Nigella Express - what works?

[IPredictADiet]

DH just bought me a copy of Nigella Express for our anniversary. My experience with some of her other books is that when she's good she's very, very good; but when she's bad she is horrid.

So, to save me from the inevitable disasters, what have you done from this book that works, and what's best avoided? thanks.

attenborough, x-posts!

Pea and pesto soup
The pork chop, gnocchi thing
Choc pear pudding
Chicken cacciatore
Chilli (though I do fresh veg rather than jar)

Ummm. Loads more but can't see the book atm. FWIW the apple/walnut cake in Domestic Goddess is a huge success here.

I don't know what book it's from, but her hot chocolate sauce with dry roasted peanits for ice cream. I wish to god I had never made that, it is addictive.

3yo DD wants to make the chocolate peanut sauce stuff as our first experiment.

we've actually been baking from Domestic Goddess this afternoon - black and white tart. Or black and red tart if, like us, you live in the North and have never seen a whitecurrant. Always works well.

Hokey pokey does work BUT the description is not good enough - need to get it to a much higher temp / darker and then it works OK - there is a temperature it has to reach but I never write it down or bother TBH.

All her stuff pretty much works but may need a touch of tweaking.

I've only had disasters with this book, maybe I'll have another go.
I would not recommend 'flourless chocolate brownies' just disgustingly greasy I could press down on them even when cold and oil would squeeze out .
Also the instant chocolate mouse was way to sweet with a nasty after taste.

chocolate pear pudding, chocolate peanut sauce (could eat it by the vat), margarita ice cream (delicious and stupidly easy), breakfast bars, quesadillas, peanut noodles. Agree about the flourless brownies though - definitely not good.

Hummingbird brownies are possibly best ever....

Reporting back as promised on the Lunchbox Treats - dead easy and went down very well with entire family, but they do require half a jar of Rice Malt Syrup (or something similar), which costs 3 quid from my nearest health food shop (you could probably get it cheaper from a very large Tesco).

LOL - that's a very Nigella thing to be wrong with a recipe.
Whenever I do a recipe of hers and it doesn't work I wonder if it's because I'm using bog-standard supermarket ingredients and she uses some super-duper Italian version from a deli and simply doesn't realise there's any other kind.

We like the pork chops with mustard sauce. DOn't know if we ever made anything else... Might go and dust it off now...

IIRC the lamb shanks were pretty disasterous - you can't really express cook lamb shanks, which I should have realised really!

Yes you can if you pressure cook.

Willbean - didn't the sauce split when you did it?

butternut squash soup
rapid ragu (though need to cook the lentils for longer than she says)
halloumi and sausage thing
coq au riesling
chicken cacciatore

all big nits in our house.

Green eggs and ham recipe in the book looks like it would be totally revolting - anyone tried it?

We make the blackberry crisp a lot but usually with raspberries.

I made the mirin glazed salmon tonight-it was yummy but I had to cook them a little longer than she says, maybe my pieces were a bit too fat.

Thanks for all the tips.

The book has had its first outing today. Have made pollo alla cacciatora. Very easy, very nice. Didn't bother with the sugar though. I think Nige has a sweeter tooth than I.

Can't remember if it's from this book, but she does a quick potato dauphinoise (basically you boil the potatoes in milk, then add cream and finish in the oven, or something like that) which is pretty good.

mmmmmmmmm, i love the
cheese cake
prawn and mango curry
breakfast bars,
pear and choc pudding,
chocolate mousse
mustard pork chops
butternut squash soup
our favourite family thing is the pancake mix, i make a big batch and we have them for breakfast at the weekends, really easy to do

I love the lamb shanks with beans.

White chocolate mint mousse is amazing. You have to try it.