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February Cookbook Club - From Delia to a Modern Way To Eat, with a little Bento on the way

159 replies

HuevosRancheros · 29/01/2015 09:57

Welcome to February's cookery book club :)

Each month we choose a couple of books and each try to cook at least two new things from either book. We then report back and share our verdict Grin

This month we have three books to choose from :) :

  • Delia Smith's Winter Collection - I'm sure lots of the recipes will be on her website here
  • A Modern Way to Eat by Anna Jones - some recipes here
  • Just Bento by Makiko Itoh - millions of recipes (more than in the book!) on her website here also on her sister site Just Hungry which seems to be updated more recently

    Happy Cooking!
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HuevosRancheros · 01/03/2015 18:34

Just in time, new thread here

We ought to make plans for April soon too, so people can buy beautiful new books order books from the library Grin

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HuevosRancheros · 01/03/2015 18:15

Eek, it's March!
I'll start a new thread :)

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TwoLittleTerrors · 28/02/2015 07:00

I made the ribollita in Anna Jones for dinner last night. I don't know what ribollita is but its a nice tomato soup. Reminds me of minestrone. I used 1L instead of the 2L of stock in the recipe. But I still only have a soup, not a stew. No way would I need to thin the left overs with water.

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pregnantpause · 26/02/2015 20:52

Made mwoe tomato and coconut cassoulet today. It smells divine cooking and I can taste it would be lovely but the chilli I used was far far hotter than your average red chilli- a rogue super hot chilli!

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pregnantpause · 25/02/2015 10:13

We had the chickpea and preserved lemon stew/ soup from mwoe yesterday. It was nice, and the back note of lemon was particularly tasty- as did the rocket topping. It's very easy to make and store cupboard ingredients mean I'll make it again (though not for a crowd - it's not amazing, just a nice family supper)

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Elledouble · 22/02/2015 22:03

I made the tomato and coconut cassoulet from A Modern Way To Eat tonight, it was really delicious (despite the slightly bizarre ingredients list)! We didn't have any ginger so had to leave that out, but we loved it. It was slightly more liquid than the picture - I do wonder about the measurements - but the crispy bread on the top was great.

My partner did nickname it "toast on beans" though.

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pregnantpause · 22/02/2015 20:53

Blueberry and oat pancakes from Anna jones this morning. I used almond milk. We enjoyed them but pancakes they are not. Little oat patties maybe. I'll make them again, the dc thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'm now enjoying a blood orange margarita. I may have bought all of the blood oranges in South Wales - along with all the tequila-

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WellHurrahAndHuzzah · 22/02/2015 10:12

Made the cardamom lemon drizzle cake yesterday from Anna Jones.... I've got to be honest, I'm not convinced. Texture a bit 'meh' but possibly that's the spelt flour, and maybe a bit too many flavours going on?

So I'll be interested to try some of her other sweet recipes to see how they fair...

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Pantah630 · 22/02/2015 07:15

We had the ginger pork and potatoes from Just Bento, upscaled and hot, for dinner the other evening. It was a very quick and tasty dish, I added some kale and spring onions to the braising to bump up the veg and served on a bed of lettuce. Oh, and the miso marinated eggs are lovely.

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couldhavebeenme · 21/02/2015 17:10

Forgot about this for feb but marking place to remind me to join in march thread for Indian!

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TwoLittleTerrors · 19/02/2015 14:24

uptoapoint I have always made it with coconut milk. I looked up on Wikipedia and as expected there are a large variety depending on where your family is from. I never know the Shanghainese one is savoury and you use it in stir fried! My family is from Hong Kong so it's the sweet brown one. Braised duck sounds good.

I will have to look up the crunchy cabbage and tofu. I don't think I noticed that one at all.

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HuevosRancheros · 19/02/2015 14:02

Just had the noodles with crunchy cabbage and crispy tofu from AJ, purely because glorious mentioned it! I almost couldn't be bothered to make it, didn't sound all that inspiring, but I'm really glad I did, I loved it Grin
Good flavour combinations, and a good texture mix. I've never bothered frying that kind of tofu before, it made all the difference, lovely and crispy-crunchy. Particularly liked the red cabbage which I had thought I wouldn't like!

Will definitely make again :)

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glorious · 18/02/2015 22:20

????
Trying to learn some characters on memrise but these are beyond me so far!

Might try making that cake Smile

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UptoapointLordCopper · 18/02/2015 22:12

Two I always made nian gao just with water. Is it nicer with coconut milk? I have the Yan Kit-So classic chinese cookery book (which you don't seem to see these days). I did the Chao Zhou stewed duck, with caramel and galangal - caramelise sugar, add dark soya sauce and galangal, add water, then add duck (with five-spice rubbed over it beforehand) and sesame oil. Cook for an hour or so. Add any other stuff for braising.

Happy New Year-of-the-Goat!

(Hmm. Goat curry ... Grin)

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TwoLittleTerrors · 18/02/2015 21:04

uptoapoint can you share your New Years eve menu? We didn't have anything special as its just me and DH. DD1 has her tea at nursery today. i was going to make another batch of new year cake (nian gao) but there is no coconut milk in the house Sad

It seems the avocado lemony pasta got a few thumbs up. I probably won't make anymore from the books as DH is away for work next week. It will be manic here during bed time with a 3yo and 5mo. There is just so much more I want to make from a modern way to eat.

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HuevosRancheros · 18/02/2015 20:52

Re: amaranth - it is high in protein (16% cf 11% in oats), it also has (I think) some amino acids that are lacking in other vegetarian sources, so it is useful there. That said, quinoa is high in protein too, I would rather eat that, but I don't want either in porridge!

I have made AJ's lemon avocado pasta twice this week - I didn't have any basil in the first time I made it, so today was the first time I made it properly :)
Very nice. Good and summery, as someone upthread said. Personally, I found it a bit lacking in garlic - 1 clove between 4 people? - so I considerably upped it Grin. Maybe it's just the season - in winter I feel the need for "gutsier" food (harnessing my inner Delia there, see?)
But lovely and quick and easy - you can easily prep and make the sauce in the time it takes to cook the pasta. I used wholemeal spaghetti the first time I made it, as she suggested, but found it a little lacking, a bit insipid. So I used linguine today, much better, more bite :)

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UptoapointLordCopper · 18/02/2015 20:15

No exciting cooking here apart from Chinese New Year's Eve meal. Smile

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TwoLittleTerrors · 16/02/2015 20:24

We had cardamon and star anise winter squash soup from Anna Jones tonight. It's a flop. I was expecting something hearty, thick, like a chunky potato soup. It turned out to be thin and brothy kind of consistency. It just doesn't feel hearty enough as a dinner. (I know it's probably is in my mind). I stuffed myself with freshly made bread, with lots of butter. Otherwise I'd be hungry.

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TwoLittleTerrors · 16/02/2015 16:14

I'm curious too about amaranth too. My kitchen is small enough as it is so I'm avoidjng all that uses grains I don't already have. I'm also subbing all the milk and sugar with normal ones.

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WellHurrahAndHuzzah · 16/02/2015 15:43

I've decided to go pescatarian for lent, so hopefully will be using many more Anna Jones recipes..... What are the health benefits of amaranth over oats, I wonder? Speaking as an avid porridge eater Wink

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HuevosRancheros · 16/02/2015 13:44

I made the blueberry pie porridge for breakfast today
I've never had amaranth before, and didn't know what it was supposed to be like, which made it quite tricky to tell when it was cooked! The recipe said 20 minutes cooking iirc, yet the packet said 35 minutes cooking followed by 15 minutes rest!

Anyway, for all of that, I really didn't like it all that much. It tastes like quinoa, which is fine, but I personally don't want my porridge to taste of quinoa! So now I have most of a 500g bag of amaranth to find recipes for Grin

I agree with glorious, the blueberry topping was really lovely :)

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WellHurrahAndHuzzah · 15/02/2015 11:35

Thanks for the welcome! The avocado and lemon spaghetti from Anna Jones was lush. Really simple and it's nice to discover began recipes that seem somewhat luxurious! myrtle cardamom lemon drizzle sounds wonderful!

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glorious · 15/02/2015 08:06

Had the farro (subbed pearl barley) squash, leeks and romesco on fri. Enjoyed it though found it a bit plain except the romesco which was really good.

Also did the soba and smoked tofu which was a little sweet owing to my misunderstanding of the maple syrup quantities Blush but pleasant.

Need to do some bento.

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TwoLittleTerrors · 14/02/2015 19:15

Sorry myrtle for not replying to your post. Gowardan's site isn't mobile friendly Sad. I will look at it when I boot up the laptop.

But do I want to know more about Indian books? I'm scared looking at the site makes me want to buy the book. I already have Made in India now on my wish list! I also have preordered Diana Henry's new book which is coming out in March. Can't afford any more books next month.

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pregnantpause · 14/02/2015 18:01

Thanks myrtle- some beautiful recipes there. Tempted by loads Grin

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