Northfields Cook Book Club #1

I’ve started a new Cook Book Club in my local area… it’s an excuse to talk about food, swap recipes and ideas with fellow cooks.

I was inspired by The Bath Cook Book Club and then Ren’s in St Albans – I just couldn’t stop thinking what a great idea it would be to start one here in Northfields.

I floated the idea on our local facebook community group and I was inundated with people saying they’d love to be included. I clearly wasn’t alone. Now I just needed to decide what the format of the club would be.

The format

I thought monthly meetings with a theme where everyone brings their favourite recipe to share with the group as a talking point would be a good place to start. I decided the bleak weather leant itself nicely to ONE POT recipes.

In terms of cook books, one of my friends suggested a swap where everyone brings a recipe book they didn’t want any more and then chooses someone else’s. One woman’s muck is another woman’s brass after all…

And for those that can’t always make an evening meeting I set up a facebook group for the club to host our recipe swapping and general foodie chat.

The meeting

So the first get-together was set for the end of February and about 15 local foodies gathered upstairs at the pub for the recipe chat and swapping of books.

I didn’t know everyone who came, but once we started going around the group talking about the One Pot recipes we’d brought with us, everyone warmed up as they started describing their favourite dishes. There were some fabulous suggestions, all very different ranging from pies to pig cheeks. It was impossible not to feel inspired!

I’ve included some of them here that are online so you can check them out:

Spiced lentils with cucumber yoghurt
Lamb and butternut squash stew
Tender and crisp chicken legs with sweet tomatoes
Bigos – Polish hunter’s stew
Pig cheeks in cider with roast apple slices

The unwanted books were pooled together on the table, and everyone had a great time leafing through them all. There were some great titles hiding amongst them and I brought one away full of recipes for using up leftovers – brilliant!

The facebook group  is flourishing and it’s now got over 40 members and is a lively hub where we post our themed recipes, share pictures of what we’ve been cooking, ask for dinner party ideas and also chat about new cafes or where to get some decent fish. It’s got a life of its own and means anyone can be part of the club which I really like.

Next month

The next meeting will be on Friday 19th April, 8pm upstairs at the W7 Emporium – everyone’s welcome if you’d like to come.

This time the theme will be CHOCOLATE – everyone needs to bring their favourite recipe involving choccie to share with the group. I’m hoping there’ll be some great entries after the Easter holidays, and perhaps some savoury ideas too.

Cook book wise i’ll be bringing along some newly released titles for the group to take away, cook from and review. So watch out for a cookery book review round-up on this blog very soon!

***stop press***

I’m really excited to have been shortlisted in Britmums Brilliance in Blogging awards 2013 in the Food category. If you like reading my blog and find it useful I’d be mighty delighted if you had time to go and vote for me…