Cookery book club - June - Mexican Food Made Easy (Thomasina Miers) and Thirty Minute Meals (Jamie Oliver)

[Curioustiger]

Come join the Mumsnet cookery bookclub! Each month we choose two cookery books - one popular, like Nigella / Jamie / Delia, so you probably already have it / can borrow it and one a bit more unusual. We cook a minimum of two recipes each - you choose the recipe, they just have to be ones you have never cooked before- which works out at four new recipes each month.Then we chat about them!

For May, our books were:

• Jerusalem by Ottolenghi
• Kitchen Diaries

And we posted here

For June our books are:

• Mexican Food Made Easy by Thomasina Miers
• Thirty Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver

For July our books will be:

• Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Veg Every Day
• Madhur Jaffrey Ultimate Curry Bible

We will always try to pick at least one book with recipes available on the Internet, and local libraries are great for cookbooks if you can order in advance. We pick books three months ahead so will be choosing August's books this month.

Hue via, that looks exactly what I need, thankyou so much!

DCs had TM's empanadas yesterday with baked beans (little bit of 'fusion' cuisine there), and they went down very well. DS2 even asked for a second 'cheese and ham pasty' . I was fasting so had two today for lunch instead. Yum. Not exactly a gourmet feast but easy + tasty + would do again for a quick tea, or picnic, or maybe even smaller canapé-style ones, though might be tricky containing the filling.

Had TM's one-pot bacon, beans + pumpkin tonight, which was... OK. I regularly do something similar (and nicer, IMHO) with chorizo and chick peas. It looked a bit soup-like and DCs all hate soup (weirdos), so I ended up adding a can of chopped tomatoes and reducing the sauce for an extra 30 mins on the hob. We had it with the green rice, which was really + truly delicious. I always love discovering a new method for cooking something I make a lot, and I will definitely be adopting this and probably also experimenting a little with it. Think it would make a great accompaniment to a simple curry.

Jamie for the rest of the week... Might do the sea bass tomorrow on the strength of positive reviews, then chicken satay on Friday. Bumping cassoulet up my list too - good to hear it can be done in (nearly) 30 mins!

Forgot to say, I crumbled feta over my bacon, beans and pumpkin along with the sour cream etc. because I had some and it needed using up, and it actually went quite well with it. (Also left out chipotle paste, to avoid inflicting pain on DCs. Just added some to my portion when I dished up.)

I made the summer veg lasagne, Tuscan tomato salad and mango frozen yogurt meal at the weekend, and it was a hit, although I reckon it took me nearly an hour and a half to make , partly because I didn't have the 'quick' ingredients and had to use dry pasta, fresh broad beans and fresh mango, but even without these it would've been closer to an hour than an hour and a half. However it was really tasty and I'll do all the dishes in it again.

I'm really torn on how I feel about the JO book, on one hand the claims that its quick and cheap and gives more time for the family make me quite irrationally cross, and don't get me started on the lack of timings and random dishes, sides and desserts in one meal. But on the other hand, i will definitely be making my food processor do more work in future and there are plenty of recipes I still want to try - mustard chicken, satay chicken and beef hash, as recommended by you lot, plus the quick brownies, chocolate ganache, and other puddings that have slipped my mind.

I'm still waiting for TM, and still second in the queue. And my library doesn't have Madhur Jaffrey at all for next month. So I'll probably be doing Mexican food next month and be totally out of sync! I've heard great things about MJ, but we have an amazing curry shop near my work, that mix up fresh spices on demand and then you just add meat/fish/veggies and liquid and slow cook. I'm not convinced I'll ever make a better curry, so don't feel I'm missing out by not getting MJ

Radiohelen I liked your thoughts on Chinese cookery books - I only have Ching and Ken, but I don't think I've cooked anything from Ken as so many dishes are deep fried (and I'm scared of all that hot oil). On baking, no one has suggested Mary Berry yet, surely she needs to be considered?

Tortilla soup for dinner tonight, it was delicious, enjoyed by both of us and will be done again. Although it wasn't quick to cook, it was pretty low effort until the deep frying of tortillas at the end (almost unheard of for me to do deep frying, DD(10) was most impressed )
Zuleika am very about that curry shop being near where you work

We had the mustard chicken meal tonight, chicken and dauphinois done in the oven as above, greens and pud. It was nice but not wow I'm afraid, I don't think I'd bother again,although DS2 loved the potatoes.
I have Every Grain of Rice on order, thanks for The Book People heads up above, snuck Hairy Bikers Curries and Michele Roux Jrs book into the basket as well

PTDG if you do it again, shallow frying the tortilla strips worked for me. Thought I might try brushing them with oil and sticking them in the oven next time as an alternative. (I have never been able to bring myself to deep fry anything; MIL used to have a rather scary built-in deep fat fryer in her kitchen, and I think that put me off for life.)

We had the sea bass + pancetta tonight, which was nice... DD said I had to report back that they thought it was 'excellent, apart from the mash'. (TBH they might have liked it more if I'd peeled the sweet potatoes.) The dressing for the greens made a change from plain steamed; I added runner beans too. There were enough flavours going on with the fish + the greens that if I did this again, would do with plain new potatoes or regular mash; or maybe flavoured mash and plain greens. But not both.

Incidentally I was a bit flummoxed when I got to the first instruction for the sweet potatoes and it involved a microwave, which we don't have. Only took about 15 mins to steam them, but glad I wasn't clock-watching!

Wow, Zuleika, that takes me back.
My parents used to love a day trip to Sudbury, and it was never complete without a trip to Rafi's..... so glad she is still going. I found one of her cookbooks at my parents' house the other day! And now I know she is online, I may have to place an order! :)

I work near the other store Huevos, it is fab. Sadly Rafi died recently . I didn't know she had written a cookery book

Panta, HAiry Bikers Curry book is fab . The butter chicken recipe is quite long but so worth the effort and everyone loved it

Just skimmed through it cat it looks very good and far more tempting than MJ Curry Bible to me. I forgot I also got Bill Granger's Everyday Asian and that also is looking good. It's dead at work today so I'm going to be salivating over my cookbook purchases all day :)

I absolutely love that Hairy Bikers Curry book, it is one of the best cookbooks I own. The recipes are so accessible.

Aren't they just, Leonardo. I was really surprised by the book and have cooked three recipes from it in the last two weeks and they have all been lovely. The basic Dahl is really good. I just bought a cheap spice grinder on Amazon to whizz up my coriander and fenugreek seeds for my next curry. Sorry to hijack the thread but I am really chuffed with this book

Am making Jamie's Crusted Cod tonight as by chance, I have all of the ingredients in the fridge. Will report back later

Hi everyone not managed to cook anything from the books this week so far as been super busy. Just read through the thread, maybe we should switch to the hairy bikers curry book if people are finding it difficult to get hold of the Madhur jaffrey one, thoughts everyone?
I got my book people delivery today and every grain of rice looks good. I also ordered the observer monthly book called cook which looks good. Doing a salsa and the guacamole from TM tonight to eat with a nice bottle of beer. Then will def do something on the weekend.

JO Mushroom Rissotto and spinach salad was delicious, will definately make again. I did soak the dried porcini and extra dried wild mush before adding to the pan though and added the soaking liquid to the bubbling stock I was adding. Didn't bother with the pudding, we rarely have one and the cherry/ice cream/coffee concoction from yesterday was too much.

Crusted cod (Jamie) was nice but not fabulous. I suspect I overlooked it a little which didn't help. The anchovies came through nicely and the herbs. I would try this again but with fish that hadn't been previously frozen as I think this affected the flavour

Steak burritos here tonight. Good but not great, mainly because I I just can't get on with steak. DH very happy though

Asian salmon with noodle broth followed by frangipane tarts, as wasn't bothered about trying to do it in 30 mins. Both were really delicious and will be cooked again. Only comment about the noodle broth was that the noodles took longer to cook than the packet said as I don't think they were in enough liquid, and they soaked up almost all of the liquid (so they were nicely wet rather than in a broth IYSWIM). Not an issue at all, but next time, I think I would use either use less noodles/add more stock. Very tasty and quick, and I felt didn't need the beansprout salad to go with at all (although I can see that it might add some interesting textures to an otherwise 'soft' meal)
I did make my own sweet pastry for the tarts (because I wanted to and because I have underused individual tart tins) but they were very quick and easy, and very yum. Didn't need the suggested creme fraiche at all, and have put 2 in the freezer.
I agree with previous posters in as much as I feel slightly frustrated by the JO book. I think there are potentially some great recipes in there, but don't enjoy the lay out and think that a lot of the menus are more than is needed, certainly for every day meals. I would have liked it to be set out in terms of mains/sides/deserts (with maybe some suggestions for each main as to which sides would work well). I am sure that I would not have bothered to try as many as I now think I will, if it wasn't for this thread

ELR Maybe we could offer up HB Curries as an alternative July book for those that can't access MJ Curry Bible. I had the CB out of the library last week but someone else kneedeep had it on order so I photocopied the two recipes I wanted to try. Must admit there weren't many recipes that I did want to try so will probably supplement with recipes from HB as well.

I agree with parttime above that if it wasn't for this thread I wouldn't have bothered trying to cook from JO if it wasn't for this thread as the layout and lack of timings make for frustration in a seasoned cook but I do think this is great for those with no kitchen confidence or little experience. DS1 loves it, he has just left home and in a shared house, he cooks but has little repertoire so this, and 15min meals, fits the bill well.

Sorry Pantah, I appear to be stalking you.

I did have the MJ book on order but when I went to collect it someone had pinched it off the reserve shelf!

I think I'll put the sea bass on the menu for next week. Got a question though - as I've never bought or made sea bass before. It says skin on fillets, scaled & pin boned; can I buy it frozen like that? I'm thinking that usually frozen doesn't have the skin on, but wondering if someone could let me know. Thanks ever so!

don't worry thy wont be allowed to renew it if its on order so you should have in time for next month. Do check out HB Curries though it looks really good, I also treated myself to a spice grinder from Amazon so plan to make one next week. I also found myself in the Chinese supermarket earlier, stocking up on essentials Bill and Kylie told me I need :)

^^gullible me

I've seen HB curries cheap somewhere but don't know where. I have the HB diet book which has a korma in it I think.

Are we swapping books next month then?