After the success of our first cookbook gathering, Cook Club was back for round two, this time with a book that has a special connection to Great Performances.
For our second gathering, we cooked from The Kitchen Without Borders: Recipes and Stories from Refugee and Immigrant Chefs, created by Eat Offbeat, a Great Performances partner. The cookbook brings together recipes and stories from refugee and immigrant chefs from around the world, making it a fitting choice for a group that loves discovering new flavors, experimenting in the kitchen, and, of course, gathering around a table.
Once again, everyone chose a recipe to prepare and bring in for our lunchtime potluck. Our CSA shares also came in handy, with several cooks putting their Katchkie Farm vegetables to work in their dishes.
Carina Hayek made the Red Pepper Soup and came fully prepared for lunchtime service, bringing her own Instant Pot into the office so she could heat it up and serve it piping hot.
Paige Connelly once again proved that choosing just one recipe is not really her style. She made the Borani Esfenaj, a creamy spinach dip, along with Mitslal’s Dolmas, vegetables stuffed with herbed tomato rice.
Ronnie Davis took on the Beef Kebabs with Pomegranate and Roasted Tomato Sauce. As we learned at our first Cook Club, Ronnie considers a recipe more of a starting point than a set of instructions, and naturally put his own delicious spin on the dish.
We were also happy to welcome some new cooks to the table this time around. Shaniece Reed made Kowa Varrai, a coconut cabbage dish; Rachel Taffet brought Zeytoon Parvardeh, a tapenade packed with olives, pomegranate, and walnuts; and Emma Frelinghuysen prepared Musabbaha, a tahini-dressed chickpea salad.
Mindy Birnbaum and Hannah Rutcofsky turned Cook Club into a family affair. The mother-daughter team made hummus, adding another perfect dip to a table that was quickly running out of room.
Holly Prochilo made Mirza Ghasemi, a charred eggplant dip with stewed tomatoes, onion, and garlic. The recipe called for garlic, and Katchkie Farm’s super-strength version made sure nobody missed it.
By lunchtime, our table was packed with dishes, dips, vegetables, sauces, and flavors from around the world. It was also fun to see so much of our CSA produce find its way into the recipes, bringing together two GP favorites: cooking from a great cookbook and figuring out what to do with that week’s vegetables.
Our second Cook Club confirmed that this experiment has officially become something we want to keep doing. We’re already deep in discussion about what to tackle next. One idea on the table is asking everyone to dig into their own family recipe collections and bring a dish, and the story behind it, to share, possibly with a Thanksgiving theme.
The books aren’t going anywhere, but Cook Club has definitely earned a place at the table.
