Cookery Book Club June - MN Top Bananas! And Nigella's Summer

[Pantah630]

An early thread thanks to MNHQ generosity, the first lucky few in May managed to procure a gratis copy of the new MN cookbook, Top Banana's. At first glance it's looking good. We're also cooking from the modern classic that is Nigella's Summer.

Let the sun shine and the outdoor eating begin

We had the Homity Pie last night. I added leeks, at the garlic stage, and plenty of seasoning but left out the spinach as I didn't have any. Only had new pots but it tasted very nice. Have left a slice to go cold as I think it would make a good picnic pie. Will try it out at lunchtime and let you know if it's good cold.

And Banana pancakes for breakfast. I did some with banana mixed in and some without. Delicious and enough batter left for some tomorrow morning or tonight when peckish

Cowgirl stew for tea last night, agree with Brices that it was tasty, although I tweaked it slightly by adding some smoked paprika in with the chopped tomatoes and reduced the amount of liquid to 300ml. I also put the slow cooker on high for the last hour to make sure the carrots were soft enough.

Going to make the rice pudding later, will let you know how it comes out.

Nigella summer saffron rice with chicken.
It could be my fault- rice is my nemesis- but I followed to the letter and fifteen minutes did NOT cook the rice. Unless it was meant to be crunchy I had to add more stock and cook for another twelve minutes and let's be honest- with rice, it never works if the quantities are off in the first instance, it's not something that can be 'saved'. It was claggy tbh. It had a pleasing taste, but i won't be making it again.

Stifado was tasty though I don't think I added enough wine as it dried out a bit.

Did the Nigella watermelon, feta and mint last night. I didn't think I liked watermelon all that much but I can't stop eating the salad, yum! Just had more for breakfast

Nigellas ricotta pancakes for breakfast this morning ( just looked at the time- I can't believe I've made and eaten breakfast before ten on a Sunday, it's ungodly) the pancakes are beautiful though. Little airy delicate wonders. They are going to be in my top ten Sunday special breakfasts, and somewhere near the top because they only took five minutes to make
If I had another tub of ricotta I'd make another batch despite having eaten five already

Ooh may have to buy this book and try some of these yummly recipes

Ooh good pregnantpause they're on my list this week. Also planning margarita ice cream.

Had the Mauritian prawn curry tonight which was good, lightly spiced and summery. DD ended up very yellow from the turmeric which was a bit awkward!

Also did the mn hands off tomato sauce for the freezer which seems a good basic recipe. The roasted flavour comes through a bit which is nice.

Got top bananas from the library. tried the not so spicy rice last night. Toddler wasn't keen. Think he's gone off rice but husband loved it. Loads leftover to freeze too. Trying the prawn noodles thing tonight.

Mn pulled pork in the slow cooker. Went in a bit late as I've got the day off work and DH took DD to the childminder while I went back to sleep... oops! Hope it works out in time for dinner.

My books have finally arrived, though I do need to pick the Nigella one up from the library this afternoon.

The Top Bananas one looks great, I am certainly making Eggy Doorstops for the DC this weekend.

The cheat's Tandoori chicken looks really good too.

I had loads of courgettes in the fridge, so decided on courgette fritters. The consensus on here seems to be in favour of Nigella's over MNTB, but sadly I didn't have feta or the herbs for Nigella's, so went with the other.

Not really impressed :( Very lemony, but not much other flavour.

Still loads of courgettes left, so feta and herbs on order from Ocado for tomorrow, will try Nigella!

MNTB rice pudding in oven right now, initial thought on tasting halfway through cooking is that it seems very sweet? We'll see. I never usually add vanilla or cream, think it will be more like rice in custard, but that may not be a bad thing :)

Pulled pork was really easy and tasty, great texture. I think it would be even better with some chipotle in the rub but I guess not so family friendly.

Ricotta hotcakes from Nigella are as delicious as pregnant says. Really light and fresher tasting than normal pancakes.

I'm on a roll this week as I'm off work. Next up is the Jewelled Kitchen turkish delight, admittedly rather late!

Lifesaver noodles were delicious. definitely having that again. Tried the sticky chicken too and was disappointed. I think I needed more marinade as there was none left to cook with as instructed.

I made nigellas black and blue steak on the weekend. It was very nice- though I prefer steak other ways so won't make it again. But glad I tried it.

Have made both the rice pudding and the banana pancakes. The rice pudding was quite sweet compared to how I'd normally make it but still delicious, although neither of the dc would eat it (more for me!).

The pancakes were fantastic, a good weekend treat breakfast and quicker than dd's usual breakfast of boiled egg and soldiers. I think they'd make a nice pud too with some vanilla ice cream.

I've still got to have a good a look through Nigella's Summer to decide what to make from it.

Before this thread started, I had never heard of, let alone eaten or made, a watermelon and feta salad..... I have just made two for lunch!!
I did the Nigella one, and an Ottolenghi one from Plenty - he doesn't use olives, and uses basil instead of parsley & mint. Oh, and no lime juice either, so definitely a simpler recipe.

And I must admit, I preferred Ottolengi's. I enjoyed Nigella's, but found it quite "savoury" (which maybe is the point of a salad?), the olives+feta+herbs+lime all made it a bit heavy - perfectly pleasant on its own, but I'm not sure how well it would complement another dish. The Ottolenghi one was much lighter, fresher and zingy, and I can imagine it going well with e.g. barbecued food. Despite fewer ingredients, it still felt savoury, not like a fruit salad gone wrong, which I was rather nervous about..... I think the basil, red onion, feta and olive oil perfectly balance out the sweetness of the melon

Also made the MNTB rice pudding the other day - as expected, and in agreement with madamecake, it was too sweet for me. But I loved the flavour - I have never put vanilla in rice pudding before, only ever nutmeg, but this has converted me! The cream made it really luxurious. Think maybe the liquid volumes were a bit off though? I did mine in the oven; in the book it says you may need more milk when cooking it this way. But despite me not covering the dish, and not putting enough liquid in in the first place (dish was too small!) , it still had a good consistency, I think if I'd followed the recipe to the letter it would have been very runny

ooh will have to try the ottolenghi one huevos.

I decided I couldn't be bothered with all that stirring yesterday so I made margarita ice cream instead. I've been wanting to do it for years and it is delicious (and very alcoholic!). Bit like a really rich frozen margarita

pregnant we had the saffron pilaf with chicken tonight and it was delicious. I did add seasoning at the end to the chicken as it tasted a bit dull without but my rice was perfect after 15mins. I've used the Ottelenghi method and left it with the lid clamped on to steam after turning off the heat and I must say it was successful. There's enough left for lunch tomorrow :)

I've yet to try the watermelon and feta salad, have a day off tomorrow so will hunt a watermelon down. I've also got some rice pancakes and vermicelli to make the rice paper rolls, although the lady in the Chinese supermarket persuaded me that mung bean vermicelli is a better flavour than the rice vermicelli. Fingers crossed she knows her stuff!!

pantah if you have any rice pancakes left over and are at a loss for what to do with them, have a look at 101 cookbooks - loads of nice recipes, I really like this one

Chocolate Brownies from MNTB today, absolutely delicious! I was quite sceptical that they would beat the Nigella recipe I've been using for years, but they absolutely did, and that was with them being overcooked too. The true test will be when dh comes home tonight, as he fancies himself as a brownie connoisseur.

Have also made the potato and chickpea curry from MNTB to have for tea tonight, tastes good but may add a bit of chilli powder to mine and dh's as we prefer our food quite spicy.

We had totally inauthentic Mexican chicken last night. It was really good. The DC all loved it. I think it would be better with some spice in it though.

I have the ingredients for the summer berry jelly so will try that tomorrow morning to have in the evening.

The saffron rice and chicken was delicious cold, with lashings of Mayo and a feta and watermelon salad. Will cook this again during the summer months I'm sure.

huevos I was in our local Chinese supermarket again yesterday and picked up some tofu! never cooked it before but will give it a go for those wraps as well. Does it need lots of seasoning to get some flavour in or flavourful enough without? [tofu novice]

Pantah, if it's plain normal tofu, it will be bland bland bland!
For that recipe, I would be inclined to slice it fairly thinly, then marinade it for at least an hour in a mixture of tamari or light soy, mirin and sesame oil. Drain well, then shallow fry.
If you ever see "5 spice" tofu - golden brown, compressed and sliced, found in the fridge, that is what I use for this kind of dish as the work has been done for you!

Cool, thank you, yes it's plain, will have to marinade.