Would you like to help us test recipes for the Mumsnet Cookbook?

[CatherineHMumsnet]

Shhh .. don't tell everyone but we're working on a top secret new project in the form of The Mumsnet Cookbook and we need your help.

We'd like to get together a Mumsnet Cookbook cookery group to stop us from piling on the pounds help us test these shortlisted recipes.

Each volunteer will be allocated a recipe which they'll then cook for their family and give us some feedback on how easy, hard, good, bad, expensive etc they are and whether they'd make it again. All the recipes chosen were submitted over the years by Mumsnetters, so there shouldn't be any outlandish or particularly difficult to source ingredients - and they should all be pretty easy to make (we hope!).

As a thank-you, we'll be putting everyone who helps out into a prize draw to win a Bloomsbury cookbook.

And if that's not enough of an incentive, everyone who helps will have their *Mumsnetter nickname featured in the cookbook's acknowledgements.

So I cooked the Lamb Shanks

I've done the feedback. I have some photos too. (Where do I upload them or send them to?)

Anyway I had to tweak the recipe a bit. I did it on the stovetop. As directed, but added some seasoning (ground black pepper and some rock salt) at the beginning.
I cooked for 3 hours, but at the end, I didnt think the meat was falling off the bone enough for me. So I let it simmer for another 2 hrs. This would have been better in the slow cooker I think, as hanging around the kitchen for 5 hrs is not practical.
Anyway, at the end, the meat was well cooked, but the sauce was just a bit bland. And after paying £10 for the two, I wanted to make it a bit tastier.
I took the lamb shanks out of the pot, added 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 bayleaves and some chicken stock as it was well reduced by this point. (I though that the reduction would make the sauce a bit more flavourful, but it didnt really)
I brought the sauce to the boil, then added the lamb shanks back in and let it simmer for about another half hour.
The resulting sauce was yum.
I served with mashed potatoes and sugar snap peas.
The meat literally fell off the bone, and both my friend and I cleared the plate!

I definitely wouldn't do the recipe again as it stands. The meat was beautifully cooked, but that would have happened if I'd just cooked it in stock for that length of time, or done it in the slow cooker. The sauce definitely needed "something".

Melty - I do lamb shanks by sticking them in a casserole with a random collection of chopped root veg, a diced onion, a tin of chickpeas, a tin of tomatoes, some stock and some red wine if there's any lying around. Add a teaspoon of cumin, half of allspice, some turmeric and a cinnamon stick (and a bit of salt) and stick in the oven at 150C and ignore for about 6 hours. Serve with couscous :)

Very easy, no faffing, and any leftover veg make an excellent meal on their own.

That sounds nice Filly. A bit of a morroccan taste?
I just tried to follow the recipe as given, even though I thought from the start that it needed something else.
I added my extra bits at the end, as I love nice flavoursome food, and frankly it would have been a waste of 2 lovely lamb shanks to leave as it was! While the meat was lovely and tender, the sauce was lacking.

When I've done them in the past, I either do with red wine, rosemary, garlic and red onions
or
redcurrant jelly, tomato puree, boquet garni, stock, bayleaves, onion (caramelised) and rosemary.
Or Ive done it with a similar recipe to the one I did, with tweakings of balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, stock and bayleaves.
I mostly start on the stovetop then bung in the oven too.

I love lamb shanks, and dont eat them often enough.

Yes, quite Moroccan-y, although not based on a specific recipe. I also love lamb shanks, and used to do them more French stylee (bouquet garni etc) but one day had prepared all the veg etc then realised the lamb shanks were still in the freezer. With limited time left to prepare dinner I chucked in a few tins of chickpeas and went a bit Middle Eastern with the seasoning and ended up with a very yummy vegetarian stew.

Next time around, I stuck with those flavours and remembered to add the meat. Its even better with an aubergine...the stew becomes a wonderful silky, soft mmmm-ness :)

Will be PM-ing folks over the coming weeks with more recipes. Will be a bit fitful as we work out which chapters are going to need more testing. But thanks so much for all your brilliant (and detailed) feedback.

@Catherine I need to re tweak the biscuits I made - the amendments I sent were based on what I needed to do to salvage the recipe, but having re made them a couple of times (they are now a favourite around here & DD is getting annoyed that DH keeps eating them all I realise that for some strange reason adding cream to the overly dry mix at the end needed more cream, than adding it all together at the creaming together stage - if that makes sense - so I will email new recipe with photos again later today - that way you know what I'm on about

Rockinhippy - thanks! Look forward to getting that.

OK - we have some more recipes that require testing. I'll just put them in a list - if you'd like to try them out, just say so and we'll work out who's doing what.

potato and leek soup with bacon

breakfast bars

children's frittatas

tortilla

tomato and tuna pilaf

lettuce risotto

sweet potato and coconut soup

gazpacho

summer mint and pea soup

mushroom and broccoli soup

Thai lemongrass, chicken and mushroom broth

Thai banana pudding

Berry and caramel pudding

Sticky toffee pudding

I'll happily do the sweet potato and coconut soup, CatherineMumsnet!

gazzalw - thanks, that's yours then.

Berry and caramel pudding please!

I'll do the frittata and the leek soup with bacon!

I'll take lettuce risotto if no one else wants it.

Droitwichymummy and weegiemum - thanks, they're yours to test.

DorsetKnob - thanks (I think it sounds nice!)

Can I do the breakfast bars please? Sound like the kind of thing that will get gobbled up round here!

BetterTogether - yes please.

Can I try the Gazpacho?

Sticky toffee pudding for me please?

EsmeWeatherwax and lisad123 - you're on.

So to recap we now have these recipes still looking for homes (and testers)

Tortilla

Tomato and tuna pilaf

summer pea and mint soup

mushroom and broccoli soup

Thai lemongrass chicken and mushroom broth

Thai banana pudding

Can I do the Thai chicken, lemongrass, mushroom broth?

MrsJohnDeere - yes please.

Thank you

Right on the case - when would you like feedback CatherineMumsnet?

I can do the pea and mint soup if you would like, I usually make a pea soup hadn't thought of adding mint. I have a ham hock in the slow cooker and need to use the stock.