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jap200

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Save with Jamie: Carbonara of smoked mackerel

Jamie's (left) Mine (right)


Recipe feedback
This was a bonus recipe for me as I hadn't specifically shopped for the ingredients, but happened to have some smoked mackerel needing using up and this seemed to fit the bill. As you can see, I used a different shaped pasta, but otherwise stuck exactly to the recipe.
This is the usual carbonara sause (eggs, milk and parmesan) stirred over hot pasta, but with smoked mackerel and courgette instead of the traditional bacon.
It was quicky and easy to cook - nothing fiddly at all. Good for a midweek meal.
The recipe serves 4, but my teenage boys are huge pasta fans, so I upped the recipe to use a whole 500g bag of pasta and 3 eggs instead of 2. The quantities were then just about right for 3 large man-size servings and smaller ones for youngest son and me.

Taste test
This went down very well indeed except for 2 sons picking out the courgette, so apart from those two little piles, there was not a scrap left on the plates at the end.
Overall rating 9/10

Would I cook it again?
Yes - this could easily become a family regular. And I would keep putting the courgette in and mayone one day the boys will actually eat it!


I'm also really getting into the swing of this challenge now and finding that it is forcing me to do meal plans and a propper shopping list. I'm doing more of these recipes per week than I had anticipated because they are mostly quite quick and simple.

I did the mothership roast pork yesterday but no time to write that up now - will report back later.

jap200

aliama wrote: »

Overall thoughts about Kitchen: One thing I do appreciate are the detailed notes about freezing food and using up leftovers. It's things like this which make a cookery book genuinely useful, and it's a pity that more books don't follow suit.

Both of yours sound good and make me want to try them. And believe me, you are not the only one who has eaten frozen cookie dough!

On your point above, the Save with Jamie book also has ideas notes for freezing and using leftovers as well as substitutions, which I am finding really useful too. I agree that this should be standard in all recipe books.

Kiwisaver_2

Today I made [STRIKE]Prawn[/STRIKE] Chicken and Sweetcorn Chowder (Jamie's Ministry of Food page 294)



In keeping with the MSE spirit I made this soup with leftover cooked chicken rather than prawns and really liked it. Not sure I would have been so keen on prawns in this recipe anyway. In the main it is quite a basic leek and potato soup made a little more interesting with added sweetcorn and bacon, which I would quite happily eaten without either chicken or prawns added.

I added only a very small splash of cream for colour - probably only one tenth of the 285mls of cream that was stated in the recipe. Near gave me a heart attack just thinking of that much cream. :eek:

I will most likely make it again and would consider adding chopped carrot and celery another time

aliama

Still no pics I'm afraid. I really must find the computery whatsit lead for my phone.

And hopefully at some point I will actually get around to making a main meal dish from this book. In the meantime, I cooked up a batch of the apple and cinnamon muffins today.

Recipe Feedback: Pretty simple and I managed to use up a couple of eating apples which had been languishing in the fruitbowl for a while. I made a couple of subs, groundnut oil instead of vegetable oil, and vanilla flavoured yoghurt from the Easiyo rather than plain yoghurt, since that's what I had in the fridge. Also used flaked almonds rather than whole, purely out of laziness.

Taste test: Hmm, I think the word for these muffins is 'Om nom nom.' They're pretty tasty. Definitely one to make again, but I might experiment with leaving off the topping because I'm not convinced it adds much. For convenience, Nigella suggests making the dry and wet mixes up seperatelyin the evening so it's ready to be mixed and baked the next day. Because everyone deserves what is basically freshly baked CAKE for breakfast. Ahem. I should add that it was extra delicious warm. Yes, I did have two. For purely scientific purposes, you understand.

Score: 8/10

And on another note,I know I'm not doing Save with Jamie, but I made the pappa al zucchini for lunch today with some leftover stale chilli bread (itself from Gino D'Campo's Italian Home Baking), and despite me managing to burn the crap out of the courgettes, it was delicious.

Kiwisaver_2

On to Page 165 today to see if I could pimp up my Spag Bol Jamie style - his recipe is not a whole lot different to what I might do freehand apart from having loads more carrots and oregano than I would ordinarily use. I didn't have fresh basil so improvised with a teaspoon of pesto.

I was most concerned at the amount of water required and opted just to add a small splash rather than two tinfuls; generally I only add tinned tomatoes or pasata as liquid.

We really enjoyed it and it was much better than my bog standard sauce, although it took a lot more time to cook than my usual. I am glad I stuck to my instincts regarding the water content as I wouldn't have wanted it to be any wetter.

There's plenty spare, so I will freeze it up and do the lasagne another day.

joedenise

I'm making another recipe from my book "SW Family Feasts on a Budget". Today's meal is spicy beanburgers with cajun wedges & a dip.

Have made the beanburger mix and it is far too wet to form into burgers! Have got it chilling in the fridge at the moment in the hopes it firms up enough to form into patties.

Not sure whether or not I'll do the wedges as I'm planning on having them in a pitta bread with salad. Will see if DH fancies wedges tonight. Definitely not doing the dips neither DH nor myself are great fans of dips.

Will report back tomorrow with the results of the burgers - or whether we ended up with cottage pie from the freezer which I've got out of the freezer for tomorrow night!

Denise

Gigervamp

If the fridge doesn't firm them up, you could add some breadcrumbs to soak up the excess moisture. Alternatively, stick the mix into a loaf tin and make a fake *meat*loaf. You could then slice it and put it in the pittas.

jap200

Gigervamp wrote: »

If the fridge doesn't firm them up, you could add some breadcrumbs to soak up the excess moisture. Alternatively, stick the mix into a loaf tin and make a fake *meat*loaf. You could then slice it and put it in the pittas.

Other things to add to firm them up (if you have any of these) are dry packet stuffing mix, cous cous, bulgar wheat or polenta/cornmeal. Start by adding just a little and wait a while as it they all absorb water and swell up. I actually regularly use the 12p basics stuffing mix in my homemade beanburgers for this very reason.

ostrichnomore_2

Sticky Belly of Pork
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9098/sticky-slowroast-belly-of-pork
Not quite a cookbook I know, but hope it'll count.

1.3kg piece pork belly, boned, rind left on and scored (ask your butcher to do this)
2 tsp sunflower oil
1 tsp white peppercorns, crushed
3 large onions, sliced
2-3 tbsp clear honey
2 tsp ground cumin
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Lay the pork, skin-side up, on a rack in a roasting tin. Trickle with a little oil, then lightly press on the crushed peppercorns and a sprinkling of coarse sea salt. Place in the oven, then cook for 1 hr. Remove from the oven and baste with the juices. Continue to cook for a further 1½ hrs, basting every 20 mins.
Put the sliced onions in the roasting tin under the pork. Mix the honey together with the cumin and chilli, brush it over the pork, then increase the oven to 200C/fan 180C/ gas 6. Cook for a further 30-40 mins, basting occasionally, until caramelised with a rich, golden glaze over the pork. Once cooked and tender (this can be easily tested by piercing the flesh with a knife), remove pork from the oven, then leave to rest for 10-15 mins.

Amendment - my piece of pork was only 700g so cut the first cooking time down to 1.5 hours. Also mixed up the glaze and was a bit dubious about it and some of the recipe reviews didn't like the cumin part, so added a lot more honey to 'water it down' and also a big splash of balsamic vinegar as I love that on meat.

Recipe test
Excellent! Melt in the mouth pork with a hint of extra sweetness and fabulous crackling - OH said it was the best crackling he'd ever had (and he sneaked back into kitchen and ate the leftover slices of meat I was saving...grrr). the glaze did burn a bit on the surface in places but only superficially and didn't effect the flavour. Mine actually looked nicer than their pic (above) as it was a much thicker piece of meat.

Would I do it again.
Definitely. Very easy and a great result a little bit different to the usual plain roasted version.

medsdemon

Well I've decided to do Jamie's Great Britain and am starting this weekend coming with his 12 Hour Rabbit Bolognese after managing to pick up a whole rabbit at a farmers market last weekend.

I have previously cooked several recipes from the book so will write a review of each recipe now:
Mighty Mulligatawny-this made loads and felt like a really filling meal. We all ate it even my DD so but would probably not make again as I didn't really like the texture. 6/10
Breaded Scampi Bites-really easy to make but served with ready made tartare sauce and made with GF breadcrumbs. 8/10 would make again.
Happy Fish Pie- lovely but took some time to make so on a weekend would definitely make again 9/10
Empire Roast Chicken, bombay Roasties and Indian Gravy- did this one sunday for an alternative roast dinner and loved it. It used lots of spices but most people have these in their cupboards and the gravy was a bit of a hassle to a lazy person like me who usually makes up B*sto!! 9/10 have made it again too!!
Earl Grey Tea Loaf- made this with GF flour and it worked out okay. 8/10
Walnut and Banana Loaf- made with pecans instead of walnuts and with GF flour. Have made this several times as its so easy and always disappears 10/10
Crackled Pork Belly with mash and sweet onion scrumpy sauce- absolutely delish and will def make again 10/10

I hadn't realised I'd cooked so many recipes from this book already:D:D Obviously one I'd recommend then!!