Barbara's Reviews
4 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 4Sort by: Title 
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Website: JamieOliver.com
This is a recipe with 5 main ingredients--a concept I really like. Although this pie was tasty, it was somewhat one-dimensional in flavour. Perhaps not that surprising, given the limited ingredients. Acceptable for a weeknight dinner from scratch, but I probably won't make it again. Better to make a really good filling and have some in the freezer to pull out for that fast meal.
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I saw Jamie make this on one of his Christmas specials years ago, and have made it ever since, with some tweaks. It really is a flavourful chicken/turkey gravy and having it made aahead of time is one less thing to do for a Christmas or Thanksgiving feast.
I use only 1 star anise and add a fennel bulb to the veggies. Fennel has natural affinity with poultry and is less overpowering than the star anise.
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Making sure you have lots of flavoursome gravy ahead of time is a good idea. And from this recipe I learned how important vegetables are to the flavour of gravy.
I adapted this slightly from the original recipe. Based on comments and my own gut feeling, I reduced the amount of star anise. I also added a couple of garlic cloves. I think it was a good call.
The resulting gravy has a hint of fennel/anise flavour but more would be overpowering. An alternative might be to include a quartered fennel bulb, but I didn't try this.
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I made a half recipe of this very tasty soup. It features fried sage as a major flavouring, which I really like. Unlike so many squash soups, it did not require cream or buttermilk. Since I don't have any bread on hand, I skipped the croutons.
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