Recipe review club

[GlumyGloomer]

I love trying out new recipes, and thought it would be fun to have a thread where we try stuff out and report back. Source must be cited and link provided if online. Photos encouraged.

Tonight I'll be making asian aubergine wedges, from Nadiya Hussain's Time to Eat book.
I like the taste of aubergine but have grave doubts about the texture. Still, I'm being brave and giving this a go.
Worth noting that I leave the chilli out of everything so that the dd's can eat it (I add at the table).

Anyone fancy joining me? (Waits for tumbleweed...)

I've only ever used quorn once, when my D SS was in a veggie phase. I tried to make meatballs from the mince. It would not stick together, my DSS said it was almost enough to turn him back to eating normally. I complained, & got a refund from the manufacturers.

What's the easy sauce please, GG ?

I used 300g cream cheese, 100ml milk and 200g grated cheddar. No heating involved, just mix it all together then spread it on the lasagna. It's a different result to betchamell, but my house of cheese addicts like it.
Unfortunately dd1 wouldn't eat a proper vegetarian lasagna, but we still want to have some meat free days. I prefer soya mince, but the qourn did work well in this. I've also used it in dumplings when cooking for some vegetarian friends.

@Imicola the self saucing puddings are hard to get right. The first time I made one I dried it out completely. It still looks delicious. I can't quite get my head around dumplings in arrabiata, but I agree it is very annoying when the sauce turns out too thin.
Tomorrow I'm attempting to recreate GBK at home, complete with real made with icecream milkshake (always the best part ime ). Don't think I could manage to copy their skinny fries, so we're going for cheesy truffle chips instead. I'll report back tomorrow...

I use quorn all the time and it's generally really easy to cook with @Georgyporky, it's a shame it didn't work for you (although I confess I've never tried to make meatballs with it!). DP isn't supposed to eat red meat hardly at all, and he gets bored with chicken, so quorn is a good alternative for us. I prefer the vegetarian products to the vegan ones, you could try a different version if you gave it another go.

DP also can't have dairy @GlumyGloomer which makes lasagne a real pain!! There are dairy free cheese/ milk/ cream alternatives but not in our nearest (small) supermarket...

I made this for lunch today: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/hearty-pasta-soup
Using mushroom ravioli. It was ok. Needed a teaspoon of sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes really, also I think it would have been nicer with mushroom stock.

One of our kitchen cupboard child locks broke, and in her reign of terror dd2 managed to dent a can of condensed coconut milk, which I'd bought out of curiosity but never actually used before. I quick look online for a super easy recipe for condensed milk turned up this:
www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipes/condensed-milk-slice/2xlpndkp
Only I sort of did it completely differently. I didn't have enough biscuits, so I got out my frozen batch of ginger bread remnants, crushed them up and microwaved with some butter to make a base. Then the coconut milk, which was mostly solid, got a 30 second burst in the microwave along with some frozen lime juice. A random amount of dessicated coconut was added and the whole lot then poured on top of the base. It's setting in the fridge now, I'll report back on how it turns out. The girls enjoyed licking the bowls out at least, and dd1 did the assembly.

Sucess!

Success, that should say

@GlumyGloomer I've made a few self saucing chocolate puds before which worked well, so I'll probably avoid this recipe in future and stick with a plain chocolate one!
Wow, condensed coconut milk sounds amazing... never even heard of that before. And the result looks impressive!

Re coconut milk, I find a can is too much when cooking for 2, unless batch cooking.
I use a block of creamed coconut; slice off what I need & it can sit in the fridge for a long time.

It's by Biona, and I was impressed with how much like regular condensed milk it was, albeit with a coconut flavour. They also do 200ml cans of coconut milk.

Imicola what recipes for self saucing puddings would you recommend?
Georgy I always find the block of creamed coconut has separated and it bothers me that the composition of the first portion (where I use up the soft squashy bit) is different to later portions which are only made of the rock hard bit. It has never made any material difference, but it still worries me. I blame my laboratory background for this

The chocolate fudge pudding I have used before, and I think the jaffa one also. Probably both from bbc good food magazine. It's been a while though since i used them!

Well done @GlumyGloomer on your successful experiment!!

@Imicola that pudding looks amazing!

My blender has given up the ghost, so I can now justify getting a new one... any recommendations? I actually don't know if I mean a blender or a food processor; I had a Nutribullet which was ok, but got gunked up so quickly with anything other than fruit that it didn't get used much! I have a hand blender for soups etc so maybe I just need a cheap one to make sauces, purees etc? Would a cheap one like this be a good starting point, or should I go for decent quality right from the start, in case it doesn't get used because it's a bit rubbish?! What a minefield...

(I was hoping to make a pasta sauce for dinner, but this now won't happen as the walnuts in it are proving too much for my hand blender )

Actually maybe I need one of these blender and mixer combined as space is at a premium in our kitchen!!

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl I've always had one that does both food processor and blender, and I have rarely ever used the blender as I have a stick blender for soup. Mine broke recently so I replaced it with a Bosch www.johnlewis.com/bosch-mcm3501mgb-multitalent3-food-processor-black/p3075300 again it had a blender and processor, plus a mini processor. I was hoping if I got a slightly better one I'd use it more for shredding and grating etc, and I have used it a bit more, but not loads! Most frequently used to chop lots of veg for soup.

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl I have a kenwood food processor which is good, and a stick blender. I occasionally think it would be nice to have a proper blender, but it's not high on my priority list.

Happy pancake day!
I attempted to make this:
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/crepes-suzette
But made the mistake of using the pancake pan for the sauce while it was still hot, ended up burning a little bit of the sugar and ending up with a slightly bitter sauce. We still ate them.

@Imicola Interesting about the creamed coconut blocks.
I've never noticed them splitting. I've got an opened , but tightly sealed, block in the 'fridge, & one in the cupboard. Both are homogenous, but of course the 'fridge one is harder than the other.
You've raised concerns, please tell me about your lab experience !

Georgy it was me worried about the coconut. I'll snap a photo next time I buy some. You've made me question how I'm storing it now.
I did 5 years as a lab tech in a food safety microbiology lab, which was less interesting than it sounds as I was mostly preparing samples rather than analysing. Still, I think any kind of lab work makes you a bit anal when it comes to measurements. Maybe I should put them in the fridge first, then slice the block lengthwise to get a consistent composition

Thank you @Imicola and @GlumyGloomer for the food processor suggestions! That Bosch one would be fine for my purposes (and it has a small footprint, which is great) - DP is now saying why don't we get a super duper, top of the range one?! I've pointed out that I don't need a mega expensive one (and won't use it any more just because it's dearer!) so I'll probably have a last try at fixing ours and then order one.

Pancakes here too, fluffy style for us as I'm rubbish at the thin ones. DS1 (enormously fussy eater) ate 5

Glumy, if it's any consolation my coconut block always splits too!

Thin pancakes here today, good foodrecipe with added oil in the mix. Worked well. I'm also someone who usually makes American ones as they are easier and go better with bacon

We had roast onions with miso and sesame with rice and beetroot tonight. My husband said it was surprisingly tasty, toddler didn't seem convinced though! I think it would be better as a side, so we might have the leftovers with salmon tomorrow. Had pancakes for afters... small and fat is the default here!
www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/food/2021/jan/18/nigel-slater-10-winter-vegan-vegetarian-recipes

Sounds interesting @Imicola! I really like the Nigel Slater books, beautiful photos too.

Courgette cake planned here for tomorrow. Lots of courgettes to use up and FIL is always appreciative of cake!

Hello!
I've had this thread on watch for ages as I've kept intending to post but never got round to it...

@Imicola - we have that processor, finally gave up on the mini one we used previously. It is a godsend when blitzing kale to do this Meera Sodha recipe jonoandjules.com/2020/03/13/paneer-tomato-and-kale-saag/

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl I have had a glut of courgettes from my veg box and made a courgette cake - think it was a BBC food recipe. Was so moist!