Really good, it always takes me by surprise how powerful the flavour of mackerel is, but the radicchio caesar salad is more than match for it. The still relatively exotic (to my kitchen) vegetable being really rather bitter in its raw state. I found I had to add a little more lime to combat it. I think a healthier dose of parmesan would have also worked and is worth trying again with that in mind. From Tom Kerridge – Dopamine Diet. pg. xxx
Would make this again in a heartbeat, a beautiful, well flavoured, slightly indulgent creamy haddock soup. From Simon Hopkinson – Roast Chicken and Other Stories, pg. 196
Felicity Cloake’s “Perfect” recipe is quite the best sponge for a Victoria sponge I’ve ever tried. Moist, perfect texture and a simple set of instructions. As per Lisa’s usual wishes the middle is strawberry jam instead of the much superior raspberry. and cream rather than buttercream… Which I can get behind for the delicacy of this cake. The only flaws here are my own doing: forgetting to slice the tops off and accidentally sticking the jam on said tops meant a slightly peculiar toughness to the middle. But this is rather nitpicking at what was one of the best cakes…
Another first rate, easy to follow recipe from this book. The only slight change I would make would be to reduce the quantity of oil, which was a little over the top, whther it is authentic or not. Otherwise excellent. From Claudia Roden – The Food of Italy, pg. 286
So this isn’t a looker, but the parsnip and cavolo nero mix was a good one and could be used with many things. Sadly the chicken breasts bought for this were off, so some frozen leftover chicken was subbed in and did an admirable job off the bench, albeit certainly contributed to the splodge effect. Just added a little of the suggested sage and it was lovely. From The Doctor’s Kitchen, pg. 214
The challenge with “meatballs” containing spinach and sweet potato is most definitely the moisture. Squeezing the wilted spinach well is obviously required. But the potato is trickier. Leaving the mashed up potato in the fridge for a period helped, however even after 45 minutes the mixture was distinctly soggy. If you’re truly invested then perhaps suspending it overnight in muslin or a sieve would do the job… But I question the worth. The addition of breadcrumbs to the mix to dry things out a little was likely required and it’s quite possible that adding more of them than suggested in…
What a boring thing to be documenting… Well yes, but let’s be honest, Spaghetti Bolognese is almost everyone’s favourite and refining the house recipe is a truly noble cause. And yes, I’m not sure how I feel about presenting it as a sauce on top of naked pasta. But there we go, decisions were made. This version, from Claudia Roden, feels authentic and indulgent, taking a lot of processing with onions, celery and carrots all finely chopped (or even grated), some bacon (well, instructed to be pancetta, but bacon is a very acceptable substitute), and mince and a whole lot…
Concocted from the left-overs of the previous night’s polenta, poured into a tray while still hot and left to cool then sliced into adorable triangles. The general consensus is that this was more successful. Using the griddle pan on the polenta slices is great, adding a little crunch to the otherwise squishy cornmeal. The overnight marinating of the pickles gave them an added punch and re-roasting the leftover roast roots gave them an extra caramelisation that was helpful. I also threw on some peas and broccoli, because why not? Really nice. I want to experiment more with the porridge form…
I was somewhat nonplussed by the individual parts of this recipe as I was cooking. The polenta was fine, albeit uninspiring; roast pickled veg wasn’t blowing my mind; and the pesto was mildly insipid. Altogether, however, it all blended beautifully and was a pleasure to eat. This is with some serious omissions from the dish as well, such as no parmesan, no good olive oil, no sage leaves, all of which would really give some much need pop to the flavours. I held a few of the pickled roots back from the oven and jarred them, adding a few…
Artery clogging indulgence. Extremely nice, although rather longer in the oven to really brown up was required in this case, I think. A slight tweak might be to add a few eggs to the cream mixture, in the interest of setting the liquid a little and making the whole thing a little more unctuous. Though perhaps longer in the oven, or a little more than the recommended quantity of cheese would also achieve this. From Nigel Slater – Kitchen Diaries III, pg. 505