Cookbook Challenge 2013 - Week 20

Having been invited to a party to celebrate a friend’s overseas wedding I thought we should probably eat something before we left – given my penchant for passing out when (a) I haven’t eaten, (b) I have eaten, (c) I feel warm, or (d) none of the above but what the hell I’ll do it anyway! With this in mind I made Southern Potato Curry from I Love Curry, a dish that I had been meaning to make for a few weeks but it was always the one ‘that would keep’. This recipe was incredibly simple, the potatoes need cooking separately, and then you add them to the sauce for a short while at the end for them to absorb some of the flavour and finish cooking. I probably could have added a little bit more spice, but I do have form for making things a little too hot so for the sake of my long-suffering husband I held back a bit this time.

Another recipe which I’d put off last week was Chicken Souvlaki with Coriander, from Sarah Raven’s Food for Friends and Family. This was supposed to have been done on the BBQ in the blazing sunshine, but was in fact done in the griddle pan with the rain lashing at the windows – you’ve got to love the British summertime! Having marinated my chicken ahead of time, I donned a pair of CSI gloves to thread it on to the skewers. The jaundice look which results from handling anything containing turmeric is not one I intended to sport for the rest of the week. I heated up the pitta bread and served with a simple salsa of tomatoes, red onion, coriander and lime. I did contemplate doing further side dishes but I figured with the amount of chicken and the size of the pitta breads we’d probably have more than enough already. Despite my husband’s comment that he hated this ‘cooking your own dinner malarkey’, owing to the fact that he had to put everything in the pitta bread himself at the table, he did seem to enjoy himself enormously – it was me that managed to make a complete mess of it (but it’s not like there’s any photographic evidence of this at all…).

I do hate a recipe which is never going to emulate the glossy colour photograph it comes with because clearly they’ve done something extra to the dish – this is how I felt when I decided to make Taking the Pistachio, Pistachio Ice-Cream from The Icecreamists. Clearly they had added green food colouring to their ice cream but was there any mention of this in the recipe, no! And another thing when exactly do you want me to add the almond extract, the first time you tell me to or the second? The resulting ice cream was very tasty, what little there was of it anyway – not really sure it was worth getting my ice-cream maker out for to be honest!

Every time I chop courgettes I always think that there is far too much and we’ll never eat them all, yet I know that they shed loads of water therefore reducing the amount once they’re cooked – so seriously when will I stop questioning it? Conchiglie con Zucchine e Pancetta from Gino’s Pasta was the aforementioned courgette dish, and yes the pile of chopped courgettes was huge to begin with. I love conchiglie pasta at the moment, I like the way it collects little bits of goodness inside its shell – meaty goodness in this case – and surprises you mid-mouthful! A very simple recipe and a very tasty dish, this book is definitely staying in my collection come year-end.

Next week I’ll be on holiday and there will be absolutely no cooking being done – though I will be hoping to sample lots of good food cooked by someone else!

Recipe Count: 66
New Target: 104