River Cottage Veg Everyday.

[RabbitPies]

Which recipes are worth making fom this? And which should I avoid? I've had the book for some time now,but have only ever tried two recipes from it.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. TIA

The potato and chard curry was tasty too, and the aubergine parmigiana is delicious (and so it should be for the cals it costs) and the ribolata is very nice and easy to adapt to the slow cooker . my dd loves making the cheese and leek on toast- barely a recipe, but to a five year old she's making and eating haute cuisine - she enjoyed the diy pot noodles as well.

The refried beans were less than inspiring, but as the flatbreads are so good it hardly matters.

I must get this book out again thinking about it

I want to love this book and if it were just me and dh I would, but I can see almost nothing that my children would actually eat as a main meal

you might be surprised BirthdayMuppet...my two can be fairly fussy and ave enjoyed a few of the recipes though yes I do keep some just for DH and I

DS is particularly fond of the stuffed squash, the theatricality of it has proved a hit and he just enjoys the spectacle of eating his dinner out of a vegetable! the various risottos and other rice based dishes have gone down well and the pinto bean chilli has become a family staple.

Also the penne souffle - that was utterly wolfed down

They're both unadventurous and we've had genuine food issues with ds2 along the way. We desperately need to expand the amount and variety of veg we (all) eat - ds2 eats only carrot and sweetcorn (and even the corn is getting less popular) and won't eat potato of any description. Ds1 will give most things a go if persuaded/bribed enough but he's generally suspicious of new things which often makes mealtimes stressful. Anything green is a no go for both of them - peas, lettuce, cabbage all fall foul of this, and neither like pulses, squashes, peppers, mushrooms etc and most pasta, or rice. They can sometimes go days without a vegetable - ds1 does okay with fruit, but ds2 is again very limited. It's a nightmare tbh!

I love this book too. Favourites are:

Beetroot tart
Chard stalk gratin is an alternative to something and is lovely
Pinto bean chilli
Squash stuffed with leeks
The bread dough for pizza, rolls when you realise in the evening you've no bread for tomorrow's packed lunches, bread sticks...
Dressed puy lentils (good with the beetroot tart or with a celeriac gratin from the River Cottage Everyday book)

I wouldn't cook a curry from a book by HFW though, don't think that's his area of expertise!

That is tough muppet - I wonder if you can try the tomato risotto? Or generally do a creamy corn risotto? Or try the orange and chickpea pita breads sarnies with only a few chickpeas so they can pick them out if necessary?

Tough call though and I do understand as DD would be happy on a diet of cheese, eggs, pasta and pesto and gallons of milk

I'm in two minds about this book, but for the £5 price tag I really can't complain.

• as someone else mentioned, the three root boulengere was far too soggy and needed a much longer cooking time as the potatoes were virtually raw. Maybe the stock wasn't hot enough. If making again, I'd probably cook for a bit on the hob, and/or give it an hour in the oven.
• had it with the recommended roasted mushrooms, which were delicious.
• also recently had the chard, porcini and chickpea soup. Nice enough, but a massive waste of an entire pack of expensive porcini mushrooms, IMO. I would make again, but with fresh field mushrooms instead (Err, and possibly some chorizo too). Oh, I replaced the chard with kale.

I'll have to give it another read through, bearing in mind the recommendations in this thread.

We've loved everything we've tried from it I think. Even the DCs. They (shock horror) even love the sandwich filling with eggs and lentils.

Agree you should avoid the curries

Mushroom and kale lasagna was delicious

I did the three root boulingere on the weekend. It cooked well enough and was tasty, particularly next to a good chop not the best thing in the book though.

Has anybody made the potato salad tartare? I quite fancy trying that.

after just reading this thread I've ordered the book! (And am now very hungry)??

the potato salad tartare is AMAZING and my go-to potato salad with BBQ's now

The North African chickpea stew is fabulous (I use little soup pasta rather than orzo and there is no wateriness)

Carrot and cumin pittas were a big hit too.
There's a scotch broth type soup which was yummy (but not as hearty as the description suggests!)

Also for the summer there's a summer variation on a couscous salad with summer veg and an amazing lemony dressing which I would definitely recommend.

Mushroom ragout with soft polenta - the mushrooms were tasty but I realised I'm not really into soft polenta (texture issue but that's just me!)

Need to cook more from this book.

Thanks ATB - I'll give it a go. :)