I've just made Ministry of Food spag bol, and I'm not impressed

[bran]

Those of you who have made quite a few things from MoF can you tell me is this just a duff recipe and therefore it's worth my while trying a few others, or is it fairly typical of the whole book in which case it's just not to my taste.

I thought it was fairly bland and tasteless, and it may just be that my palate is used to stronger flavours than JO caters to in this book.

His recipes are fairly bland although I did think the bol had quite a nice subtle flavour from the bacon. I used fresh oregano as I didn't have any dried, and this may have helped too.

I think the recipes probably need a bit of jazzing up by anyone who already can cook reasonably well (I'm no expert but I can follow a Delia recipe if you know what I mean).

I liked it - but agree was quite bland

It was very quick and easy though. Do you think I should try a few others and just spice them up as I go? DH added some chili sauce to his spag bol and said it came out quite well. DS refused to even try it, but that's par for the course.

I don't like cooking but I do like food so I want to have maximum flavour and quality with minimum effort.

I think I whacked some extra salt in mine. Beware the minced beef pie though...with marmite, salt, stock cubes and worcester sauce I awoke in the night with the dry horrors.

how is it bland? what are the ingredients? any red wine?
i reckon you need an anchovy in there for starters, and then cook it for HOOOOOUUUUURS.

is broccoli and pesto pasta just pasta and pesto with steamed broccoli? i lik that.

He adds far too much water to his recipies. If you leave out the water or add alot less they are better.

It probably would have tasted better with more salt, but I'm trying to keep my salt intake down to control my blood pressure. I did use pancetta rather than bacon though as I had some anyway thought it would taste better. I think red wine would have made a huge difference, and some passata or sun-dried tomato paste, not sure about an anchovy though.

I find quite a few of JO recipes are hit and miss, we have even had a couple of things inedible, especially the "Hamilton Squash" that was incredibly dull and bland. I usually, that said we have made a few of the curries out of MoF and they have been really tasty.

Proper Blokes Pasta is another good one, but I think that's in a different book.

Crackernut, I agree his recipes are very liquidy, apart from the steak and ale stew which dried up completely so we had to rehydrate it.

anchovy's really just a bit of salty umami flavour, like nam pla fish sauce. absolutely humgusting before cooked, just REVOLTING.

I've just made his Salmon and Potato Bake, don't think it's MOF, came from a magazine, but it's one of the few meals all five of us loves and every scrap gets eaten.
Even my fussy DS2 asked if there was more salmon.

Still having nightmares about the broccoli pasta thing with the potato shavings! It turned into a gelatinous mush and made us all gag.

Have liked everything else though.

I don't think I would even attempt a recipe with broccoli in it tbh, I like broccoli but DS acts as though I'm trying to poison him if there is even the tiniest hint that a piece of broccoli has even been near his plate.

Is the salmon and potato bake made with mashed potato Nontoxic?

The ingredients of the spag bol (for Aitch) were
smoked streaky bacon (I used pancetta)
onions, carrots, celery
garlic
olive oil
dried oregano
minced beef
tinned tomatoes
parmesan

It did seem a bit bland to me as I was making it, but I thought perhaps DS might like it (we'll never know as he refused to try it ).

Not tried any MOF recipes but I find Jamie's food very bland. Even his fancy recipes are just blah. Switch to Nigella, much better!

His fish pie was super quick and was demoilshed by everyone, plus seconds...unheard of in my family of fusspots Michelin starred restaurant critics.

damn & blast! Just got this in the post today, gave it to dh as a pressie & a large hint since he's no longer working. If the recipes are yuck, we're doomed

Ah. I liked the sound of that broccoli / pasta / potato thing . Broccoli is the DCs' favourite vegetable so I'm always on the lookout for new things to do with it.

I like the Hamilton squash recipe but I must admit I jazz it up a bit, with more spice.

Love the fish pie! It's very easy and very tasty. And liked the korma too.

Fear not cariboo, there was another thread just recently with lots of people raving about how great it was. It's certainly very easy to follow which will be good if your dh doesn't normally cook.

I think perhaps it's just not my type of food. I suspect I don't like 'English' food no matter how well made it is.

Actually Bran that is exactly how I make it, but I use some tomato puree and passata instead of tinned toms. With the addition of a stock cube and some Worcestershire sauce it's yummy.

It's not far off Nigella's chilli con carne with the beef, celery and carrot though.

Ah, the brocolli and pasta thingy was on my to do list, fortunately hampered by the fact that I can't find wheat-free tagliatelli anyway!

We have to be low-salt too cos of dh's blood pressure (and mine ain't great). Is an anchovy (boak) a good way of getting saltiness without salt?