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?

Joe Woodhouse Potato and Cheese pie
I have been enjoying Joe's book but this just didn't work for me and I was really hoping it would be lovely comfort food. I rarely make pastry and don't have that intuitive approach to pie making. I halved the recipe in the book to serve the two of us and then flipped to the Guardian page which had different measurements for the pastry - I made some more pastry to make up to the Guardian recipe. Pastry was cracking when rolling but all fine. However, after cooking there was distinct absence of cheese - perhaps there's a floor limit on cheese in a pie that you can't go below? If someone does make it, I hope it works for you!

Spanish Stew/Cocido
More success with this one! I really like the Brindisa cookbook but the name of this recipe does make me laugh "mountain meat".. I didn't have any morcilla so increased the pork belly and chorizo. This is a long cook but not fussy or stress inducing and would be perfect for a rainy weekend pootle in the kitchen. Very simple but tasty and comforting food all the things the pie wasnt

Spiced and fried haddock with broccoli purée, Nigella - I had a nose through this thread for some inspiration last week. Really enjoyed this, very easy.

Slow Roast Tomato and Aubergine Pasta, Sophie Wyburd - this was a big tick in the comfort box. Delicious.

I knew there was more…

Peach and Raspberry Tea Cakes and the Blueberry Lemon Tea Cakes from Ottolenghi the cookbook. Sadly can’t find a recipe online - loved the peach and raspberry ones, so incredibly moist. It was my first time cooking from this book and I’m determined to do more.

Sunshine Salad, Ottolenghi Extra Good Things. This is the sort of recipe I’d usually flick past but I am so glad that I didn’t, it packed a punch! It was very gingery but that suited me as I’m getting over a cold so it felt somewhat medicinal and healthy 😅

Crab & Ricotta Ravioli with Sage & Saffron Butter Sauce, Delicious Magazine
I didn’t exactly follow this recipe but heavily referenced it as a base, it turned out really well and was pretty simple.

Ultimate Beef & Broccoli, Marions Kitchen
I loved this, but will half the white pepper next time as I found it a little too strong.

Scallion Pancakes, Red House Spice
I knew I would really enjoy this as it seemed very similar to parathas which I adore.

Steak & Corn Salsa Tostada, Ethan Chlebowski
Contemplated not putting this in as I really didn’t keep to the recipe but used it as a basic idea - crunchy corn base with delicious Mexican toppings. I used refried beans, charred sweetcorn pico de Gallo, hot sauce, coriander crema, and seared steak over tortilla chips. I really enjoyed this meal, it’s definitely made me want to source some tostadas next time.

Mapo Tofu (Fuschia Dunlop)
Every time I make something from one of Fuschia's books I chide myself for not using them more frequently - always delicious!
This was no exception, very easy to make and was pleased I went on a mini quest to find fermented soya beans (thank you shop number 3!) as they added a nice pop of umami flavour in amongst the spice and heat

I've been in the USA on hols for 2 weeks and have saved up quite a few new things I've tried!

Hot smoked salmon, beetroot and grain salad, Diana Henry in the Telegraph - I didn't make the creme fraiche, just a pot of tzadziki needing using up in the fridge. Very nice on a cool cloudy summer's day but very filling, the quantity definitely serves 4 as a main dish salad!

Roast bagel salmon, Alison Roman - the family loved this so much I made it about 4 times, and used Everything bagel seasoning to top it off in addition to sesame seeds. If you like the flavours of a smoked salmon bagel, you'll love this. You can, however, reduce the butter by half if you're using farmed salmon as there is plenty of oil in the fish already.

Steak that is like tartare but not raw, Alison Roman - I made this last night and it was great, the sauce is just like you'd get in a steak tartare but you have it over a quickly grilled onglet or skirt steak.

Best grilled chicken thighs, Spend with Pennies - nothing revolutionary about this but sometimes back to basics reminds you that you don't need Ottolenghi length ingredients every time. The longer you can marinade these the better.

Tomato salad with ginger garlic dressing, Ottolenghi - but sometimes, Ottolenghi just hits the spot - tomatoes in an almost Vietnamese style. The fried garlic is essential as a textural contrast to the rest of the dish, we were fighting over them at the bottom of the dish.

This week I’ve made a couple of new recipes from Simple Comfort by Mary Berry.
Slow roast lamb with ratatouille

I made a slow roast lamb with ratatouille, while it was ok it is not my favourite roast lamb - there are others I would do before making this again.
I also made chocolate and raspberry layered pots. These were very good I did substitute the raspberries for black cherries which works beautifully. You could easily experiment with other fruits with great success. These I would happily make again. Unfortunately there is no link online, should anyone want the recipe I would be happy to share.

Cheesy Gochujang Potatoes With Fried Egg And Tangy Slaw
Potatoes, gochujang and cheese is probably a combination that will never fail for me so predictably I enjoyed this. Really quick to come together for a midweek meal.

Garlicky miso tahini noodles
Really delicious. Another recipe I really didn’t have any doubts for as I love everything in it. It was as quick as promised, and this will definitely be going into the quick meals rotation. Thanks @AnnieKenney

I made this yesterday although with mince rather than braising steak. It's a lot of time and effort for a chilli (I knocked an hour off the cooking time because I used mince) but it's a really tasty chilli, lots of subtle flavour notes and some real depth. Well worth it if you find cooking relaxing gran.luchito.com/recipes/chilli/ultimate-chilli-con-carne/

Morning, so sorry I joined the thread then didn’t post again for a bit. We have family staying all this month and I’ve not had time to think. I’m also running out of meal ideas, so I’m going to have a good look through the posts to get some inspiration!

Two new things I’ve tried over the past couple of weeks are…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chicken_braised_in_cider_22812 this was really great. I cooked it at 170 fan oven for an hour.

and also this one, as one of our guests loves British sausages, and they can’t easily get them where they live… https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/recipes/a537675/sausages-in-red-onion-marmalade/

I made Nigella's Fish Finger Bhorta last week and wow it hit the spot. Super easy and just really nice. I've got it on the menu again this week.

Oh, I’d forgotten about this recipe. My sister told me about it a while ago and she really rated it too. Thanks for the reminder.

I made the BBC Good Food one pot Prawn & lentil curry by Barney Desmazery. I made up 4× the mixture so I could freeze half. Plus I have 6 adult size humans to feed no at home currently😀 Instead of ghee I used a generous spoon of coconut oil to fry up the onions & half the amount of tinned tomatoes stated in the recipe.I added several curry leaves to the pot ( due to accidentally ordering 3 bags on Amazon) & a couple of lime leaves. The pickled red onions listed along with lots of Coriander is great with this curry.
It was really lovely, sourish & fresh tasting. A bit like a Prawn dansak.

Another one with the fish finger bhorta bookmarked, but haven't made yet!! Need to get on that.

Here's one for you @toastofthetown and veggies on the thread - I bought a cookbook called "To Asia, With Love" by an Australian-Chinese author named Hetty McKinnon and made Celery, mushroom and leek dan dan noodles. Halved the recipe for me and DH and there was loads each. Very good, happens to be vegan as well and next time I will make it even spicier! The combination of the celery and mushrooms was perfect in terms of texture.

Garlicky Miso-Tahini Noodles, The Kitchn
I also made this recipe posted by @AnnieKenney. Another delicious and speedy noodle recipe! Both DH and I love tahini so kept the original amount which was right for us. Perhaps my garlic obsession has desensitised me to its pungency but I would up that even more next time. I added some blanched spring greens which worked well and made me feel virtuous 😇

@Cantonet given you enjoyed the sourish curry you might be interested in this one I cooked upthread aubergine-curry

Chilli Cheese Ramen Noodles, Marions Kitchen
Another sub 10 minute noodle dish. Another hit. I just used plain noodles rather than ramen ones with a flavour packet, so while really tasty they were probably a little more subtle than Marions, akin to a spicy mac & cheese. The dairy really does mute the heat so don’t be shy with gochujang. This is my least favourite of the three I have made over the last couple of weeks, but as it is so different to the others I can see myself making it again.

This Green Couscous with Torn Tahini Chicken was nice but would have probably been better as part of a buffet rather than my main meal. I made the Rocket, Orange and Olive salad that accompanied it in the Sainsburys magazine.

Same magazine also had a Lemony Warm Salmon salad which was nice - basically roasted new potatoes and radishes, then salmon with dill and lemon baked alongside. Served with creme fraiche with dill and tarragon.

Finally, made the BBC Lentil & Tomato Salad which I'm sure someone has linked upthread. Made a really lovely lunch.

Garlic bread - delish
After watching a 45 minute YouTube video about garlic, I had a hankering for garlic bread! Probably not something which normally needs a recipe (and I did throw a few extra cloves in the garlic butter) so deviated somewhat, but a good starting point. It was wonderful, but I really didn’t expect anything else.

Shiitake mushroom adobo - Melissa Hemsley - Feel Good
A real delight! Everything was well balanced, and I didn’t need to be worried about the amount of vinegar. The blend of mushrooms were perfect for the sauce, and while the coconut rice was lovely, the dish would have stood up just as well to steamed white rice.For such a simple ingredient list it was wonderful. Definitely one to add to the meal rotation.

Not much of a recipe but inspired by this video - I made some “snickers”. Cut a date in half, filled with peanut butter, dipped in dark chocolate with a generous sprinkle of flaky sea salt. So so good, have had them in the freezer all week and keep grabbing them for a snack. It was a recipe to use up leftover dates but think I’ll be buying dates to make it again.

Mushroom Tinga Tostadas - I found the marinade to be really wet so drained the mix before frying and added an extra tablespoon of chipotle paste. Really tasty but don’t think I’d follow the marinade recipe again.

subverting the thread to say I finally revisited the Chicken with Pineapple and Nduja. I don't know what was going on with me when I first made it, maybe I was mardy, maybe I did something wrong, maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this particular meal, but this recipe bangs.

Homemade Chilli Oil, Marions Kitchen
Dead easy and I love how adaptable it is - how much heat, how fine/chunky if blitzing your own chillis into powder, which spices to use, what quantities of each spice... For the first time I kept largely to her recipe, just adding 1tbsp coriander seeds, 1tsp sesame seeds, and 1/8tsp of MSG, and switching star anise for cloves.

Celery & Peanut Wontons, Meera Sodha, East
Perfect for leftover celery, which I don’t really like but use occasionally in soups/mirepoix and inevitably have 4 stalks left judging me from the fridge until I toss them out. Being such a simple recipe it was easy to scale down for the quantity of celery I had. I am a lifelong peanut hater so switched to a mixture of cashews, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds. While I wouldn’t buy celery specifically to make these, I will definitely use this recipe next time I have it leftover.

I normally read rather than post but I had to tell you all about the Mackerel Udon from Mezcla. I requested the book for my birthday thanks to this thread and this is the first recipe we've tried.

Really delicious. Not my normal type of food, but we had all the ingredients in. (Except the noodles - never had them before) I didn't have fresh ginger so used the pickled ginger we keep in for sushi which worked really well. A lovely meal that worked well for a hot day as it's basically all at room temperature.

Magical Chicken and Parmesan Soup with Pappardelle, Yotam Ottolenghi, OTK Shelf Love
I planned this a couple of weeks in advance, timed perfectly for me coming down with a cold the day before. I added a couple of slices of ginger and a teaspoon of peppercorns to the stock stage for extra healing powers. This was delicious, it felt like it nourished my soul as well as my body. Word of warning - have freezer space available. I had planned to freeze two potions of complete soup (before adding pasta, basil, and chilli). But in addition to that I also yielded extra 600ml of beautiful stock, and 300g of shredded chicken which I felt was overkill to put in the soup, and having eaten the finished article I was right to not add in. My chicken was a little bigger than what they advised so maybe that’s why.

Lime & Poppy Seed Slaw with Curry Leaf Oil, Yotam Ottolenghi, OTK Shelf Love
This was fairly involved - finely slicing vegetables (I don’t have a mandolin), plus making a fragranced oil, a dressing, and a candied cashew garnish. All of these elements come together to make a lovely end dish, the cashews were so good. Maybe I’m not as good at eating my veggies as Ottolenghi, but I felt the serving size was very generous.

Just a couple of small extras this week. Usually we do a plain corn on the cob when having a barbecue. This time I made a Paprika Spiced Butter with Corn on the Cob which would have had more impact if the corn wasn’t quite so charred!! Would definitely do again but more careful with timings.
The other new recipe I made was Chocolate & Miso Mousse with Sesame Brittle, very tasty and can be made in advance. The recipe states it serves four- personally I would do six or if you’re serving a particularly rich meal maybe (?) right. The sesame brittle is very moreish.