On Saturday we cooked with a cooking group other than our own and we had a wonderful dinner and a delightful time. The theme for the dinner was local products, and this was the line-up:

Crappie fritters (Like Jamaican fish cakes, but made with locally caught crappie; pictured above)
Grilled venison medallions wrapped with bacon (makes my mouth water thinking about it)
A salad of heirloom tomatoes, arugula, roasted corn and local goat cheese (all from the farmers market that morning)
Three kinds of locally raised beef (all of it insanely good)
Purple hull peas
Green beans
Spoonbread (I’ll try to get the recipe to share–it was the best spoonbread I’ve ever eaten)
A genoise with fresh berries and pannacotta for dessert (see picture below)

I took mango daiquiris to go with the fritters and someone asked me where I’d sourced them locally (ha!), but then I noticed that someone else used mangos in a coulis for the dessert. From the same local tree, I guess…

This is one of my favorite ways to spend a weekend evening. If you’re not in a cooking group, grab a group of friends and get one started! Or get with a group of like-minded people, set up a date and make new friends when you cook. We only barely knew the folks we were with on Saturday, but when food lovers get together, there’s plenty to talk about and it’s such a nice way to make new friends.

If you’re interested in a cooking group, post it here and see if anyone bites…