For this month’s cookbook club, Carolyn chose none other than Heidi Krahling’s gorgeous Insalata’s Mediterranean Table. Not a lot of people, even in the Bay Area, know about Insalata’s restaurant in Marin, but for 13 years Heidi and her crew have been serving what they call “luscious Mediterranean food” using local ingredients that are seasonal and fresh. This book has particular significance because Insalata’s is where Bibby, Founder of Parties That Cook, got her start cooking on the line. A few other Parties That Cook chefs have also spent time in the Insalata’s kitchen and after hearing so many raves, we couldn’t wait to put this book to the test.

There are months when everyone trickles into the office on cookbook club morning, precariously balancing their dishes, with a look of partial defeat. Then come the tales of missing recipe ingredients, inaccurate cooking times and counterintuitive procedures that make for a good laugh over lunch. Yesterday morning, however, the mood was quite different. Finally, a book we unanimously felt confident in! Aside from a few overzealous salt quantities, these recipes were easy to follow and the finished dishes were every bit as delicious as we expected.

Tirosalata: Maureen started us off with a delicious cheese spread served with Crispy Lemon Pita Chips. She confesses to have purchased the pita chips (they were deliciously deep fried!), and though she worried about the dip being too salty, we all thought it tasted great. The goat yogurt offered a tangy counterpoint to the salty feta. The texture was a little chunky which may have been due to the crumbled feta she used, but it didn’t stop us from gobbling it up!

Fattoush Bread Salad: An absolute classic at Insalata’s restaurant, Carolyn took on this colorful salad of crisp romaine lettuce, cucumber, red onion, black olives, cherry tomatoes and crispy pita chips. The pita chips soften ever so slightly when tossed with the lemon vinaigrette and add the perfect amount of crunch to the salad. We loved the technique of warming the olive oil with some garlic to infuse the flavor and then straining it out before making the dressing.

Fettucine with Chanterelles and Corn: This delicious fettucine was definitely one of the crowd favorites. Rosie was unable to find chanterelle mushrooms, but her substitution of thinly sliced shiitakes worked exceptionally well. The fresh corn kernels and mushrooms were sautéed in advance and then tossed with thyme and a rich blend of butter and goat yogurt before being tossed with the pasta. Topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese, we couldn’t get enough of this dish.

Cataplana – Portuguese Clam, Chorizo and Tomato Saute: Though there were a lot of different components to this recipe, Crissy found it easy to prepare and the flavors melded into a smoky and tangy tomato-based sauce perfect for sopping up with toasted bread. The manila clams were quickly sautéed with a simple homemade marinara sauce, garlic and white wine, and then topped with a rouille and prosciutto gremolata. The rouille, similar to an aioli pureed with roasted red pepper, saffron, paprika, lemon juice and softened bread, was delicious on its own. It would also be great drizzled over grilled vegetables or fish.

Roasted Beets with Tahini Dressing: Though the recipe called for red beets, Beth made this delicious salad even more beautiful by using 3 colors of beets – red, yellow and the candy pink chioggas. They were roasted with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, peeled and then tossed in lemon and orange juice to make the colors pop and complement their sweetness. Like many other dishes in this book, goat yogurt made the ingredient list. Mixed with tahini, this fresh drizzle provided a striking contrast on top of the beets, finished with sesame seeds.

Agrodulce Chicken Served with Soft Polenta: Bibby was initially surprised to see this traditional “sweet and sour” dish prepared without tomatoes, but once we tasted a bit of tender braised chicken smothered with sauce, no one missed them. The chicken was browned first for flavor, then braised with onions, garlic, celery, white wine, sherry vinegar, honey, golden raisins, and spices. Bibby whipped up a simple soft polenta made with water, a bit of cream and parmesan cheese to soak up the mouthwatering sauce. Perfect for a Sunday night supper, I cannot wait to reproduce this one at home.

Vanilla-Scented Yogurt with Poached Apricots: Erin absolutely mastered these poached fresh apricots and we loved the poaching syrup as much as the fruit itself. The goat yogurt was mixed with milk that had been steeped with vanilla beans and then thickened with gelatin and chilled in ramekins. There were a couple of unclear steps in this recipe – when to strain out the vanilla beans and exactly how much gelatin to include (the teaspoon and packet measurements given did not come out to the same amount) – but it was the perfect light dessert to follow this incredible Mediterranean feast.

This was definitely a book we would cook from again. And in the meantime, we can’t wait to dine at Insalata’s restaurant in Marin to see how well we actually did!

For this month’s Cookbook Club, Susanne decided to take us on a journey to Turkey by selecting Turquoise: A Chef’s Travels in Turkey by Greg and Lucy Malouf for our book of the month.  The book itself is absolutely stunning with a blend of food and travel writing and gorgeous photos of Turkey.  If you like having food photos to go with every single dish in the book, you will be a little disappointed.  That didn’t hold back the Amazon.com reviewers, however, who all gave the book five stars.

Enter Parties That Cook headquarters yesterday morning and you’d find an office full of wary Cookbook Club members cautioning each other about how they were not happy with the way their dishes turned out.  A few people ended up remaking their dishes, and several complained about how it was very vague in some respects. Turns out, many of the dishes emerged in much better condition after sitting overnight and most everyone enjoyed the meal. One cautionary note: the book often fails to mention to add salt or pepper to taste, so don’t forget to add these as you cook!

Red Pepper Soup with Bulgur, Chickpeas, Mint and Chile: Crissy started off the meal with this tasty tomato soup reminiscent of a minestrone.  While it started out really brothy and bland, sitting overnight brought the flavors of the soup together and helped a lot with the consistency. Here is an example of the vagueness in this book: the recipe called for one long red pepper and one long red chile.  Crissy went with a bell pepper and Fresno pepper. She also substituted pomegranate molasses for the pekmez (grape molasses) and added a little sugar to offset the added acidity. Recommendations for next time: halve the vegetable stock and add some merguez sausage.

Spiced Pumpkin Köfte with Walnut and Feta Stuffing: This recipe definitely called out for a “do over.” Susanne’s first attempt at this dish came out incredibly runny. Köfte is more familiar in meat form, but this version uses ground butternut pumpkin. You’re supposed to fill balls of pumpkin with the stuffing, but the pumpkin mixture was too runny to be rolled into a ball. Instead, Susanne balled up the feta and rolled it around in the pumpkin just before slipping the concoction into the deep fryer.  The result? Success! These little fritters were crunchy and extremely flavorful with the feta, nuts, bulgur, paprika, cumin and red pepper paste.

Smoky Eggplant Purée : Rosie was concerned about this dish but everyone seemed to like it. The recipe directs you to char the eggplant directly on your stovetop burner, which she found a little difficult to do evenly considering the dark color and large size of the eggplants. The recipe says nothing of puréeing the eggplant, but Rosie found it necessary to do so. A suggestion from Susanne: do this the way you would baba ghanoush and cut the egglplant into slices before charring over the burner. It’s easier to tell when the eggplant is evenly cooked, which makes it easier to turn into a purée. Pictured above.

Whipped Feta Dip: This recipe was the simplist of the bunch with only three ingredients — feta, yogurt and mustard. Of course, Bibby felt it needed a little something so she added salt, lemon and garlic.  The flavors intensified overnight but the consistency came out more like a sauce than a dip.  The verdict? While it’s tasty with pita chips, it would be even better over a main course or the rice pilaf.

Green Olive, Walnut, and Pomegranate Salad: This dish by Susanne was also a hit. Everyone loved the crunchiness and freshness of the pomegranate seeds and the salad was a beautiful balance of sweet, salty and chile-hot.

Shrimp Baked with Haloumi in a Clay Pot: Bibby also made this shrimp dish, but was not too happy with it either.  The rest of the cookbook club generally liked this dish but a few comments included “too sweet” and “a bit perfumey” due to the pekmez, coriandar, caraway, saffron and basil. The cooking time on the shrimp seemed to be way off: 3-5 minutes in an oven does not sound like enough time to cook through, so Bibby left it in there for 15 minutes, plus another 10 minutes on broil and it still could have cooked a bit more.

Feta- and Dill-Stuffed Sardines Fried in Chile Flour: There were a few skeptics when Mick signed up for this dish, but it turned out to be one of the hits of the meal! Other than butterflying and deboning the fish, this was a pretty simple dish with just a little flour, salt, two kinds of paprika and olive oil. The feta and dill stuffing was delicious — it made way more than necessary for stuffing the sardines, but was tasty with the extra pita chips we had. Pictured above.

Pistachio Pilaf with Spinach and Herbs: Another common theme throughout this book seemed to be the excess amounts of spinach called for in recipes. This recipe calls for 1.25lbs of spinach but a 10oz. bag proved plenty.  Everyone loved this lovely green pilaf with plenty of greens, nuts and fresh mint, parsley and dill. Beth though it was just okay and did not think it fluffed up well.

Shepherd’s Spinach: Maureen’s dish called for 2.25lbs of spinach so she has a pile of spinach sitting left over on her kitchen counter. She picked up some fresh Bloomsdale spinach at the farmers’ market and while the recipe called for ground lamb, onion, garlic, dried mint, two paprikas, tomato paste and rice, but no salt. Even though she added salt, the dish could have used a bit more, but was nevertheless tasty.

Turkish Coffee Creams: Michelene’s dessert of cardamon and cinnamon scented mocha custard was absolutely delicious but ridiculously creamy. We thought this would be excellent in little espresso cups. Be careful of letting the eggs curdle!

Nightingale Nests: Everyone agreed that Rosie’s nightingale nests were a delight. These are very similar to baklava except that they are shaped in beautiful nest. The secret? Roll the phyllo dough around a chopstick to create a tight log and then scrunch up the log. Remove the chopstick and coil the scrunched up log into a nest. Voilà !

This was definitely a cookbook where everyone felt their dish was a little off, but once we brought everything together, we had a beautifully themed meal that was suprisingly cohesive. Oh the joys of Cookbook Club!