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...)

Brown sushi rice was next on my list, so I made this www.japancentre.com/en/recipes/49-oyakodon-chicken-and-egg-rice-bowl
Only with the brown rice. It didn't look like the picture, but it was delicious, and the kids ate it with hardly any fuss. Still got probably one meals worth of brown rice left.
Clara the traybake looks great. I can't use thai curry paste as dd1 moans at the smallest hint of chilli. One day though, I'll have the energy to make separate meals...

We had semolina quite often when weaning DD! My mum's sage advice was custard or semolina after tea to aid the sleep. Now I use it on roast potatoes instead!

Tempted by both that tray bake and the rice bowl! I love sushi rice, might have to get me some. Your quest is making me wonder what random bits I need to try and use up though, perhaps butter beans, puy lentils and I probably need to make a risotto with the risotto rice which hasn't been used in a while!

I used up the vile baby rice in custard or fruit puree to get my DC to sleep @Imicola! although it didn't do much good, sadly

The rice bowl has made me remember how much I miss Wagamama @GlumyGloomer

A simple meal tonight to celebrate a milestone (cough,cough)

Cod's roe, seaweed crackers

Gratinated Orkney scallops, parsley crumb

Sea trout en croûte, tenderstem broccoli, & avruga cream sauce

Chocolate cremaux, crème fraîche, amaretto biscuits

You wouldn't believe how long it took to prepare this.

Oh wow that sounds pretty good @Georgyporky very impressive! I can well imagine how long it might have taken!

Today I made an onion tart. It was really lovely, but made me feel very unhealthy with the amount of butter and cream in it! Could have done with another 5 or 10 minutes in the oven was my only issue. Toddler ate the pastry only!
www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/food/2019/may/15/perfect-french-onion-tart-recipe-felicity-cloake

Georgy that sounds amazing!
Imicola I love an onion tart, especially with a bit of balsamic vinegar added to the onions. I then get very sad about how small a slice constitutes a portion...

50 minutes - start to finish !

Sorry folks, it was a wind-up.

It was this :- dishpatch.co.uk/feasts/sea-trout-en-croute , so mainly an assembly job & putting things in the oven at the right time.

However, most of the elements were quite simple & could be made at home - wrapping puff-pastry around a bit of fish doesn't take much skill.
It was a special occasion, & I had a gift voucher to use up.
It was good food, & we'll almost certainly still be in lockdown for our wedding anniversary so I might use them again.

I love The Guardian food pages - they have some very good writers .
I do like the way F.C. compares different recipes for the same dish,
but not so keen on T.M. who seems to think "what things can I put together next?"

On the subject of TM wondering what to put together next... today I made these date and chocolate blondies.
Nice enough, but a bit disappointing really, I thought they'd be better. Might have overcooked slightly, and you couldn't taste the cardamom in them. More of a cake than a blondie.

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/food/2021/mar/08/thomasina-miers-recipe-for-sticky-date-chocolate-and-brown-butter-blondies

They sound delicious @Imicola... what a shame they were underwhelming!! I think I tend to overcook brownies, they seem to end up more cake-like than gooey. Not that there's anything wrong with cake either

Made pork and apple stew for DP's packed lunches for the next couple of days, will report back on what it's like!

I think my brownie pan is probably too big, so the mixture ends up more spread out and they cook faster. I really need to check them earlier next time I make them!

I never get my brownies gooey enough @Imicola must check on mine earlier too!

Made a low carb carrot cake earlier (from a friend's recipe) but I have to say it isn't particularly tasty... the walnuts and raisins in it are the best bits, not sure ground almonds instead of flour really worked

We still have chocolate tiffin in the fridge from the weekend. I had a bit of that after my carrot cake disappointment!

Oh Georgy, you tease 😉 when I clicked on the link it said sold out so has obviously been popular.

Yesterday I had another go at the Nadiya frying pan cookie, this time with a bigger pan. I may have added the egg to the sugar/butter mix before the floor, resulting in a worrying scrambled egg moment. Dd1 instructed me to press on, and remarkably there was no trace of scrambled egg in the finished cookie. It was very nice, rather like a restaurant cookie dough dessert. Thanks to the bigger pan I managed not to incinerate the base this time.

That sounds nice @GlumyGloomer!

I made avocado brownies today. They were quite nice - the DC enjoyed them - but I just couldn't quite see the point?! I mean I like brownies, I like avocado, but am not sure that putting them together adds anything to the final result...

I've never heard of avocado brownies, Clara. I do like to kid myself that veg in cake makes it healthier so maybe I should give it a go.

Today I made the Nadiya fish spaghetti hoop bake. I thought it was her mad genius at it's finest, predictably the rest of the family were not impressed. It's basically white fish (I used smoked haddock), tomatoes, veg (I used a frozen mix) paprika, and a tin of spaghetti hoops, with the sauce drained out. The topped with breadcrumbs and baked. It's the sort of wonderfully easy all in one dish my annoying family never go for, sigh.

In other news I have a new cook book! After I mentioned needing more quick and easy recipes my mum sent me a copy of Nigella Express. The large volume of sweets sprinkled throughout the book (so there is no easy avoiding them) will doubtless be very bad for me...

GG, I've got Nigella Express, but like so many of my books I've only made a few things from it - only mains, I don't make puds or cakes anymore.

For quick & easy, "The Roasting Tin" might suit you. I borrowed it from the library & shoved it under DH's nose, but to no avail. It's basically traybakes, also with very useful timings for roasting everything.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easy-risotto-bacon-peas

I made this for dinner, only with sweetcorn instead of peas to be more appealing to dd1. She still didn't like it. Dd2 enjoyed it at least. Dh had a pasta ready meal because he doesn't do rice
Thanks for the recommendation, Georgy, I'll check it out.

I've often wondered about avocado brownies, and also avocado chocolate mousse has tempted me, but never tried it!

The fish bake sounds interesting! Today I made a pork mince thai curry made up thing with noodles which came out pretty well! Toddler wasn't so sure, not sure if it was too spicy for her.

I preferred the mousse @Imicola; the avocado did at least seem to add something to the taste and texture of that, whereas with brownies it just seems a bit unnecessary!

@Georgyporky The Quick Roasting Tin is a Kindle 99p deal today if you're interested?

Your meal planning sounds much like mine @GlumyGloomer - hmmm, here's something that everyone should be able to eat but no, DP won't eat that bit, DS1 won't eat the other bit, DS2 will eat most but then want a snack, etc etc...!

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl Thanks, but it was one of my attempts to get DH to widen his repertoire ! I love cooking, but I want one night off per week.
On Saturdays, we have :-
spag bol
chilli con carne nachos
chicken fajitas
t/a curry when he is on stand-by.

All are made with jars & packets, when I've got cupboards full of all the ingredients necessary. At least I've stopped him buying grated cheese.

@Georgyporky my DP's cooking repertoire consists of: chip shop/ McDonald's/ Domino's

He is perfectly capable of cooking and will make the DC omelettes for breakfast and things like that... but actually make a curry/ stew/ pasta bake? Nope.

He made himself toasties for lunch today though and has been ill ever since, he obviously needs the practice

Leek & mushroom pasta for dinner today. Pleasant but a bit bland. I made some spicy kale to go with it though which improved things!

Does anyone have any tips for keeping food warm?! DP usually eats later than the rest of us (he doesn't finish work till after the DC eat in the evenings), plus it would be really useful to be able to cook a few things and have them still hot whilst I cook the rest. We have a tiny kitchen so the logistics of putting things aside and then microwaving them later are very tricky...

The buffet server looks useful - I'd have to put it on the table and not in the kitchen but it would be doable - or should I go full 1970s and get a hostess trolley?!

This won't help you but we have a double oven, so I often put one on the lowest setting to keep things warm if there are a lot of elements. It's probably the most useful thing about having two.