Join us on the 'Cook through a whole cookbook' challenge!

joedenise

joedenise wrote: »

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

Well I ended up making a veggie lasagne! Wasn't particularly nice but it fed us!

Glad I'd made a fruit roulade as we demolished that during the evening because of not having much dinner!

We're having the cottage pie tonight. Just need to cook some veg.

Denise

StarMummy_2

just subscribed to the thread. what a fab idea. shall start my mission next week, after i've chosen a book from the wide range of food '!!!!!!' i keep by my bed.:rotfl:

yorkie18

Can I join too please? I think this is a great idea and will also be cooking from the 2nd Hairy Dieters book. I've done 3 so far so will upload full photos and reviews later. Great work everyone!

terra_ferma

aliama wrote: »

I'd like to join in too, please, although I'm afraid I can't do pictures at the moment. I'm also doing Nigella's Kitchen, and have done two recipes as part of this challenge so far (although I've also made the baked egg custard before and can recommend it).

Rapid Roastini

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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.

If anyone is interested, Nigella's recipes from that book can be found here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/nigella-lawson/recipes/index.html

roastini: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/rapid-roastini-recipe/index.html

yorkie18

Ok here goes...I've tried three recipes so far and mine don't really look like anything in the book but nonetheless...

Curried Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Picture from the book

Picture of my food


Recipe Feedback I found this quite tricky to make but mainly because I had never prepared a butternut squash before. My husband helped me with that part and we found it quite tricky. That aside, the instructions were easy to follow and I had no problems there. The recipe calls for 4 eating apples but my pan was getting a bit full so had to settle for 3. I also didn't add the apple juice in the end as I didn't feel the soup needed it.

Taste Test I'm not really sure about this. Initially, I really liked it but the more I ate the more I felt like I was just eating a slightly odd tasting apple sauce. Considering I had reduced the quantity of apples and I didn't add the apple juice, I was surprised that this tasted so very appley. Maybe it was the type of apples I used, but I found the apple flavour and bit over-powering and made us feel like the effort of the butternut squash wasn't really worth it.

Would I make it again? I don't think so. We made the same quantities as the recipe so there is some in the freezer to have another day but I imagine it will be in there for quite some time.

yorkie18

Baked Fish with Chorizo Crust

Picture from the book

Picture of my food Sorry this is so big. I've tried to reduce it but it keeps coming out like this.

Recipe Feedback This was really easy to make. I actually quite enjoyed it too.

Taste Test I really, really enjoyed this. It was a really easy and refreshing meal. My food doesn't look like the book (but that's normal right ).

Would I make it again? 100% yes, we both really enjoyed this and it was so simple to make.

yorkie18

Turkey Burgers and Chips

Picture in the book

Picture of my food (Unfortunately, I only took a picture before cooking)


Recipe Feedback These were quite easy to make, but mine didn't quite come out like burgers but still...I didn't make the paprika chips as we had some wedges in the freezer.

Taste Test I really didn't like these. They were dry and pretty tasteless. I thought maybe I was missing something but my mum has already tried them and found the same. However, she did love the paprika chips so maybe I will try them in the future.

Would I make this again? No. It really didn't inspire me at all. I would attempt the paprika chips but with a different dish.

Kiwisaver_2

Chicken Tikka Masala - Page 82 Jamies MoF

Recipe Feedback This was easy enough to make, as it used Pataks tikka masala paste there was not much to go wrong really except again I ignored Mr Olivers instructions to add an extra tin of water. So glad I didn't add the extra water as I still ended up cooking for longer with the lid off to try to reduce and thicken the sauce.

Taste Test would have liked just a little more spice

Would I make it again? Yes, it was nice enough and fairly quick and simple to make mostly with stuff you could keep on hand in the freezer and larder. Have a good couple of portions leftover and saved in the freezer for the biriani recipe another day.

Boodle

We made a version of Pumpkin Seed Brittle from Nigella's Feast in half quantity

Less the cream of tartar but added a couple of drops of bottled lemon juice. It is quite sticky after a while in the fridge but ok.

Mrs_Veg_Plot

Cannot do photos but would like to join in. Will be using both of the Hairy Dieters recipe books.

Tonight I made the Hairy Dieters Chicken tagine with preserved lemons. Page 119 of the HD's eat for life.

Recipe feedback. The sauce was quite thin and I cooked it for 10min longer than the recipe said but that was due to the size of the potato wedges that I added.

Taste test. I did not add the preserved lemons as DD does not like the taste of cooked lemon nor the garlic (OH is working tomorrow) but I do not think that this detracted from the flavour as it was very tasty.

Would I make it again? yes it was a hit with OH and DD