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...)

@GlumyGloomer yep... I've been getting loads in my veg box plus lots of courgettes from the garden, so this has helped get rid of some!

I've learned how to make Pamboli. A simple Mallorcan tapas.
It helps that I'm on holiday here and the tomato's, olive oil & garlic taste fantastic. Plus my 17 year old is obsessed by Pamboli. So toast some rustic bread ( I used the local one here) Rub with a garlic clove both sides. Drizzle with a good extra virgin olive oil. Top with grated tomato + sea salt & pepper.
I've read Ottolenghi recipes where he says grate the tomato & it seemed bizarre. But trust me it really works - the skin is left behind.

@fferny1 that sounds good...i have a load of ripe tomatoes here, so i might give that a go!

I had no idea you could grate tomatoes! Which size grater do you use?

I made peshwari naans today. They were very easy to roll and cook, but I didn't get the almond paste smooth enough. The filling was crumbly and I'd prefer it a bit sweeter. Still, I'll try again. I used the curry house dough recipe.
greatcurryrecipes.net/2013/05/28/indian-restaurant-style-peshwari-naan-recipe/

Beef burritos tonight with a broccoli stalk coleslaw www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/chipotle-beef-burrito-rolls-with-broccoli-stalk-slaw. Definitely needed the piquancy of the coleslaw.

Another thing I made from Sainsbury’s recently is this lovely lentil and beetroot cod www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/horseradish-coated-cod-fillets-with-beetroot-lentils

Glumy love a peshwari naan. I’ve made rotis and chapatis before but not naan.

@GlumyGloomer oh they look great, I love peshwari naan, but have never tried making naan before.

@Wildernesstips the burrito sounds good... might be worth a try with my toddler, although i don't think she'd go for the slaw unfortunately!

Today i had the pamboli, as suggested by @Fferny1 which was great, such a simple lunch to make the most of a glut of tomatoes! Made lamb keema for tea, although i didn't quite have all the ingredients so it didn't totally follow the recipe. Came out ok, but toddler didn't even try it. www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/keema-peas

@Imicola Pamboli made with home-grown tomatoes sounds absolutely delicious.
Yes, grating tomatoes does sound bizarre @Glumy but it's brilliant for large ones on a coarse grater.... on top of a tub. It's a bit messy but works. And Ottolenghi always seems to recommend it - he's my hero ... for vegetarian cooking.

I like the look of the keema. Might give the pamboli a go, although sadly I have no home grown tomatoes.

I can recommend ottolenghis curried lentil & coconut soup. It's easy & delicious ds ( 15) is on his second bowl. I added some fresh curry leaves & some marigold stock as well.

I've also made ottolenghis chickpea, bread & poached egg soup for lunch.
It's good... Especially with capers & lime on top.
My youngest is having major m.h. Issues and it's a distraction technique.
As well as trying to feed him healthier food to make him better.

Both those soups sound pretty good @Fferny1 I'd be tempted but pretty much guaranteed the toddler wouldn't like it! Sorry to hear about your DS, hope the soups have helped.

We had super healthy salmon burgers today, with a wrap and salad. Mix was very wet, but they did stay together well in the pan, but i didn't really like the texture of it, very bitty, and the toddler wasn't happy either, she just ate the wrap. In retrospect, I'm pretty certain I've made them before and thought the same... not sure why they are so highly rated on the website... maybe i blended the mix too much.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/superhealthy-salmon-burgers#commentsFeed

Made some snickerdoodles from Nigella's how to be a domestic goddess at the weekend. They are small biscuits with nutmeg, rolled in sugar and cinnamon before baking. Very easy and always good with a coffee!

They sound yummy @Imicola.
DS would love them. He's rarely eating anything healthy at the moment sadly. Sweet treats are his thing. Plus lots of noodles. It's more cooking is a total distraction technique for me ☺️.

Made ottolenghis confit leeks with lentils & a leek & lemon cream. Delicious, but I have lots of the cream sauce . So I'm also roasting a whole celeriac with coriander seeds so I can dip wedges in the cream & doing his version of a whole cauliflower in cheese sauce. The kids ( teens) will have some with steak.

This week I've made Moroccan kofte with spicy tomato sauce and yogurt, which were pretty easy and quite tasty. www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/moroccan-kofte-spicy-tomato-sauce#commentsFeed
Also pancetta and pea linguine, which was really easy and very tasty! Toddler thought the kofte were ok, and couldn't get enough of the linguine... so I'll make that one again.

Hi all, my phone was broken for a while, so I've not been posting.
Looks like some good ideas. I always thought a snickerdoodle was something to do with the chocolate bar. The biscuits sound lovely though.

The last couple of weeks i have made marrow and ginger chutney, chilli jelly and a chocolate and lime cake. All very yummy! The chutney took ages to cook down, i think it was about 5 hours all together to make it - Phew. The jelly was much quicker although it didn't set first time round so i reboiled it. The cake was relatively straightforward, not too tricky. Next up is grape jelly, but i have run out of jars! Might need to freeze the juice till i get a few more.
www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/marrow-and-ginger-chutney/
www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/sep/20/red-pepper-chilli-recipes (i think it was this recipe... it was from the river cottage preserves book)
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chocolate-lime-cake

That cake looks delicious.
I made the curry house style naans again, this time without the peshawar paste and they were great. Even the toddler liked them.
greatcurryrecipes.net/2020/03/28/naan-recipe-instant-and-delicious-stovetop-naans/

@GlumyGloomer I still haven't tried to make naan.... one day!
This week I think the highlight was this citrus chicken with carrots. I skipped the cashews, and only used lime with no orange. Also only added 1tbsp of the chilli sauce (I used sriracha). It was really good, and very easy! Toddler wouldn't even try it, but I'd make it again regardless. Yum!
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/sticky-citrus-chicken-carrots-cashews

I'm still on ottolenghi recipes...

From the otk book which I've just downloaded on Kindle.
I made hummus : His recipe said add 1 clove of garlic but I ended up adding a whole head of my rather tasteless cut price Aldi offer garlic and the juice of a whole lemon.
Plus I agitated the chickpeas to remove the skins, but they were so mixed into the chickpeas that I just pureed up the lot. It tasted good at the end though.

Then the beyond potato salad from the same book. I ate it all yesterday 😂. Nothing more to say ...

@Fferny1 finally managed to get an ottolenghi book from the library... looking forward to trying something from it!

This week i made a chocolate hedgehog cake for DDs birthday. I'm not normally one for decorating cakes, so wasn't totally confident, but it came out pretty well (although the 'mouth' i added on DDs request perhaps took it into the creepy realm). The cake was also easy to make, tasty and very moist... I'd use the recipe again for a standard chocolate cake.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/hedgehog-cake

That cake looks delicious - a very rakish looking hedgehog! Did you use flakes for the spikes?

Which Ottolenghi book did you get out of the library ? I've only got one - the Otk book. The other recipes I pick up from the Guardian website.

I've just made Meera Sodha's everyday red lentil Dahl. But I cooked the lentils in vegetable stock and added a generous amount of Tamarind & sambar powder to the normal spices.

DH was born in Malaysia and the veg. Curries there are slightly different - with lots of tamarind & Sambar in. My kids really like it with halved eggs in & lots of basmati rice.

@Fferny1 i got plenty, which is vegetarian recipes, with each chapter a different veg or type of ingredient (eg grains). I made spicy Moroccan carrot salad last night which was really delicious. Easy to make and mostly using things i have in the house anyway.
www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-moroccan-spicy-carrot-salad-recipe-snap-20170119-story.html%3f_amp=true
The Dahl sounds good. I like meera sodhal recipes, i sometimes use them from the guardian.

@Imicola I've just eaten the surprise tarte tatin from Plenty and highly recommend it. It takes a while to make but is quite hands off. Not too photogenic but so so delicious with a dressed salad.

@MilduraS i was intrigued by that recipe, mainly because im not a spud lover but it looked good. I might need to try it.