About a year ago my husband and I went to see the movie “The Book Club”. It was really good and it got me thinking about how much I love to read. My first book club was when I was in the second grade. I think there were four little girls in my club and we met in my bedroom on the floor rug . My Mom served us cookies and milk. Deluxe, right? Around the same time we saw the movie, we went to a warehouse book sale and all of the proceeds went to the Sacramento Public Library. You can fill up a bag with as many books as you can and the cost is $12. At that first sale I found a book called “The Book Club Cook Book” by Authors Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp. The book inspired me to form a book club that reads a book, discusses it and prepares a luncheon based on the theme of the book or dishes made in the story. We also make copies of the recipes so that we can take them home to enjoy later. We have now been together over a year.
The first book was “Seedfolks” by Paul Fleishman.
The story is told by a diverse cast of characters living on or near Gibb Street in Cleveland, Ohio, each from a different ethnic group. They met at a community garden. The Lima Bean is one of the first seeds grown in their garden. I gave out packets of Lima Beans in green containers to our Club members and book bags that my husband designed the logo for. Our menu that day was Pesto Lima Bean Salad (recipe below) and Bruschetta.
Pesto Lima Bean Salad
SERVES 1
FOR THE PESTO
1 garlic clove
50g (2oz) pine nuts
a big handful fresh basil leaves (25g/1oz)
3 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper
FOR THE SALAD
1 x 400g can of butter beans, drained and rinsed
100g (3½ oz) spinach
olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
handful of pumpkin seeds
sprinkling of pomegranate seeds (about 30g/1¼ oz)
■ Start by making the pesto. Peel the garlic and then put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.
■ Place the beans in a frying pan with the spinach and pesto and sauté everything in a splash of olive oil for 2-3 minutes until the spinach has wilted and everything is warm.
■ While they cook, squeeze the lemon for the salad over the beans and add more black pepper. Place the pesto beans and spinach in a bowl and sprinkle the pumpkin and pomegranate seeds over the top.
TWEAK IT In summer, replace the wilted spinach with rocket leaves and serve this as a cold salad.
This recipe is from a U.K. magazine so it may look a little different and Rocket leaves are basically Arugula.
I will write posts about each book that we have read and the menus and recipes we enjoyed. For now, keep reading and cooking.
