Cottage Cooking Club Month of January

January has been a month full of new beginnings and subtle changes. It is also the ninth month of the Cottage Cooking Club that is hosted by the talented Andrea of The Kitchen Lioness. She is our fearless leader and has kept our little group going from month to month. I certainly appreciate all that she has done. We are cooking along with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's cookbook "River cottage Veg", I prepared 3 of the 10 selected recipes and was once again very pleased with the results.

The first recipe I prepared was the roasted potatoes and eggplants. It’s a very simple dish, basically potatoes and eggplants cut into 1 inch cubes.

This dish is easy to prepare and was by far my favorite. The smell of the eggplant roasting was truly wonderful and the taste was amazing. The next day I added the left overs to a frittata as suggested by Mr. Fearnley-Whittingstall, and that too was delicious.

The artichoke and white bean dip was next. This too was easy to prepare, a quick stint in a skillet and then some time in the food processor and that was it. Most of the ingredients were from the pantry.

Lemon juice was added at the end to brighten it up. This dip is all about sharing and was fantastic served with flatbread bread.The end result was creamy and savory and had even more flavor the next day.

The third and final recipe was as simple as can be; Big Baked Mushrooms. Basically portobello mushrooms baked with butter, garlic, salt and pepper.

Once again proving that simple ingredients and preparation can be the best.

Recipes adapted from "River Cottage Veg" by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, first recipe cookbook chapter Roast, grill and broil, Roasted potatoes and eggplants, page 351. Second recipe cookbook chapter Meze and Tapas, Artichoke and white bean dip page 303. Third recipe cookbook chapter Side dishes, page 385.

To see what recipes the other members chose for this month, head over to the LYL post for January on the CCC website, by clicking here.