Cooking Challenge: Turkish Dinner

As many of you Vancouver customers know, my dear friend Sarah and her husband Ray have started a cooking club of sorts with two other couples: my boyfriend and I, and our mutual friends, Laura and Eric. The challenge was to put on a full dinner party for six, presenting dishes you have never cooked before. We all agreed that getting together once and month and adding to our recipes files would be fun.

The first month Sarah and Ray set the bar really high by pulling off a four course French meal that was phenomenal, from the Onion Tarts through to the Chocolate Souffles. Christopher and I were up next; how were we going to top that??! Fortunately, I found an amazing cookbook on my first search for our culinary challenge--Turkish! I had no idea that Turkish food was so fresh and varied and interesting. How was I unaware of such an awesome national cuisine?

Here's the cookbook I purchased: Turquoise, by Greg and Lucy Malouf:

And here are some of the recipes we chose. It was a fantastic experience and so much fun, but a whole lot of planning, preparation and hard work. I'm glad we have a two month break before we're back up at the plate! Laura and Eric are up next for "Modern Italian" (My advice to them? Start planning now! The grocery shopping alone takes days).

I was much too busy during dinner to take photos of the dinner in action, but here is my living room the morning of the event. We turned it into a dining room for the evening (I thought that if the meal didn't come off as we hoped, at least they would be impressed with our effort--you know, sell the sizzle!). Actually, I like it so much, I may keep it as is for awhile. It is hilarious to sit at either end of the table for breakfast!