Cookbook Challenge 2013 - Week 21

As I said at the end of my last post I was off on holiday this week and as suspected I did very little cooking, I don’t think heating things on a camping stove really counts (though they were things I’d taken from the freezer and had actually cooked initially…nope, didn’t think I’d get away with that!). It was a very good week for food and drink, as it turns out – we visited the Black Sheep Brewery, Theakston’s Brewery, Copper Dragon Brewery, and the Wensleydale Creamery so a diet of beer and cheese was inevitable really (though we did bring the majority of the cheese home with us, as we may have overindulged slightly during the cheese tasting). At times I did wonder about my suitability for the whole camping experience, namely when I swanned off down the campsite in my Joules wellingtons, with my Cath Kidston vanity case clung over my shoulder…
To bridge the gap between camping and our weekend in the city we called in to Betty’s at Ilkley on the way past for a spot of lunch. After a round of salmon sandwiches and a visit from the cake trolley we were just about transformed and felt ready for civilization. 

I think my big revelation came when we hit Leeds at the end of the week and during the obligatory curry night (at Aagrah on Harrogate Road) we had a mixed tandoori grill which, unbeknownst to me, contained liver – but rather surprisingly I really enjoyed it. I’ve never been a fan of liver in the past, like a lot of people, but it wasn’t overpowering and clearly it was cooked to perfection as the texture was not that of rubber. That night I also sampled a lightly spiced seabass fillet, and a monkfish curry that may have been a little on the spicy side, but the complimentary glass of wine soon sorted that out (seriously, the nicest waiters in there – the wine was slightly delayed in arriving so it was on the house…I don’t think it had anything to do with Barbara glaring at them at all!).

 

Our second stop in Leeds was for lunch the following day when we headed to the Corn Exchange, so we sat there and watched the diners in Anthony’s Restaurant while tucking into our gourmet hotdogs in Primo’s. But I have to say they were extremely good, exactly what we needed to after the heavy night before – the people of Adel sure can hold their liquor!
 

That night we headed to a Mexican restaurant in the new Trinity development, Cielo Blanco. We arrived fairly late but were pleased to see that the place was still packed and having been told there’d be a twenty minute wait we were pleasantly surprised to be ushered to our table before we’d even had chance to order a drink at the bar. We decided to go for a tapas-style selection of the street food dishes, so we feasted on quesadillas, tacos, tostados, and stuffed jalapenos. It was a really relaxed evening and the food was truly delicious – I’m glad I did some research before heading up North! 

After a day watching the cricket in a Headingley pub garden, just a stone’s throw from the live action, we were taken for a wonderful meal at Divinio, an Italian restaurant in Adel. The asparagus starter jumped out at me straight away as I’ve not yet had any of this season’s bounty (stupid weather delaying my favourite vegetable!), and then in a shock twist I chose the pan-fried calf’s liver and a side of minted peas – oh my goodness this was good, did anyone know that liver was this good?! I may have been totally bowled over by this dish (I’m sure if my husband hears the word liver one more time, well I imagine he may ‘swing for me’).

Next week is going to seem really dull now…

Recipe Count: 66
New Target: 104

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

Cookbook Challenge 2013 - Week 19

With a bank holiday looming I made some great recipe plans for the long weekend, then in a flurry of invitations they were slowly but surely wiped out – but hey I’m not complaining. A wonderfully fun BBQ with our neighbours, and then an equally awesome one the following day with my parents was just the thing to make the weekend a truly relaxing one. So a big thank you to all our hosts for some truly spectacular cooking – not least the brioche and baklava which we thoroughly enjoyed!

My efforts this week now seem very paltry in comparison to everything we tasted at the weekend, and the fact that we were out for two evenings meant that I didn’t get to make very many dishes either; in fact my recipe count is only a very measly two. But given I’ve already exceeded my year’s target it’s not the end of the world, the dishes I managed to create still produced some smiles on the faces of those that ate them. First up I wanted to do a bit of baking so I flicked through my recipe file once more and decided to make one that I’ve looked at for ages and never actually made – Raspberry Bakewell Cake from BBC Good Food Magazine. Now my first mistake was leaving the butter on the windowsill to soften, in the full sun….all day (cue melted butter dripping off said windowsill on my return home), so with my second pack of butter desperately softening on my aptly named ‘butter-shelf’ (i.e. the shelf above the radiator) I set about weighing everything else out and hoping that by the time I needed it, the butter would be nicely squishy. Now although the recipe did call for a large quantity of ground almonds I also added a couple of dashes of almond essence too, because I just can’t resist that heady hit of marzipan. The cake was a hit with everyone that tried it, and it was especially nice with a scoop of ice-cream after a particularly meaty BBQ.

 

Thanks to my scavenger hunt a few weeks ago I had stocked up on pasta and so was able to try the recipe for Conchiglie with Yoghurt, Peas & Chilli from Jerusalem. I think it must have been all the warm weather we’ve been having which tempted me to make this dish, as the yoghurt sauce is cold the finished dish is not piping hot, but this seemed perfect…until the wind and rain reappeared. But I figured the addition of feta cheese would appease any qualms hubby might have, indeed I was right. This was a super dish, the pasta really held onto the sauce and each shell of pasta had filled with peas and yoghurt-y goodness – and the crispy pine nuts on top gave a really wonderful extra texture. I think I might have to head out for more pasta supplies soon…

Recipe Count: 62
New Target: 104

 

 

Cookbook Challenge 2013 - Week 18

This week began with a somewhat unusual recipe, from none other than Ottolenghi of course, but it was also the highlight of the week. From Jerusalem I chose to make Open Kibbeh, which can only be described as a sort of meat cheesecake – though it should be noted that this was for appearance only, texture and taste wise it was thankfully very different. It starts with a bulgar wheat and flour base, and is topped with a mixture of onions, lamb, pine nuts, herbs, and spices which is then baked in the oven before being topped with a layer of tahini paste, more pine nuts and some parsley. What can I say about this really, it was just awesome – can you tell that I liked it?! I fell in love with the dish before it was even finished, the smell of the lamb cooking in all the spices was just heavenly and for days afterwards I could still smell the lingering hint of aromatics. I was intrigued by the bulgar wheat base having never cooked it in this way before but it was really lovely. We even had the leftovers for dinner on Monday as it was just as good when reheated carefully in the oven. A definite winner, but I would expect nothing less from my favourite chef!

After all the excitement of the previous days efforts I knew I was never to going live up to that so with that in mind I opted for a very simple Rosemary Chicken with Ratatouille from BBC Good Food. All I had to do was chop up the vegetables and pop them in the oven, adding the chicken a while later – a very satisfying Sunday dinner served with a green salad. The lovely hints of rosemary that came from the chicken were super and the ratatouille had really cooked down nicely.

For some reason I decided to completely decimate my rosemary bush in the garden by also cooking Nigella’s Rosemary Remembrance Cake from Feast. It was a cake that had been made for me previously by my cousin so I wanted to give it a go too – now I don’t know how much of the herb she put in but mine just didn’t seem to have the same resonance as hers (see Clare mine don’t always work – and you were worried about your efforts!). Ah well, I suppose I’ll just have to try again – more cake it is!

 For a simple week night dinner I chose Lemony Salmon with Couscous from Forever Summer, and I was not disappointed. Despite the number of bowls involved in the preparation this was a very simple dish to create, the salmon was lovely and delicate and the zingy couscous complimented it really well – a fresh, healthy, and delicious start to the working week. 

Having rummaged around the contents of the fridge I discovered I had most of the ingredients for Risotto with Courgette Flowers from the Two Greedy Italians, so I figured that even without the flowers (there’s little to no chance that I’d be getting hold of those around here) it sounded like a nice dish. And I was right, packed full of vegetables it was a lovely and colourful risotto – I don’t think the absence of the flowers mattered too much either!

Recipe Count: 60
New Target: 104

 

Cookbook Challenge 2013 - Week 17

To begin another week of culinary adventures the husband and I ventured off to the Cowley Road in Oxford to hit all the wonderfully exotic food shops located there. I had diligently rummaged through all my cupboards and made a list of ingredients to look out for – my recently depleted pasta supplies desperately needed restocking, and my spice levels were running low. Hitting the Asian supermarket first I piled my arms high with all kinds of aromatic spices, and I also stocked up on coconut milk while it was so reasonably priced – hubby took the opportunity to slip a platter of baklava into the basket too. After that we hit the Maroc Deli across the road and I grabbed some cheap harissa and ras-el-hanout, and then it was just a few doors down to the Italian deli, Il Principe, where I loaded myself up with plenty of de cecco pasta – which incidentally was no more expensive in there than it is in the supermarket (when you can get it obviously, my local only sells the spaghetti and linguine varieties). With our bags practically bursting at the seams we ambled over to the pub and made the most of the sunny weather in their beer garden – a very satisfying day all round!

With the sun deciding to hide away again I thought a nice warming dish was in order for our Sunday lunch, and so I made Chicken Cacciatore from Tana’s Kitchen Secrets. Having done the small amount of prep work involved I was able to pop the casserole in the oven and enjoy a nice glass of wine and waiting for the lovely smells to permeate through the house. I served this with some orzo which I had stirred a small amount of olive oil and lemon juice through after cooking – a very pleasant way to end the weekend.

Having received Nigella’s Forever Summer for my birthday I had been waiting for the sun to show its face so that I could whip up some lovely summery dishes, but in the absence of much warm weather I thought I’d actually whip up something that resembles sunshine on a plate. So the recipe for Keralan Fish Curry with Lemon rice looked like just such a dish, and I was not wrong – boy was that a yellow plate of food! Most of the cooking time is creating the curry sauce as you simply add the fish for the last few minutes of cooking – another brilliantly simple recipe for a Monday night. I think the only thing I’d do differently next time is to serve it with plain rice as the lemon rice seemed a little greasy, and obviously just blended in with the colour of the curry – thanks to the powerful staining power of turmeric.

Next up was Penne all’ Emiliana from Gino’s Pasta. Unfortunately on my foray to the Italian deli I had been unable to procure any penne so I substituted rigatoni instead. This was a really lovely dish, I was bit worried that the pork might be slightly overcooked having been bubbling away for a while, considering it was chopped up quite finely, but it wasn’t at all – it was nice and tender.

I’ve wanted to make quesadillas again for a while now but because we have wraps most days for our lunch it always seemed like it would be tortilla overkill, but when I found the recipe for Sweet Potato & Chorizo Quesadillas and remembered I had some chorizo in the freezer, I thought what the hell! With hubby out at cricket I cooked the sweet potatoes and prepared the filling so that I could cook the completed quesadillas on his return. Fortunately when I came to griddle them I discovered that they did actually fit in the pan, phew! I served them with just a side salad as there seemed quite a mountain of quesadillas, but we struggled through them anyway – I think hubby would have eaten twice as many if he could, he seemed very impressed (but then they contained feta so it was only to be expected!).

 

 

Recipe Count: 55
New Target: 104

…I’ve had to up my target because beyond all expectations I’ve already exceeded my original one, despite being only a third of the way through the year – go me!!