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

[HuevosRancheros]

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

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!

[TwoLittleTerrors]

We had the lemony lentils and crispy kale soup,for dinner tonight. I think this is the lemony dhal huevos is referring to? I love it. DH ate all his without any comments. But then he is down with man flu so a soup is good for him anyway.

By the way, I didn't think it is Indian. Just a nice think lemony soup. I did whizz it with the hand blender until it's all mushy so maybe that helps? I agree the lemon taste works really with the kale.

[TwoLittleTerrors]

Oh thats in Anna Jones.

[Pantah630]

We've been suffering with nasty colds Chez Pantah so I made the lemony Dahl for lunch, taking note of Huevos's comment I added 3 small cloves garlic to the leeks. We really liked it, especially the salty yoghurt and crispy kale. I've never made, nor eaten, Dahl before, quick and filling and very tasty, will make again.
DS2 then pinched some of the kale to whip up an omelette from Just Bento, that went down well too. I also made some sesame salt ready for his DofE training expedition lunch box on Monday and attempted some miso stained eggs, unfortunately I only have brown miso, not white, so halved the amount and we'll see if works.

[TwoLittleTerrors]

pantah maybe the cold makes the lemon dhal extra tasty?

Thanks for the tip with the kale and omelette. I also have left overs and not sure what to do with them.

[myrtleWilson]

Just came across this thread, how can I have missed cookery book club?

I have Anna Jones and have enjoyed the breakfast dhosa, ribollita and the Thai salad. DH made the cardamom lemon drizzle cake for my birthday and raw brownies are underway in the kitchen!

If anyone is interested for curry month I would recommend maunika gowardhan. Her website is lovely and her first book is due out soon!

[myrtleWilson]

Sorry, forgot the link //www.maunikagowardhan.co.uk

[Pantah630]

Thanks myrtle the Goan Prawn Curry looks good. Two I'm impressed with the cold we could taste it all, I'm a sucker for lemony food so was right up my street.

[Pantah630]

Apparently the omelette is called a Tamagoyaki, I keep calling it a Tamagotchi and DS gives me the look we've been busy and just knocked up some fried shrimp, very tasty, disappeared as quickly as they were cooked, plenty of seasoning before the flour, used potato flour rather than cornstarch.

We plan to make ginger pork and chicken kara-age tomorrow. If he's lucky there'll be some left for his bento on Monday.

[TwoLittleTerrors]

But tamagoyaki is just an omelette. I believe it's just egg (tamago) + fried/grilled (yaki) if the kanji means the same as in Chinese. So go and correct your DS. It's like creme anglais really. Unless someone here can enlighten me the difference to custard.

[pregnantpause]

Thanks myrtle- some beautiful recipes there. Tempted by loads

[TwoLittleTerrors]

Sorry myrtle for not replying to your post. Gowardan's site isn't mobile friendly . 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.

[glorious]

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 but pleasant.

Need to do some bento.

[WellHurrahAndHuzzah]

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!

[HuevosRancheros]

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

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

[WellHurrahAndHuzzah]

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

[TwoLittleTerrors]

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.

[TwoLittleTerrors]

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.

[UptoapointLordCopper]

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

[HuevosRancheros]

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 . 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 :)

[TwoLittleTerrors]

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

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.

[UptoapointLordCopper]

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 ... )

[glorious]

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

Might try making that cake

[HuevosRancheros]

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
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 :)

[TwoLittleTerrors]

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.

[couldhavebeenme]

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