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.

Oh my goodness - have just finally got 'Plenty' out of the library. I want to cook everything. Where do I start?

Pantah - what does kale taste like? I like the sound of the lasagne but have never had kale before. I don't like green cabbage and I don't like sprouts and I imagine kale to be somewhere near them in taste. I don't mind spinach.

Remus:
*Surprise tatin is good
*Loved the stuffed onions, would be good as starter or light meal
*Black pepper tofu
*Banh xeo is different, and delicious, and light
*Personally didn't like the mushroom lasagne, but realised (through making this) that I don't like ricotta in lasagnes. Or tarragon. Learn something new every day!
*Shakshuka
*Have heard good things about the sweet winter slaw, but never done it myself
*Brussel sprouts and tofu is fab :)
*Keep meaning to do the green pancakes and lime butter, never got round to it
*Egg spinach and pecorino pizza I remember as being good; I am fairly sure I found it very salty, but haven't written any notes
*The first thing I ever wanted to make was the globe artichokes with crushed broad beans; for some reason I never did, probably because they weren't in season when I got the book at Christmas time. When are artichokes in season?
*Have heard people rave about his hummus, but am fairly happy with mine...
*Avocado, quinoa and broad bean salad is one of my favourite things. It was my first introduction to quinoa :). Think i tweaked the dressing recipe a bit though, don't remember the cumin

And having leafed through the book, I have made more than I realised. But want to make loads more! Will start a list :)

Remus, snap! I visited a friend today and spotted Ottolenghi on her cookbook shelf (not the man himself, I hasten to add) so have brought it home

HB lamb pasanda this evening. Took quite a long time but not much effort if you know what I mean. Tasted good, the kids liked it too. Served it with rice, salad and papad.

I've made loads out of Veg - have owned for 18 months. We rarely use another book during the week. Several recipes have become regulars.

This week I tried a new recipe from it - summer stir fried vegetables with egg fried rice. Yummy and quick.

Also doing oven roasted ratatouille and vegeree this week.

Black pepper tofu looks amazing. That's deffo on the list.

viva kale is like a cross between spinach and cabbage, I love it but if you're not into your greens I'd substitute the kale for spinach you just might need twice as much.

Made HB Light Korma tonight, was good but still too bloody hot. I used proper ginger this time but think I need to halve the amount as we love korma. It tasted just as creamy and spicy as the full fat version. I also made their Sag Aloo, it was lovely another one to make again and again. It would go well with simple grilled chicken or fish as well as part of a curry meal.

Remus and science stop tempting me with Plenty!! I already have Ottelenghi and Jerusalem, this thread is not supposed to make me buy more cook books

Thanks Pantah, using spinach instead is a good idea.

Pantah get Plenty :)

Though I do love the way that when Tiger started this bookclub (all hail tiger), it was because she had loads of books that she never uses, and thought it would be good to work her way through them....

I have bought Thomasina Miers, Jerusalem, Hairy Bikers' curry and One Grain of Rice since happening upon you guys a month or so ago

Don't get me wrong, :), love them all, thrilled to be introduced to them all, but blimey, an expensive thread, this one.
(better stay away from the 'finding the right bra for you' thread this month! )

I have had Plenty for sometime now and I'm embarrassed to say I haven't used it yet

I bought it because DH and I wanted to eat less meat.........really need to open it. You all sound like you've made some amazing stuff.

Top of the list so far are the black pepper tofu, the green pancakes with lime butter, the double potato curry (but the cooking time seems far too long - I feel like it would turn to mush) and the butternut squash salad.

HuevosRancheros, have you heard of this wonderful invention called a library ?

Thank you for the chipotles as well. I have finally made my chipotles en adobo - just in time too, as ocado has stopped stocking the paste

Me too, Huevos! Though I have been sitting here tapping my fingers, waiting for HB Curries to arrive... finally checked my Amazon account today and realised I'd never actually completed my order. So I'm a little behind this month (I have both MJs but they are still in transit from our old house) but have made notes of all the suggestions and will get started soon. We're away two weekends as well, so I might end up carrying July over into Aug when we have curry-loving visitors coming to stay.
FWIW I can recommend the chicken karhai with mint and the South Indian potato curry from Curry Easy. (Have written next to the karhai: 'REALLY nice + easy, kids loved')

huevos it's cost me a fortune! And I haven't even been cooking that much from June onwards! I love it though and am getting back n to it now my hols are over.

Science it's nice of you to remind huevos about libraries although I do seem to remember the odd comment from you about the deficiencies of your local library ... ... But yes huevos try your library, everyone but science has been pleasantly surprised!

Incidentally I know what I have written next to the karhai, even though I don't have the book here, because I keep notes on successful recipes in a specially created spreadsheet, which has over 600 entries. I have been talking to school recently about DS1s obsessive collecting and cataloguing of data... and am slowly coming to the realisation that it might actually be genetic! I am a closet librarian and spreadsheet geek.

wow maniac that puts my obsessive spreadsheeting to shame. I am a mere novice compared to you!

continue to leaf through Veg but still keep failing to be inspired. Must try harder...have decided to make patatas bravas tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.

Tiger, well remembered! My library (and borough) is pretty rubbish for cookbooks, but most people seem to be having more success than me.

Impressive spreadsheeting skills in display particularly to someone who is unable to use excel. I make notes in my cookbooks and use twitter as my diary

Science
I ordered Jerusalem through the library, I was eighth on the list, it looked like I would never get it :(
So I bought it on the Kindle, flicked through and decided to keep it
(by the way, made the conchiglie with yoghurt, peas and chilli, on the recommendation of Orangette, and it was amazing. Far better than it sounds from the list of ingredients)

Got the Madhur Jaffrey book from the library, didn't fancy it, sent it back.
Got HFW Veg ages ago from the library, again nothing grabbed me (veggie since I was 15, nothing new in the book it seemed), sent it back
Got the other Fuchsia Dunlop book out ages ago, very meat-based, so sent it back

The ones I bought, I read rave reviews on Amazon, also looked at the index on Amazon. Of course, I got the ideas from you lovely ladies.
And they have filled 'gaps' in my bookshelves. Except I have run out of space, but you know what I mean. I needed a good curry book, a good chinese book, I had no Mexican at all.....and I have been thinking of getting Jerusalem for ages, but thought I didn't need it. Probably didn't really, as it is quite meaty, but I do love Yotam :)

I am on the waiting list for Prashad from the library!

(just read this back and sound like I'm defending my spending habits! Sorry, obviously have some guilt there!)

Defend away Huevos! I justify cookbook spending as one of the few things I do for me, and reason that we have to eat so it is actually quite useful. I also read cookbooks like novels, and would never think twice about buying fiction (for me or anyone else), so that also helps. This rationale deals with most of the guilt.

The Ottolenghi book I have borrowed is simply called Ottolenghi. It may have been the first one, as my friend (who I am trying to recruit to this thread) says she has had it for years. Recommendations welcome!

Science I write in my cookbooks too, the spreadsheet is just so it's all in one place. I started doing a 'recipes to try' one but only got about a third of the way through my books before I started losing the will to live - I love this thread because it's a less nerdy more interesting way of doing the same thing!
Huevos do you have Veggiestan? I've not used it yet, but some lovely-looking stuff in there.

I've made hfw new potato, green beans and olives for a lunch to take to work. I had a sneak try, and it's delicious

Done it before, but we had the baby carrot risotto last night, to the delight of my family, they always love it, it's worth a try.

Just out of interest, has anyone managed to persuade any RL friends to join in? I have been mentioning it lots, to far-flung friends in passing but to local friends very deliberately, in the hope that someone might wish to take turns cooking and/or share leftovers. So far, no joy. Will keep trying!

Any DPs/DHs getting involved? Mine loves bread and pasty baking so will probably wrestle Dan Lepard off me and may well be on here himself with his Paul Hollywood recommendations if that one ever gets chosen.

pregnant I hadn't spotted that one but a bunch of baby carrots arrived in the veg box yesterday so might give it a try, thanks for tip.

(and now I really do need to go and do some work)

We had new carrots in ours yesterday too and a kohlrabi. Sure I saw a raw salad using slivers of this in Veg when flicking through. Will look properly later. Carrot risotto sounds nice, has anyone tried the Mushroom Stoup?