Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Re-Visited: Cooking Club #14

[Original post date Dec. 2011. --Updated 4/7/15: original separate content, with updated photos and/or more details, if available.]


---> Cooking Club is coming up soon, and now that I'm blogging, I want to share these moments but I thought I should play catch-up first. So without further ado, here (and in more posts to come) is what we've been up to. Enjoy!


#14 August: Special Diet

The Menu:
       Appetizers
Green Stuffed Appetizer Shells (Vegetarian)
Barbecued Baguettes (Vegetarian)
Party Stuffed Pinwheels (Vegetarian)
       Main Course
Italian Zucchini Pie (Vegetarian)
       Side
Coleslaw (Sugar Free)
       Dessert
Vegan Cupcakes


Jessica had the theme for this month. Lately, we had been talking about trying more vegan and gluten-free recipes because some of our family members have special diets. However, the ingredients for "special diets" can be quite on the expensive side. And when you're on a tight budget, it's not the easiest to do. Hence the reason most of us chose to go vegetarian for this month's menu. [Isn't it amazing what a few years can do? These ingredients are nowhere near as expensive now. Awesome.]

I was excited to skim through my vegetarian recipes, hungry to try something new. After much consideration, I chose the Italian Zucchini Pie, out of The 1,000 Best Recipes.


My husband and I have been on a huge zucchini kick lately. I've used it shredded, fried, baked, in patty form and, Mr. B's personal favorite, Zucchini Chips (<--- find this recipe here).

Zucchini and cheese in a pie, yes please. It sounded delicious. It looked delicious. It smelled delicious. The filling was delicious...the crust...was a little hard.

I'd make this again in a heart beat, but with a different crust recipe.


Italian Zucchini Pie
*adapted from The 1,000 Best Recipes

Serves 6

2 1/2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt + 1/4 tsp
1/3 c olive oil
1 egg, beaten + 3 eggs & 1 egg, lightly beaten for glaze
3-4 Tbsp iced water
1 1/4 lb zucchini, grated
5 oz provolone cheese, grated
4 oz cottage cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp finely chopped basil
pinch of nutmeg

In a large bowl, mix flour and salt and make a well. Combine oil and beaten egg, and almost all of the water and add to flour. Mix until mixture comes together in beads, adding more water if needed. Gather into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill 30 minutes.

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Heat a baking sheet. Grease a 7" pie dish. Toss zucchini with 1/4 tsp salt and place in colander for 30 minutes to drain. Squeeze out any excess liquid with your hands. Place in a large bowl and add cheeses, 3 eggs, garlic, basil and nutmeg. Season well and mix thoroughly.

Roll out 2/3 of the pastry until large enough to line base and side of pie dish. Spoon zucchini filling into pastry shell and level surface. Brush exposed rim of dough with lightly beaten egg. Roll out remaining dough to make a lid. Cover filling with it, pressing edges together firmly. Trim edges. Crimp rim. Prick top all over with a skewer and brush with egg.

Bake on hot sheet for 50 minutes or until golden.


My other favorite this month was Jenny's Coleslaw. I usually like my coleslaw a little thicker and not as sweet, but I found it to be quite tasty.

[Oh, and if you couldn't tell by now, I forgot my camera. I don't have any of the other tasty dishes. Fail.]


*I hope you enjoyed these Cooking Club snippets. I've finally caught up! I hope these themes, and even Cooking Club itself, inspire you to gather with your friends and family in the kitchen, and make sweet moments (and delicious food) of your own.

**I've only included the recipes to the dishes I made. Only because I'm unsure of where everyone got theirs...and hey, we gotta give credit where credit is due. If you have any questions about the other dishes, I'll ask the other members where they got their recipes and pass it along!


Check out our previous meetings!
Cooking Club #1-4
Cooking Club #5-8
Cooking Club #9-12
Cooking Club #13

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

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