Weekly new recipe thread

[SarahJessicaParkin]

I've decided to try out a brand new recipe every week this year. I seem to make the same things on rotation all the time, so hope this will drag me out of my recipe rut and improve my not great cooking skills!

Would anyone like to join me?

Thank you! I follow her guardian column and have enjoyed pretty much everything I’ve made by her. At some point I need to ditch some old cookbooks for some new ones-hers are top of the wish list!

I'm trying to do this - but am very limited because I live in the west of Ireland and can't find a lot of stuff which is readily accessible in the UK - celeriac, for example. Anyway, I'm doing what I can, and last week's new recipe was stuffed baked cabbage rolls with cheese - turned out to be a lot like a meatloaf wrapped in cabbage with cheese sauce, which is not a bad thing, we enjoyed it.

@Savemesome we had a recipe box last week to kick start us and it used a spicy topping for one recipe which was great. Kids had the marinaded pork plain then DH and I loaded on a chilli / sesame type salsa.

I'm doing this - am also reviewing the copies of Good Food magazine I've kept for this very reason! Got 4 new recipes I want to try out.

Used old Hello Fresh recipe cards for a lovely chicken topped with leek and feta then an old Green Chef card for a cavalo Nero and roasted veg salad to go with it.

Today was a Thai baked salmon with stir fried veggies. Sort of made up from a few different recipes but I wrote down what I did and it was amazing so have transferred it into my Family Favourites folder.

Forgot to say I've also written a list of recipes I'd like to find so 5 new salmon, 5 more veggie, 3 x veg indian sides, veg bean burgers etc so that if I'm lost I can look at that to help me focus the search for a new recipe. And also this targets where I know I have gaps!

A very foggy afternoon in Vancouver.

Made the dill and mushroom tart last night although used up a pre made pie shell instead of making Nigel Slater's pastry with parmesan in it.

It had a lovely creamy texture and a mild but tasty flavour. DH was not particularly keen but he likes strongly flavoured and spiced food.

I really liked the dill. Next time I am going to make the crust and add some baby shrimp to the filling mixture, plus a few hot pepper flakes. I might also add a bit of parmesan to the filling.

DH is off to Costco this afternoon. He told me he is going to get one of their shepherd's pies (actually cottage pie) for tonight so no kitchen experiments for me today.

He grew up in post war England and tells me about his Mum grinding up leftover lamb from Sunday to make a shepherd's pie for Monday. They were quite poor and I often wonder how she fed her four children and a hungry husband who worked 12 hour days 6 days a week,

@Inextremis

I'm trying to do this - but am very limited because I live in the west of Ireland and can't find a lot of stuff which is readily accessible in the UK - celeriac, for example. Anyway, I'm doing what I can, and last week's new recipe was stuffed baked cabbage rolls with cheese - turned out to be a lot like a meatloaf wrapped in cabbage with cheese sauce, which is not a bad thing, we enjoyed it.

Oh, I am thinking of making some cabbage rolls soon. My Mum used to make them but I haven't in years. She used tomato juice as a sauce if memory served.

We have quite a large group of descendants from Ukrainian immigrants in Canada meaning cabbage rolls, perogies, and ukrainian sausage are true Canadian fare.

@PurpleDaisies if you like sprouts, you'll LOVE this: jonoandjules.com/tag/ottolenghi-test-kitchen/ - scroll down to the sprout, parmesan and hazelnut salad - less of a salad than a warm bowl of roasted sprout gorgeousness. It's from the new-ish Ottolenghi Test Kitchen book called Shelf Love which is brilliant.

Made prawns with caramelised walnuts yesterday, though I modified the recipe a lot as wasn't up to cooking for too long.

I really hate eating the same things all the time anyway

I made a garlic, turmeric and cauliflower soup that Nigella posed on Instagram this week. Not her recipe and I forgot whose it was. Not bad, I threw in a tin of chickpeas to bulk it out a bit.

Also Mary B mincemeat cake to use up leftover mincemeat from Christmas. Was okay, bit dry but dc ate it anyway

To join in the East love, I made the sweetheart cabbage okonomiyaki last week and it was delicious but huge. It ended up doing two meals. Planning on making the caramelised onion and chilli ramen for tonight, which I’m optimistic about because I love caramelised onions.

I saw on Meera Sodha’s Instagram about a year ago a letter from someone who in lockdown cooked every single recipe in East! That’s my long term goal because trying recipes I’m hesitant about is probably good for me - but I might have to wait for guests to come over so I can offload the grapefruit to someone else!

I'm attempting new meals at the moment, though fortnightly might be more realistic for me.

I bought a one pot cookery book earlier this month, so attempted the peanut and sesame rice with tomato chicken. It's supposed to take 30 minutes, but took a lot longer in the end. I might attempt it again, at some point, with some tweaks.

I tried this Burmese Prawn Curry: Bazun Hin on Monday and it was nice, not the best thing I have made, but given how quick and easy it was I was very happy with the outcome and would make again.

I'm playing it quite safe most of week with some tried and tested favourites. But will link in case they appeal to anyone.
Pistachio and Yoghurt Chicken Curry Meera Sodha, Made in India
Egg Fried Rice - I bulk this out with some carrot and mushroom to make it a one pot meal.

That pistachio and yoghurt chicken curry looks lovely.

I tried Brussels Sprouts Thoran from Fresh India (Meera Sodha) which was delicious. It was really vibrant and spicy. I did have my expectations in check because I'm not a coconut lover, but I ended up loving it. I do have most of pack of curry leaves left so if anyone has any recipes they recommend to use them that would be great.

Great thread idea - I love trying new recipes. Tried this one on Saturday www.redonline.co.uk/health-self/nutrition/a527300/louise-parker-method-salmon-roast/ which I have had in my recipe book for ages but not tried before. It was absolutely delicious and felt so wholesome.

Great thread @SarahJessicaParkin!

We're trying Rick Stein's pork belly this weekend and I also want to try a red thai curry salmon thing I saw on Instagram - serving dumplings I think the page is called.

It's so easy to get into a cooking rut, isn't it?!

looks like a really nice recipe @toastofthetown - quite simple too. Were Brussels easy enough to find this time of year? No suggestions on curry leaf recipes, but I think you can freeze them and use from frozen.

I made whole roasted cauliflower with roasted baby potatoes and crispy kale from The Higgidy Veggie Cookbook. Sounds boring but it was full of flavour and managed to convert my DH to cauliflower. The cauliflower is covered in a coconut based spice paste then drenched in lime juice. The potatoes are boiled until tender then crushed down in a tin with some hot oil, mustard seeds and coriander seeds. I'm really enjoying this cookbook.

Video of the author cooking the recipe here https://m.facebook.com/story.php?storyfbid=503314596970836&id=432458550057&&_rdr

This weekend’s new recipe was this Cajun rice with Blackened Salmon www.haydenquinn.com.au/sharing-blog/dirtyricensalmon. Delicious and easy. I made it for friends last night and served it with a green salad and bread.

We made the Rick Stein pork belly. It was nice but incredibly rich. Swimming with fat that we had to drain off. It was ok but I've enjoyed other pork belly recipes more.

We've got another joint of pork belly in the freezer to use up and loads of bacon so I'm going to look for recipes for the bacon for next weekend!

Made this - quite a faff but did it slowly yesterday and cooked it today. Very good and worth the effort.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooked-chunky-beef-lasagne

Tried a few new recipes over the last week:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/jerk-sweet-potato-black-bean-curry. I loved this but it was too hot for DH & DS so would reduce the jerk seasoning next time

And a couple from the quick Mowgli cookbook:

Chicken Dhansak (went down very well - thankfully, as I made double quantities Friday night ready for friends coming over on Saturday... and then DS tested positive for Covid on Saturday morning. So the 3 of us had it on Saturday, sent a couple of tubs over to DD at uni via her boyfriend yesterday - doorstep collection & having leftovers again today!)

Ginger beer onion & broccoli bhajis - these were a big success but again made loads!

I found with both of these they didn't look as dark as the photos? I think i maybe didn't cook the onions for long enough for the dhansak & couldn't find thermometer to check the oil temperature for the bhajis, so that probably explained that one. Still very tasty though.

Also DS did a meal prep Instant Pot Teriyaki chicken with rice and broccoli last weekend to take to 6th form - think it was this one:
https://www.fivehearthome.com/instant-pot-teriyaki-chicken/. He was happy with it - can't offer my opinion as I didn't taste it!

I've just bought Fresh India on the kindle daily deal so expect to see some recipes from there over the next few weeks. So much for no more cookbooks

Yet more Meera Sodha love from me. I made the Coconut Rice with Aubergines and Pickled Cucumber today and it was really lovely, and filling, and different. East is fast becoming my favourite recipe book.

Made this fajita traybake to use up some leftover chicken and black beans www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/fajita-chicken-traybake .It was nice but pretty mild (but that may be because we made our own fajita seasoning).