The Cooking Club

Earlier this week, my friends and I had our first cooking club. We decided to have regularly cooking nights to try recipes and enjoy good food, wine, and each others company. This first time we opted for French cuisine and we used Rachel Khoo’s book The Little Paris Kitchen: Classic French recipes with a fresh and fun approach . If this sounds familiar to you, I blogged about this inspiring cook book two weeks ago.

We agreed on a three course dinner starting with  a Potato and Pear Gallette with Roquefort cheese. For the main course we combined three of Rachel Khoo’s recipes: sticky lemon and lavender chicken, cheese and potato nests, and Parisian asparagus with sauce allemande. And for dessert we had Clafoutis with cherries, strawberries and white chocolate.

I used the app Winestein to match a wine with both the entree and main course since we are not heavy drinkers and would suffice with one bottle.  Although it wasn’t a French wine, it complemented the food perfectly, so I’m very impressed with Winestein and would recommend it to everyone who is planning a dinner. It suggested Douro, a dry white wine from Portugal. It was a little fruity and fresh with aromas of apple and pear. To add some flavour to our mineral water I made lavender and mint leaves ice cubes and summer fruit ice cubes. It’s so easy to do, yet looks very sophisticated.

For my table setting I used fresh lemons and purple-blue flowers, and a checkered table-cloth to create that Provence feel and look. I used craft labels, string, stamps and washi tape to create vintage style napkin rings. To finish the country look I used a twig of fragrant fresh rosemary.  My friends and I had a wonderful evening and the food was just lovely.