Ange came up with this idea to do a cooking share. There were four of us (mine was a team of 2) making four different vegetarian dishes in quadruple batches. We each brought the appropriate containers to give away with our dish and by the end of the night we all departed with four different, freezer ready meals. SO FUN!
Sandi brought out every table surface we had, including these tray stands to accommodate the ingredients we each needed!
We also each brought an appetizer to share so we could eat dinner while we cooked.
I made a ridiculously labor intensive meal from Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Heaven cookbook. It is called Persian Layers, a three-layer pilaf. Each layer has brown rice mixed with a vegetable mixture: bottom layer shredded carrots, cumin and golden raisins, middle layer saffron onions, garlic and parsley, top layer beets with honey and dill. On the very top are chopped, toasted pistachios.
Let me tell you, I made a lot of brown rice! A single batch needed 3 cups of uncooked rice to I needed 12! I actually made 9 and had too much.
I did most of the prep beforehand since it was so labor intensive and spent my time drinking, eating, helping and assembling. I was so chilled out it wasn't even funny. If awards were giving for being relaxed, I could have won.
Emilie made zucchini, corn, bean enchilada. YUM!
And Ange made this incredibly yummy African sweet potato soup with coconut milk and peanut butter. I wanted to dive into the pot.
Over dessert (chocolate cinnamon sake cake from Cooking Light) I was thinking the food in my freezer was really just a bonus. I would have been happy to just cook and drink wine with my friends and not had a single bit of food left over. Cooking, visiting, no paying a baby sitter because the kids were watching a movie projected on our bedroom wall....it was a perfect night.
And now, each time I defrost a dish, I can eat this wonderful food infused with love by my friends!
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