Cookbook club - April- Diana Henry and Italian

[whatareyoueatingNOW]

Hi all

Another month gone by and shiny new thread for April, though I'm sore march middle eastern will be continuing with all the lamb cooked over Easter

We're coming Diana Henry as our cookbook author- any of her recipes online or any of her written recipes can be made, just make any and review your recipes here.

As usual we're also covering a more general cuisine - this month Italian. So any Italian cookbooks you have can be used, share any classic Italian recipes that you have, and anything from any Italian themed blogs/ online sources that you find

Hello there

I've been meaning to join in with a thread like this for some while but have been too disorganised to do so.
Today, back from hols and feeling a bit jaded with the prospect of a return to the same old dinners, I've grabbed a book from the library, selected a recipe whilst sat in the car and headed straight to the supermarket for ingredients.
For dinner tonight we have just enjoyed Polpette in Bianco (or meatballs in white sauce) which I've cooked from Rachel Roddy's Two Kitchens - Recipes from Sicily and Rome. Very simple, pork and beef mince, fresh flat leaf parsley, Parmesan meatballs cooked in olive oil and white wine. Very easy and totally delicious. Devoured by the children (teens) too and with enough left over for freezing. I served it with foccacia, but with the benefit of hindsight I'd have done some salad leaves with an oil/vinegar dressing too.

I'm really looking forward to trying some more recipes from the book as well as reading more of the book itself as it's as much a food and travel guide as a recipe book which is the perfect combo for me.

Thanks for the thread and the inspiration.

Tonight I'm doing Diana Henry's "paprika roast chicken with caraway potatoes, quick pickled cucumber and soured cream" - should be a whole roast chicken but am all alone tonight so will do portions instead!

Tomorrow I'm doing Rachel Roddy's chicken polpotte with lemon and ricotta (except I couldn't get minced chicken so doing turkey instead!)

Will post photos later

I did Diana Henry chicken tonight (details above) The stars of the show for me are the potatoes and the cucumber dishes - both adding different flavours (caraway for potatoes and dill for cucumber) I think the chicken works better as cooked whole rather than portions but still a gorgeous dinner (only me to sample tonight!)

We had the DH pasta that What recced upthread. I think my oven was a tad too hot as could have done with a little more cream to make it creamier but everyone loved it. DH whose not keen on pasta said it was the tastiest he'd had do we will definitely be having again in the future.

Must try those caraway potatoes, they sound very nice Myrtle

Just got A Bird in the Hand from the library and I'm blown away by the amount of stuff I want to cook from it! I might just have to buy this book.

Oooh the pizza looks good - can you share the recipe for the dough. I always do HFW dough so keen to see the difference if it's crispier

Boom boom - www.ginodacampo.com/recipe/pizza-courgettes-balsamic-glaze/

Same dough as here- there's a lower flour to yeast ratio than hfw(which is still great) , it makes much less dough, but the difference was noticeable with this one tasting more like that I've had in Italy.

Ooooh thanks! Definitely trying this. I love the HFW recipie as the flavour to the dough is great but my husband keeps asking if I can make them crispier so this may just be the ticket!

DD made the Huevos Rotos from Simple last night. She added Laverstoke Farm black pudding, it was amazing - a great dish for brunch for those of you who love a fry up - very substantial, so easy to make.

Trying Bird in the Hand is still 99p on Kindle, as are most of her other books.

I saw that but I really hate cookbooks on Kindle, I've bought too many, it's ok with a tablet I suppose but getting my Mac close to the cooking area is a recipe for an expensive water incident from a tiny little splash .
So I bought a used version of Bird in the Hand after having a good read through the library version, I'm convinced it's going to be a well used book....mind you I say that too often, my addition to cookbooks needs limiting.

I very strongly recommend the marmalade and bourbon drumsticks (I make it with thighs) from Bird in the Hand.

Tonight I've done the Rachel Roddy chicken meatballs with lemon and ricotta (I know I said up thread I was going to do this a few days ago..but.....) As I can't get minced chicken without preordering at the farm shop I went for turkey instead. The meatballs are deliciously light (300g chicken/turkey, 200g ricotta, lemon, oregano, egg, breadcrumbs). I did have a few problems browning them - not sure if it was because I used panko rather than bread (the bread I had my eye on in the bread bin was thrown out!). She says to serve either in a white wine sauce, a tomato sauce or a chicken broth. I went for tomato sauce using Rachel's version of Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce which is good quality tinned tomatoes, a whole heap of butter and an onion cut in two. You bring to the boil, then reduce to a blip blip simmer for 45 minutes. Discard the onion and then serve - it is a delicious sauce!.

Definitely recommend the recipe but not sure what mistake I made in the searing/browning element.

Apologies -should have said the meatball recipe comes from Two Kitchens!

@tryingtogetfired - ooh thanks for that recommendation. I was suggesting to Dh that if its nice tomorrow we have a tapas dinner outside (Moro's pinchitos morunos, huevos rotos and perhaps spinach and chickpeas....)

Myrtle - they sound great- everything you've done from the Rachel toddy does! Would you recommend it as a good Italian cookbook overall? -can't really buy another unless it's an essential

definitely recommend her books but before you buy - have a look at her on the guardian and her blog racheleats.wordpress.com/. Between them they cover a lot of her personality and recipes and so would be good starting point before purchasing!

Thank myrtle

I made Diana Henry's smashed cucumber and Japanese ginger chicken from her "change of appetite"

www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/10169580/Gingered-chicken-with-smashed-Japanese-cucumber-recipe.html

It was beautiful. The cucumber and chicken combo works perfectly- and I was a bit cautious of it. It's deep and fresh. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Will make it again- though there are soooo many great chicken thigh recipes, who knows when?

And yes , I was supposed to peel the cucumber, but really! Who has time to peel cucumber?!!

Oh I love that recipe- the cucumber really does add something doesn't it?!

Thanks for that recommendation what. We're combining the two themes of this month with tonight's Diana Henry's Hot Italian chicken with peppers.
It's Ds's turn to cook (practicing for his GCSE food) tonight's skill to practice will be jointing a chicken - now he really struggled to get up close and personal with the chicken on Monday and all he was required to do was to shove a lemon in it's cavity. Apparently millennials struggle so much with touching raw meat that the supermarkets have devised packaging to allow them to place the chicken in a pan without touching it!

Just spotted this cooking thread. I made carbonara recently for the first time and everyone loved it. Not very healthy though. www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1052/ultimate-spaghetti-carbonara

Thanks for the heads up about Diana Henry's books on kindle. I've bought A Change of Appetite as I remember loving the gingered chicken & smashed cucumber. I've also got Rachel Roddy's first book and really need to make something from it soon!!

I think (but am not sure) that her pork ribs in tomato sauce and gnocchi is in 5 Quarters Desert - we've made that a couple of times and enjoyed it... its not the most obvious recipe for our currently sunny UK weather so maybe worth saving for when the clouds and rain no doubt return!