2015 Cookbook challenge

Mr_Singleton · 13 February 2015 at 12:38AM

Am on my 'fast' day so not eating today only drinking water with some lemon.

BUT I did pre-order Diana Henry's "A Bird in the Hand: Chicken recipes for every day and every mood" Out a month today!

SandieB_2 · 13 February 2015 at 6:47PM

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Hey, I also live alone but thats never stopped me when it comes to my stomach and a good recipe!

If I'm not sure about a recipe then I'll divide quantities to make a portion for 2 if it turns out not to my liking then I've only got a single extra portion to eat. If its a good 'un than I make the stated size normally "serves 4" then freeze the other portions meaning I'll have something tasty and healthy in the freezer for when I can't cook.

I do that too Mr Singleton...especially if it's something that I think won't freeze. I do like to have individual meals in the freezer that can just be pulled, nuked to defrost and the reheated, specially on weeknights when I get in late.

I'm off home now to have a look in my cookbooks and see what I'm doing at the weekend!

Lizling · 16 February 2015 at 12:29AM

I made crushed puy lentils with tahini. It's like hummus but with lentils instead of chickpeas. It's good. I'll definitely make it again.

Mr_Singleton · 16 February 2015 at 9:25AM

Lizling wrote: »

I made crushed puy lentils with tahini.

interesting..... any reason for using puy lentils rather than ordinary ones?

SandieB_2 · 16 February 2015 at 3:44PM

Well...the best laid plans and all that! I ended up not cooking anything at all hardly at the weekend, just had a really lazy two days! However the first cookbook I picked of the shelf was "muffin magic" so I intend to make apple muffins with cinnamon butter this evening!

S-Iam · 17 February 2015 at 4:27PM

I tried a new recipe over the weekend. For our Valentines day meal I made herb crusted rack of lamb. Although I've made herb crusted rack of lamb before I hadn't tried this version. It was from The Ginger Pig. The difference is that instead of cooking the lamb with herb crust insitu, you roast the lamb first and then put the herb crust on for the last 3 mins of the cooking time. So you retain all the freshness and colour of the herbs. The recipe was lovely, although the effect was slightly lost as we had to put the lamb back in the oven twice as it was raw. Next time I'll cook the lamb for longer than stated time, before adding the crust.

S-Iam · 17 February 2015 at 4:35PM

Just caught up with the thread.
Welcome to all the newbies :hello: we look forward to reading about the recipes you've tired. This thread is a great incentive to dust off the cookbook and try something new.
Reading everyone's posts there is some wonderful sounding food being created

Lizling · 18 February 2015 at 12:34AM

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

interesting..... any reason for using puy lentils rather than ordinary ones?

Only that that's the recipe. Red lentils would give a very different result because they disintegrate and puy ones don't, but I do like spicy red lentil dip too.I actually just used generic greeny-brown lentils of an unknown variety.

I've just found out that the recipe's online as well as in my cookbook, so if anyone wants to try it, here it is.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jan/03/lentil-recipes-yotam-ottolenghi

Penguins86 · 18 February 2015 at 12:48PM

I'm doing well at making different things out of my cookbooks. Most of them have gone well. Parmesan Thins however will not be made again. I managed to make the house smell of stinky feet and they tasted awful!
On the other hand, yesterday I made myself a very nice creamy masala chicken (from the GoodFood website) as OH was away with work and he can't have cream in things.
I've also recently made Jaffa Cakes from Nosh for Graduates which were lovely. Only way I'm going to change them is to try milk chocolate next time as they were slightly bitter.
Apple muffins are becoming a firm favourite so I'm making those quite regularly.
It's half term this week so I'm busy in the kitchen trying new things - from three different books!
Tonight we're having Noodles with chorizo and peas from 1000 healthy meals (I think that's the title) Nice and simple but I'm not very clever in the kitchen!
Tomorrow I'm trying out BBQ beans with smashed sweet potatoes from Save with Jamie and on Saturday we're celebrating Chinese New Year by making Sweet and Sour Pork with egg fried rice from Chinese Meals in Minutes.
Looks like most of my books are getting a bit of a work out this year!