moomin_mama's Profile

From: , UK

Joined: May 8th, 2010

About me: Almost vegetarian (I eat some fish and seafood, and all cheeses). Not a great cook but I like to eat, so I give it a go. I'm a big fan of simple, nutritionally balanced dishes with a lot of flavour, and I often come up with my own variations after trying any number of recipes. I'm not a fan of dinner parties and I don't tend to make anything special for guests unless they have food allergies or pet hates and can't eat what's cooking - home for me is somewhere to hang out rather than 'entertain'.

Beetroot & Rhubarb from New Covent Garden Food Co. Soup for All Seasons: B Our Favorite Seasonal Recipes (New Covent Garden Soup Company)

Absolutely disgusting. Inedible. Don't bother. read more >

recipe reviews (43)
book reviews (8)
useful review votes (11)

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moomin_mama's Reviews

7 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 7Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

The Cookery Year: With Over 200 Seasonal Recipes

By Gary Rhodes
BBC Books - 2005

Quick, cheap and simple - unusual for this book! I serve this as a light summer dinner with crusty bread and tomatoes, with Parmesan on top (or similar hard cheese) instead of blue cheese. Superb.

useful (1)  

Didn't do much for me. The white wine, garlic and herb liquor/sauce was similar in taste to the way mussels are often cooked, and I have to say would have worked better with mussels.

useful (0)  

This recipe made a lot of gnocchi because I needed to use a lot more flour than the recipe stated. The spring onions were therefore slightly lost in the gnocchi and I'd add double. The finished meal is very rich so a little gnocchi goes a long way. Thankfully the gnocchi keeps for almost a week in the fridge and freezes well (after the par-boiling stage but before frying). Tinned broad beans and Parmesan (or similar hard cheese) can be used for a quicker weekday meal.

useful (1)  

I left out the bacon and didn't bother with the poached eggs, served it with mashed potato, and although it was tasty enough I wouldn't make it again. The sauce was too wine-y and really needed something else, possibly tomato, but I loved the spinach and will be using that in a similar recipe of my own which I prefer.

useful (1)  

Sweet in a "sweet-shop" sort of way - I can't explain it any better than that. A lot of people will love this but it wasn't for me.

useful (0)  

Heavenly. Didn't need the extra pulp or cream (which would have ruined it), or the glazing - I sprinkled with lots of icing sugar straight after it came out of the oven and most of it melted onto the pastry with the heat. Might be worth trying this in a flan/pie dish as my jalousie wasn't very neat, and escaping juices caused a small bit of the pastry edge to burn.

useful (0)  

I omitted the Grand Marnier, and forgot to add the cream to the mascarpone mix - which was lovely without it - so whipped and spooned it on top of the dessert instead. Being heavier than the mascarpone layer, the cream sinks in - pipe it on if you want to do it this way, or just don't forget it in the first place.

The orange cream wasn't as orange-y as I'd expected. I used carton orange juice but next time will use fresh oranges and cook some of the grated rind with the rhubarb pulp.

Small almond or pistachio Tuile biscuits (recipe at back of book) are recommended - I sprinkled pistachios on top instead, which worked, but flaked almonds would have been much nicer.

useful (0)