Cookbook Challenge 2013 - Week 31

This week began with a very exciting and impromptu trip to Borough Market, when I arranged to meet up with a friend of mine in London. The place was absolutely packed, and every available space around the market was taken with people picnicking on the purchases they had just made. Since the main purpose of my visit was to catch-up with my friend we found a lovely little café in which to park ourselves for an hour or two, the fact that they had a table outside with all kinds of baked goodness may have lured us in! After several cups of tea and a almost an entire wedge (well it was enormous) of red velvet cake we headed for a quick look around, I managed to avoid the temptation of buying everything in sight and limited myself to a small pot of za’atar – I mean those Ottolenghi recipes just won’t be the same without it. I have resolved to go back here when I have some more pocket money!

Since the weather had turned wet, and a bit miserable, I decided that a nice warming/cheery curry was the answer and so I made Chicken with Spices and Cream from Nigel Slater’s Real Fast Food. This was such a quick and easy dish; I do urge everyone to try it, even if as Nigel points out in the introduction, you’re sceptical about using a ready mixed curry powder (I used a Rajah madras one). The chicken was still nice and moist and the spiced sauce was just heavenly, a good job really as the house still smelt of it two days later. I served it with some plain rice, and a nice glass of chilled wine – bliss! The recipe can be found here if anyone’s interested: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/apr/21/foodanddrink.recipes5

Next up was another curry; somehow the slight drop in temperature has brought me out in a wintery mood, so heaven help me when it actually turns cold! This was a dish that I had already had the good fortune of trying when my mum cooked it for us last year, so I was more than a little anxious about doing it justice. The recipe was Fisherman’s Curry from BBC Good Food magazine, another one that’s been lurking in my recipe file for too long. This was a lovely fresh dish, the fish absorbs so much of the flavour and spice (it may have been a bit on the zingy side!) and the sauce was just begging to be soaked up by the naan that I served it with. 

 

My final recipe of the week was Middle Eastern Koftas from Rachel Allen’s Home Cooking, and it meant donning my CSI gloves to avoid turning up at work looking like I had jaundice, there’s nothing like turmeric stains to make your hands look decidedly unattractive. We were heading to the cinema that evening so I wanted to get some of the preparation done ahead of time, therefore when I returned home all I had to do was cook them and arrange the smorgasbord of accompaniments (think Build-a-Better-Burger, but with koftas and pitta – anyone who didn’t have this game as a child just hasn’t lived!). I know my cooking always goes down well with hubby because he’s very good with the compliments, but there’s nothing quite like the twinkle in his eye when he gets to ‘build’ his food, the fact that it was also super tasty was merely a bonus!

Recipe Count: 99
New Target: 104