April PW Recipes

First of all, I missed a chance to go to Birmingham for a PW book signing.  I originally wrote it off as impossible because we were going to be up north, but then we cancelled our trip, so I had a brief glimmer of hope of being able to attend the book signing.  But Mick pointed out how impractical that was, and so I'm here, and they're there, and I won't be meeting Ree Drummond or getting my cookbook signed.  Sigh.

(Good news:  two of my favorite authors, Christopher Moore and Carl Hiaasen, both have new books out this week, and I did score a signed, color, first-edition copy of Chris Moore's book.  So I can take some solace in that.)

Back to the cooking club. 

Here are our April recipes, with some basic commentary from me after each.  As always, if you want to, you're welcome to join.  We don't even have to know you.  You just have to have a blog and commit to cooking and blogging about as many recipes as you can each month. 

1.  White Chicken Enchiladas.  I don't usually care for enchiladas, which is particularly ironic because Mick's favorite time of the entire year is when On the Border runs its "endless enchilada" special.  (It just ended last week, sorry folks.)  There's just something about them that makes me always pick something else on the menu if we're somewhere that serves enchiladas.  It's not that I actively don't like them, it's just that they are not my favorite.  Or maybe I've never had the right ones.  But we actually cooked this today (blog post to come) and they were freaking phenomenal.  VERY time-consuming, but oh! So worth it.  More on all that later.  Or probably tomorrow.

2.  Pistachio cake.  I love pistachios, and can eat them by the bucket-full.  But pistachio-flavored stuff is usually not for me.  I am the same way with grapes versus grape-flavored stuff (well, unless it's wine), and peaches, and sometimes cherries.  Weird, I know.  But I checked the recipe for this cake and besides looking brainlessly simple (and allowing me to knock a bundt pan off my list), I think the pistachio will be mild enough to actually enjoy.  I'll let you know.  This one won't be cooked for a while, because as you know we have a monstrous practice cake still to eat, and TWO birthdays next week.  This cake may well end up the last thing we cook in April, come to think of it!

3.  Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Zucchini, and Feta.  Now, I usually like pasta salad, but I can't. stand. squash.  (or zucchini, or pumpkin, or anything else in the squash family that I have neglected to mention.)  So I'm nervous -- I'll make this, because I adore everything else in the recipe, but it might be that Mick reports on how it tastes if you like zucchini.  Because I'm pretty sure I'll be picking that out.

4.  Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork.  This was our pick.  It was a recipe we actually saw Ree cook on her show on Food Network one Sunday morning, and -- shhhh -- we've already made it once before! It was two things:  Good, and Spicy.  We already agreed we wanted to make it again, and we also agreed we needed to tone down the spices a touch to render it, you know, edible for others who don't chew on chipotle peppers for fun ... so we're pretty psyched to try this one again. 

We also have a bonus recipe this month, for Olive Cheese Bread.  C'mon, peeps. Do I need to say anything more?

--Jen

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