Cookery book club - August - Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard and Every Grain of Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop

[Wearytiger]

Welcome to the Mumsnet cookery bookclub! Each month we choose two cookery books. 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 July our books were:

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

And we posted here.

For August, our books are:

• Fuchsia Dunlop Every Grain of Rice
• Dan Lepard Short and Sweet

For September our books will be:

• Tessa Kiros Falling Cloudberries
• any book from the River Cafe books

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 October's books this month.

[greensnail]

Made the special fried rice from egor end of last week (can't remember what the recipe was actually called), was lovely and everyone finished their portion so will definitely make it again.

Made the easy white loaf from short and sweet today with help from my four year old. Came out very well and dd1 was so impressed that she can make bread. She wants to try rolls next.

We were planning to do the toll house yoyo to take to a friend's house tomorrow but dd1 convinced me to buy some cupcakes instead (they are very pretty) so will do the biscuits later in the week to take to a different friend's house.

[snowlie]

Have not made a single thing this month, too many visitors staying with us, so food has to be predictable and haven't dragged the dcs to the Chinese supermarket - that might be today's activity.

[ScienceRocks]

Made the vanilla cupcakes and everyday scones from Short and Sweet yesterday (as part of an afternoon tea for MIL). Both excellent, though Dan says that the scone recipe makes six and I got 18 out of it

[pregnantpause]

Made short and sweet blueberry muffins (uptoapoint linked them earlier) today, but substituted blueberries with wimberries as the mountain I live on is covered with them. Free fruit is the best
The muffins were wonderfully light, and for me, the first baking success since we did nigellas feast (baking is something of a challenge for me, I failed with Jerusalem, Nigel, Jamie, I really am awful at it.) But these will undoubtedly be the breakfast of choice until the wimberries are no more. So proud of myself. Dh hardly believes I made them.

[pregnantpause]

Me and dh just had egor gong bao chicken with peanuts (too spicy for DC, so I halved quantities for two) like everything I have cooked from eogr it was lovely. Ten times nicer than a Chinese take out. Worth the effort, and it's cheap to make. I used a normal red chilli as have no sichaun chillis in. we had it with the stir fried broccoli and plain rice. Delicious.

[HuevosRancheros]

Well, I am currently eating what is quite an adventurous dinner for me! From EGOR :)
Garlicky smacked cucumbers - delicious.

Stir fried potato slivers with chilli and sichuan pepper (I added spring onion too, merging two variations she suggested). Really good, except I forgot to add salt, which it needed. Saying that, it would go really well with a salty/soy dish that needed countering. We ate this a lot when we were in China, and I have to say, I think the one I've just cooked is better than what I ate there! I used new potatoes we just dug up :)

Vegetarian clay bowl chicken. My second attempt at using tofu 'bamboo'; previous efforts ended up in the bin. I cooked the tofu as for the Tofu Bamboo with Spring Onion Oil, as she suggests in the blurb, to give more flavour. The texture is a little odd, may not be for everyone, but as a veggie, I am always keen to have a variety of textures of tofu! The flavour was fantastic, so I assume the non-vegetarian version, on the next page, would be equally fantastic

Just as I was cooking, DH wandered in and said he wasn't hungry, so just me eating. So I didn't bother with any rice, which I would normally cook, and I can't say I missed it.

[pregnantpause]

Damn it- I had everything for the smashed cucumber, but chickened out, and shoved it in my pimms instead (just the cucumber, not the garlic et al) I will add it to the next thing I try (potentially the clay bowl chicken now it's been given the MN cookbook approval)

[glorious]

Rocky road rock cakes are cooling, awaiting their gooey topping. My hand slipped when adding the cinnamon so I think I may have to eat them all to protect others.

And in a hangover from a couple of months back I'm eating a bacon sarnie with chipotles en adobo and have black beans simmering for refried beans. Mmm.

[houseelfine]

Dan's cheese chilli almond biscuits are amazing. His sour cherry cookies also work really well and as these are expensive, I replaced with cranberries. I do find his cakes rather heavy and dense though. Not really a fan... I am yet to try any of the bread recipes as they seem to need a lot of attention rather than mix, knead, prove, punch, prove, bake. There are about 3 reset and knead intervals where you have to wait for different resting times. It is a shame as this is the way for most bread recipes, rather than one or two.

[HuevosRancheros]

Glad to hear that about the chilli and almond biscuits, as I have some flaked almonds in the cupboard, glaring at me. Think I bought them to make Smitten Kitchen's Beesting cake, but never got round to it. Been wanting to try the biscuits for a while, you have convinced me. As have all the rest of you who have made the black pepper cheese buttons, will have a go at those soon :)

[Wearytiger]

Ooh huevos, I made the beesting cake twice. The first time was not brilliant (I posted about it) but the second time it was amazing, one of my best ever cakes! But yes, you should definitely stick to te thread and do some DL baking...

[glorious]

Rocky road rock cakes are very chocolaty and have lots of exciting chunks. I'd probably use half milk chocolate on top next time as they're a touch too sophisticated with all plain for the kind of thing they are. That might just be me though. I used walnuts instead of peanuts.

They're extremely easy and I reckon would be good to make with DCs. It's just mixing and a bit of rubbing in for the cakes and you dollop them out. The topping is melt and mix but uses boiling water so a bit would be adult only. Mine's only 6 months though so what do I know!

[HuevosRancheros]

Well, on looking at the chilli almond biscuit recipe, I see it calls for whole almonds. Normally wouldn't have any in, but Ocado randomly sent me some this week! We are off camping again on Saturday, so baking will have to wait a while. Besides, not convinced the kids would like them, and seems a little unfair to have them involved in the baking of something they won't like! So maybe once school starts again.....

Tiger, will have a look at your beesting comments; I forgot you did SK a while ago, it was before I 'joined'. I can't decide if I will love or hate the cake, and it looks like a massive thing to make and then not like! It's the custard filling I'm not sure about..... but it may be a little dull without it?

[snowlie]

Took a trip to the local Chinese supermarket and came away with half the shop. Bought some fermented tofu which scares me a little - I remember how bad it smelled on the streets of Hong Kong but I will be brave, I have learned to love blue cheese so I can do anything. [Grin] Dcs chose some chopsticks and have been eagerly practicing the art since the very helpful shop assistant showed them the correct positioning.

Made my first dish from EGOR - General Tso's chicken. I roasted the chicken rather than fried it because I was drinking wine - hot fat and alcohol are not a good mix. It was lovely though, good flavours and pretty simple - served with greens and rice, dcs loved it too....so it most definitely has found a slot in the family cookbook.

I really fancy the smashed cucumbers and we just so happen to have a few extra in the fridge.

[mignonette]

I regularly cook the Orange Cassata cake from Dan Lepard's book. It is wonderful but I have adapted it over time to omit the chocolate if baking it for DH who prefers more citrus and less chocolate. I like the fact that it is a recipe book by a serious, trained baker and is not glossy photo after glossy photo. You get real value for money and a writer who understands scientifically why a recipe should or should not work.

I have had the book for some time now and own all of Tess Kiros' books. They are visually beautiful albeit a bit food porn. Her 'Sipi's Strawberry Cake' sounds lovely and Tastes great. It has a less of a sponge texture and is almost shortcake like because of the milk in it.

[HuevosRancheros]

snowlie, the smashed cucumbers are lovely :)

[madamecake]

I really need to start cooking from EGoR, think I might do the tofu with chilli tomorrow.

Made the egg, ham and potato pie from DL yesterday. It was nice enough, but not nice enough to make again, DH thought it was a bit on the bland side.

DD (20 months) helped me make the lemon and poppyseed cake this afternoon! I'll be finding poppyseeds for years to come. It's delicious, not too soggy from the lemon syrup, and not too heavy.

Also, does anyone know if there are many recipes from falling cloudberries online? I can only find a couple and our library doesn't have the book.

[glorious]

Fish fragrant sea bream and the smoked tofu, celery and peanut salad in progress. Have also bought wonton wrappers to have a go at the first one in the dumpling chapter, but probably later in the week.

Might make a DL cake or perhaps marmalade flapjacks for seeing my friend with a newborn later in the week

[Cocochops]

My wok arrived so have made a few things from EGOR

Chicken in black bean sauce but made with prawns and not chicken. I think the flavour from using the fermented black beans was really lovely. I have a massive bag so need to cook lots more from EGOR. They came in a vacuum pack can I just reseal and put in the cupboard or do they need to go in the fridge?

Pock marked woman's tofu - first time I have cooked tofu was lovely. Even dh who I thought would turn his nose up at tofu liked it. I don't think I needed to add the extra dried chillies though as it was a bit too spicy as I think the chilli bean paste was fairly hot.

Smacked garlic cucumber nice and easy side dish. Would do it again if I had cucumber to use but didn't think it was amazing.

glorious where did you get your wonton wrappers? I wanted to buy some when I did my wing yip order but was surprised to see they didn't have them.

Was going to make DL honey banana muffins today but didn't have some of the ingredients so made some banana ones off the BBC website so easy and delicious.

[ZuleikaJambiere]

I've done my first EGoR meal tonight - the Gong Bao chicken with peanuts, with blanched choy sum with sizzling oil and also stir-fried celery with macadamia nuts (I didn't have any lily bulb, well apart from those in pots on the patio, but suspect that isn't what FD has in mind). The chicken and celery were both delicious and I'd definitely do them again. The blanched choy sum was also tasty, but I don't think I did the sizzling oil thing right and therefore that didn't add anything extra to the dish.

Annoyingly, every other page of the meat and chicken chapters seem to be missing. One of the missing recipes is the general Tso's chicken that snowlie recommended, that I'd liked to have tried, so I'll have to google for it.

[ZuleikaJambiere]

And, I've been meaning to ask about woks. Tonight I used my heavy based frying pan, and it was all v tasty, but probably not perfectly wokked. Do woks work on an Aga, does anyone know? I'm wondering whether its worth investing, or sticking with my much loved frying pan

[glorious]

coco just a scruffy Chinese shop up the road (SE London). It took me a while to spot them, they were frozen and about I phone size or a bit bigger if that helps. And I'd put the beans in the fridge but I put everything in there

So the fish fragrant sea bream was lovely. The sauce is kind of like a mild sweet and sour but much more delicate and sophisticated than that sounds. We've had it with aubergine before which is a classic and I wasn't sure whether it'd overpower the fish but it absolutely didn't, it worked really well as you could still taste the fish perfectly.

The celery / tofu dish would've benefitted from the right tofu rather than my improvised substitute but was a nice enough starter/accompaniment and helped with the celery glut.

[Forgetfulmog]

Well I appear to be making every cake & biscuit recipe from short & sweet! They just always work!

Made the choc chunk cookies yesterday, left out the egg & they were lovely & crunchy. Made the lemon & poppyseed cake today & it was gorgeous - v light & fluffy.

[greensnail]

Hi everyone, I've been busy baking but rubbish about coming on mumsnet to tell you all about it.

Last week I made the spiced aubergine and lentil pie. The filing was nice, not amazing but a decent enough recipe to get aubergine into a family of aubergine haters. Only dd1 (who usually likes aubergine) wasn't too keen. The pastry was lovely though, I think I will be replacing my mum's shortcrust recipe with this one as my default shortcrust pastry.

Then we made the toll house yoyos to take to a friend's house. I was a bit disappointed when we tried them immediately as the vanilla flavour was very overwhelming but by the following day they were perfect although possibly not the best choice to take to my sugar phobic friend's house (her kids loved them )

Today we have done the lemon and poppy seed cake. Just waiting for it to cool before trying it.

Planning to make gong bao chicken tomorrow for tea, I'm very excited about that one

We're going camping at the weekend so no more baking and Chinese for a few days, don't fancy balancing the wok on a camp stove!

[greensnail]

Lemon and poppy seed cake is nice but a little bit dry and I would prefer it a little more lemony. Maybe I should have poked more holes for the syrup.