Some time around Christmas, my husband idly counted the cookbooks in our dining room bookcase. "You have upwards of eighty cookbooks, do you know that?" I was not surprised. I collect, hoard and fondle cookbooks. I curl up on the sofa with a stack of them and pore over cookbooks. What I don't do is COOK from them - not much, anyway. I have one or two tried-and-true that I turn to, but for the most part, they just sit there on the bookshelf, looking pretty.
So I vowed that in 2012, I would cook at least one recipe from each of my cookbooks - even the cookbooks I only keep for sentimental reasons, like my great-grandmother Amanda's "Mrs. Rorer's Cookbook" from the turn of the last century, and "The Nancy Drew Cookbook" I got when I was seven. I further vowed to jettison any cookbook I didn't cook from this year.
January 1st gave me a great opportunity to start this little project, as our close friends July & Dennis were to host their annual New Year's Day potluck brunch. I wanted to do something vegan, because one of the guests is vegan and always gets the short end of the stick at potlucks. I pulled out, appropriately enough, "Vegan Brunch" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz - one of those cookbooks I'd yet to cook from. I chose Spinach Potato Squares because the notes said it was good at room temperature and therefore perfect for potlucks.
I was a little worried that this might be bland. It didn't call for any onion or garlic; only oregano, salt & pepper. At the last minute I sauteed up some minced shallots and diced mushrooms to add to the mix. I did feel that it dirtied WAAAY too many dishes (or maybe that's my inexperience in the kitchen?) for what is essentially a mashed potato casserole. But the end result was tasty, even (or especially?) at room temp, and really healthy. There was just a 1/4 cup plus a couple squirts of spray olive oil in the whole dish, and I cut it into 18 pieces. So that's... about 2/3 a teaspoon oil per piece. Plus it has a lot of spinach. WIN.
The potluck was marvelous. We have wonderful, warm, funny and interesting friends that we don't see nearly as often as we'd like. It was great to catch up with them. The baby toddled all over and ate pancake by the fistful. I ate my weight in Christmas cookies and some sort of cheesy pinwheel thing Kim C. brings every year.
Alas, we came home from the potluck with nearly the entire pan of squares intact. I think it was my marketing. Visually, it is nothing to write home about, a pan of green and brown STUFF. Then, I added a helpful little label - "VEGAN" - that might have put off some of the omnivores with prejudice about trays of ambiguous vegan food. Oh, well. More for us, reheated for dinner tonight.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! May 2012 be full of good food :-)
