter- Cullen Skink- and we had ourselves a hum-dinger of a Scottish menu.

Starter: Cullen Skink (white fish soup)

Main: Veggie Haggis...

...with a whisky cream sauce.

Dessert: Sticky Toffee Pudding

Co-operative Cooking

Ever wanted to try a new recipe but were worried it might not turn out? Ever wanted to spend more time with friends but didn't have enough nights in a busy schedule to see them? Why not gather ingredients, recipes, add friends, and stir?


That's what we've been doing. Every two weeks we gather at the host kitchen and cook all together. The hosts pick the menu and we all share the costs. We draw names for who will cook each of three courses, turn on the music, make the champagne cocktail (with Cava from Co-op at 3.99), and cook.


Each evening has a theme- usually geographical- and we usually try things we haven't cooked before. The results have been delicious and are posted here, with recipes and pictures, for you to try. Enjoy!