January Supper Club

Tonight's menu: Vegetarian Cassoulet (Anne), Scalloped Potatoes (Kathy), Citrus Salad (Lynsley), Rum Raisin Tiramisu (Amy).

My citrus salad was inspired by a recipe in theWilliams Sonoma Seasons cookbook. It was supposed to have blood oranges and kumquats, in addition to oranges, grapefruit and pomegranate, but I just improvised a bit with the fruits I found at Trader Joe's.

So, I cut up 3 oranges and 2 grapefruits (one pink, but I think they were both about the same). Instead of the kumquats, I thinly sliced a couple of apricots. I seeded a pomegranate but used only about half for this. A whole pomegranate was about $2, and a prepared container of pomegranate seeds was $4 for half as many seeds. Sometimes cost wins, sometimes convenience wins. (Coming soon: how to seed a pomegranate, if you don't know this trick.)

I added some chopped mint and very thinly sliced red onion, drizzled it with olive oil and a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. It was really tasty!

Anne made a vegetarian cassoulet she'd been saving from Gourmet since 2008. It had great flavor with a yummy herbed breadcrumb garnish for texture.

Kathy made scalloped potatoes with onions -- simple and delicous!

For dessert, Amy made a rum raisin tiramisu from her new Barefoot Contessa cookbook. This was a funny story...it was yummy (and looked beautiful), but it had a very strong rum flavor. We practically pulled out matches to see if our breath would light them! Turns out she used light rum instead of dark rum...the recipe called for a full cup, so we think that may have made a difference. Anyway, Anne said it cleared up her cold, so there is something to be said for those old-fashioned cures.