Cookbook club- March- middle eastern and Mary berry

[whatareyoueatingNOW]

I hope it's okay that I set up the new thread for cookbook club.

So this month we are cooking from Mary berry online and family favourites, and our food travel option is the Middle East- any books any recipes.

Here's the Mary berry website
www.maryberry.co.uk
And lots of her recipes can be googled too- a wealth are in bbcgood food.

And for middle eastern inspiration here is king Ottolenghi website which offers lots of recipes www.ottolenghi.co.uk/#navigation

Bethan kedhy of jewelled kitchen bethanykehdy.com/category/recipes/

And here is a list of good blog options to peruse

stepfeed.com/8-lebanese-food-blogs-you-should-definitely-bookmark-and-follow-3873

Happy cooking everyone

OK thanks whatareyoueatingnow

I made Mary Berry's Beef Tacos last night so thought I would post it! I do a lot of day to day cooking from her books and agree with the pp that her pesto pasta is a good quick fix.
I used Old El Paso soft tacos (which you can biy separate from their taco kits) and served it with some cheesy tortilla chips and a mixed salad.
I always really enjoy these even if I do make a massive mess! I normally have most of the ingredients laying around and they are so quick to make.
Sometimes I add some tomato puree to the mince just to sneak in an extra 1 of our 5 a day. I have tried it with grated carrot too but started to feel like I was turning it into a cottage pie mix!!

koalas they look lovely. I think I need to get over my irrational dislike of Mary Berry and get one of her books!

Haha EnglishGirl yes you should! I just like that the recipes don't require 800 ingredients and 3 hours to cook. But I have an irrational dislike for Jamie Oliver so its not always easy to convert haha

The chicken was lovely last night, thumbs up all round. I may try the lamb steaks recipe from Feasts tonight.

When I get some spare time I'll try both the flatbread recipes, I have HFW one.

Koalas- irrational? A hatred of Jamie is entirely rational (though some of his recipes are nice I've never found a showstopper, and as a person I find him repugnant)

English- I'm now exposing how many chefs I dislike, but I also didn't like Mary Berry for a long time. A knee jerk reaction to what felt like her sudden appearance and people calling her "national treasure"
I was given absolute favourites as a gift and grudgingly love it. Brilliant cakes, and easy family recipes, some of which I've made repeatedly. That said, I still don't like her narrative above the recipes. Her voice isn't a convincing one to me.

I made meatballs and spicy freekah soup from Jerusalem today. As expected, it was wonderful. A depth of warming spices (not hot spicy at all) nutty freekah and unctuous meatballs. I'm now wondering why I haven't made this before I always feel that the dc will baulk at middle Eastern spicing and grains but that's not the case. They loved it.

Haha glad my hatred is ok then!
I just found most of his recipes were a lotof effort but not great tasting. But I have friends who disagree.
I do love Mary Berry - but that was after I'd cooked a few of her recipes.
That looks lovely What
The library have just notified me that my reservation of Jerusalem is ready so I look forward to trying out some recipes!

I used to dislike Jamie but he has delivered a few classics that we make frequently but I can't get over my Mary Berry prejudice - I find her too pedestrian. I think she reminds me of my mother - and not in a good way.

That looks lovely what, I struggle to get the family to eat anything like freekah but as we’re all meatball fans it might be worth trying that recipe.

Your MB aversion is similar to mine - two series of Bake Off and she was suddenly a national treasure and talked about like she’s a saint, I just don’t get it! Annoying as Jamie is I cook loads of his stuff, so I forgive the ‘pukka’ nonsense and enjoy the food.

I've obviously not found the "right" Jamie recipes then as everything of his I have cooked has been a disaster! I have Hamlyn book from around the 80s with a Mary Berry section so she was a familiar name to me but I actually do get where you are coming from with the overnight national treasure status. Haha maybe I am boring and just like pedestrian stuff orangesticker

I’m not a big MB fan. I make her lemon drizzle traybake, that’s about it. Most of her savoury stuff seems faffy, boring or old fashioned.

I’ve some JO recipes I use a bit. eg Meatloaf, some pasta ones, a chicken salad. Generally with JO I find he uses way too much vinegar and creates an enormous amount of washing up.

My fave recipes are generally Nigel Slater.

Taffeta- no one beats Nigel. He
Is , in my humble opinion, the best food and recipe writer. My claim to fame is that I met him once was so star struck I asked the first question that came to mind after gushing my love for him. He was lovely and did give me the directions to his butchers (where I found I couldn't afford anything and was a long way away from where I was going in the first place- advice to all if you meet Nigel in London, ask him something, anything, that's NOT the directions to his favourite butcher! )

Agree I'd be happy to seek out MB for a traybake but I don't think I have a favourite chef. I do trust some more than others though. And I find most of them bloody annoying to watch on the screen.

Blackened spatchcock chicken and green coucous & roasted veg from Feasts. Very easy to make and delicious, I didn't have any black garlic so added some ripped up kalamata olives instead. Will be making again.

Sounds like I should try some Nigel Slater recipes then!

I may have to give that a try Pantah

Maybe we should have a Nigel month, I've never really taken to his recipes, read a few of his books but I just don't find him very inspiring.

We did Nigel when CBC started and his recipes went down very well, always up for doing him again. I still make his pork polpetine meatballs regularly.

I’m not a Nigel fan either sorry, happy to try him next month though!

When we covered Nigel previously he, like how, split the group. He seems to be somewhat marmite.

Today I made Jerusalem turkey and courgette burgers and sumac sauce today. They we're delious. I wa Avery worried when making them as they were incredibly watery- next time is salt and squeeze the courgette. The spicing is light and aromatic, the sauce compliments the burgers wonderfully. I'll make these again.

I’m fine not having a Nige month - I cook his stuff regularly and it’s nice to be forced to cook something different!

We are having chicken shwarma tomorrow

what - looks yum!

Ooh what I was thinking of doing those. Picked up Jerusalem from the library this morning and earmarked the recipe. They look good!

I like the look of those Turkey Burgers, what did you serve them with?

Taff what Nigel dishes do you cook regularly? I like his Marmalade Ice-cream but that's the beginning and end of the list.

I served the turkey courgette burgers with a watercress salad. I can't see them with bread like a proper burger.

Orangettes -
I dip into his books a lot and cook different things once or twice rather than having ones I use all the time iykwim. Here’s some off the top of my head:

• pork chops with gooseberries
• plum and cinnamon cakey pudding thing
• pear cakey pudding with vanilla fudge sauce
• pumpkin laksa
• spicy pork meatballs
• curries - esp one with mustard seeds and curry leaves