GaietyGirl's Reviews
9 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 9Sort by: Book Title 
| Date | Rating | Recipe Title
Feast: Food to Celebrate Life
By Nigella Lawson
Knopf Canada - 2004
This is a little more fiddly than the average cake, as it involves heating butter and milk together to whisk into the eggs. (Make sure you don't get it too hot, or you'll have very sweet scrambled eggs!)
The end result is totally worth it though. This is probably the most requested cake that I make. Though delicious, it has quite a dry crumb so if you're holding it over for a second day, I'd recommend adding a tablespoon of ground almonds to the flour.
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This is just fantastic. My mother could eat nothing else for the rest of her life. Moist, rich and delicious. I agree that the chocolate is very important - it really needs to be good quality dark stuff. Partly because the taste is so pronounced in the final product (it's not cake with chocolate on it, it's chocolate that's got a little cake in it), and partly because it's so much easier to work with higher end chocolate when you have to melt it for icing as there is a smaller chance that it will seize.
Again this is really a cake that should be eaten on the day it's baked, but I can't see that being a problem!
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While this involves making meringue, it's much less nervewracking than pavlova.
Turns out really well and looks impressive for dessert or tea or anytime, really. If you can get homemade or farmers market lemon curd it tends to be a little sharper in taste than most commercial brands, which is a good counter to the very sweet layers of meringue.
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This is absolutely delicious and to make it even better, it can be put together in advance and refrigerated. Heats up perfectly the next day.
Even my bread sauce skeptical family became converts after trying it!
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Sometimes you just have to ignore the large amounts of fat involved and go for it. You'll be thankful that you did - these are amazingly good. Perfectly crisp on the outside, fluffy and soft in the middle.
Yum.
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The Naked Chef
By Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph - 1999
A basic Italian-style tomato sauce that's absolute child's play to make and tastes wonderful. Can be altered easily. I usually end up using tabasco instead of chilli, fresh tomatoes in summer, and a handful of black olives if I have them in the fridge. It's also good with balsamic vinegar instead of red wine, if you have one instead of the other as I do.
I keep this chunky for pasta, or give it a whizz with a stick blender for pizza. It freezes really well, which is a bonus as one batch produces quite a lot of rich, delicious sauce.
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This has become my go-to bread recipe. Produces a great loaf which has both a tender centre and a delicious crust.
I usually split the dough leaving 2/3 for a loaf and using the other 1/3 for pizza.
The pizza crusts freeze well when they're part baked and are a million times better than anything bought. Only take 10 minutes from the freezer to the table as well!
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A good no-panic risotto that's really worth making. A bit heavy on the celery in the recipe (half a head) so I usually reduce that to a few ribs.
I tend to make this in Autumn as my dad is a great wild mushroom picker. If I'm relying on those wonderfully uniform looking white supermarket mushrooms I boost the flavour with a few dried mushrooms. Avoid using little button mushrooms though. They really aren't worth the effort for this.
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Simple and delicious, just as it should be.
Can be a bit "fingers and thumbs" trussing the bird the first couple of times, but it gets easier. Fresh herbs are important for it (though lots of herbs work with chicken).
Also pretty good with a few unpeeled cloves of garlic in the cavity with the lemon.
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