Weekend Cooking: Advent by Anja Dunk

 

A while ago now I bought a book called Advent by Anja Dunk which was an early selection of the Jamie Oliver Cookbook Club . Actually, the full title  is Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas. So far, I am really loving this book which is separated into 24 different chapters (one for each day of Advent) with all different types of bakes for each chapter. 

The author talks about a Bunter Teller which translates as "colourful plate" and in this context means a colourful plate of Advent biscuits. She talks about how every German household would have a stock of baked goods at this time of year for when visitors arrive, and you then put out a selection of biscuits, and perhaps give some as a gift.

Part of the reason why the book is broken into these 24 different chapters is that there would be a specific order in which you bake the colourful array of biscuits. 

The order in which they are baked acts as a calendar; a countdown measured in biscuits. The butter-less biscuits, many of them old-fashioned varieties such as Lebkuchen, which keep the longest, are baked first, followed by nut biscuits, then macaroons and meringues. We bake butter-rich ones such as Vanillekipferl after all of the aforementioned, and finally the last things we make are all the sweets and truffles. The biscuit are usually stored in a towering stack of tins kept at the ready to plate a selection up whenever neighbours and friends pop round.

It's my kind of advent calendar, although not if I have to do ALL the cooking!!

As an idea, here are some of the different chapters. The second chapter is for several different versions of lebkuchen including how to make your own spice mix, lebkuchen hearts (filled and unfilled),  old-fashioned honey lebkuchen and more.I have made a soft gingerbread biscuit several times previously which is inspired by lebkuchen. I tend to take them to work to share with my colleagues and they are always a hit! I shared this recipe a few years ago! They are honey and orange-y morsels of goodness! However, in this chapter, you will find the real deal.

Chapter 8 is all about Stollen, from full cakes to Stollen bites. Chapter 10 is full of spiced biscuits, from Spekulatius to the famous Pfeffernusse. Did you know that pferffernusse can actually be either white or brown. The difference is the kind of pepper that you use. I swear I have only ever seen the white version. Chapter 16 is all about meringues, including very sweet meringue mice and chapter 22 is all about marzipan sweets. There was an earlier chapter about marzipan biscuits too.

Throughout the book, the chapter divides are Christmassy lithographs which the author created herself, and all the photos are her own as this book was created during lockdowns. As I flick through the book there are so many things which look utterly delicious. There are cakes, biscuits, desserts and more. It's a lovely book! And the cover is gorgeous too. It has a fabric cover with gilded word and decorations, and a lovely yellow ribbon for a book mark. I do love it when a cookbook one of those!

What I will say, is that, maybe unsurprisingly, there are a lot of nut heavy recipes in this book, so if you have any allergies in your house maybe this might be an issue. The big guy, who used to be referred to as the little chef many years ago on this blog, has a tree nut allergy, but most of the time he won't eat what I bake anyway, so I can get away with it a bit! Just have to make sure he knows not to eat any of them.

I chose to make two recipes out of the chapter that is titled Makronen (macaroons). The first was Schokokusschen, which are chocolate kisses. In effect they are not dissimilar to chocolate meringue kisses although you do add in some flour. The other recipe I have made is Kokosmakronen- coconut macaroons, which are super simple to make! These should both keep for a couple of weeks in an airtight container! 

Schcolkusschen (Anja Dunk)
Chocolate Kisses

2 egg whites

90g soft light brown sugar

Pinch of fine sea salt

1/2 vanilla extract

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)

1 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan forced/350F and line a large baking parchment.

Put the egg whites into the bowl of a free-standing electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or use a mixing bowl and electric hand-held whisk) and whisk for a couple of minutes on high speed until stiff peaks form. Turn the speed down and add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, whisking all the while, until it is all incorporated and you have a glossy meringue. Now add the salt and vanilla extract and whisk for a further couple of seconds before adding the remaining ingredients. Whisk for a final 30 seconds so the flour and spices are incorporated.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm/ 3/8 inch star shaped nozzle. Alternatively, use a plastic freezer bag, which you have snipped the corner off to leave the same size opening.

Pipe little peaks of 1.5cm /1/2 inch diameter onto the sheet; they don't spread all that much so you only need a little space between each one.

Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes until firm to the touch but not browned. Cocoa powder does have a tendency to burn easily, so make sure you check them after 15 minutes. The longer you leave them in the oven the crisper they will be.

Allow to cool completely on the sheet before storing in an airtight container, where they will keep well for up to a month.

Weekly meals

Saturday - egg and chips
Sunday - Honey Pepper chicken
Monday - Sausage mash beans and gravy
Tuesday - Out for dinner
Wednesday - Nothing
Thursday -Baked Tuscan Chicken (new)
Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Sift: The Elements of Great Baking by Nicola Lamb

 

When Jamie Oliver announced this book as the November selection for his Cook Book club, my initial reaction was do I really want another baking book to sit on the shelves. To be fair, I think that most months and then I end up buying the book anyway, which is what happened with this one. It turns out that this is a baking book that I needed! Not just wanted...needed.

The structure of this book is quite unusual. The first third of the book is all about techniques and ingredients, and really gets into the details. Then there is a chapter which is the base recipes, and then we get to recipes at around page 140.

You may wonder what on earth there is to talk about in 140 pages before you get to recipes. I promise you, there's a lot. For example, in the chapter about flour, Lamb gives us an explanation about what a wheat kernel consists of, about the development of gluten, about the role of starch and more. Similarly, in the section about sugar, we get descriptions of the role of sugar and what happens when you add sugar and water together and then about adding salt to the equation. There are also chapters about eggs, fats, how things rise (for example in pastry) and so much more. It's often said that baking is a scientific and this is where we have the opportunity to learn the science.

The base recipes provided including meringues, choux, craquelin, brioche and so much more. 

When it comes to the recipes, I love how the author not only gives you the recipe but she also points you back to the reference section. For example, in the recipe I have shared below, she points us to the base choux bun recipe for the technique of making the choux. She also tells us that the techniques we are using are Starch Gelatinisation and Egg Coagulation, along with the page numbers where we can find the information. In other words, she is always pointing us back to the science. It's very clever and I've never seen a book laid out in exactly this way.

Even the way that the recipes are grouped together is different. They are sorted into 3 different sections. The first is recipes that you can make in an afternoon. The next group can be made in a day and the final group are recipes that are more complicated and that you can make in a weekend, including a wide range of different viennoiserie. An example of a recipe that could be made in the weekend is Tiramichoux, which is choux buns with craquelin that is then filled with mascarpone custard, salted brown butter coffee sauce and even has a savoirdi biscuit in it. There is a summary which talks about what you can do on Day 1 and how long it should take, and then what you should on Day 2.

When I went through the recipes there were many which I wanted to make but the four that stood out the most were:

Brown Sugar Custard Tart

Rhubarb and Custard Crumb Cake

Secret Chocolate Cake

Mango Shortcake with Candied Lime. 

Oh, and there are some savoury recipes as well.

One of the cool things in the book is right at the back where there is something called the Matrix of Joy. The idea is that it is a table with various techniques on the vertical and other recipes from the book on the horizontal, and that by looking at the various intersections tells you how you can combine the two to come up with something new. For example, by combining choux buns with a pastry cream, you now have Custard Choux Buns or by combining Puff Pastry with Frangipane, then you now can create Galette des Rois.

The one recipe that I kept coming back to over and over was the Plum and Mascarpone Karpatka, which is also known as a Polish Mountain Cake so that is what I have been making today. All the components are now cooling and once I have put it all together I will add a picture. 

I will say that I had to use canned whole plums, as it is not plum season here.

Update - this was so delicious! Thumbs up from the husband.

Plum and Mascarpone Karpatka (Polish Mountain Cake)

Choux base

65g whole milk
65g water
65g butter
15g caster sugar

90g self-raising flour or 90g plain flour with 4g baking powder

150g–175g whole eggs (about 3)

3g flaky sea salt (about 1 tsp)

Stewed plums

250g plums, stoned
70g water
60g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, spent (optional)
5g cornflour (about 1½ tsp)


Mascarpone custard

300g whole milk
1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk (75g total)
60g caster sugar
30g cornflour
2 tsp good quality vanilla extract
250g mascarpone, at room temp

Instructions:

For the choux, preheat the oven to 210°C/190°C fan. Make the choux according to the master choux method on page 136, (traditional choux method) adding the baking powder in with the flour if using plain flour.

Line the two tins with baking paper at the bottom only. Spread 200–225g of choux paste in each tin, leaving the top slightly rough and wavy and using a palette knife to help. If you only have one tin, bake one at a time.

Bake for 35–40 minutes until well peaked, golden and crisp. Leave to cool completely in the tins on a cooling rack, then remove.

For the plums, cut the plums into six. In a small saucepan, combine the plums with 50g of the water, the sugar and vanilla. Heat over a medium heat, occasionally stirring so the plums are well coated. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, reduce the heat to low and cover the saucepan with a lid. Steam for 4–5 minutes. If the plums are still firm, cook for a further 2 minutes. Mix the cornflour with the remaining water to create a slurry, then stir into the hot liquid. Bring to a bubble so it thickens. Pour into a clean container and leave to cool.

For the mascarpone custard, heat the milk until simmering. Meanwhile, whisk together the whole egg, egg yolk, sugar, cornflour and vanilla. Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture whilst whisking constantly to temper, then return the custard to the stovetop. Cook for 3–4 minutes over a medium heat until boiling, whisking the whole time. Pour into a clean container, then set aside to cool and gelatinise – make sure you put clingfilm or baking paper on the surface so it doesn't form a skin. You want it to be totally cold and firm before continuing with this recipe.

Beat the mascarpone until smooth – it does have a tendency to be a bit lumpy, so you just have to be prepared to work it. Once that’s ready, set aside and beat the custard until smooth and no longer jelly-like. The easiest way to do this is in a stand mixer bowl if you have one.

Now, fold/mix the two together - it should make a very thick cream. You can also do this in your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Leave it in the fridge until ready to join.

To assemble, line one of the cake tins with acetate or baking paper. This will help you get a smooth edge. Place your less cute choux disc in the base. Pile in half of the mascarpone custard, then spread the stewed plums on top. Top with the other half of the custard. Place the most mountainous choux disc on top. All the cake to settle/reset by resting it in the fridge for at least an hour.

Before serving, remove the cake from the tin and dust with icing sugar. It will keep in the fridge for 3 days and will get softer over time.

Note from the author

You can also use your favourite jam in the middle of this! Thanks to Marta Beimin, who makes the most stunning Karpatkas, for inspiring the juicy stewed plums in this recipe!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Butter chicken
Sunday - 
Monday - Honey Pepper Chicken (new)
Tuesday -
Wednesday -Pork Nachos
Thursday -Pork chops, mash, broccoli and gravy
Friday - Leftovers

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Greek-ish by Georgina Hayden

I love buying new cookbooks, and I love it even more when you find a cookbook that you just know you are going to come back to time and time again. Greek-ish by Georgina Hayden is one of those books. 

Georgina Hayden has Greek-Cypriot heritage and this is her fourth cookbook. In addition to being a cookbook author she is also a food stylist. First off, I love the cover designs of this book. It is so bright and colourful, and the inside covers are a vibrant blue too. Her aim, as you can probably tell from the titles, is to share recipes that honour her heritage, but also are accessible for weekday family meals.

The opening lines of the introduction probably gives a pretty good feel as to what to expect. 

This book? It's Greek. Ish. And if you are saying "ish" with a scrunched up nose, a squinted eye and a slight wobble of the head or tilt of the hand, then you are on the right track.

The book is broken up into sections which include:

A good start

Small dishes & snacks

Everyday heroes

Things on sticks

Feasts 

Salads, sides & vegetables

Sweet tooth

In addition to these normal kind of chapters that you would expect to see there are a couple of really fun additions and these are my favourites in the book. For example, there is a section called "Say cheese..." where there are five different recipes for using different types of cheese. This chapter even starts with dad mum joke! There is a chapter called SAS which stands for the Spanakopita Appreciation Society which features 3 different recipes that use the flavours of spanakopita but in less traditional ways. There is another section called "Double negative -a mess in two parts" which features Greek inspired Eton Mess recipes. Yum1

The cheesecake I made a couple of weeks ago features in a chapter called "Baklava, a love story and inspiration" which includes four different recipes that are all using the flavours of Baklava. The recipe for the cheesecake is actually called "Baklava cheesecake, I love you". Having made the cheesecake it is fair to say I love it too!

Whilst Hayden doesn't shy away from using authentic recipes, she usually offer other options to allow the dish to be accessible to all of us. I have used more feta recently than I have in the last six months combined! I would never have thought to incorporate feta into sweet recipes. It even features in the cheesecake.

Here are some of the recipes we have tried:

One Pot Pastitsio - see recipe below

Psari Plaki: Baked fish with tomatoes and olives (although we left out the olives)

One-pot Chicken Thighs and Rice

Triple Fennel Pork Belly (we used a pork roast instead. So good though)

Roasted Lemon, Oregano and Feta Potatoes

Feta, Cherry and White Chocolate Cookies- unusual flavour combo but really good!

Baklava Cheesecake, I Love You  - I love you too!

As for recipes I still want to try, well, there are really too many to list, both sweet and savoury.

I did think about sharing the cookie recipe or the cheesecake recipe, but in the end I decided to share the recipe for One Pot Pastitsio. This is a recipe that I would still like to make the more traditional version of at some point, but this is now a regular in our meal rotations. It gives another option instead of spaghetti bolognaise.

One Pot Pastitsio 

2 tbsp olive oil
500g/1lb 2oz beef mince
2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp dried oregano, plus a pinch
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp tomato purée
250g/9oz traditional pastitsio pasta, bucatini or penne (gluten-free, if needed)
1 litre/1¾ pint beef stock
300ml/½pt crème fraîche
2 free-range egg yolks
100g/3½oz graviera, kefalotyri or pecorino, finely grated
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Set a wide, deep frying pan over a high heat and add the olive oil. Add the mince, breaking it up well with a wooden spoon. Season generously and fry for 5–8 minutes, until any liquid evaporates and the mince starts to crisp.

When the mince has started to brown, stir the onions and garlic in with the oregano and cinnamon. Reduce the heat a little and fry for 5 minutes, stirring everything together (add a touch extra olive oil if it looks dry).

Stir in the tomato purée, fry for 1–2 minutes, then add the pasta to the pan. If you’re using traditional pastitsio pasta or bucatini, you may need to snap some of the pieces in half to fit them all in. It will be snug in the pan, but try to fit them all in. Pour over the beef stock, season and bring to the boil. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Meanwhile, mix together the crème fraîche and egg yolks in a bowl. Stir in half the cheese with a generous pinch of salt and pepper.

When your pasta is ready, turn your grill to high. Gently toss the pasta and sauce in the pan together. Spoon the crème fraîche mixture over the top and sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese, plus an additional pinch of dried oregano.

Place under the grill, not too close to the bars, and grill for 3–5 minutes, until golden and bubbling on top. Keep an eye on it, as how long it takes will depend on the strength of your grill. Remove and leave to stand for at least 5–10 minutes before serving.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: 5 Ingredients Meditteranean by Jamie Oliver

I have had a version of this post saved in draft for a few months now, but it looks like today is the day that I am actually going to post it. And I have to say that my thoughts now would probably be different compared to what it would have been! This is mainly because I buy a few too many cookbooks and so I may have been able to pick more recipes previously than I can now.

This is one of those cookbooks which I originally borrowed from the library, but I decided that there were enough recipes in it that we would want to cook that it was worth actually buying it. In the end we have tried a few recipes, but there really is one recipe that we have made quite regularly.

I am always a bit wary of 3/4/5 ingredient cookbooks. Quite often the recipes are nice enough, but not really delicious. Of course, I like easy and simple recipes, but sometimes you can tell. And sometimes, the reality is that the recipes have one ingredient which is made up of multiple ingredients. For example, in one of the recipes one of the ingredients is a medley of frozen vegetables which feels a bit like it is cheating. Now, we can't actually get that specific medley of vegetables here but we did just use a different medley of vegies instead.

The book is broken up in Salads, Soups & Sarnies, Pasta, Veg, Pies and Parcels, Seafood, Fish, Chicken & Duck, Meat, and finally Sweet Things

Recipes we've tried so far

Beef Ribs Rioja - This was delicious and given how cold it is, we should try this again. Given how cold it is here, we should definitely make this again.

Herby Steak and crispy potatoes - We did make this a couple of times. I should suggest we add it back into our meal planning

Chicken & Merguez Stew - We had to use different sausages as it isn't easy to find Merguez sausages here.  

Creamy Mustardy Pork - More about this below

Giant Baked Beans - This was okay.

I would like to make at least some of the following recipes:

Baked Tomato Soup

Tunisian Prawn Spaghetti

Tortilla Frittata

Pork and Peppers 

Simple Steamed Fish

Crispy Paprika Chicken

Za'atar Chicken

Couscous & Chicken Bake

Apple Tart

Lemon Curd Tart

It is mostly the meat and chicken chapters that I can see us coming back to time and time again!

The recipe that we have made multiple times is the Creamy Mustardy Pork. It's super simple to make, and as long as you have the ingredients the sauce is something that we could use on chicken, on pork chops and potentially even steak. It's pretty versatile and given that it takes about 10 minutes to cook, it's a great midweek meal, especially served with mash! We don't usually use the rocket either!

Creme Fraiche is in the supermarket but is not a mainstream ingredient here so we tend to use either yoghurt or sour cream.

Creamy Mustardy Pork

Golden Mixed Mushrooms, Creme Fraiche & Peppery Rocket

300g pork fillet

200g mixed mushrooms

1 heaped teaspoon wholegrain mustard

2 heaped tablespoons creme fraiche

40 g rocket 

Place a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat. Slice the pork into 6 medallions, bashing to flatten slightly, and roughly slice the mushrooms. Place them in the pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until the mushrooms are golden and the pork is just cooked through, the remove just the mushrooms to a plat. Go in with the mustard and creme fraiche and cook for 1 last minute, loosening with a splash of water, if needed. Taste and season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper, divide between plates,, then scatter over golden mushrooms and rocket, and finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Nice served with rice

Serves 2

Weekly meals

Saturday - Green Curry Chicken Pie
Sunday - Korean pancakes (new0
Monday - Takeaway
Tuesday - Takeaway
Wednesday - Fried Cabbage, Bacon and Onion (new)

Thursday - Steak, fries and egg

Friday - Shaking Beef and rice

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Meliz's Kitchen by Meliz Berg

I have been buying quite a few cookbooks over the last year, mainly thanks to the Jamie Oliver Cookbook Club. This is one of those books. Some of the books get used a lot, and others not so much but I still like having them all. When I first got this cookbook, I wasn't sure how much I would use it, but it has turned out quite a lot.

I have decided that I really like cookbooks that represent the people of a specific culture. In this case, the author is of Cypriot descent and so she is sharing stories of going fishing with her uncle or cooking with her aunts, of barbecuing on the mangal and more.

Now, I am pretty sure that I couldn't have named a single specifically Cypriot dish before getting this book, but it turns out that Cyprus, like so many of the islands in the Mediterranean is a bit of a crossroads for different cultures and this is well and truly represented in the food. Being in the Mediterranean we know that we can expect lots of tomatoes and seafood, but there is also reliance on herbs and spices such as cinnamon and mint which make it a bit different from other food in the region. There are also quite a few lamb dishes in the book. Unfortunately my husband doesn't love lamb so not sure we will get to make those but we'll see. 

The author also points out that whilst she learnt many of these recipes from her mother and aunts, every family will have slightly different versions of the same dishes depending on which village or family they come from. She has also adapted them to reflect our modern lifestyles.

The book is broken up into several different sections including Breakfast, Dishes & Salads to Share, Easy One-pots and Slow Cooking, Quick Cooking for Busy Weeknights, Traditional Stove-top Dishes from Meatballs to Dolma, Hearty Dishes from the Oven, Barbecue Dishes & Accompaniments, Homemade Breads, Doughs and Pastries and finally Crowd-pleasing Sweets

We have really enjoyed the recipes we have tried from the book so far, which include

Dad's Tomato and Rice Soup

One-pot Halloumi and Tomato Pasta

Chicken, Tomato &Parsley Wraps

Mum's Chocolate & Coconut Cake (pictured)

There are still quite a few recipes that I am keen to try, and these vary from being very simple to much more complicated. An example of a really simple one is a toasted cheese and halloumi sandwich. I am intrigued to see how two different types of cheese along with some cinnamon and mint can really transform a normal toasted cheese sandwich. 

At the other end of the scale, I am also really keen to try the Creamy Moussaka recipe. I love moussaka and would really love to have an amazing recipe for it! I have a Greek friend who gave me her recipe for both moussaka and pasticchio so I just need a weekend where we can have the time to make at least one of these recipes.

Other examples of recipes I am keen to try include a Cypriot-style Pasta & Chicken, Egg Halloumi and Sauteed Vegetables, Baked White Fish in Tomato Sauce, and Chicken, Potato & Tomato Roast. I am sure next time I flick through the book I will find others!

Given that the weather is cooling down here now, I thought I would share a recipe for a soup. We had this a couple of weeks ago and it was really, really good! I can see this getting made quite a few times over the coming months

Dad's Tomato & Rice Soup

BABA’S DOMATESLI PIRINÇ ÇORBASI


200 g (7 oz) short-grain white rice
6 large tomatoes
50 ml (2 fl oz) olive oil
1 large onion , finely chopped
1 vegetable stock cube
500 ml (18 fl oz) boiling water
1.5 litres (2½ pints) cold water
25 g (1 oz) fresh parsley , finely chopped
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon caster sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus extra to taste

Wash the rice in a sieve with cold water until the water runs clear. Leave to drain.

Place the tomatoes in a deep heatproof bowl. Pour over boiling water to cover and leave for a minute or two. Remove the tomatoes from the bowl, peel off the skins, discard, and then finely chop the flesh. Leave to one side.

Pour the olive oil into a large pan and place over a medium heat. Add the onion and soften for 10–12 minutes until lightly caramelised.

While the onion is cooking, dissolve the stock cube in the boiling water, then top up with the cold water.

Stir the parsley, paprika and tomatoes into the caramelised onions and let everything sizzle for a minute or two before adding the rice, giving the grains a good stir so that they get fully coated in the tomatoes and onion. Sprinkle in the sugar, then gently pour in the stock and season with the salt and pepper.

 Allow the soup to simmer over a medium heat for around 10 minutes until the rice is cooked. Add the lemon juice a couple of minutes before you remove the pan from the heat and serve with crusty bread, adding a little more lemon juice to taste.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Roast pork with leeks and mushrooms

Sunday -  Toasted ham and cheese sandwiches

Monday - Chicken Enchiladas

Tuesday - Beef and Broccoli Noodles

Wednesday - Spanish Tuna Pasta Bake

Thursday - French Onion casserole

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

What I Baked (In my Kitchen)in February

The first Saturday of the month is when I share all the things that I baked in the previous month. This month is going to be a very short post because I only made one thing!!

It was my sister's 50th birthday this month. Over the years she has been the party cake maker but it probably stands to reason that she couldn't make her own. Therefore I was approached to make the cake a few days before the event. I had seen something not too long before that I thought would make!

The recipe actually called for a butter cake with a white chocolate ganache frosting. I decided that I would make the Vanilla cake from RecipeTinEats and still make the same frosting. In retrospect, this was the wrong decision!

One of the key ingredients in a white chocolate ganache is white chocolate, and there was a lot. I didn't realise that the version of Lindt white chocolate we got had a filling in it until I ate one of the last pieces. By that point the ganache was basically done, and the recipe called for the ganache to go in the fridge for a few hours and then you whip it up to a lovely creamy frosting. I made it the night before, put it in the fridge. When I started to whip it up, it very soon became clear that it was not working the way it was meant to! I had what appeared to be a very sweet rice consistency.

What to do? Well, I found a recipe for White Chocolate Butter Cream frosting so I decided to go with that. Thankfully we had just enough white chocolate left in the house. By this point though, I was very stressed and didn't read the recipe properly. Instead of using powdered/caster sugar I used granulated sugar so, whilst the frosting tasted amazing it was a bit gritty. By this point, it was a case of either we go with it, or go and buy one. 

As I would expect it didn't look as elegant as the one that I saw in the first place, but it was a bit of fun!

Here is the cake

Now don't feel too sorry for us. We still managed to have plenty of sweet treats. My step daughters (it still feels a bit weird to refer them in that way ) moved in with a few months ago and they did a bit of baking including carrot walnut cake, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate brownies. I do feel like I need to reclaim my kitchen though. No idea what I am going to make though.

I did acquire two new cookbooks this month. The first was The Farm Table by Julius Roberts. I love the colours of the cover. This is a book that focuses on cooking with the season and I do know what the first recipe is that I am going to try.

And the second was Meliz's Kitchen by Meliz Berg. I haven't had a chance to look through this but I have heard good things about the books.

We had a work event this week which was focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. We got to hear prominent Aboriginal Australian and former journalist Stan Grant talk to us. As part of a small pack we received we used a packet of Native Seasoning so I am going to have to work out what to do with it. The information on the back just says use to season savoury foods.

Last month I had the great idea to share which new recipes we tried this month. Normally we try a few new different recipes. This month, the month after I declared I would be sharing them, we only tried one which was a Pot Roast.

Now it is not necessarily pot roast weather here, but I was listening to an audiobook where the main character wanted to make a pot roast so then I decided that we needed to have one too! And it was delicious! So delicious that we might make it again when the cooler weather comes!

I am sharing this with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings

Weekly meals

Saturday -  Away

Sunday -  Away

Monday - Spicy Pork and Beans noodles

Tuesday - Beef, Broccoli, Mushrooms

Wednesday - Enchiladas

Thursday - Out for dinner

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Simple Noodles by Pippa Middlehurst

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai, where a father and daughter team of food detectives take a dish from your memories and try to recreate it perfectly. I shared about a garlic prawn dish that lives on in my memory which I have never been able to find again. 

Another dish that lives on in perfection in my memory is a Beef and Broccoli in Oyster Sauce dish that I had at a Chinese restaurant in Adelaide back in probably the early 1990s. I was there with a group of friends, not 100% who or why, but I do remember eating this dish and thinking it was delicious. We have a favourite restaurant now where we go, mainly because of their Shao Long Bao dumplings. Every time we also order Beef and Chinese Broccoli in Oyster Sauce which is very nice, but not quite as good. We have also tried cooking a similar dish on several occasions.

A few months ago, the Jamie Oliver Cookbook Club selected a book called Simply Noodles. As I was flicking through the book, one recipe jumped out at me and we have now made it several times! This is yet another take on my beef, broccoli and oyster sauce flavour combinations. It is a completely different dish, but it is pretty tasty.

In the book there is plenty of information about various topics including different types of noodles, equipment you might need, and different techniques. There are even some suggestions for making instant noodles a bit fancy! The intent is to provide quick, easy, tasty, feel-good recipes.

The recipes are broken into 3 sections. The first section is the Really Easy Noodles (10+ minutes), then Fuss-Free Noodles (20+ minutes) and finally Minimal Effort Noodles (30+ minutes).  

Among the recipes I would like to try are:

Midnight Noodles and Dumplings

Non-nuclear Fire Noodles

Sizzling Red Oil Noodles

Bangkok-style Spaghetti

Soy Garlic Butter Prawn Spaghetti

Sticky BBQ Chicken Noodles

Pad See Ew

There are some recipes that I am sure taste good, and might appeal to some readers, but I am not sure that I would ever make a recipe like Chicken Nugget Mazeman. It might be a good way to get kids to try something different though! 

Here's the Beef and Broccoli Noodles recipe which we have made multiple times now. In fact, I think I might add it to our menu for next week!

Beef and Broccoli Noodles (Pippa Middlehurst)

1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 rump steak, thinly sliced
½ head broccoli, broken into florets
2 nests egg noodles or 120g bronze-cut spaghetti
2 tbsp neutral oil
4 garlic cloves, grated
3 spring onions, finely sliced

For the sauce:
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
½ tbsp dark soy sauce
½ tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp Sichuan chilli oil or Lao Gan Ma Crispy Chilli Oil
½ tbsp golden caster (superfine) sugar

In a bowl, mix together the cornflour, 1 tbsp water and the light soy sauce. Marinate the steak slices in this mixture, coating well, while you prep the rest of the ingredients.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the broccoli florets and cook for 3-5 minutes until just softened but still green. Scoop out directly into a bowl of ice-cold water. Set aside.

In the same pan, cook the noodles for 2 minutes less than what is stated on the packet instructions. We want them to remain al dente. Strain and rinse under cool water, separating the noodles with your fingers, to prevent them from sticking. Set aside.

Mix all the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Then, heat 1 tbsp of the neutral oil in a wok or non-stick, heavy-based frying pan. Add the steak and cook for 3-5 minutes until browned and caramelised. Remove the steak from the pan and wipe the pan.
Add the remaining 1 tbsp neutral oil to the clean pan and set over a medium-high heat. Add the garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the blanched broccoli and the steak. Toss and cook for 1 minute.

Give the noodles another quick rinse in cool water to make sure they’re not stuck together. Add them to the pan and toss with the veg and beef. Add the sauce, toss to combine, then add the spring onions, toss and let wilt for 30 seconds.

Remove the pan from the heat and serve.

Weekly meals

Saturday -  Sausages, mash and gravy

Sunday -  Grilled cheese on toast

Monday - Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Bolognaise

Tuesday - Herbed steak and chips

Wednesday - Spicy pork  Noodles

Thursday - Zucchini, Tomato and Parmesan Risotto

Friday -Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: The Italian Pantry by Theo Randall

Last week I talked about the two cookbook clubs that I am kind of participating in and all the books that I had out from the library. This week I thought I would talk about one of the two books that I bought.

The Italian Pantry by Theo Randall was the January cookbook for the Jamie Oliver Cookbook club.  As we were travelling around Europe I kept on seeing all the posts in the Facebook group raving about this book but it is one that isn't available in either of my libraries, so I bit the bullet and bought it as soon as we got home. And it was worth every cent!!

Theo Randall is an British chef who has worked in a number of restaurants, most famously at The River Cafe in London where he gained a Michelin star.

The structure of this book is very interesting. Rather than be broken up into sections about starters, main course and desserts or seasons, the book is built around 10 key ingredients. They are:

Breadcrumbs

Tomatoes

Porcini Mushrooms

Parmesan

Leafy Greens

Ricotta

Polenta

Honey

Pine Nuts

Within each chapter there is a nice mix of sweet and savoury recipes. Well, there aren't sweet recipes in every chapter, but there are in most.

In the photo above, you might be able to glimpse the pieces of paper which are marking all the recipes that I want to try. There are a lot!

So far I have made 5 recipes from the book. They are Paccheri with Leeks, Parmesan and Prosciutto di Parma, Aubergine and Courgette Lasagne (both from the parmesan chapter), Richhieri (from the pine nut chapter) and Amalfi Lemon Cheesecake from the lemon chapter. 

The recipes have all been easy to follow, and not particularly difficult to make. I have also had to look at different pasta shapes. For example, paccheri is a large tube pasta shape I had never even noticed on the shelves before.

Some recipes, like the Aubergine and Courgette Lasagne, take a bit of time to prepare but it was worth it.  I will definitely be making that one again. In fact, the Ricchieri were a bit hit when I took them to work, and I took the cheesecake to a friend's place and they loved it, so there's every chance I will make all of them again. 

Whilst there are some recipes that ask for specific ingredients, I have found that it isn't difficult to find alternatives. For example, the cheesecake says Amalfi lemon but I just used normal lemon. I suspect it might have been a bit more tart than it might have been but it was still really good! And it was made using a base of ricotta and mascarpone instead of the cream cheese I would normally use to make cheesecake. As a result it was very light.

Here's some photos of some of the things I have made:

One recipe I have already made more than once are the meatballs. Actually, I should more correctly say my husband has made them more than once. This is the recipe that everyone in the group was raving about, so it had to be the first recipe we tried. And we loved it too!

We couldn't get burrata from our local supermarket so the first time we made it we substituted baby boccincini and the second time we used chopped up mozzarella.

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Burrata

For the meatballs

400g/14oz pork mince
400g/14oz beef mince
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste with a little sea salt
3 tbsp full-fat milk
100g/3½oz dried breadcrumbs
75g/2½oz parmesan, finely grated
3 free-range eggs
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, for greasing, frying and drizzling

For the tomato sauce

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, finely sliced
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
600g/1lb 5oz tomato passata
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the burrata and crostini

extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
1 ciabatta or sourdough loaf, cut into thin slices
1 garlic clove, peeled and left whole, to rub
150g/5½oz burrata



For the meatballs, put all the ingredients for the meatballs (except the oil) into a large bowl and combine to form a firm, evenly distributed mixture.


Cover your hands in olive oil, take a generous tablespoon of the mixture and roll it between your palms to form a meatball the size of a golf ball. Repeat until you have used all the mixture - you should have 16 meatballs. Place them on a tray, wash your hands and then place the tray in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes.


Place a large, non-stick, ovenproof frying pan over a high heat and add a tablespoon or so of olive oil. When the oil is hot, begin browning the meatballs (in batches if necessary), ensuring that you don't cook them completely - a little colour on the outside is perfect. Once they are all browned off, remove them from the pan and leave them to one side while you make the tomato sauce.


Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.


To make the tomato sauce, heat the olive oil in an ovenproof pan and set it back over a medium heat. When hot, add the garlic, thyme, and chilli. Simmer for 1 minute, then add the tomato passata. Cook gently for 15 minutes, or until the volume of the sauce has reduced by half.


Season the sauce with salt and freshly ground black pepper and take the pan off the heat.


Place the meatballs in the pan on top of the sauce, evenly spaced, then transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through. Leave to one side for 5 minutes to cool slightly (leave the oven on).


For the burrata and crostini, drizzle a little oil over the ciabatta slices and sprinkle them with some sea salt. Place on a baking tray and bake in the hot oven for 4 minutes, or until crisp, then rub them all over with the garlic clove.


Meanwhile, finely chop the burrata, then use a spoon to drop dollops all over the baked meatballs.

The meatballs are juicy, the sauce is tasty. We are tending to put the cheese in a bit earlier so that it was a bit more melty (technical term).

If you are interested in Italian cooking, this might be a good cookbook for you!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner

Sunday -  Enchiladas

Monday - Bacon, zuchhini mushroom pasta

Tuesday - Out for dinner

Wednesday - Mexican chicken parma

Thursday - Out for dinner

Friday - Out for dinner

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: In which I borrow far too many cookbooks from the library

A couple of months ago I mentioned that I had recently learned that Jamie Oliver had a cookbook club. And after that I learned about an Australian cookbook club as well called the Lambs Ear Cookbook Club. The reason why I joined the second one was to get to know about the Australian cookbooks that are being released.

I enjoy buying new cookbooks as much as the next person, but two monthly cookbook clubs does mean two new cookbooks every month. If you aren't sure you are going to cook from them, that is not only pricey but takes up space on the bookshelf too! So, where possible,  I am trying to borrow the books from the library. The only problem with that is sometimes the books take so long to come in that the month is over. I am finding that when I have the cookbook during the month, it is easier to find things to cook out of them as everyone is excitedly posting what they have made.

Today I am going to share the cookbooks that I currently have out from the library. 

More Fish More Veg by Tom Walton - I know that we should eat a lot more fish than we do, and should be way more adventurous with vegetables than we are.  The reality is that of the three of us who live in this house, I am the one who likes fish the most. And vegetables for that matter.

I have, however,  convinced Robert to try at least a couple of the fish dishes before I return the book to the library. 

There are also a couple of interesting vegetable dishes, which look impressive because of the way that they are served. One is a roasted pumpkin which is halved that you then pile a jeweled rice on top of. 

One thing I really like about this book is at the bottom of a lot of a button, there is a section which says this recipe goes well with which is a nice touch

One of the cool things about these kind of cookbook clubs is that the choices cover a variety of cuisines. This month's book for the Lamb's Ears Cookbook Club is Salamati: Hamed's Persian Kitchen by Hamed Allenyari with Dani Valent.

A lot of people are enjoying the section of omelettes, and I was skimming through there was a recipe for a tomato omelette that caught my eye.

There are a lot of authentic Persian recipes in the book, but there are also a lot where the author has given non traditional recipe a Persian twist.

One of the things I like from this book is that for various  seasons and special occasions there is a suggestion for a feast and it tells you which dishes complement each other. I also like that the food is so colourful and that each recipe has a little story about his memories or why he chose it.

Interestingly, there is a rice pudding dish with roasted rhubarb that Hamed worked on with Julia Busittil Nishimura, whose book is below.

I really like looking at this book and I would like to own it, but I am not sure how much we would actually cook out of it.

At the bottom of the pile of books in the photo above you may be able to notice that there is a magazine. In addition to the monthly cookbook, they have an annual option and this year it is about cooking from Delicious magazine, so I just grabbed one from the library on a whim.

Around the Table by Julia Busuttil Nishimura was another selection from Lambs' Ears cookbook and I think this is one that I am definitely going to buy.

This book had me at hello, by which I mean that I opened the book to the first recipe and it was for something that I had been thinking that I want to make!  

It is an interesting mix of predominantly Italian and Japanese recipes, but there are other influences throughout the book.

A couple of the recipes that caught my attention were the Summer Nectarine and Raspbery trifle,  a Pear & Polenta Torte and a Lemon Mascarpone Tart.

The final cookbook for this post is, unsurprisingly, from the Jamie Oliver Cookbook club - One: Simple One Pan Wonders by Jamie Oliver

This is Jamie Oliver's 26th cookbook. It makes me wonder how easy it is for him to come up with new concepts for each book. In this book, the idea is that you only use one pot, one casserole dish, one baking tray to cook with. 

Most of the recipes are are relatively simple, with not too many ingredients and use some store bought ingredients rather than making everything from scratch.

There are some interesting ideas here. There is a whole chapter on Frying Pan Pasta where you use fresh lasagne sheets as the pasta base, therefore meaning that you don't need to boil the pasta separately and then add to the rest of the ingredients

There is another chapter on the Joy of Eggs which has a few different versions of Shakshuka.

One recipe that I am definitely going to try before returning this book is a Baked Lemon Cheesecake which is made in an ovenproof frying pan. 

The current choice for the JO Cookbook Club is Hopper by Karan Gokan which is Sri Lankan food. I can't get this book from either of my libraries and I still haven't quite decided if I want to buy it. I am definitely interested in going to a Sri Lankan restaurant to try hoppers, which I had never heard of before this.

I wouldn't mind owning this book but of these four books, if I can only buy one, it would Around the Table. Of course, there's nothing to say that I am only allowed to buy just one!

I have bought one cookbook which I absolutely love cooking from which I will post about in the coming weeks.

Oh, and if you are wondering about the book on the top of my artistically photographed pile of books, it is a foodie related novel that I grabbed on a whim on my way out of the library. I mean, I borrowed it, I just didn't walk out the door with it. Now to find time to read it.

Weekly meals

Saturday - 

Sunday -  

Monday - Meatballs with mozzarella

Tuesday - Out for dinner

Wednesday - Out for dinner

Thursday - Cheese and crackers

Friday - Cumin cheese on toast

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page