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...)

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl I looked at that book on Amazon, £776.60 for hardback !!! Obviously a mistake.

Did you do the "look inside"? How to make toast?

Oatmeal porridge - SCOTCH (sic) Method ! A wee dram might improve it, though.

I just can't cook from a tablet or Kindle either - I need something printed. I use charity shops & Amazon 2nd hand sometimes.

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl I haven't used the old recipes myself, but a friend is a big fan and sometimes cooks things I think. They tend to be quite rich and lots of offal, game etc. His book (can't remember whose it is) has menu ideas for different types if events and numbers but the suggestions would feed an army, its ridiculous!

Yesterday I made this roasted broccoli with preserved lemon yogurt to go with the pie leftovers (I skipped the breadcrumbs). It was surprisingly good and dead easy. Toddler said no!

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cumin-roasted-broccoli-with-preserved-lemon-yogurt oops, here is the link

Hope everyone is having a nice easter weekend. Today we're (me and dd1) making a simnal cake, which is a first for me as I usually make a beeline for chocolate based easter baking. It smells delicious in the oven, feel slightly nervous about the decoration as the recipe says to put the cake under the grill and I can very easily imagine either dropping it or getting called away and incinerating it. Wish me luck...

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easter-simnel-cake

Cake under the grill sounds scary... would it even fit in my grill? I have a blowtorch which might do a similar job?!

I think blowtorch would be ideal. Alas, I don't have one. Cake is cooling now. Some butter oozed out while it was baking (my double lining was clearly insufficient) so I tipped it back onto the cake once it was out of the oven. I was worried it would be dry, now I'm worried it'll be greasy. Can't have roo much butter though, right? (Calories aside obviously)

Cake is grilled! Looks just like the picture, no? Dd1 very much wanted to eat an apostle early but somehow was persuaded to put them all on the cake. They are a bit crowded though...
Having trouble uploading pic, will keep trying

Pic

Realised I forgot to put an emoji in my message. Obviously I know it does not look like the picture

Looks great, well done! I got boiling beef in my meat box this month... mostly bone with a bit of meat and fat. Had to ask my mum for help! Im aiming to make an Asian style beef broth to add noodles to... fingers crossed!

We made a simnel cake too @GlumyGloomer! (disclaimer: we got all the ingredients in a recipe box...) DP is taking it to PIL tomorrow, the DC had fun and ate too much icing finishing it off.

I did wonder about all the rich 'meaty' recipes @Imicola; that was one of the things the family noticed when eating in the Edwardian era, there was just so much meat! And loads of food in general! Of course it was much easier in those days when you had a maid to do all the cooking for you - if only, eh?!

No exciting cooking here as we've had picnics out for the past couple of days. Did make two types of pancakes though for breakfast, both from Jack Monroe recipes - roll up and fluffy - both turned out well!

Happy Easter to all for tomorrow

Happy Easter!
I decided to give hasselback potatoes a go, and it worked really well.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/black-pepper-hasselback-potatoes
We also had the largest chicken I have ever seen, and there is a mountain of leftover meat. Any tips for using it up? I usually chuck it in pasta sauce or stir frys.
The carcass is now on to make stock, as I have a near pathological aversion to just chucking it away...

Clara what sort of topping did your cake have? Ours was just glazed marzipan.

My Nan used to make simnel cake with 12 balls, on the basis that she was sure God would forgive Judas & so should we. Whatever, marzipan is one of the few things I dislike so I never ate them.

@Imicola I'm intrigued by the meat box. I googled it, but it found a site that can't be your source. It sounds like you have no choice in what they send, but I'd still be interested. Please let me know.

I was looking for things that aren't always in supermarkets, e.g. offal, mutton etc. I don't have a proper butcher near me anymore, only a shop-that-sells-meat & has never heard of some of the things I've asked for.

@Georgyporky the one I get is from the same local organisation that does the veg box. Glasgow based, locavore. I also had a veg box supplier that did meat boxes when I lived down south, but I think they stopped that side of the business a few years ago. There are quite a few online butchers also. I haven't used any before though. I find butchers here not great...a lot of variety of sausages, but not much else! The meat box is good, but probably more processed meat than I'd normally buy. This month was sausages, bacon, sausage meat, burgers, the bone, a couple of packs of mince (pork and beef), stewing steak and diced lamb. I think it works out ok price wise though.

@GlumyGloomer I often put leftover chicken in a risotto, means I can use up leftover veg too also it freezes well, which is handy. Or maybe a chicken soup? It's supposed to be a chilly few days from now on...

The marzipan was a layer in the middle of our cake, the topping was icing made with orange juice and loads of decorations put on by the DC. I did have flowers, sparkles etc but they went for the Christmas ones

@Georgyporky Donald Russell sometimes has those types of meat? I've seen them on Groupon too (although not sure if that's for a specific box, as I haven't bought it) if you wanted to give them a try for less money!

Mushroom soup made today to use up a load of mushrooms that were almost past their best. It was... a bit dull. I didn't put the sherry in - we didn't have any, and I wasn't going to buy any just for this as we don't drink it! - which would maybe have improved it, but it just needed a good kick of something, and possibly less blending to leave it a bit chunky (much like me, in fact!). I'd make it again to use up a ton of mushrooms but would probably add chilli or similar next time.

Clara that's disappointing. I have a recipe for a tapas mushroom dish with sherry, and it is very nice, but I know what you mean about buying alcohol just for cooking. I'm up to 5 bottles and officially out of cupboard space.

More easter baking yesterday, this time going french:
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/galette-des-rois
As usual mine wouldn't wine any beauty contests, but it was tasty. I did not hide any chocking hazards in it though.

*win. Stupid auto correct

Thanks for the posts about the meat boxes.

I've looked around more, & they all seem to either have set packages, or it's pot luck.
I certainly wouldn't be happy with @Imicola 's selection. I eat processed meat, but not very much.
I tried Donald Russell a few years ago. The quality was good, but there were delivery problems. The first box got delivered elsewhere, but they sent another with some extra steaks as an apology. The same thing happened with my second order, so I didn't bother after that. The drivers take a pic of the house, & then H.O. look on Google Earth to check the customer isn't trying it on.

" I did not hide any chocking hazards in it though " ???
Was it meant to have things inside it like Xmas puds used to have ?

I think it looks good. I read an article about what "food stylists" do to make pictures of food look good in recipe books etc - you couldn't eat it after they'd played with it. It was sometimes raw food painted to look cooked !

@Georgyporky we've had it 2 months so far, the first one was a bit better. They have another option which is budget box with cuts that need longer slow cooking... was tempted to try that as we do a lot of slow cooking, but I really wish they'd publish the contents or an example so you could see what's likely to be in them before you sign up!

Georgy have you looked at farmisons? We've had some good stuff from them, although Dh is too fussy to make the regular boxes worthwhile.
Yep, like a Christmas pudding you traditionally hide a small porcelain charm in the tart and whoever's slice it's in gets good luck for the year, and/or a large dental bill.
Good point, I did hear that about food photography a while ago. Wood pollish on roast chickens etc
Yum.