Cookery book club - July - Hugh F-W Veg and curries by Madhur Jaffrey and the Hairy Bikers (vroom vroom)

[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 June our books were:

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

And we posted here

For July our books are:

• Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Veg Every Day
• Madhur Jaffrey Ultimate Curry Bible AND / OR madhur Jaffrey's Curry Easy AND / OR Hairy Bikers' Great Curries

For August, our books will be:

• Fuchsia Dunlop Every Grain of Rice (chopsticks at the ready ladies)
• Dan Lepard Short and Sweet

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 September's books this month.

Ah yes, with ALL MJ recipes I put in a fraction of the salt she recommends. If she says 1 1/2 teaspoons, I put in a 1/4 teaspoon instead and I find it tastes fine.

I never add salt to any recipe. If it says seasoning I just add black pepper. I never miss it. I think my mum thinks my food is a bit bland but no one else seems to notice (they can always add some at the table).

Actually there is one exception I normally add half a tsp to tomato sauce for pasta. Which I consider a treat. That's it!

I usually don't add the salt till the end and then it's to taste rather than to recipe - but I love salt and I'm not shy about using it.

MJ lamb bhuna tonight which was tasty. Quite curry house but in a good way. Nice thick sauce.

Just to let you know I've set up the new thread for August! Sneaky name change here but probably still recognisable...

Zuleika on a complete thread hijack..... I was just searching MN for ideas for our trip to North Norfolk next week, and found a thread where you were asking for ideas too! Just wondered what you would recommend?
(I already have seal trip from Blakeney, beach and chips at Brancaster, Holt-Sheringham steam train and BeWilderwood on my list )

Huevos, I grew up there! Hunstanton is a proper old school seaside town so worth a trip, burnham market and the deepdales are quite chi chi, sandringham is lovely (don't have to go in the house, the grounds are great), holkham and Holme beaches are also gorgeous and a lot less crowded than wells or brancaster. Castle rising is a lovely ruined castle and good for picnics ANC a scramble.

Sorry just have to put my tuppence worth in. Burnham Market does have great foodie places, great bakery, fish shop etc. I still remember the Portuguese custard tarts in the bakery from about 6 years ago. Also Hustanton has a lovely gallery, kind of crammed in but normally a potter working you can watch.

Brilliant, thank you both
Castle Rising and Hunstanton added to the list! :)

Huevos, try and park outside the council office in Hunstanton. Much cheaper than everywhere else and only a couple of injures walk from the seafront, high st etc.

Have a lovely time

I hope those injuries will be worth the saving on parking costs!

Sorry pregnant, I forgot to proof read (and to think I write for a living ). Minutes not injures, obviously.

Hi Huervos, we stayed in Burnham Market and I can vouch for all the food shops - never have I self catered so deliciously. The fish shop is actually the best place in the whole wide world.

Bewilderwood is amazing, I'm pleased that's on your list already. We had fish and chip night on the beach at Hunstanton and it is gorgeous there in the evening. We didn't go to Brancaster beach, so I can't comment on that. Holkham beach is the biggest beach I think I've ever seen, my tip (if you like to be in the sea) is to go at high tide as otherwise it is such a trek to actually get a paddle - my poor DD was exhausted before she even got swimming!

Wiveton Hall fruit farm, near Blakeney, is lovely. Strawberry picking is great, and the cafe is stunning, you'll probably need to book though.

Have a great trip

Right, back onto this months books - yesterday we had cauliflower salad with toasted seeds (from HFW) which was very nice and one I'll do again (and was the first time I've used the sumac I bought when cooking from Jerusalam). Tonight we had a mish-mash of the peanutty noodle salad crossed with a similar recipe in July's Good Food (I can't find it online, to link to) - the GF recipe had a dressing made with peanut butter, which which my DCs adore, so I knew that would keep them happy. I did stir fried veg and the herby cucumber as a side salad, as I wasn't sure what the DCs would think of that, all in all it was tasty and a hit with us all, but I'm not sure whether the credit should go to Hugh or Good Food! And to make it a hat trick of recipes to end the month, to tomorrow night it's just me eating so I'm going to have the celery and blue cheese in toast, as I have some lovely Stilton in the fridge, looking forward to it

North Norfolk is great, lots of really good pubs serving fantastic food. We've been to Bewilderwood a couple of times now - dcs were a bit bored the second time when they realised it's mostly slides, unless they've added some new activities in - they get much more out of the Dinosaur Park and it's cheaper.

I only managed one HB curry in the end as the hot weather made me a very lazy cook. (Come back summer, please, I wasn't really complaining!
Did a bit better with HFW, including the mushroom ragout last night. Served it with pasta instead of polenta and may have snuck in some chorizo and it was a lovely, low effort mid-week dinner. Generally I thought that was what the book was best for - picking up twists for meals I do already rather than learning anything exciting (Cambodian wedding dip disaster not withstanding). Also, I found his cooking instructions quite faffy. I am very much a one pan girl, and I once read him saying that to make a propper ratatouille you need to fry all the veg individually and only combine at the end. Who has the time?! But also, does it really make that much difference? Genuinely curious - may be I am missing something with all my shortcuts.

I think when you cook all the veg separately, they maintain their individual shape and flavour better and the texture of the ratatouille is less like a sloppy soup....but I'd go for the all in one method too - I don't find ratatouille to be a thrilling dish anyway....even when done properly it's a bit ordinary.

Thanks everyone for the off-topic travel advice

Will bear in mind the Hunstanton parking, and the tide time for Holkham.

I think the DCs (5 and nearly 3) will still find Bewilderwood good, they are happy with slides and walks in forests :). And it seems to have boat rides too, which they will love.
Dinosaur place on our list too :)