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Original poster

Cookery Book Club January - Two Hungry Italians and Nigel Slaters Eat/Jamie's Great Britain

133 replies

Pantah630 · 02/01/2014 19:07

Happy New Year everyone, sorry this is a bit late. We picked Two Hungry Italians, Nigel's Eat (as lots got it for Christmas) and/or Jamie's Great Britain for this month.

I have the Italians on order and will look in the library for either of the other two or check out Jamie's website.

We're running short of ideas for future months if anyone has any suggestions. We have The Jewelled Kitchen earmarked for warmer months. I bought Tom Kerridge on Kindle so am keen to do that one soon.

OP posts:
HuevosRancheros · 23/01/2014 16:35

Oh, and I will probably have a go at the gnocchi, you make it sound worth the effort :)

ScienceRocks · 23/01/2014 18:38

I've got the Leon friends and family one. I think it was cheap on amazon at some point.

pregnantpause · 23/01/2014 19:13

Friends and family is what I bought- but my choice was based on a review which lists the recipes in it- some really appealed to me, and it was the cheapest to buy in the Amazon marketGrin

Original poster
Pantah630 · 23/01/2014 20:45

Blood orange pork went down well, served it with roasted celery and baby roast pots alongside the orange and radish salad. The sauce took a long time to reduce down, I think it could have reduced even further but by then I was starving so we went with it runny. I used a Wahaca chipotle chilli sauce rather than a sweet chilli sauce, not too spicy or sweet, just right.

OP posts:
ELR · 23/01/2014 20:50

I have Leon ingredients and recipes book one and the Leon baking and puddings book. Have had the books for at least three years and have made the coconut celebration cake and that's it!! But I have read the books cover to cover and loved the look of some of the recipes.

glorious · 25/01/2014 15:43

We had the bucatini al amatriciana last night. It was pleasant but not amazing, though I wasn't really expecting fireworks and it probably served me right for failing to get guanciale and San Marzano tomatoes...

glorious · 27/01/2014 17:01

Lamb shanks with crushed roots from Eat last night. Really delicious for something so simple.

polpettone al latte from TGI cooking for tonight. Not convinced I'm going to want to eat the milk it's cooked in as a sauce, but we shall see!

Original poster
Pantah630 · 27/01/2014 17:59

glorious I love lamb shanks, will have a look at that one. I've not been enthused to try anything else from THI yet. Might have another look later.

I have a chilli on and am going to try adding some dark chocolate near the end to see if it adds anything. I'm a tad sceptical.

OP posts:
glorious · 28/01/2014 08:12

The polpettone was delicious, though my suspicion about the sauce was correct. It wasn't unpleasant but neither was it a sauce!

8dayweek · 28/01/2014 21:37

This thread has inspired me to dig out Jamie's GB - I was certain I'd cooked a few things out of it but it looks like I've largely ignored it. I can vaguely remember doing the Guinness Lamb Shanks which, if I recall correctly, were nice but a bit faffy? The only other thing I've done (a million times) is Mum's Retro Trifle, but I never realised it was in the book as I got it off a recipe card from Sainsbury's years ago! (If you can call a pimped up Birds Trifle a recipe...)

Original poster
Pantah630 · 29/01/2014 10:56

February thread here

OP posts:
glorious · 29/01/2014 13:01

Thanks pantah , how was your chilli?

Planning the pizzoccheri with chard from TGI as soon as I can get to the deli.

8 I just made my first trifle would you believe!

Original poster
Pantah630 · 29/01/2014 16:15

Not brilliant to be honest, a bit too rich, we ate it but I can't bring myself to eat the leftovers. DH who eats everything, requested I never did that again :)

OP posts:
pregnantpause · 30/01/2014 16:01

Last night I made eat bacon boulengere, but as I am feeding children and have concerns at a meal entirely without veg I added sliced carrot and onion. So really it was a pan haggerty- but I got the idea from eat and it was a good one, weeknight comfort foodSmile

I've just taken my marigolds off after painstakingly removing all the bones from jamies 12 hour rabbit Bolognese. I can only hope it'll taste as good as the smell, which has lingered since I started it yesterday evening. I put it in the slow cooker, I hope it's good- I really will feed 14 though, shocked at the meat that's come from one little rabbitGrin

Cantdothisagain · 30/01/2014 22:07

How was he rabbit, Pregnant? I have one in the freezer; was contemplating the creamy rabbit in Eat...

pregnantpause · 31/01/2014 07:19

The rabbit Bolognese is very nice, a change, but tbh I prefer your standard meat ragu type Bolognese. The rabbit was very flavourful, but as it is cooked for so long it was naturally falling off the bones, and I didn't manage to get all the vertebrae out so I found one in my dinner which put me off a bit. But that's my fault.

I don't think I'll do it again, there are far nicer ways to eat rabbit IMO (the creamy version in eat being one of them)

HuevosRancheros · 31/01/2014 10:04

The library has Eat, Italians and a Leon book waiting for me, yay!
I shall be doing 4 books in Feb!

HuevosRancheros · 01/02/2014 08:21

Wow, what a change of direction for Nigel. I cannot stand the layout :(
The first book of his I saw was "30 minute food", which I bought for my Dad 20 years ago. I loved the photos and the descriptive writing. My love of his work continued, and I consider the Kitchen Diaries more bedtime/sofa reading than cookbooks, a lovely cosy read.

Eat? Tiny photos, minimal writing.... I looked at the intro and he describes the recipes as "in the style of an extended tweet". But I don't want that! I like to snuggle down with a cookbook and get inspired. And the "thoughts" and "more ideas" are so random, you would miss them if you flicked through. The layout of 30 Minutes Cook does a similar ting but much more successfully, imo.
God I'm old before my time, and stuck in my ways, aren't I? Grin

Greedy Italians, on the other hand, is surprisingly good for veggies. I've only had a quick flick through, I will snuggle down with that tonight!

Rant over, sorry Grin Blush

Cantdothisagain · 01/02/2014 21:22

Huevos, I couldn't agree more about the format of Eat. Hmm

Recipes are good but format is dire. No reading quality - and it's not even easy to locate recipes!

HuevosRancheros · 02/02/2014 22:15

glorious did you make the pizzoccheri?

If so, where did you find pizzoccheri, or did you use another type of pasta? Thanks :)

glorious · 03/02/2014 07:19

Not yet, haven't made it to the deli to try to buy the pasta and cheese.

We did make the prawns with lemongrass and coconut on Friday though for DD'S birthday tea. Very good as well as simple. We popped some rice noodles in which worked well.

HuevosRancheros · 03/02/2014 07:43

Ah, so it's something you can buy fresh from a deli, is it?
Hmm, hope we have something nearby.....

glorious · 03/02/2014 07:52

I was presuming dried but don't know. Bad start!

HuevosRancheros · 03/02/2014 11:14

How would I pronounce it if I were to ask for it?
Grin

glorious · 03/02/2014 11:47

pee-tzo-keh-ree with a little pause before all the double letters I think. All the vowels are brighter than in English. I only did a year of Italian evening classes though! The stress is usually on the penultimate syllable but may not be. I think it would be dried so you could look through the packets first. I guess you could substitute Japanese soba?!

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