Fay Makes it Easy - Review

Well, I’d been anticipating this one, her third cook book. Fay Makes it Easy - 100 Delicious Recipes to Impress with No Stress by Fay Ripley published by Harper Collins in 2013. Perhaps I should look back before going forward, I enjoyed her first book, then her second one more, which to be fair probably puts Fay (or any other book author of any type) under some pressure to live up to expectations. ”And does it?” I hear you ask. Yes, I think it does!
I look to Fay for family suppers, you know inspiration for weeknight teas, that don’t take too long to make, but still deliver on taste and provide reasonably balanced plates for my family. I’ve made a number of dishes so far (some pics on Face Book page). Indeed one in particular was positively a minor miracle on the food front – more on that below though.
This book has more traditional chapters (as opposed to her second one which was days of the week) of – Morning Glory – Let’s do Lunch – Bite-Sized – Delish Dinners – Great Outdoors – Sweet Stuff . There are plenty of pictures of all the dishes, and the recipes are clearly written and laid out. Of course there are always Fay’s introductions to the recipes too, which made me laugh out loud on a couple of occasions. I won’t say which ones and spoil your fun though.
Some of the recipes I have marked to try are: Morning Muffins, Hollywood Raspberry Bircher Museli, Parma Ham and Melon Risotto, Sumac Roast Chook, Wasabi Tuna with Crispy Noodle Salad, Slow-Cook So-Good Beef Stew, San Choy Bau (recipe on the cover of the book), Miso Salmon and Coconut Rice, lastly on the savoury side is a grown up feast of Sozzled Spanish Chicken and Almonds, Patatas Bravas and Sweet Magic Kale.
On the sweet side there are Little Chocolate and Almond Bombes, Lemon and Pistachio Cake, Show Stopping Hazelnut and Raspberry Pavlova and Bounty Banoffee Pie.

Sweetcorn Fritters with Griddled Halloumi
Quick fritters to make and cook, I did mine with chopped yellow pepper (as hubby won’t eat sweetcorn off the cob…) and they go so well with the halloumi. Fay suggested sweet chilli sauce to go with this, and that was good, however my daughter’s choice was balsamic glaze and that was even better.

Parce the Spanish Parcel
This recipe is in the Bite-Sized chapter, though I wanted it for a lunch so did it as one pie with one sheet of pastry. Tomatoes, Cheese, chickpeas and chorizo goes into the filling. Really lovely, and little one ate chick peas willingly!

The Vicar’s Pulled Pork
This was easy to do, I liked it but think I like my pulled pork with a more BBQ-y vibe. My Mum particularly liked this.

Fresh White Slaw
For the pulled pork, a fabulous little recipe of raw veg (cabbage, fennel and apple) with an Asian inspired dressing. Again, little one was keen, and I really thought bribery would be required to get her to eat it!

Aaron’s Amazing Feta, Bacon & Courgette Pesto Pasta
A yummy minty pesto pasta. Mmmm.

Galaxy Krispies
I used 200g chocolate to 100g rice krispies (as opposed to 120g). The Galazy makes them feel more special.

What a Whizz Sticky Date Pudding
Easy to make, and lighter than my dinner party normal one. The sponge, though baked has a distinct moist steamed texture going on.

One-Pot Spiced Chicken and Apricot Rice with Mint Raita
This is it – the minor miracle on the food front at my kitchen table! I decided to make this because I liked the sound of the apricots (!). Chicken flavoured with garam masala, aromatically spiced brown rice and lentils with dried apricots, flaked almonds and a minty cucumber raita.

My daughter isn’t that fond of chicken or spices, none of us particularly like lentils (except in soup). So as tea time was approaching and I was trying to think what else I could do with the ingredients, wondered if I’d go to the shops for something else to cook even. Fortunately, I got a grip on myself and made it anyway.

It was lovely, we all liked the lentils and little one said ”good chicken Mum.” I’ve been trying to hear those words for 10 years!!! Will definitely be making it again.


Next Up: Sally’s Baking Addiction

Save with Jamie

I've been absent from the blogging world for a while now, but hopefully I'm back now. There have been a variety of reasons I've not been blogging, and in the past few weeks, it's been because I cannot, no matter what I do, upload my own pictures to my draft posts. I'm thinking to do my pictures through my blog's Facebook page, so if you'd like to se them, do please 'like' on FB, see bar at the right hand side of the page.

I’m starting off with Save with Jamie by Jamie Oliver first published by Michael Joseph an imprint of Penguin Books in 2013.

The by-line of this book is ‘Shop Smart, Cook Clever, Waste Less’, and that pretty much sums it up. It’s important to say, I think, that this is a book for people who already spend money on food and cook themselves. It’s not a book about breadline cooking, it’s a book about good kitchen husbandry, well in my opinion anyhow.

Over the years I have wasted a lot of bits and pieces, and I’m not proud of that. It has taken me a number of years to stop stuffing my fridge with vegetables after the weekly shop, then see a number of them go rotten. I now buy my veg a couple of times a week and have less in the fridge at one time, which means I can really see what is there, and use it well. I’ve focused on vegetables here, as that is what I tended to waste.

Jamie’s book will help me too, he does a number of ‘Mothership’ recipes such as the roast beef below, then gives clever recipes to use up those leftovers, now or later if you freeze them. I say clever, because the leftover recipes are actually recipes that excite the palate, and food I’d want to eat. It’s not just me that’s fussy with leftovers is it?!

The book is nicely styled, laid back, but easy to follow recipes, bit of chat from Jamie, and fabulous photographs of the food from David Loftus. This book has a healthy nod too, and each recipe is calorie counted per portion, and at the back there are also lists in the Nutrition chapter for each dish including fat, saturates, carbs and sugar. There is a Shop Smart chapter followed by recipe chapters of Veg, Chicken, Beef, Pork, Lamb, Fish, and finally Bonus Recipes. There are a few sweet things to do with fruit at the back, but no other desserts.

Next on my to make list is Sicilian Squash & Chickpea Stew, Mothership Sunday Roast Chicken, Quick Chinese Wrap, Snake in the Hole (like toad in the hole), Pulled Pork Peppers, Easy Baked Risotto, Happy and Hearty Scotch Broth and Crispy Moroccan Lamb Pastilla. To name but a few. =)

I’ve made a few of the recipes so far, they have all been lovely and here they are:

Chicken and Chorizo Paella
Loved this one, it was my first make, and it makes a little go a long way, a low effort high delivery week night supper.

Jool’s Sweet Pea and Prawn Pasta Shells
Another quick good supper, I’m going to add a bit of half fat crème fraiche next time to have a bit more sauce.

Hit and Run Chicken
Not a looker this one, but again a really delicious supper

Smokin’ Turkey Chowder
Bit of smoked bacon, turkey (recipe said chicken, but I had turkey) sweetcorn. Happy days as the man himself would say.

Frenchie Salad
Leftover meat, French Puy lentils, French beans and a Dijon dressing. I added extra eggs here are I wasn’t sure how we’d like le lentils. Just as well I did as the miss flatly refused to eat them, she likes eggs though, so that was ok. I’d have liked the toppings over new potatoes better I think, but we are not big on lentils apparently.

Sweet and Sour Fish Balls
I did these with all prawns, as I can’t go squid. I also used plain scone crumbs for the balls the recipe withstood my changes no problem. Add a bit of sugar if you like it sweeter. First sweet and sour recipe where my miss ate the lot! Though the prawn balls were the star, fab little recipe! I did do rice as well, it’s just out of the picture here.

Roast Beef and the Trimmings
Mmmmmmmmmmm!! Need I say more?! Though of course I will. Will definitely do this one again, I used silverside, and it was lovely. We have rib of beef once a year, because it’s so expensive. This is a tender beef recipe that will let you have roast beef more often, but at less than a quarter of the price*. Hubby was very happy and I now have beef leftovers in the freezer, yay! *That is me comparing the price I paid for our last rib joint and this most recent silverside joint.

Looking forward to lots more tasty dinners from this one.

Next Up: Fay Makes It Easy

Breakfast For Dinner - Review

Breakfast for Dinner is a phrase I came across a little while ago on an American TV show. I’m not a morning cook by any stretch of the imagination, but I do like breakfast food, so breakfast for dinner seems like the ideal solution.

Breakfast for Dinner by Lindsay Landis and Taylor Hackbarth, published by Quirk in 2013. Thank you to the publishers for my review copy.  It’ll take you beyond bacon and eggs, to different places with the likes of Greek Baked Eggs or Shakshuka. It might give you a breakfast food in a different guise like cornflake crusted chicken tenders or granola cookies. If you were feeling very adventurous there is maple bacon chocolate cupcakes!

The book is well presented, nicely written, with hints and tips, illustrated throughout with real do-able photography of the dishes. Recipe chapters are: Main Dishes, Sides and Starters, Drinks and Deserts.

The dish I’ve made from this book is Bacon Fried Rice, a breakfast take on the perennial Chinese favourite. It’s made with brown rice, and I liked what the brown rice did for it. It went down well in my house.

Other dishes I have marked to try include: Savoury Lentil & Carrot Stuffed Crepes, fluffy, flaky and oh so cute Mini BLT Biscuits, Banana Bread Bundt Cake, Chocolate Brownie Waffles with Blackberry Sauce and Mint Chocolate Chip Pancakes.

It’s full of dishes you could eat for breakfast if you wanted to, but definitely for dinner. So if you need a bit of inspiration for your BFD suppers this one is for you!

Next Up: Save with Jamie

A Salad for All Seasons

 

Now, I really must firstly apologise to everyone who follows my blog. I’ve been AWOL for a good while now. This has been partly due to time and partly due to a health issue I’ve been working through more recently (nothing serious).

Now, I’m often asked for reviews of books, even if I’ve not cooked from them first by friends and readers who have sent emails. I’ve pondered this for a good while now, and have decided to do reviews without things I’ve cooked, as well as the normal format of cooking posts. So that should cover all basis, and keep everyone happy as much as possible. You can be sure that although I’ve not been blogging I’m still buying books!! =) So to the book in hand…
Harry Eastwood has had three solo cookbooks, each of them I have anticipated happily. This one possibly more than ever, as I love a good salad. So here we have, A Salad for all Seasons by Harry Eastwood published by Bantam Press 2013.
It is exactly what it says in the title. The main chapters are Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. As well as these though, at the beginning there is a short Dictionary of Leaves and another final chapter at the end – Glazes, Dressings, Pestos and Vinegars. This last chapter contains little gems such as Swiss Dressing, Blueberry Balsamic Glaze and Thyme & Tangerine Vinegar.
The book is really well done and all the recipes are clear and simple to follow. All have calorie counts and how many of your five-a-day you are having, a clock symbol goes with those super fast salads, and a golden halo is shown for the ones that are lowest in calories and highest in 5–a-day quantities. This is not a diet book, there are recipes suitable for eating when cutting back, but there are also lots of recipes that just taste absolutely fabulous too. =) The photography by Laura Edwards is really inspiring too, showing the salads in their fresh beauty.
I’ve tried a number of recipes so far, and am looking forward to the weather heating up just a bit to start properly on the Summer-y salads. The recipes are mainly for savoury salads, but there are occasional sweet ones too. Some of the many other salads I have bookmarked to try are: Lightly Pickled Beetroot, Cucumber and Feta with raspberry Dressing * Spring Store-cupboard Salad of Wild Rice and Garden Peas, * Persian Salad of Tomato, Pomegranate and Cucumber, *Squash Salad with Pomegranate and Prosciutto * Strawberry Salad with White Chocolate Mousse.
The thing I like about all the recipes I have tried is that they have the feel good factor, they fill you up, but don’t weigh you down. Oh and the fact that they have all been delicious so far!

Roast Chicken Caesar Salad

A good main course salad, filling and yummy.

Whopping Potato Salad

This one is really nicely balanced, I love a good potato salad, but so often they can let you down. Not this one though I’m happy to say, potatoes, mustard, celery, spring onions, eggs, gherkins, dill…

Camembert Salad with Cherry Dressing

Now if you have the book already you’ll see I’ve done this one differently from the book, and merely cut the Camembert into pieces instead of coating in breadcrumbs and frying them. This is because I’m allergic to yeast, which is a pity because I did used to love crispy crumbed cheese. Still the cherry dressing is gorgeous with the cheese and nuts. I quite fancy some now, even just thinking about it!

Minnesota Salad

Nothing to do with Minnesota the place, but this is the nickname Harry uses for her boyfriend. Leaves with red pepper - fresh and roasted, mozzarella, and Prosciutto (which I crisped in the oven) and a light balsamic vinegar dressing. Yum.

Waldorf Salad
I was so chuffed with this one, this is a halo recipe. My little one will happily eat seconds of this one, which is no mean feat for a child who didn’t like lettuce! She has a tenacious Mama though, and I didn’t give up on getting her to like it easily. Romaine is her lettuce of choice, which is why I use it a lot. Give me time though and I’ll try and pop in some different leaves too!

Next Up: Breakfast For Dinner.

Warm Apple Turnovers

I’ve been cutting back my sugar intake recently, but last night I needed a pudding, something warm (it’s still quite cool here!) and comforting. So I made these for dessert last night, and had to share them! If you’ve only ever tried bought ones, you are in for a real treat! A bought turnover always seems to disappoint, too much pastry and never nearly enough filling. That’s not just me is it? These have flaky puff pastry, a juicy apple filling, really enhanced with the cinnamon and ginger. I served Lorraine’s custard with them (from the same book) and they were a real hit, even the little miss was keen, and asked for them to be made again – and soon Mummy!

A fabulous low effort high delivery pudding. There are my take on the little warm Bramley apple pies from Lorraine Pascale’s Fast, Fresh and Easy Food (Harper Collins 2012). See here for her recipe and a little clip from the TV series of her making them. It is worth noting that the apple filling remains extremely hot, so do be careful!!

Warm Apple Turnovers

400g Apple Sauce, from a jar (I used Baxters)

Zest of half a lemon (optional)

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Caster sugar, to taste

1 x 320g sheet of ready rolled puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

Icing sugar for dusting

Custard, cream or ice cream to serve

(1) Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

(2) Mix the apple sauce with the ginger and cinnamon, and a few teaspoons of sugar, to taste.

(3) Unroll the pastry and cut into 4 rectangles, brush round the edge of each with beaten egg (keep the rest of the egg!). Fill with the apple filling, then carefully seal the edges. Place on the baking sheet and then cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge for a couple of hours, longer would be fine too.

(4) When ready to cook preheat your oven to 200oC, (180oC fan) 400oF, Gas Mark 6. Remove the cling film and brush the top of the pies with some of the remaining egg. Then bake the pies for 25 minutes. Leave to cool a little, as the apple filling is scalding hot!

Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook

This is a book I bought a couple of years ago, Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook by Annabel Langbein my edition was published by Mitchell Beazley 2011.

I had a look through it and ooh-ed and ahh-ed, but that was as far as I got for a while. Then a little while ago I picked it up again, and started cooking from it, and one recipe has followed another, and now I’ve cooked lots!

I like the ethos of this book and the food within it, good ingredients cooked simply, but well. Slow down a little and see some of the good bits of everyday life. There is a second companion volume to this one (Simple Pleasures 2012) but I’ll come back to it another day. Today though it is time for The Free Range Cook!

Annabel is a New Zealander, and the series which accompanies this book is set in the New Zealand countryside. It’s a country that I consider myself very lucky to have visited, and it’s left a definite print on my heart and soul. I can indulge that soft spot cooking from this book and watching the series. It makes me feel happy. I’m all for a spot of kitchen table travelling!

The book is illustrated with gentle and pretty pictures of totally do-able food and some beautiful scenery too. Pretty much all of the recipes are pictured. Chapters are: *From the Oven* From the Garden* From the Farm* From the Lake and Sea* From the Larder* and * From the Orchard*.

Now of course when I say one recipe has followed another that’s been because they are good! Here are the recipes I’ve tried so far. If you haven’t got this book I’d recommend it and if you have, well get cooking!! =)

Corn and Avocado Salad

Very simple blend of ingredients, but really good.

Sticky Date pudding with Wicked Toffee Sauce

A take on sticky toffee pudding, the sponge is flavoured with a touch of ginger and the pears on top, mmm mmm.

Honey Vanilla Panna Cotta with Sunshine Fruit Topping

I made this for a dark January Saturday night, with tinned peaches and fresh passion fruit. It was so right and injected us with a lovely burst of sunshine, even though it was cold and dark outside.

Spicy Chicken Skewers, Creamy Moroccan Cucumber Salad and Chermoula Dipping Sauce

This one starts with a Chermoula Marinade (garlic, ginger, cayenne, cumin, preserved lemon and fresh coriander). This is then split and used to marinade the chicken then also mixed with sour cream to make a dipping sauce. Some of the dipping sauce is then used to dress the cucumber and tomato Salad. Really different, we liked it.

Casbah Prawns

A couple of nights later I used the remaining dipping sauce from the chicken (which I’d set aside previously) was turned into a creamy prawn sauce to go over some rice.

Coconut Pavlova

A Pavlova flavoured with coconut and topped with a tropical fruit salad of pineapple, kiwi fruit and passion fruit. I made it as one big pav, instead of individual ones.

Chocolate Cherry Tiramisu

Chocolate cake, fresh cherries, berry syrup (with or without booze), creamy marscarpone and Cream. Need I say any more? Going to try this one with raspberries too in the Summer when local berries are in season.

Greek Yoghurt and Berry Syrup

The same syrup from the tiramisu, simple and delicious with fresh berries and Greek yoghurt.

Bella’s Pink Fizz

A third use for the berry syrup is in a lovely Pink fizz, Berries, berry syrup, cassis and a bottle of something alcoholic and fizzy. This is meant as a pre-dinner drink, and if it was your party is bound to go with a swing.

Lamb, Rosemary and Apple Sausage Rolls

My goodness these were good! Yum yum!!

Cypriot Shepherd’s Pie

Flavoured with ginger, cumin and cinnamon this Lamb pie is a bit different, and it’s topped with a fabulous parsnip and carrot mash.

Honey Lemon Cream Puddings

I made these for Valentines Day dessert. We loved this…and I got to use my pretty little cups that I found in an old shop recently. They begged me to take them home, so I paid up and they now live with me!

Sweet Chilli Jam

Home-made and with a lot of flavour notes that shop bought doesn’t have. Not that I have anything against shop bought, I now have both in my fridge.

Sweet Chilli Chicken

A great end for some of the home-made chilli sauce, but great too with shop bought sauce.

Beetroot and Feta Salad

Unusual, but yummy.

Braised Red Cabbage

My little one is not that unusual in that she won’t eat cabbage. Except… made like this! Well she might though, it a delicious way with cabbage, a little sweet, buttery and some currants too.

Steak and Double Mushroom Sauce, Potato Gratin with Gruyere and Garlic & Green Beans with Lemon

My Mum requested this for Mother’s Day, and the three recipes together made a fabulous treat of a main course. Each offsetting the other perfectly. Worth the effort.

So as you can see I have made a lot, and I’m not finished yet either there is an amazing looking cake called a strawberry cloud cake….soon when the berries are ripe.

Next Up: A Salad for All Seasons by Harry Eastwood

Greedy Girl's Diet

I didn’t even know this one was coming out, but a friend gave me a pointer in the right direction – “Have you got it? It’s really good!” and so it arrived very soon afterwards, because let’s face it I’m a sucker for a cookbook, and if you are reading this blog chances are you are too! Anyhow it's The Greedy Girl’s Diet  Eat Yourself Slim with Gorgeous, Guilt Free Food by Nadia Sawalha published by Kyle Books 2012.

This is a cookbook aimed at girls aiming to lose a bit of weight, and as diet titles go it’s quite inspiring, doesn’t sound like we might have to live on five lettuce leaves and a couple of peas plus a lot of hunger in order to get a bit slimmer! I’m not encouraging myself to be greedy, but I do prefer to think I can feel like I’ve had enough to eat while slimming.

The recipes are all do-able and there is even a chapter with puddings! The pictures are fresh and bright and the text by Nadia is often amusing. Chapters are: *My Secret* Exercise* Come on, Break the Fast* Let’s do Lunch * Delicious Dinner * and Decadent Desserts. There are also different sections within some of the chapters. For example the Delicious Dinner chapter has three sub headings: Yummy Mummy, Dinner Party Goddess and Dinner for Two. All the recipes are calorie counted for you per serving and there are also grams of fat, saturates, sugar and salt per serving too.

Now the question to be asked is are the recipes any good? Answer is yes, the ones I have tried have all been good, and I’d make them all again. Especially the risotto, yum yum!! There are a number of puddings too, but I haven’t managed to get round to them yet.

Prawn and Chorizo Rice Pot

This was my first make from the book. A Good supper with some greenery of some sort.

Creamy Chicken Curry in a Hurry

This was really good too. There was a lot of sauce, and hubby said “If this was soup I’d be delighted.” “It’s soup!” I said, genius, no? =)

June Wake’s Wide Awake Seed Bar

This is a really clever recipe that holds together with mashed bananas, and you taste the bananas, but also all the other delightful add ins. Mmmm.

Chilli Con Carne

A good chilli, the avocado topping was a great addition.

Winey Chicken

This one was lovely, the sauce was light but flavourful.

Italian Soup

This was a good filling soup. It takes a little while to cook to develop the flavours.

Risotto with Seared Scallops

A fabulous treaty supper this one, scallops, bacon and risotto too! I forgot to stir through some spinach at the end, and added a drizzle of balsamic glaze, though that’s because I love it on risotto.

Next Up: A book I've been obsessing about for a couple of months - Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook