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?

I also made cookies this week! I had a very sad black banana so made some Banana Bread Chocolate Chip Cookies. I hate baking with cup measurements but these turns out great, would make again when I fancy a break from a banana loaf. That said typing this up mine do look more cakey than chewy per the picture!

I got the MOB subscription when it was on offer and have to say it's pretty great! I have their books but was cooking from their Instagram more, the capabilities of the paid for platform is great - bigger bank of recipes, able to up / lower quantities, save meal plans etc. Anyway, apols I'm not sure if this recipe is behind a paywall. For lunches this week, Grilled Broccoli Chimichurri Grain Bowl - really simple and a great dressing - that said this could have been halved again, I've loads of leftovers. This isn't anything life changing, broccoli, microwavable grain pouch, feta, then the dressing just brings it all together.

A couple of new ones from me....

Mushroom, Kale and tarragon lasagne - Ed Smith (Crave)
Can't locate this online but I've uploaded a photo of finished article. The ragu in this is provided by the mushrooms which are topped in the layering with a kale/tarragon/cheese/nut 'sauce' but think more pesto than salsa verde. The bechamel is adapted to a cheese infused creme fraiche. This was really good and was light but substantial at the same time. Will definitely make again.
Alas, the lovely, much used, inherited from my mom's creuset collection was smashed by DH a few days afterwards - lasagne is off the menu until a replacement is provided!

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/article/2024/may/18/yotam-ottolenghi-lebanese-recipes-lamb-pies-shish-barak-yoghurty-flatbreads-manakishwww.theguardian.com/food/article/2024/may/18/yotam-ottolenghi-lebanese-recipes-lamb-pies-shish-barak-yoghurty-flatbreads-manakish" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ottolenghi Shish Barack
This was so easy to do - until it came to the assembling of the dough parcels. Am not sure what went wrong but my parcels couldn't (literally) stretch to look like tortellinis but instead resembeled mini Cornish pasties. They broke open a little bit in the cooking stage but filling didn't spill out. The warm yoghurt sauce raised the eyebrows of the dish smasher but he did concede it was all very good and the pine nut oil drizzled on the top was excellent addition. All in all, I'd make again but I think I'd go up a cm or 2 in the size of discs...

Aubergine Fesenjan, Meera Sodha, Fresh India
Delicious - sour, sweet, and lightly spiced. I’m a big fan of aubergine and it worked beautifully here, but I can imagine the flavours would be fabulous with duck as with the recipe @AnnieKenney posted.

Cheesy curried butter beans on toast - Yotam Ottolenghi, OTK: Extra Good Things
Really easy and delicious weekend meal. Though it was delicious, but might increase the curry powder a touch next time. Curried and cheesy is a flavour combination that always hits for me.

Thank you to everyone on this thread for the inspiration and ideas! I am a keen cook and have many of the books mentioned here (particular favourites are Meera Sodha's East, Ottolenghi's Simple, and the Roasting Tin books) - but you've inspired me to try some new recipes from these books! Thank you, all

I bought Mezcla and Anna Jones' new book (Easy Wins) last week, and will try out new recipes from each over the next few weeks - will try to remember to post updates here! I tried two recipes from Mezcla yesterday (mango and cheese salad, and roasted cabbage with mango salsa - can you tell that I had a glut of mangoes to use up?) and they both got a thumbs up from the family. I intended to do a tortilla espanola with them, to add some ballast, but forgot to buy any eggs - so we just had some rather oily potato and onion instead. I think both salads were quite heavy on the dressing, so I'll do them with bread or something else plain next time.

I continued my exploration of Mezcla with tonight's dinner of Cheesy polenta with curried onions, which we had with garlicky greens. This was a very warming and gently spiced dish - and like the other two I've tried from this book, it is very rich (and quite oily/buttery!) so a little goes a long way and we've got lots of leftovers. It's all been very tasty, but I'm a bit worried about that my arteries won't stand up to the next week of testing Mezcla recipes!

Pic of the polenta below, along with Thursday's Mezcla recipes. We had this slow-cooker lasagne yesterday, which someone on this thread shared earlier (thank you!). It worked surprisingly well, and was even slightly overcooked after 2 hours on high, so I'll definitely try it again as a quick meal (although I did miss not having a crispy top).

Zucchini Butter Spaghetti, Smitten Kitchen
Recommended ages ago by @Xiaoxiong. Really good and so simple.

Grilled Broccoli, Feta & Chimichurri Grain Bowl, MOB
I took @Pompoms88 advice and halved this, also agree with the rest of her summary - hardly revolutionary but it was really tasty. I’ve never used grain pouches but I loved the texture and ease.

Welcome @mackerella!

• Chicken with charred tomatoes and hibiscus flowers* I was browsing through Thomasina Miers insta page yesterday (she and her family have moved over to Mexico for I don't know how long!) And it made me crave mexican flavours so made this.

Really enjoyed it - the hibiscus gives a tartness which is then whalloped by smokey, spicy chipotle. I was a bit concerned given the thickness of the pureed vegetable sauce that the hibsicus flowers wouldn't soften but adding some water resolved that.

Two bonus spin offs from this recipe, I have leftover hibiscus which means I can make TM's hibsicus cordial and I've been reminded how much I liked her chipotle en adobo (which lasts forever) so am waiting on an Amazon delivery this afternoon with a decent sized pack of chipotles so I can make later.

I don't have much of a sweet tooth but I'd be intrigued if anyone fancies making the coffee flan....

@mackerella the cheesy polenta with curried onions is one of my Mezcla favourites. And Ixta LOVES rich food. I do too, but a fair few recipes in there aren’t for midweek cooking without some revisions!

Ginger salad dressing - Cookie and Kate
I needed a quick salad dressing and this fit the bill. It was nice, though I’m not the biggest fan of ginger as a dominant flavour in general and this didn’t change my mind on that.

Japanese curry bread - Nicola Lamb, Kitchen Projects
One of my resolutions this year was to lose my fear of deep frying! I loved this, fried slightly sweet bread with delicious Japanese curry filling can’t really go wrong. Frying them was amazingly easy, and definitely worth it vs baking. Probably going to spend the evening on Chetna Makan’s YouTube watching every recipe I loved the look of but discarded because I can’t deep fry.

Yakisoba - Marion’s Kitchen
A really nice stir fried noodle dish. Not revolutionary, but so simple to do.

Thanks for letting me join!

We continued the Mezcla exploration tonight with the giant cheese on toast (except that, because I'd not planned properly, I had to use slices from a normal loaf, laid out next to each other). This was delicious, and the Urfa chilli-honey-butter-garlic drizzle was a lovely addition. It was also a great Sunday night dinner, as it came together in about 20 minutes (particularly helpful as we'd had guests round who didn't leave until 7.30, and the kids go back to school tomorrow). In fact, DH suggested that we could make Sunday "Things on Toast" night, so I'll be looking out for new recipes for this.

@myrtleWilson I would be very much up for trying that coffee flan - I love both creme caramel and coffee-flavoured things.

@toastofthetown I like the look of curry pan! The bechamel filling makes me think they light be a bit like the Portuguese croquettes sold in a local bakery, or maybe like Dutch bitterballen (both of which are a delicious mixture of crunchy outside and luscious filling).

I'm still a bit of a wimp when it comes to deep frying but got over it recently to make Meera Sodha's Trinidadian doubles. They were absolutely delicious, especially the chickpea filling, which was popular even with coriander-hating DD! (It doesn't taste strongly of coriander, even though it's got a whole packet in.) It's made me realise how little Caribbean food I've tried, so I might seek out some more recipes.

More Mezcla tonight - this time the fish poached in tomato and turmeric curry with udon noodles. I had to make several changes: turmeric powder instead of fresh, normal basil instead of Thai basil, 150ml tomato pulp instead of fresh cherry tomatoes, and dried linguine instead of straight-to-wok udon noodles. (I also lost my nerve about serving a meal with no vegetables, so added some cooked edamame beans.) It was still delicious - thick and aromatic (and I was surprised how much the lime leaves came through). It did take longer than I'd anticipated, but that was partly because I had to pre-cook the pasta, and had also underestimated how long my fish fillets would take to defrost!

Oh, and I'm really kicking myself for serving this on a Monday, as both DCs splattered their school shirts with turmeric-stained broth...

Two new ones from me - first up

Crave/Ed Smith's sriracha and lemon linguine with chilli pangratto
Nigella shared this on her book club corner which means there is finally a Crave recipe in the wild!
This was super easy and delicous. I'm a spice lover but was a bit daunted by the 6 tablespoons of sriracha in the recipe so I reduced to 5. Reader, I should not have worried. The sriracha breadcrumbs were delcious and had heat. However the sriracha for the pasta - although still spicy- had morphed into a fruity punch - I presume from the lemon. Dead easy and delicious

Thomasina Miers mega salad!
Where to start with this one...
First off, its delicious (more on that in a sec) Secondly, it takes way longer than she says, thirdly, it feeds a kingdom!
Simple to prepare - just a lot of chopping really. The tumeric & honey almonds were a revelation - am tempted to make them as a snack! The guardian recipe says to use blanched almonds but her insta of this recipe uses flaked. As the recipe directs you to chop up the cooked almonds, I sensibly opted for flaked from the get go. I don't think I've fried raisins before but they swell up into delightful balloons!
The flavours and colours were amazing - I think this would be awesome for a bbq salad for a crowd. I did the full recipe and we've had six portions already and probably still three left in there. Served initally with feta and then tonight had it without feta but as a side salad to some roast chicken thighs.

I normally try to do a new recipe over the weekend but not this week as I'm at Taylor's concert (nods to @SummaLuvin @toastofthetown )

@myrtleWilson hope you have an amazing time!! I've seen that Marys Song is still an unplayed surprise song and am selfishly hoping you don't get it in Edinburgh because my heart would just about burst if I got that one!

@mackerella welcome btw, it sounds like we have quite similar taste! Mezcla can definitely lean rich but the recipes are just so delicious. You mentioned wanting to experiment more with Caribbean food and I have seen a new book, Kin by Marie Mitchell, recommended by a number of food writers I follow (Alexina Anatole, Ed Smith, Benjamina Ebuehi...) and so I have my eye on it now.

duck confit with bitter orange salsa verde, Alexina Anatole, Bitter
Really easy and very impressive. I misread the salsa verde instructions and added all the bitter orange in, rather than half and increase to taste and I could have done with a touch less, still delicious though! And mash was the perfect accompaniment.

Hope you enjoyed/enjoy Eras @myrtleWilson. I was lucky enough to get an Anfield ticket next week and can't wait ✨

General Tso’s caulflower - Ethan Chlebowski
I only really followed the sauce recipe for this but thought it good, low effort and worked with the baked panko breaded cauliflower I served with it.

Chow mein - Marion’s Kitchen
Really good, though sadly I didn’t treat my noodles as well as Marion and I didn’t have fresh noodles. My cabbage to noodle ratio was probably also a bit off, because I though I'd just finish the cabbage and it looked much bigger cut than uncut!

A petit derail into Taylor Town - it was amazing! And @SummaLuvin as of last night Marys Song remains unplayed. For the guitar surprise songs we had a mash up of The Bolter and Getaway Car - the noise when she switched into Getaway was incredible! Enjoy your nights!

New recipe from a new cookbook - meatballs with burrata from Theo Randall's Italian Pantry, but I found it online too:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/meatballs_tomato_burrata_82300

I only had an hour to make this and nearly didn't because of the 30 mins chilling time, then browning, then 20 mins in the oven but I'm glad I did - it all came together in just over an hour and DH and the kids ADORED it. I didn't do the crostini, just stuck a couple of frozen garlic baguettes in with the meatballs when they were baking and made a salad on the side instead of the greens and everyone was extremely happy. Perfect amount for 4 very hungry people for dinner.

Mary Berry and Judith Chalmers and some home made beefburgers in 1973

I made this mushroom and aubergine ragu yesterday acookbookcollection.com/2022/02/24/mushroom-and-aubergine-bolognese/ it takes a long time but mostly can be ignored while it simmers. I added an extra teaspoon of miso (but I didn't have porcini so that might be why it was needed) and a splash of milk. Aubergine hating ds enjoyed it but I did tell him it was just mushroom ragu!

Vodka Gnocchi Bake MOB / Sophie Wyburd - comfort in a bowl. Delicious and will definitely make again. I've ordered Sophie's new book as I realised most of the MOB recipes I make are hers, I'll report back.

Crispy Mushroom & Black Bean Tacos with Pea Guacamole MOB / Christina Soteriou. This was tasty but I don't necessarily think I'll make it again, I've had better taco recipes. The pea guacamole was interesting as I've always got frozen peas in, the difference in temperature was bizarre at first but will remember this recipe for when I'm avocado-less.

Thanks for the welcome, @SummaLuvin!

I'm still enjoying exploring Mezcla, especially as I don't eat meat (but do eat fish occasionally) and there are lots of great veggie recipes in there. I rounded off last week's Mezcla-fest with:

Crispy oyster mushrooms skewers with crushed chickpeas
This was amazing! The chickpea mash was great (partly because I forked out for bottled chickpeas), and the yoghurt lightened it just the right amount. But the crispy oyster mushrooms were unbelievably good savoury and spicy and moreish. I reckon they'd make a good veggie shawarma substitute in a wrap. I actually ran out of skewer space, so just put the last few bits of mushroom on a baking tray, and they cooked fine, so I'm not sure that the faff of threading them onto skewers was worth it.

Gem and herb salad with maple, lime and sesame dressing
Everyone loved the dressing for this, which had a perfect balance of lime, maple and sesame. The whole family was fighting to scoop up the last bits of dressing from the bowl, even lettuce-sceptic DD. As with the other salads I've tried from this book, there was a LOT of dressing, but we didn't mind in this case.

Butternut and sage lasagne gratin
I couldn't get fresh sage so I used dried (which worked fine, and was possibly better because I sometimes find fresh sage leaves a bit overwhelming). The sauce for this tasted incredible when I was making it, even though it was mainly tomatoes, garlic, sage, etc. Not sure what alchemy happened there! The gratin smelt delicious when it came out of the oven but was just ... nice by the time we ate it. I made it a couple of days in advance and froze it, and I wonder if it lost something in the process, so I might try making it again but eating it straight away.

Ricotta dip with hot sauce butter pine nuts
We had this as a Friday night TV snack with crudités and olive oil crackers. It was amazingly delicious, but I think I'd reduce the butter by 40% or 50% next time as the amount was a bit horrifying!

Last week, we also had the Ottolenghi curried cauliflower cheese filo pie that I think someone posted earlier on this thread. It was nice, but I'm not sure the curry powder worked as well as I'd hoped it would, and I'd be inclined to try it without in future. Maybe it's because the sauce was also strongly mustardy? Having cheesy bechamel sauce in a pie was a definite hit, though!

This week I've been trying out recipes from Anna Jones' Easy Wins. Will post some of those soon!

Rough Puff Pastry, Nicola Lamb, Sift
Pastry is an area I’m not confident on and this method was foolproof - I expected this to be harder than shortcrust but I found it easier! Straight forward and fabulous flaky results, used for the tart below.

Leek & Mustard Tart, Nicola Lamb, Sift
Classic flavour combo and simple method. I love a quiche/savoury tart and this is an excellent veggie picnic option if you are a family of sandwich haters.

Taylor Swift Chai Sugar Cookies, Joy The Baker
This really shouldn’t be a new recipe given how much I love chai, cookies, and Taylor Swift. A really tasty, tender cookie, crowd pleaser that was a perfect snack for getting ready for the Eras Tour! (@myrtleWilson it was just magical, I went night 1 and despite no Mary's Song I really felt like I won on the surprise songs Mine & Cornelia Street!!!)