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

RedLass

I love the concept of this thread/challenge and I'm totally inspired by it, so I'm going to join you all :wave: OH is on board too, but in reality that just means I'll cook it and he'll eat it, whatever it is!

I have a handful of cookbooks, maybe 20 or so, which I sat and stared at trying to pick one. Many of them are type specific - pastry, chocolate, pies... which I don't feel are right for this adventure, I want some variety. There are loads of cookbooks that I would love to buy and try but I'm determined to give it a shot with one that I already own, if only to validate my owning it! So the winner, beating Jamie, Delia and a giant Good Housekeeping book is:

Kitchen - by Nigella Lawson

This is one of the books that I pick up from time to time, flick through thinking 'ooo that looks yummy, must try that, must try that...' and then put back on the shelf and forget all about. The time has come for that to change. There's a strong family meal feeling about this book, which is good in that it's food I like to eat, but a bit awkward perhaps in that some recipes feed 8 and there are just 2 of us. But hey, that's what the freezer is for!

I tried to count the recipes which turned out to be harder than I expected because many recipes are followed by a 'making leftovers right' section, some of which are like mini-recipes or suggestions to use up the extra. Based on the 'whole' ones I came to something like 160 recipes, give or take, so this isn't a book I'll be flying through in a matter of weeks.

My aim is to do a minimum of one recipe a week. Sometimes there will be extras, perhaps a cake on a Sunday morning or something. But I don't want it to become a chore so I won't commit myself to more than that. Also, someone else mentioned that they plan to 'vito' some recipes because they just don't make sense for them. I am going to take a similar approach, because I simply can't face shellfish and there are a handful of meals that are based on mussels, clams etc.

So, it's weekly shop time in the next day or two and I'd better get a menu plan in place. Looking forward to getting started!

To summarise...

Cookbook: 'Kitchen' by Nigella Lawson - I want to be a goddess too!
Family: 2 adults working full time
Aim: 1-2 recipes per week

jap200

I did 2 more recipes from Save with Jamie at the weekend. We had a family gathering so I wanted two cold dishes to take with me so I chose:

1. Smokey Kipper Pate
2. Sausage Panzanella

Smokey Kipper Pate - p258

Jamie's (left) Jap200 (right)


Recipe feedback
I love kippers and I also love smoked mackerel pate so I was very optimistic about this. I happended to have some boil in the bag kippers in the freezer (bought on offer), so it only cost me the price of the some low fat cream cheese and a lemon.
It is very easy to make as you just cook the kippers according to the pack and then tip them into a blender/processor with the cream cheese, lemon zest and nutmeg.

Taste test
I have to say that this tasted absolutely awful and everyone who could be persuaded to taste it agreed! Unlike smoked mackerel kippers the blended kippers had a grainy/chewey texture, which was unpleasant enough, but the fishy, smokey smell was just overpowering and off-putting.
This is now sitting in my fridge almost untouched while I think of whether it can be salvaged by turning it into something else, or do I just tip it into the food recycling bin?

Would I make it again?
No way - I will stick to smoked mackerel pate which is just as cheap to make, but very yummy.

Sausage Panzanella (without the sausage!) p180

Jamie's (left) jap200 (right)


Recipe feedback
This is a salad made with stale bread, tomatoes, olives, onions etc. JO starts by telling you that this is a good way to use good quality stale bread. However, with 3 boys in the house we never have leftover 'good bread' and I didn't think dejected crusts from Kingsmill 50/50 would do the job, so ended up buying a small ciabatta loaf - which seemed a bit of a waste, but I set myself this challenge! The redeeming factor was that we are bursting at the seams with homegrown tomatoes, so we saved quite a bit there.
The recipe seems odd because you blend half of the tomato and onion with some oil and vinegar to make a kind of tomatoey broth that you pour over the other ingredients. I thought that it would make the toasted bread chunks soggy, but it didn't.
You are supposed to make tiny meatballs from sausagemeat, but as we had a lot of vegetarians out our gathering I left those out.

Taste test
It didn't look as nice as Jamie's version for some reason, but it was actually really tasty. It was also satisfyingly filling for a salad. Few of the kids liked olives or capers, so it was mostly eaten by the adults.

Would I make it again?
Possibly - it was a good way of using up home-grown tomatoes, but would be quite expensive if you had to buy all the ingredients including the olives, capers and parmesan.

4 down - 116 to go!
Doing chicken stew & dumplings next (p84)

nearlyrich

My Mustard Chicken and Dauphinoise Potatoes went down well tonight we had green beans with it because that's what we bought on Saturday and I didn't want to buy more veg today. I am away for the rest of the week so I will be eating whatever I like from the Hotel menu will try to do another next week.

Syman

my meat and potato pies from the hairy dieters(P78/79)

Boodle

RedLass wrote: »

Kitchen - by Nigella Lawson

You beat me to it RedLass!

I fancy joining in with a Nigella book. Have asked the hubs to have a look through Domestic Goddess, Feast and Express to decide. I think we are going with Feast as we can work our way through the year with the seasonal menus and recipes.

Cookbook: Feast by Nigella Lawson
Family: 2 adults working and 3 children
Aim: 1 per week (depends, I might end up not doing any some weeks, then several on others.)

jap200

Syman wrote: »

my meat and potato pies from the hairy dieters(P78/79)

Wow - they look fantastic! I would love to eat one of those - they certainly don't look like diet pies -well done to you!

sweetme

I have so many cook books and have barely cooked anything out of them!

I'd like to join please.

Cookbook: Fay's Family Food.
Family: One Adult (working full-time), three children.
Aim: 2 per week.

cheerfulness4

I've just taken Fay Ripley's What's For Dinner book back to the library and her recipes look really good. Shall be interested to see what you cook Sweetme.

Likewise with the Nigella Kitchen book. Mines been stuck on the shelf and looked through lovingly but hardly anything made from it as yet. Can't wait to see how the dishes go with that one Redlass.

Had a night off recipe cooking as had company for the day. BB goes off tomorrow so I'll have to catch up when its back in action.

VJsmum

So, lemon chicken and pea risotto

1 lemon
1. Garlic clove
1lb chicken (I used 2 large breasts in reasonable sized chunks)
1 tbs olive oil
550g risotto rice
3 pints chicken stock
1lb frozen peas (I used peas and corn and didnt weigh it)

Heat oven to 200c/400f/gas 6

Finely grate lemon zest sand juice the lemon. Peel and crush garlic
Place chicken in a deep Tim, pour juice and zest over and cook in oven for 15-20 mins

Heat oil and add garlic, add rice then stir to coat. Gradually add stock to rice, stirring all the time and allow each one to absorb before adding the next. Don't leave it. It takes about 40 minutes for rice to cook,
Add frozen peas when half stock gone
Add chicken and stir in, serve immediately

variations
I used peas and corn.
I chucked a glass of white wine in before starting with stock
I used chicken juices as stock at one point
I added some baby asparagus (cooked) at the end
Served with grated cheese

Verdict. It's a bit of a cheat as it is a family favourite - or at least the kids. I find it a little bland and prefer a veggie risotto. It fed me and kids and there was a portion for my lunch



Mine



Book

jap200

Oooo VJsmum that risotto looks very yummy!

I am going to try and recycle the rather nasty Jamie Oliver kipper pate fail (post 63 above) into some fishcakes tonight. I found a recipe online for kipper fishcakes and I think I can adapt it. I'll report back later!