The Third Thursday Community Potluck CookbookRecipes and Stories to Celebrate the Bounty of the Moment



This is not your grandma’s potluck.

The cliché is unavoidable. At the third Thursday potluck, you won’t find canned soup casseroles or whipped delite, as much as you may love them. What you will find instead is an array of dishes in sync with the season.

 

Each month offers up an appropriate menu. July is for tomatoes; August for figs; December for gifts from the kitchen; February for staying warm. Gouda Risotto with Fresh Peas, Cider-Braised Pork with Pears, Crab Mac-and-Cheese, or Brown Butter Honey Cake, they each appear in their seasons at this lively community potluck.

 

Hosted by a group of goodwill-wielding friends and strangers, the potluck’s beneficiaries have one thing in common: a love of good food. The premise is simple; on the third Thursday of every month bring a seasonal fresh dish for sharing. The result is gloriously rich: new friends, fun, and good eats.

 

Whether you’re looking for instructions on assembling your own potluck (the first clue: no rules), or recipes for imaginative, honest dishes, whether it’s for a group of six or thirty, the inspiration in this book will suit anyone who wants to celebrate good food and good neighbors.

 

Nancy Vienneau began cooking professionally in 1980 as a caterer. These days she works in her community promoting local farmers, urban gardens, healthy affordable cooking, and food security. Most Fridays you’ll find her cooking at Second Harvest Food Bank. Her work appears in Alimentum: The Literature of Food, Relish Magazine, Nashville Arts Magazine, her weekly restaurant column for The Tennessean, and her blog Good Food Matters.

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