Project Night Cooks

Judy provided me this recipe about a year ago. Seems like a good place to share it. But with my 40-something brain, I can't remember if I made them. I think I did, and I really liked the recipe.

Photo from the recipe creator Judy shared zucchinis from her garden, then recommended a recipe originally from https://damndelicious.net/2015/04/18/baked-zucchini-fries/ Ingredients: 1 cup Panko* 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 4 zucchini, quartered lengthwise 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 2 large eggs, beaten 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves * Panko is a Japanese-style breadcrumb and can be found in the Asian section of your local grocery store. Directions: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Coat a cooling rack with nonstick spray and place on a baking sheet; set aside. In a large bowl, combine Panko, Parmesan and Italian seasoning; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside. Working in batches, dredge zucchini in flour, dip into eggs, then dredge in Panko mixture, pressing to coat. Place zucchini onto prepared baking sheet. Place into oven and bake for 20-22 minut...

Another year of delicious food Though we haven't posted much in the past two years, we're still meeting, still eating delicious food, still laughing. Tonight's dinner at Judy's was sloppy joes (yum), salad from Robin R's garden, Terry's special fresh raspberry pie, and Carla's ginger cake with macadamia nut frosting. Carla shared the recipe for James McNair's fresh ginger cake with  creamy macadamia nut frosting. She didn't put the nuts in the frosting. I think her words were "It'd look like pimples."

Project Night started as an antidote to schedules, expectations, and structure.  It was an acceptance of our imperfection and humanity.  Project Night was intended to relieve stress. Creating stress goes against our ethos.  We started with a few ground rules. Or, really, the opposite of any rules. We don't have to have a clean house to host. No one will judge you. They are just grateful that we are gathering for food, laughter, and time for our crafts. We don't have to RSVP or commit to coming or must stand by our word no matter what. We can decide to come the day of.  We come if we want and we don't come if we can't. We don't have to give the host any warning. The crowd will be whoever can manage--at that moment--to attend.  It's OK if there are only 2. It's OK if 10 people show up. Whatever. It'll be fine. We don't have to coordinate with the hostess to have well-rounded meals, to make sure someone is bringing a salad or dessert. We don...

Remember this? From: Roxane Date: Wed, Oct 14, 2015 at 10:20 PM Subject: Re: Project Night Thursday at my house Ladies, I wanted to tell you about some extra special touches I have in mind for tomorrow. I decided to do it rhyme.  Fifteen years these ladies have kibitzed  Humor and good food have been monthly dished To celebrate, your host brings out the finest Zippy chicken, prosecco, and china. From key lime pie to mending rope, Knitted shawls to heal one’s hope,  EPA stories that’ll give a fright, Nothing beats therapy like Project Night. ~ Roxane

Note from Roxane:  My cousin Sally served this to me and Dan several years ago. I think it's traditionally served with potato pancakes, which Sally references in her notes.   I cooked it in a crock pot, but seared it in a skillet this morning. I deglazed the skillet with the 12 oz of Pabst Blue Ribbon (I thought of Bram; we know he likes PBR). I also forgot to add the paprika, salt, and pepper because I got home late. No wonder it needed salt.  Like my cousin, I too just used a hunk of meat, likely chuck roast.  Jewish Pot Roast (From Sally Orr) 5-6 lb brisket (I just use a nice hunk of beef) ¼ cup water 2 large onions, peeled and sliced 4 stalks celery, cut into ½ inch slices 3 carrots peeled and cut into chunks 1 8-oz bottle chili sauce 4 cloves garlic peeled and chopped 2 bay leaves ½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed 1/3 cup Dijon Mustard ¼ cup red wine vinegar 3 Tb molasses ¼ cup soy sauce 1 can beer ½ tsp paprika Salt...

2 oz capers 4 oz cured ham, finely chopped 1 oz almonds, blanched and chopped 2 oz white raisins 3 Tbsp bread crumbs 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs salt and pepper 2 Tbsp dry white wine 3 Tbsp tomato sauce 1 hot chili pepper Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Mix together first 5 ingredients.  Place a scoop of the mixture onto a flattened chicken thigh and roll to close. Place seam side down in a Dutch oven.  Pour the wine and tomato sauce over the chicken.  Cover and cook very slowly about 2 hours. (Recipe was inspired by Mediterranean Dishes by Diane Seeds copyright 1993, but has been extensively changed from the original.)

Recipe from Christy. Credit to Dan. Gai Yang Cilantro, most of a bunch, chopped  ( Christy used two for a platter of chicken ) garlic, 12-18 cloves, chopped ( Christy used three small heads ) 3/8 teaspoon white pepper 3/8 teaspoon ginger powder 2 tablespoons fish sauce 2 teaspoons brown sugar liberal application of lime juice ( Christy used 6 ) Mix into a paste.  Pull the skin off chicken thighs/drumsticks, and marinate in the paste for a number of hours or overnight. Grill or broil low and slow until the thermometer says 175F.   Note from Christy:  I keep underestimating how long that takes ... half an hour?  40 minutes?  

Marinated Roasted Vegetables Vegetables  1/4 cup shallots, thinly sliced 1/4 cup garlic, thinly sliced 1 Tbsp coarse sea salt 1 tsp finely ground pepper 1/4 cup red wine vinegar 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 Tbsp flat leafed parsely, coarsely chopped Roast veggies to your liking.  (I used red peppers, eggplant, yellow summer squash, cauliflower,  and carrots.)  Combine shallots, garlic, salt, pepper, and vinegar.  Toss in roasted veggies.*  Marinate at least 1 hour up to 4 hours until vegetables have picked up a bit of tang.  Toss with olive oil and parsley.  Store in refrigerator up to a week.     *Note:  I marinated each type of vegetable separately, so the peppers didn’t turn everything an ugly color.   recipe found on Epicurious.com BY ADAM PERRY LANG WITH JJ GOODE AND AMY VOGLER   APRIL 2010 SERIOUS BARBECUE: SMOKE, CHAR, BASTE, & BRUSH YOUR WAY TO GREAT OUTDOOR COOKING  ”r...

I hosted Project Night in October of 2015 which happened to be 15 years to the month that I hosted the original Project Night.  Some memories shared: Low bar for food:   2 bags of M&M's from the vending machine (Roxane) (The absolute low bar was set by Deb a few years ago when she showed up with nothing at Christy's house because she forgot it was Project Night.) High bar for food: Too many too count.  Low bar for projects: Robin R said getting gas was going to be her project. And then she didn't even do that.  Long bar for projects: Robin S.'s sweater for her mom - 8 years Odd bar for projects: Michelle's numerous projects - an old car door, a window, her husband's boxer shorts High bar for yarn reuse: Carla's green yarn.  Was made into possibly 3 different sweaters. The first project night When it happened at my house, Deb and Christy were making halloween costumes for the Arthur and either Alida or Hendrik. It w...

Check out all those layers.  The graham crackers are homemade. There's a chocolate pudding in there. I don't know what's in the gooey layer. 

Christy concocted this and it was divine. Bread pudding with sausage cooked in a pumpkin from her garden.

We need the recipe for this! Homemade Graham crackers, chocolate pudding, whipped cream with marscapone.

We celebrated Deb's birthday on the last Project Night.  She asked for something simple and fun to make: an angel food cake with Seven Minute Frosting with sprinkles. While I was making it I kept thinking of Carolyn making a cake like this in the 60s when Deb was a little girl.  I went all out on the sprinkles.

Herb Marinated Pork Tenderloin* Grated zest of 1 lemon ¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 to 6 lemons).  May deliciously substitute satsuma juice. Good olive oil 2 tablespoons minced garlic (6 cloves) 1½ tablespoons minced fresh rosemary leaves 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard Kosher salt 3 pork tenderloins (about 1 pound each) Freshly ground black pepper Combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, ½ cup olive oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, mustard, and 2 teaspoons salt in a sturdy 1-gallon resealable plastic bag. Add the pork tenderloins and turn to coat with the marinade. Squeeze out the air and seal the bag. Marinate the pork in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours but preferably overnight. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.   Remove the tenderloins from the marinade and discard the marinade but leave the herbs that cling to the meat. Sprinkle the tenderloins generously with salt and pepper. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil ...

Originally from Ellen K. Watson, Moscow Idaho.  Was given to me by my Aunt Anne Recipe note:   A hearty molasses and spice flavor permeates this top-rated lentil stew Roxane’s note: I got this recipe from my Aunt Anne Neal.  She gave me three recipes: Shipwreck Casserole, this one, and Country Pie, after we had Ned & Anne over for dinner  early in our marriage  and I hadn’t timed the cooking very well. I think I had cooked thick pork chops and they took a long time to get to temperature, so we had to wait a bit for dinner.  So as any aunt and mother would do, she offered her young niece some handy recipes.  I have started by cooking the sausages and vegetables first  then dumping in the lentils, water, and the rest of the ingredients then cooking for 50 minutes because I was lazy and didn’t want to dirty too many dishes . I should see if there’s some improvement if the sausage and tomatoes only cooked in the last 15 minutes.  Also...

From the Seattle Times (Associated Press) Served at the August 2014 Project Night in Terry's lovely backyard Note:   Terry used all lamb not half lamb/half turkey.  And of course it was delicious. Servings 4 Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time 25 minutes Lamb Kofta Olive oil cooking spray 2 slices day-old crusty white bread, toasted 1 medium yellow onion, quartered 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint 2 cloves garlic 1/2 teaspoon cumin 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger 1/2 tablespoon Thai red curry paste 1 large egg 1/2 pound ground lamb 1/2 pound ground turkey 4 large round pita breads 2 medium tomatoes, diced Place an oven rack in the center position of the oven.  Preheat the oven to broil.   LIghtly coat a rimmed backing sheet with olive oil cooking spray. Place the bread in a food process...

Her'es that stunning cake that Carla brought to the June Project Night at Deb's.   Check out Carla's notes throughout.   Did anyone get a picture of this??? Watergate Cake with Impeachment Frosting Reprinted with permission from Vintage Cakes: Timeless Cupcakes, Flips, Rolls, Layer, Angel, Snack, Chiffon and Icebox Cakes for Today’s Sweet Tooth by Julie Richardson, copyright © 2012. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House LLC.” Photo credit: Erin Kunkel © 2012 Lightly adapted from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson Servings: 8 to 16 This cake is a fair amount of work, but it’s worth it! It requires making pudding, cake, frosting, and brittle, then assembling them into a towering confection that will halt all conversation around the table. And no, the frosting does not contain any peaches whatsoever. It does, however, contain plenty of pistachio nuts. INGREDIENTS Pistachio pudding 1 cup (5 ounces) shelled unsalted pistachio ...

A small gathering made it to Christy's orchard for the second annual Jaffle Fest.  Carla made homemade marshmallows, showing us there's no limit to her confectionary exploration.  Robin demonstrates s'mores cooking and assembly.

Robin's notes:  I let them marinade for several hours (4 or 5). Yield: Serves 6 Citrus and Soy-Marinated Grilled Pork Tenderloin Ingredients • 2-3 pounds pork tenderloin • 3/4 cup olive oil • 1/3 cup soy sauce • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce • 1 tablespoon dry mustard • 1 teaspoon salt • 1 teaspoon black pepper • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar • 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 1 lemon) Directions 1. Combine all the ingredients except the pork and mix well. Pour the marinade into a ziploc bag or baking dish and add the pork tenderloin, making sure the marinade completely covers the pork. Marinade for 8-10 hours. 2. Preheat an outdoor grill (charcoal or gas). Grill the pork tenderloin about 3-4 minutes on each of its four sides (the exact time will depend on the temperature of your grill) or the internal temperature is about 150 to 155 degrees. Remove fr...