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...)

Made this again for dinner last night www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-arrabbiata-stew-parmesan-dumplings, but in the slow cooker so reduced the amount of tomatoes and didn’t add in any stock. I didn’t do the dumplings either this time around but they were delicious.

I’ve tried smoked salt and liked it but apart from the texture have never really noticed the difference in any other salt.

Not a disaster last night, but very irritating. I made HB s&s pork (recipe not online). Made several times before, but I used the quoted amounts for sauce - which were for 4 & I'm cooking for 2..
Left the remains of the sauce in the wok, intending to freeze it, but DH threw it away. Grrrr

Oh no, what a waste!

I've fallen foul of salt types before, mainly in baking... if it says salt I use table salt, which is much more salty than sea salt, so sometimes I wonder if the recipe default is sea salt but they just say salt? There have been a chime of times recently where a savory bake ended up way too salty. I think bicarb also adds saltiness.

@Wildernesstips I've made that recipe recently but it didn't turn out very well... too watery and then the dumplings partially dissolved in it! Argh.

Tonight I made mozzarella! Got a kit for my birthday. It was reasonably easy, and has made a firm mozzarella, pretty tasty, although it looks a bit odd! Also made the parsnip flatbread again, with an added carrot as I didn't have enough parsnip... they smell good!

And coincidentally, my cheese kit included pink cheese salt, so that's what went in the cheese!

I had no idea you could get a homemade mozzarella kit! Only cheese I've heard of making at home was paneer, and I've never even actually done that. Something to try at some point.

There's not much to the kit... citric acid, Rennet, cheese salt and a cheese cloth plus a recipe book. But I tasted the cheese again today and it was pretty tough... not sure there is quite enough instruction on the book!

I made this spicy Spanish rice this evening www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spicy-spanish-rice. I’ve made it before. Very generous portions. I was the only one who had prawns though and I think it needed that saltiness.

I had no idea you could make mozzarella either.

I haven't made mozzarella but I have made labneh, and that was ok (I mean a bit bland for my taste, but pleasant, and you could add herbs) - if you Google 'india knight labneh recipe' it should come up with an excerpt from her Thrift Book which shows basic cheese recipes. Really easy, we just don't eat enough cheese to justify it!

Today was Joe Wicks fish in a bag - I can't find a link to the whole recipe, but essentially you put all the veg apart from chilli and cashews in a bowl, add olive oil and seasoning, put it on foil and put the salmon on top, then fold the foil up to make (you've guessed it!) a bag. You pour 50ml stock on top and then it just goes in the oven for half an hour or so. Very easy, DP's taking it to work for lunch tomorrow, I'll ask him to report back on tastiness!

My spice grinder died on Saturday. I wanted to grind some fennel for the dry rub for pulled pork, so used a pestle & mortar rather than have to wash my coffee grinder twice. Forgotten how hard it is !
And then my slow cooker misbehaved on Sunday, leaving me with barely cooked pork shoulder half an hour before dinner time.
I managed to retrieve some meat to cook on the hob, & the rest of it was eventually cooked by bedtime.
New grinder & s.c. are on their way, but in the previous 2 weeks the TV & lawnmower have both broken down. If things come in 3s, there's another 2 things to go wrong.

@Georgyporky ah no, our things also seem to all break down at the same time. Last year for us was coffee machine, tv and kettle. Recently coffee machine again (same one, we had it fixed but it is on its last legs!), bread machine... what's next?!

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl I think I'd be better off going for something like that next time and adding herbs, the super rubber texture of the mozzarella is putting me off eating it...it may end up in the bin. Even the cheese fiend toddler isn't convinced.

I got a cheese making kit and made the mozzarella, i remember it used shed loads of milk and I ended up with a fist sized ball of rubbery blandness.
It was ok sliced and dressed with good olive oil and chopped red chili but not worth it really.

I can imagine that mozzarella (which needs a bit of shape) is harder to make than just a bland pat of soft cheese! I'm no longer a fan of India Knight but did like that book back in the day, and some of the tips have obviously stuck.

DP came home moaning that the packed lunch I made for him gave him food poisoning this was the lunch that had been cooked properly, cooled properly, stored in the fridge till he took it... and then left in his hot car for seven hours before he ate it. Yep, that'll be my fault then...

Brazilian fish stew this evening www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/fish-and-seafood/brazilian-style-fish-stew/. My God, this was tasty. Didn’t add the stock as halved the recipe but retained full amount of tomatoes and coconut milk. I used frozen cod and frozen prawns and served with new potatoes and green beans. Texture is more soupy than stew though.

So homemade mozzarella probably not the best thing to try then. Labneh with herbs sounds nice though.
Clara hope your Dp has recovered. Can't believe he left fish in a hot car for that long and didn't realise it would be a problem
Georgy sorry all your stuff is breaking. Has the third thing struck yet?
Wilderness that looks good, might give it a go.

Made this yesterday: www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/healthy/chicken-tinga/
It was ok, easy enough but I think needs a longer cooking time. I totally forgot to add the lime and sugar at the end. I've got 3 pots in the freezer, looking forward to making them into things, enchiladas being the first plan.
In other news I've bought a rose icing cutter, with the ambition of upping my cake decorating game for dd1's birthday. I got a leaf cutter too. Not sure whether to just put roses around the edge or attempt anything more artistic.

GG I like the look of that chicken tinga - might try it to christen my new s.c. I can't see how to print it without cut&paste into Word?

3-4 years ago I spent a month in Mexico & loved the food - I didn't realise there was so much difference in the flavour of chillies.

Yeah, that Chicken Tinga is now on my to-cook list too!

I had high hopes for lunch today, planning to make eggs royale, attempting both hollandaise sauce and egg poaching for the first time (using pouchies). It was a disaster, naturally. I struggled on trying to make my sauce one handed while the toddler insisted on being held but then also screamed in my ear, and the 4 year old winged and moaned at me. It was looking promising for a few minutes but then the sauce split and I threw in the towel. Instant noodles and fried eggs for lunch it is

Dinner went better. I made this: www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/recipes/a559426/cardamom-butter-chicken/
A little bland but very easy and the kids liked it.

Glumy I made the chicken tinga today. I chucked it in the slow cooker at lunchtime, but only used a small amount of stock. Went down really well with the whole family.

@GlumyGloomer

Dinner went better. I made this: www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/recipes/a559426/cardamom-butter-chicken/ A little bland but very easy and the kids liked it.

@GlumyGloomer before I started scrolling through the ingredients I thought to myself, “I bet there’s no salt in it” and lo and behold, there wasn’t! Did you add any salt at all during the cooking or seasoning process? They may have been trying for some “healthy” recipe but it’s just come out as bland.

@GlumyGloomer I think I've made that chicken tinga recipe, or a similar one, before. Might try it again! That's a shame on the hollandaise sauce. I've never tried to make it, I'm totally lazy and just use mayonnaise which is obviously not the same!
My recent success was a courgette and lemon cake, which came out well. Moist and tasty, but with a slightly unusual springy texture.

www.filippoberio.co.uk/recipes/courgette-and-lemon-cake/

Tonight im going to adapt this recipe but using Turkey rather than beef. I love sushi rice, but thought this might be more palatable for the toddler than actual sushi!

www.bbcgoodfoodme.com/recipes/sushi-rice-bowl-with-beef-egg-and-chilli-sauce/

Wilderness glad you liked it. If you have leftovers I can vouch for it in enchiladas.
Jings you're right, I didn't even think of that. The kids were playing up that day so I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing.
Imicola that beef bowl looks delicious. I made the NH salmon poke bowl a few weeks ago, although I used smoked salmon rather than eat regular supermarket fish raw. It went down quite well with the kids. Let me know how it works with turkey.

I've made hollandaise, but a jar from Sainsbo is just as good IMO.

My new slow cooker is a lot hotter than the old one, didn't realise there would be any difference until a shoulder of lamb was ready over an hour before I wanted it. Chicken tinga is on the menu this week.
BTW re my breakdowns, the washing machine is kaput ! I hope that's the last of them.