“Food is very popular nationally right now,” Francesca Passiglia told me last week. Francesca and Pamela McBride, her colleague at the Greenfield Public Library, are the enthusiastic organizers of the library’s Cookbook Club.
The club’s meeting will take place this coming Monday, March 16 at 6 p.m. The evening will focus on one cookbook, “Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites,” by Deb Perelman.
Francesca had a point about the popularity of food … and of cookbook clubs. I have been a guest speaker at three delicious library cookbook clubs — in Agawam, Southwick and West Hartford, Connecticut — and I know that many other libraries across the country have been starting clubs.
The idea is simple: guests prepare a recipe from a cookbook or group of cookbooks, and the group gets together to taste and compare.
Pamela and Francesca noted that although the club is new to the public, they have hosted similar cookbook potluck meals for years with the library staff.
The two have been hoping to include the public ever since Greenfield started planning its new library. The idea builds on ideas the librarians have been implementing for years like their holiday cookie exchange and their spice club.
I asked how they chose the book to feature. Francesca said, “Pamela is more of a cook than I am.” The two had apparently been considering a book by British chef Yotam Ottollonghi, but it had proved too esoteric, with ingredients that might be hard to locate.
“We know Smitten Kitchen [Perelman’s nom de chef] has a big following,” said Francesca. “A lot of people follow her blog.”
“A lot of her ingredients are readily available,” chimed in Pamela.
The format of the club will be simple. Participants are being asked to bring the dishes they have made, along with serving implements and containers for taking home leftovers.
They will be provided with a clipboard and a form so that they can make notes as they try each dish. (Otherwise, it may be easy to confuse different foods.) The library will also take care of beverages, plates, cups and flatware.
Courtesy of the Greenfield Public Library
The librarians are asking people to identify their recipes in advance so that there is no duplication of recipes. I suggested that duplication wouldn’t be bad in a large group, but the two librarians informed me that they wanted to try as many recipes as possible — ideally every recipe in the cookbook.
The cooks at the meeting will be asked to describe the cooking process and any changes they made in their recipes. (Some of us can’t resist tinkering!) Participants will also suggest changes they would make if they tried the recipe again.
The evening is expected to last for about an hour and a half. Participants will be asked for suggestions for future session of the Cookbook Club.
The event is free, sponsored by the Friends of the Library, but pre-registration is required at http://greenfieldpl.libcal.com/event/15955762.
When I interviewed Pamela and Francesca last week, only two slots remained of the 20 originally available so readers may not be able to sign up.
The cookbook club will return in three months, however. “The library’s not going anywhere,” Francesca and Pamela reminded me.
Naturally, I asked for a recipe from “Smitten Kitchen Every Day.” The librarians suggested Perelman’s Artichoke and Parmesan Galette, which sounds and looks pretty scrumptious.
I gather that someone has signed up to make it for the session on the 16th. According to Francesca and Pamela, that person is a fan of this column. Perhaps he or she will suggest my cookbooks for a future club read. (Hint. Hint.)
Smitten Kitchen Artichoke and Parmesan Galette
Perelman writes in the introduction to this recipe that she has been a fan of artichokes all her life. She became even more of a fan in college when a friend brought a baked artichoke dip to a party.
“My friend couldn’t believe I’d never heard of this hack of canned artichoke, mayo, and Parmesan, but it quickly became my favorite thing,” says Perelman. This tart is a slightly healthier version of the dip.
Ingredients:
for the crust:
1-1/4 cups (165 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for your work surface
1/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
1/4 cup (35 grams) finely grated Parmesan
1/2 cup (4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons (30 grams) sour cream
2 teaspoons (10 ml) fresh lemon juice (from about 1/4 of a juicy lemon)
1/4 cup (60 ml) very cold water
nonstick cooking spray or spray oil for coating the pan
for the filling:
2 14-ounce (400-gram) cans artichoke hearts, drained very well, then patted out on towels (2-1/3 cups drained)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup (50 grams) mayonnaise
1/4 cup (60 grams) sour cream
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
the finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup (65 grams) plus 2 tablespoons (15 grams) finely grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons chopped fresh, flat-leaf parsley
for the optional glaze:
1 large egg yolk
a few drops of water
Instructions:
Begin by making the dough. Stir the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Sprinkle the Parmesan and butter over them.
Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, work them into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with the biggest pieces of butter the size of tiny peas.
In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, lemon juice, and water, and add this to the butter-flour mixture. With your fingertips or a wooden spoon, mix in the liquid until large clumps form. Pat the clumps into a ball. Wrap with plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour, or up to 2 days.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-inch cake pan, a standard pie dish, or a 9-inch pastry ring with nonstick spray, and place the pan on a baking sheet.
Roll out the crust, on a floured counter, into a roughly 12-inch round. Transfer it to the prepared baking dish, and let the extra dough drape over the sides.
To make the filling, drain the artichokes well, pressing out any extra liquid you can before spreading them out on a couple layers of paper towels for a few minutes, to remove as much moisture as possible. Cut them into thin slices, and place them in the bottom of the crust.
Whisk together the eggs, mayo, sour cream, milk, lemon zest and juice, garlic, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the grated Parmesan. Stir in the parsley. Pour the custard over the artichokes. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan on top.
Gently lift the sides of the dough up over the custard filling, and pinch them together—you’re going to want to do this in the air, hovering over the filling, not by pressing down on it, of course, because the filling is primarily liquid. Let the creased dough edges gently, loosely rest on the surface of the tart. Repeat all around.
If you desire, because it will add a deeper color and shine to the crust, whisk the yolk and water together, and gently brush them over the surface of the crust.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the eggs are set. If the top is not quite brown enough, run the galette under the broiler for 1 minute. Let the galette cool on a rack. Eat warm or at room temperature.
Serves 6 to 8 as a light meal.
(From Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites. Copyright © 2017 by Deb Perelman. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission from the publisher.)
Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning cookbook author and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.