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

[Pantah630]

Off to order Plenty

[Pantah630]

So, so bad, couldn't resist buying a copy of Persiana while I was there, it's just too easy. Can we pick that one another month please? Must do some work now while sneaking peaks of Plenty on kindle

[HuevosRancheros]

ooh, I see Thomasina Miers has a new one out.......

[glorious]

July sounds perfect. Should be able to borrow Plenty, which means the other one would be a justifiable purchase. ..

[Mckayz]

I have reserved both at the library. Looking forward to having a look.

[madamecake]

Brilliant choices for next month, I love Bill's Asian food and have had Plenty out from the library before, but didn't get a chance to cook much from it at the time.

Back to this month, and I've made the chocolate brownies from MNTB again as the first batch disappeared in a couple of days. I only baked them for 15 minutes this time and they were perfect.

[Pantah630]

Rice paper rolls with Vietnamese dipping sauce for lunch, they were tasty but difficult to eat cleanly . I especially loved the sauce and have some left over to use with something else later.

My DB bought me some Cachaca when he returned from Brazil business not football last week, I have chicken thighs marinating in the fridge for the cachaca chicken from Waitrose mag for lunch tomorrow.....smells very nice.

I'm going to have to try the brownies but it's too hot to put the oven on today.

[pregnantpause]

Cooked mntb spaghetti with peas and pesto- we enjoyed it, fast and easy, not a surprise as pasta pesto is always nice, and tbh I didn't follow the recipe so much as make pasta pesto and realise afterward I could dress it up as having tried a new recipe.
I also made nigellas summer crumble- with the suggested apricots- and my god was it summery, summer in a spoon as far as I'm concerned. - delicious. I could live if of it. . Wish I'd bought every apricot the green grocer had now.

[Cantdothisagain]

Jealous of the cachaca - that recipe looks so good- do report back!

[Cherrypi]

Oh no they don't have Bill's everyday Asian in our library county. First time that's happened. We had the chicken scooter yesterday wasn't a big fan it was a bit flavourless and wet. I prefer the same ingredients as a fajita. Trying the pork and apple later.

[Pantah630]

The cachaca chicken was lovely and moist, went down well accompanied by feta and watermelon salad, courtesy of Plenty with Nigellas added olives and a Bulgar Wheat salad from Persiana looking through it, I want to try it all
We have strawberries with basil sugar for dessert with a dollop of Jersey cream it split the family, DS2 and I loved it, DH and DS1 thought the sugar a culinary step too far!!
cherry it's worth looking on google books to see if it's on there for free or have a look on EatMyBooks at the recipe titles, if anything takes your fancy, let us know, I'm not adverse to typing a couple of recipes out.

[Pantah630]

Though it is on the book people for a fiver at the moment

[Cherrypi]

Ooh no it's out of stock now. The pork and apple was nice but husband missed the crackling. Toddler only ate the carrots. Nothing has beaten the emergency noodles yet.

[Cantdothisagain]

Brownies again here were a hit. You have to take them out before they look ready, then they are perfect. Recipe is pretty standard and works.

Ginger turtles are also fun to make though the dough is less forgiving for teeny ones to roll than other recipes IMO.

[Anja1Cam]

Ok,

more results from the Cam jury:

MNTB:
Toffee Popcorn: yum yum and I had no idea it was so easy (the toffee bit, we've been making plain popcorn for ever..)

Nigella:
Hasselback Potatoes (from the book after all) were great and frying them first really helped their overall appearance, much better than my previous attempts from other recipes. Put them in the top half of the oven at 200C Fan, and a fish bake in the bottom half and they came out perfect after 45 minutes.

Beetroot and Dill salad: this was great - just the grated beetroot, dill and toasted seeds, with the lemon juice (not from a bottle). Fruity and nutty, no need for other seasoning (but you might disagree). BUT do eat it soon after making, or save the mustard seeds for adding later. I had a few mouthfuls of the finished salad (quality control) and it was really really yum, dinner time a few hours later the seeds had been soaked by the lemon and were less nutty.

Hmm, what to try next - I do have some Feta in the Fridge, can anyone recommend a recipe that's not the Watermelon Salad one (I suspects I'd end up being the only one to eat it...)

I've got Plenty on order and I'll pass on the Everyday Asian, that would just be too much of a challenge in this house...

[Pantah630]

anja we had roasted veg and chicken thighs with za'tar in oven and I added feta and olives to the pan in the final ten minutes. Delicious, I have leftovers cold for lunch today with couscous.

[HuevosRancheros]

I'm doing Nigella's courgette fritters today Anja and they have feta in them :)

[pregnantpause]

The chicken thighs with zaatar are lovely pantah- very aromatic, dh and I ate them on the weekend with a salad- simple and delicious.

I also made nigellas gooseberry and elderflower ice cream- which she advises to eat and weep- well, it was nice , but far far too sweet for me. Perhaps my gooseberries were less tart than nigellas.

[ELR]

Hi all, just marking place then will read and post what I've cooked not been that this month as been unwell.

[HuevosRancheros]

Sorry to hear you've not been well, ELR, hope you're on the mend now

[glorious]

Yes, so do I ELR

[Pantah630]

Hope you're feeling better elr

I sort of made the pork and apple casserole the other night but I changed so much it could hardly be called the same. Was rather tasty mind.

I not only treated myself to Persiana, want to cook nearly everything in there, but also Cabana a Brazilian cookbook. After the success of the cacacha chicken last weekend, very moist, I've been looking for more uses for the spirit. Btw Tesco have cachaca half price at a tenner this week, I bought one for DS1 as he loves caipirinhas and another for me.

[Cantdothisagain]

Thanks for the tip Pantah- loving the sound of cachaca!

The cheesey leeks are nice and easy...

[ELR]

Thanks guys, feeling a little better but it's a slow process!
Anyway back to cooking, made the feta and watermelon salad it was good but agree the ottolenghi one is much better!
Have decided on next months books?

[Pantah630]

Everyday Asian by Bill Grainger and Ottelenghi's Plenty I think we decided on. Glad to hear you're on the mend. DS2 and I just had watermelon and feta on its own for tea, just as good without any other accompaniments.