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

Italian please

Italian would be good - particularly an emphasis for me to steer away from pizza, pasta and risotto - not that I don't love them...it's just there is so much more to Italian cooking and I rarely go there.

Italian good for me too. Like orangettes we have pizza and pasta a lot but I rarely go past my tried and tested favourites. Any recommendations for books? I have loads of pages bookmarked in Jamie’s Italy so I’ll start there.

I have a Locatelli book and some Carluccio books, River Cafe Green and Yellow, Jamie's Italy Ursula Ferragio Truly Italian and Elizabeth david Italian food. The Broccoli Orrechetti from Carluccio is a firm favourite and Gnocchi with Chestnut and Sausage from River Cafe Green is a big warm buttery, spicy, herby hug in a bowl, I'm passionate about homemade gnocchi, my kids will make it rather than touch shop bought! I think that's it - shocking really, how little I use my books.

Good to see the Italian enthusiasm! I might try a few of Jamie's Italy too - I've owned it for years and not even opened it. (My very generous mother in law once bought me ALL of the Jamie Oliver books having noticed I had none -because I dislike him but I delved into the health one the other month and he's not so bad)

The river cafe books are lovely. Old fashioned in that there are few photos, but they are great reliable sources of Good Italian food. I also have the two greedy Italians book which includes a chicken soup and potato gnocchi that I make regularly.

I also have a Gino Italian book so may try some of those.

Shall I set up a new thread over the weekend so that people can see what we're covering in advance?

A new thread would be great, thank you.

I'm sticking with Middle Eastern for Easter Sunday - maybe that's more appropriate anyway . Aubergine stuffed with lamb mince, pine nuts and spices, with a pumpkin hummus, broccoli and roast potatoes/chips.

I've really enjoyed the middle eastern focus!

Thanks orangettes I’ll check them out, could be talked into a new book

I’m still living middle eastern month, tonight I’ve mixed two dishes to use up some odds so while I won’t win Masterchef with balance of flavour, its bloody lovely. I’ve done spiced beef skewers (without the skewer) and sticky aubergines both from Feasts. Apologies for the presentation it isn’t my strong point, and the massive portion size as I’m both hungry and greedy
I’m also sticking with middle eastern for Sunday as lamb lends itself so well to this food, and DS has picked out the caramelised banana pancakes for breakfast.

what the basic pizza dough recipe from Jamie’s Italian is by far the best I’ve tried, we don’t use any other. There is a lovely baked pasta with pork mince recipe in a Gino book I have I’ll see if I can find it

So, my last dish from Feasts before we go to Italian was the caramelised banana and pistachio pancakes from Feasts - again very good. I did over cook the bananas as DS was attempting to play pirates with me at the same time but not a morsel was left so couldn’t have been too bad! I’ll ge making the lamb hot pot from Feasts with tomorrow’s leftovers - best book I’ve bought in a long time.

I made the honey and spice challeh from sirocco. It smells amazing and the aroma fills the house wonderfully. It's soft and crusty and beautiful. But the taste doesn't stand up. It needs to be sweeter I think. It smells and feels better than it tastes if that makes sense. I'll make it again and perhaps add marmalade? Money honey? See if it sweetens it. Or alternatively more spice? More chilli? I don't know. But something is missing -not so bad that I'm not going to eat it all with gusto of course it's still an amazing show off bread

Ooh that looks nice! DS wants to make chocolate challah bread he’s seen on a world kitchen programme on CBeebies so it’s on our list for Easter too

We had the sausage, potato and pepper bake from Feasts with fried egg. I put half the chilli flakes in as we aren't keen on too hot but it was still a little hot for DH. Defiantly needed the Greek yoghurt to cool it. Would make again for me and DS2 but not for DH and DS1.

I can see me carrying on with Sabrina's books alongside Italian month. She's almost a big a hit as Meera Sodha in this house. I've got the lamb steaks marinating for tomorrow in the fridge.

Is this a unanimous thumbs up for middle eastern then? Particularly Sabrina Ghayour?

I adore sirocco. Even though the challah wasn't everything I wanted it to be. It was still amazing and better than a lot of what I've made. I love middle eastern. Everything I've made has been lovely. And has made me a better cook.

And the category is so wide I can understand if I and others continue this thread whilst also starting the next- middle eastern, I have come to see , is a bit like saying "Asian" food. Or Indian. It's too wide a net to say middle eastern .

Totally agree, I still have loads of recipes earmarked that I’ll make alongside Italian. Leftover lamb from tomorrow is definitely going to be the lamb hotpot from Feasts, I want to do the lamb steaks and sausage bake and there are a few desserts on the list too.

club - April- Diana Henry and Italian www.mumsnet.com/Talk/foodandrecipes/3207298-cookbook-club-april-diana-henry-and-italian New Thread Here

or here even