redjanet's Profile

From: London, United Kingdom

Joined: April 4th, 2011

About me: Hello! Living in London with my husband and cat, I have only just become more interested in cooking over the last few years, especially as I became more and more dismayed by my inability to return the favour of cooking for family and friends, which is now something I love to do even though it still sometimes makes me nervous. I wasn't really taught how to cook when I was young so I've had to teach myself which I've been doing with the help of the Good Food and Food Network channels along with my growing collection of cook books. My favourite, "teachers," in the kitchen have been Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, though I love watching cookery programmes in general and find just reading through cook books to be a great source of comfort. I'm really pleased to have stumbled upon this website as it has the potential to be a great resource and is exactly what I was wishing and looking for with regards to a simple way of keeping track of recipes I've tried.

Favorite cookbook: Ministry of Food by Jamie Oliver

Favorite recipe: pot-roast meatloaf from Ministry of Food


Latest review:

November 6th, 2018

Ultimate chilli from BOSH!: Simple Recipes. Amazing Food. All Plants. The Fastest-Selling Vegan Cookbook Ever

This took a little bit longer than I anticipated to prep, but it was completely worth it for such amazing flavour. I loved using minced mushroom instead of processed fake beef mince (or beef!) in combination... read more >


recipe reviews (206)
book reviews (1)
useful review votes (106)

redjanet's Reviews


Search Reviews:

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

101 One-pot Dishes: Tried-and-tested Recipes (Good Food 101)

By B.B.C. "Good Food Magazine"
BBC Books - 2006

21st August 2011

Chicken biryani : page 56

I don't think I'll never want to get another Indian take-away again after making this recipe, as the book suggested, but it certainly was a very solid, easy recipe to make that I enjoyed eating. I used a mild curry powder as I don't like my food too spicy anyway, and all this basically consisted of was crisping the skin of the chicken thighs first before adding onions, rice and stock and then baking it in the oven for half an hour before adding frozen peas for a final few minutes. The quantities specified made plenty for my OH and me, so I have a nice amount of rice and peas left over for a couple of lunches to take to work over the next couple of days.

useful (1)  


17th April 2011

Quick Meatball Casserole : page 40

I figured I'd try this as I usually like dishes with meatballs (heck, I pretty much like anything with ground meat) and as this calls for turkey mince it is fairly low in fat. As friederike mentioned that it seemed a bit like kids' food I took that to mean she thought it was kind of bland, so I used smoked paprika instead of normal paprika. Unfortunately I added a bit too much by accident and the dish came out a bit spicier than I intended. Oops! Thankfully I had some half fat creme fraiche in the fridge which my OH and I added to our plates to cool things down a bit. This was simple to make, though I think the, "quick," in the recipe title is a bit misleading, as it's quick once it's bubbling away on the stove, but you still have to spend a fair amount of time chopping the veggies and preparing the meatballs before they all get to the pan.

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15th April 2011

Crispy skin chicken thighs : page 68

A simple way to roast chicken thighs with potato wedges in one tray. This is very similar to another dish I regularly do with rosemary or herbes de Provence, but the use of tarragon in this recipe gives a different, interesting flavour. The potatoes weren't quite cooked enough to my liking with the timing provided, but that's my fault for not testing them thoroughly enough before serving.

useful (1)  


2nd August 2011 (edited: 2nd August 2011)

Broccoli lemon chicken : page 52

Eh, this was okay. It was a pretty typical stir-fry of broccoli and chicken with a lemon sauce made of chicken stock, cornflour and honey. I was expecting a bit more flavour, which I probably would have got more of from a just as cheap to make packet of Blue Dragon lemon stir-fry sauce. The cashews added a good crunchy texture and it was certainly edible (my OH liked it!), but I didn't think it was worth the effort in the end.

useful (2)  


4th September 2011

Chicken and spring vegetable stew : page 78

A simple chicken stew that can be put together fairly quickly. The recipe specified skin on chicken breasts, though I used skinless, and I also used frozen mixed vegetables instead of fresh. I don't think either changes would have made much difference. The overall results were a tad bland, though the tarragon (which I don't normally like that much) added a nice flavour.

useful (0)  


4th September 2011

Cheesy fish grills : page 122

This was a simple enough recipe to put together quickly on a weeknight. I thought the combination of cheese and ham on fish might be a bit weird, though it tasted okay, especially with the fresh green spring onions on top.

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4th October 2011

20-minute seafood pasta : page 128

This wasn't so great. It tasted nice enough, but it was kind of a pain in the neck to eat. I thought it was pretty clever breaking up the spaghetti so it could be cooked in and at the same time as the sauce, but as my husband and I discovered, when spaghetti is shorter it's not as easy to get on one's utensils! I couldn't find a nice frozen mixed seafood pack, so I just substituted cooked prawns which I added at the last minute. Like I said, this tasted good, but this isn't a dish I think I'll make again.

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