Cookbook Challenge 2013 - Week 47

Another of my recent acquisitions in the cookbook department was Home Sweet Home from the Hummingbird Bakery, I had resisted it for a long time but when I saw it for the bargain price of five pounds on a certain website my willpower officially ran out. So to justify my new purchase I had to bake something immediately and eventually settled on some Chocolate Truffle Cookies. The recipe doesn’t call for many ingredients so I didn’t even have to buy anything in, and they were exceptionally easy to make – there’s just a resting period of about forty minutes which means you will have to entertain yourself for a while. Once the mixture is chilled you just have to roll into balls, smother them in icing sugar and pop them into the oven on a baking tray. During cooking they will melt down and spread slightly so that you end up with a wonderfully cracked appearance, the dark chocolate colour an amazing contrast to the icing sugar. Just be warned that when you try to eat them you will get a little dusty, but they are definitely worth it!

My second new recipe this week came hot on the heels of the cookies and I was in the kitchen a mere two hours later. My chosen recipe was Gammon Steaks with Parsley from Nigella Express, and I’d bought some lovely big steaks from the butcher that very morning. As the steaks were so enormous I cooked them under the grill instead, there’s no way one was going to fit in my frying pan let alone both of them. I mixed up the sauce and reduced it just the same, adding juices from the gammon along the way. I have to admit that I wasn’t too keen on the smell of the sauce, it seemed very vinegary and didn’t really lose enough of it through the cooking – that said though it didn’t taste too bad once it was plated with the meat and peas so maybe I spoke too soon. Hubby certainly seemed to enjoy it and as a gammon-lover that has to be some kind of an endorsement.

The following day I fired up the slow cooker and made Tarragon Chicken in Cider from the Slow Cooker Cookbook by Catherine Atkinson, a book that was kindly given to me by a lovely friend who knew I was on the lookout for just such a cookbook (I’d previously borrowed books from the library but didn’t have one of my very own). I’d forgotten how nice it was to prepare the evening meal early and smell it cooking throughout the day, venturing out from the ironing room a few hours later I was greeted by the most wonderful smell – I felt like someone else had cooked for me. When the cooking time was nearly up I turned on the pre-prepared potatoes on to boil for the mash and then a bit later some peas. The chicken was so fantastically tender and moist and the sauce was so tasty, and especially good when mopped up with the mashed potato. I made the whole quantity for this recipe so have some portions to pop in the freezer, which I think I might use as a pie filling in a few weeks’ time – I can’t wait! I think the slow cooker will be in solid use for the rest of the winter, I’d best get the butcher on speed-dial.

 

My final new dish of the week was Butternut Squash Risotto with Sage Butter from Gino’s Italian Escape, mainly because I had half a squash taking up residence in the fridge and it desperately needed using. With the squash cooked and pureed the rest of the recipe was fairly standard for a risotto, lots of stirring and slopping in more stock from time-to-time. The sage butter was simple to make and sat to one side as I continued my stirring, the butter had turned a nice brown colour and smelt nutty with overtones of sage – I couldn’t wait to taste it! Adding the final few elements to the risotto turned it really glossy and sumptuous, and with a trickling of the sage butter it looked even better on the plate. I’d forgotten how much I love the combination of squash and sage, and even more so that lovely crunch of the crispy sage leaves that had been fried in the butter – just heavenly. This is one risotto that is worth all the stirring! 

Recipe Count: 154
New Target: 156