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.

?

The turkey/bacon/wine thing is good.

Good:
Mexican flan
Mushroom linguine thing
Tuna & bean salad
Scallops & chorizo
Chickpeas & greens (I always use spinach instead of her weird bagged salad idea though)

Bad:
Hokey Pokey (tastes of baking soda, and doesn't set)
Blackberry crisp (not bad but far inferior to ordinary crumble)
And there are others so clearly revolting that neither you nor I will ever consider them.

The good ones above I make very regularly though.

I love the pancake mix, where she gives measures to make large amount of dry mix(like 600g flour etc) and then you measure out 150g of that mixture, add an egg, some milk and a small amount of melted butter and you have a quick pancake mix. I have some on standby all the time.

The chicken cacciatore is nice. Not sure if I have tried any others.

oooh great. Thanks everyone. Much appreciated following the Banana Muffin and Apple and Walnut cake fiascos from Domestic Goddess .

Potato and mushroom gratin

Mirin glazed salmon

the macaroni cheese is lovely but be careful not to overcook in the oven otherwise it just turns very dry.
passionfruit and ginger trifle is nice and so is the icecream/peanut sundae thing

Party popcorn is very good if you like popcorn.

Peanut noodle surprise is good standby for veggie visitors as long as they're reasonably adventurous.

About to try Lunchbox Snacks this afternoon - will report back.

Agree that Banana and Honey muffins in Domestic Goddess are appalling.

The rocky road and chocolate are great.

chocolate fudge*

The cheesecake is to die for
Also quesadillas are a regular in our household
So delicious

Sesame peanut noodles are very good
Lamg ragu is excellent - we live off it

Agree that hokey pokey recipe is cack - it nrever sets

Sesame peanut noodles are very good
Lamg ragu is excellent - we live off it

Agree that hokey pokey recipe is cack - it nrever sets

I remember making lemon lungine from How To Eat and dd crying and saying 'please don't make me eat it, mummy'.

It was truly vomitous.

I tried to make the georgian happikucrhu (sp?) bread from Feast once and then ended up frisbeeing it into teh bin in disgust.

made a chocolate cake which was foul.

One thing which is absolutely marvellous and which I make all the time is the Tunisian Rose stew from Feast, it is one of the best things I cook.

Most of the rest of it, much as a love Nigella, I have had far too many disastersm, and just cook around her advice, iyswim.

CHicken in rielsling is lovely and really easy. And agree about the lamb ragu- yum!
I'm going to give the gratin mentioned a go, just looked it up and sounds lovely!

Did you know that there are some typos in the quantities of some Nigella recipes (well, Domestic Goddess at least) - my recently finding this out explains why I could never get her flapjacks to stick together. Her website lists all the errors.

I have also tried the hokey pokey and agree it just tastes of baking soda!

Have asked for a copy of the book for my birthday in a few days so am looking forward to trying everything!

Worked
steak slice with lemon and thyme
breakfast bars (YUM!)
lamb, olive and onion tagine
steak with white bean mash
quick chilli (this is top!)
roquamole
flan
tuna and beans
turkey tonnato (nice)
marshmallow crispy squares (though mine were too sticky to cut properly)

Didn't work

mustard pork chops (sauce split)
scallops and chorizo is OK but does NOT go with the chickpeas with rocket and sherry
chocolate macaroons (bit bland and didn't spread out properly)
cocktail sausages (bit yucky, sausages would have gone down better left plain)
red pepper hummus (watery)

in how to eat - the yorkshire pudding recipe is fantastic - it works every time without fail if you follow everything in her recipe. Everybody always comments on 'my' yorkshire pud - if you havent tried it - it is a must!

I love the hokey pokey, but it did take me several attempts to get rid of the baking soda taste and I think I do add slightly less baking soda - I confess I have been a bit poncey and taken it to a dinner party in a fancy box (but I didn't need to eat it all in the taxi like she did!!).

The breakfast bars were a winner in our house - DH went off with them and a thermos of coffee when we were on an economy drive (think we might be doing that again soon!)

oh and the marie rose sauce (or Nigella's take on it) is lovely - made with harissa, honey etc. Yes agree re the coq au rieising is lovely and easy to make (although Nigel Slaters one is better).

Agree re Yorkshire pudding - it always seems to work.

I make the chicken cacciatore all the time. And her storecupboard chocolate sauce. Also like:

instant chocolate mousse
buttermilk chicken
new orleans coleslaw
coq au reisling
moonblush tomatoes
cocktail sausages
chocolate pear pudding

Her chocolate pistachio fudge is a real winner - I've made for Christmas presents, and also done a version with dried cranberries.

Has no one mentioned the omelette? That's a favourite here. As is the Poussin and sweet potato, which makes me look like a domestic goddess despite being from the wrong book.

I thought the coq au resling wasn't good enough for the effort.

We really like:

the lemon and mushroom tagliatelle

the chocolate and pear pudding

the potato and mushroom gratin

chicken with bacon and brandy

the grilled halloumi thing

ooh, noone's mentioned the pear and chocolate pudding - tis lush and easy peasey.

I couldn't even be arsed with that last night for Father's Day dinner though, so we just had tinned pears with nice vanilla ice cream and I made the 'storecupboard standby' version of the hot choc sauce (the version mentioned on the pear choc pudding page) and it was so gorgeous.