Zosia's Reviews
29 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 29Sort by: Title 
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Website: Epicurious
A fantastic tasting salad! The black rice has a pronounced and delicious nutty flavour that holds up well against the strongly flavoured, Thai inspired dressing and the tart-sweet fruits and crunchy peanuts.
The warm, cooked rice is first dressed with orange and lime juice, vegetable oil and fish sauce (I used soy sauce). I was a little concerned when I tasted it as the soy was overpowering. However, once the fruit, jalapeños, peanuts and onions were mixed in, the soy became a subtle source of saltiness in the tangy salad.
I followed the suggestion to serve this wonderful salad with grilled fish; it worked very well with the hot, sour, salty and sweet flavours.
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I haven’t done any baking using traditionally savoury herbs in desserts but this recipe sounded delicious. And it was……the combination of flavours was fantastic, the muffin was light and moist (I actually wondered if I used the same recipe as some of the epicurious reviewers!) and the crumble topping was crunchy.
The muffin was somewhat cake-like, both in texture and mixing method (dry and wet ingredients are added to butter creamed with sugar) but not as sweet. I used thawed marionberries and was happy to see that they remained suspended in the batter. Unfortunately, they did stick to the paper liners so I may just make these in a greased muffin tin next time. The recipe made 16 regular-sized muffins. I made an error with the oven temperature and baked these at 375F, a typical temperature for muffins, so they were done in 20 minutes. I can’t help but think that 40 minutes is too long a baking time, even at 325F.
The crumble topping was unusual in that an egg yolk and baking powder were included. I found it to be quite powdery and it didn’t hold together well so what didn’t clump together, about 1/3 of the mixture, didn’t end up on the muffins. I didn’t see the point of the baking powder either as there was barely any liquid for a reaction to take place. But the baked texture was nice as was the additional hit of thyme it provided.
I’m looking forward to making these again when fresh blackberries are in season…they’ll be a nice summertime treat.
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Succulent tidbits of chicken bathed in a rich, fragrant sauce. The flavours of all of the spices and aromatics that went into the dish were beautifully melded; it was spicy but not too hot and the chicken was flavourful and tender.
The dish took a little bit of time to make, but since the recipe indicated it could be made in advance and reheated, I made the sauce the night before and marinated the chicken in yogurt over night. It took only 30 minutes to complete the dish the next day.
I served it with spicy spinach, cilantro-yogurt sauce and naan as part of an Indian inspired meal, a first for me.
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Mint,cilantro/coriander and lemon juice added to yogurt made a brightly flavoured sauce that was successful at tempering the heat of the chicken tikka masala I served it with (though my vegetarian daughter and I enjoyed it as dip for naan bread!)
It would be a great complement to any spicy dish………….
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Fantastic pie! The filling is bursting with sweet-tart cherries flavoured with a hint of vanilla and just enough sugar to sweeten them without masking their flavour.
The crust is an all-butter pastry that uses the very basic ingredients of flour, sugar, salt and water. It’s easy to work with, bakes up flaky and tender and is the perfect complement for the tart filling. Though the recipe just calls for a regular 9” pie plate, I used a deep dish, as there’s a high fruit:crust ratio.
The most difficult thing about making this pie is waiting until it’s cool enough to slice and eat!
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This is a refreshing cold salad of cooked soba noodles tossed with an Asian inspired dressing that packs a little heat, and a variety of fresh cut-up vegetables.
The recipe calls for 8 cups (!!!) of match-stick sized pieces of fresh summer vegetables – I used ones that everyone in the family likes….celery, cucumber, red peppers and carrots. Because I wanted to eat this salad the same day and I didn’t feel like digging out my mandoline to test its julienne feature, my pieces were a little chunkier than matchsticks : )!
The dressing is a simple combination of rice vinegar, vegetable oil (I used less based on some epicurious reviewers’ comments), sesame oil, and hot chili sauce. It’s very light and allows the flavour of the vegetables to shine.
This was a perfect dinner on a day when the humidex was hovering around 37C/98F.
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This delicious vegetable soup owes most of its flavour to the first step, which is to caramelize the vegetables before adding stock. It does take a little time and requires some pot watching to ensure that nothing burns, but the results are well worth it.
The recipe is a little fiddly in parts and I usually streamline it by leaving all of the vegetables in the pot to cook and taking an immersion blender to it once it’s done. I don’t bother straining before adding the pasta. Don’t forget seasoning to taste with salt and pepper – the recipe doesn’t mention it.
I served this batch with savoury madeleines.
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This is a delicious grain dish, prepared risotto-style, that’s a wonderful showcase for some fall/winter vegetables.
As is often the case with risotto, the add-ins are prepared separately and combined with the dish at the very end so the squash (I used butternut) must be roasted and the kale blanched. I toasted the farro in the pan (not the oven) and added the onion and garlic directly to it to sauté before adding the wine and broth.
Farro takes a lot longer to cook than rice, but doesn’t need as much attention, and it absorbs quite a bit more liquid as well. In fact, it seems to continue to absorb the liquid, despite being toasted first, even after it’s cooked so the dish is not as creamy as risotto.
I’ve made this a few times now and have tried a few time-saving shortcuts – using frozen squash, steaming the farro – but these versions were not nearly as good; the results are worth the time and effort of following the original recipe.
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I’ve always found cooking fish and vegetables en papillote to be a little tricky....... it sounds easy enough, but finding a combination of ingredients that has the same cooking time has caused me problems in the past.
Unfortunately, the combination suggested in this recipe didn’t work. Though the flavour of the fish, summer squash, tomatoes, and shallots with white wine and basil (I used dried) was quite nice, the squash was soft (overcooked) and the shallots were tender- crisp – I would have preferred the textures to have been reversed. Perhaps thicker slices or a large dice of the squash and a fine mince of the shallots would help to make this recipe work.
I’d like to try it again as the dish comes together quickly, can be assembled in advance and the tilapia and the tomatoes were perfectly done in the 10 minutes with the wine (I omitted the oil) forming a nice sauce.
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It’s a shame this pie didn’t turn out because the filling, flavoured with cinnamon and maple syrup, tasted quite good.
The filling, a mixture of puréed pumpkin, milk, eggs and maple syrup was baked in a pre-baked pie crust. It appeared to be set after the allotted baking time but it failed the knife test (it didn’t come out clean). I baked the pie an additional 15 minutes but there was no change so removed it from the oven.
The filling never set, even after refrigeration, and it made the flaky pie crust soggy. Clearly the 2 eggs and small amount of flour weren’t enough to thicken it, at least not in my oven.
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The classic combination of Dijon mustard, garlic and rosemary that marries so well with lamb is used as an overnight marinade, imparting huge flavour and tenderness to the meat.
I butterflied the leg myself so unfortunately it wasn’t the same thickness throughout. Even so, the thinner sections that were a little more well cooked than I would have liked were very tender thanks to the marinade.
In colder weather, this would be great done indoors in a grill pan and finished in the oven.
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Eastern European flavours done in a very fresh and interesting way. The salad ingredients held up well to the boldly flavoured dressing with the apples – local Honeycrisp – providing the sweetness it needed.
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This was good but not particularly special: hot milk (I used 1% cow’s milk) and agave (or sweetener of your choice) added to matcha.
But while I thought it merely okay, my (lacto-ovo) vegetarian daughter, a non-milk drinker, loved it. For this reason alone, I’m happy that I tried it and found something nutritious and easy to make for her to start her day with.
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A good honeydew melon doesn’t usually need help to taste wonderful - it’s naturally sweet, juicy and refreshing. Marinating thin slices of it in a simple syrup infused with vanilla, mint and hot chile pepper that’s brightened with fresh lime juice makes it even better.
This dessert does require a little advance planning as the syrup needs to be made and the fruit needs to marinate for a few hours. I made the syrup the night before and found that marinating the fruit for the hour or so it took me to prepare a meal and then for the family to eat dinner seemed to be enough time for the flavours to blend.
I used the entire melon and served it as is……it was so good it didn’t need the sorbet accompaniment that’s suggested.
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Oh my, these are good....brown and crispy on the outside, moist and delicious on the inside with a nice, spicy kick.
I hesitated before making the recipe as written as I wasn't certain what level of heat that quantity of hot sauce would produce, and adding melted butter to the meat seemed to defeat the purpose of buying extra lean ground chicken. I made no changes in the end and they were fantastic.
I didn't make the blue cheese dressing as not all family members are fans. We used low fat ranch dressing instead and made meatball subs.
Delicious!
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These are moist, tasty, not too sweet and contain an arsenal of healthy ingredients: whole wheat flour, wheat germ, oat bran (I used wheat bran), rolled oats, blueberries, (low-fat) buttermilk. Sugar and oil amounts are moderate and only 1 egg is required.
They're made using the standard method of combining wet ingredients with dry. They don't rise very much and though they're best freshly baked, they're still quite good on day 2.
My one complaint is that they are a little crumbly, but that may have been because I used the larger flake old fashioned rolled oats instead of the quick-cook variety.
I made 16 regular-sized muffins that baked in 25min.
Edit: I just noticed that the recipe includes 1/2 cup granulated sugar which I missed! No wonder they weren't too sweet :)
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Easy and delicious......this is my go-to recipe that results in a succulent, tasty ham every time.
I was gifted with a fully cooked, pre-sliced ham so just cooked it slowly in the apple juice until heated through then glazed the ham as usual. It turned out beautifully.
Delicious hot or cold, freshly made or leftover….
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This was very good flat bread, but not very good naan. Part of that was my fault as I used oil instead of ghee but it was really missing that smokey flavour a tandoor oven brings.
The dough was very easy to make and shape – I made it with ½ whole wheat bread flour – but I really need to learn to ignore instructions to top bread with a sprinkling of salt. As with other breads I’ve done that with, I thought it too salty in the end.
Family and guests really enjoyed it; it was a great bread for sopping up the sauce of this delicious chicken tikka masala.
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This is one of my family’s favourite fruit salads, fresh pineapples and oranges combined with some flavours of the Middle East.
I’ve made this many times so have tweaked the recipe a little…….I use the entire pineapple and section/supreme (not just cube) the 5 oranges (don’t forget to squeeze the excess juice over the fruit), and add only about 1 tbsp of sugar, just enough to get fruit juices flowing to make a nice syrup.
Allowing the ingredients to blend for only 1 hour isn’t enough time for the syrup to become infused with the clove and cinnamon flavours; even 6 hours produces only the subtlest of flavours. I don’t mind the speckles so I add a pinch each of ground cloves and cinnamon instead of using the whole spice. I also add the chopped mint just before serving as it tends to discolour and sometimes adds a bitter flavour if it sits for too long.
Exotic and refreshing…..
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Roasting cauliflower is my favourite preparation of the vegetable and in this recipe it’s flavoured by herbs and aromatics that roast along with it. The dish is finished with a hit of salty cheese that complements the sweetness of the vegetables.
Next time though, I’ll peel and slice the garlic before roasting……it doesn’t contribute any flavour to the dish baked as instructed and I had no takers for the roasted cloves I squeezed out of their skins (I should have just mixed them into the vegetables before anyone noticed !).
Delicious.
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This is a pretty fall salad that tastes as good as it looks with a good balance of sweet and tangy flavours and textural contrast provided by the pomegranate arils.
There were no blood oranges to be found so I used navel and rather than tossing all of the ingredients with the pomegranate molasses-orange juice dressing and turning everything pink, I drizzled the dressing on each salad portion. I’m not a huge fan of raw onion so used only about 1/3; it added flavour without overwhelming the other ingredients.
As some of the Epicurious reviewers have noted, this would be wonderful served on arugula.
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Juicy and tender, subtly flavoured with fennel and garlic, this slow-roasted pork shoulder tasted as fantastic as it smelled while cooking.
The day before, the roast is rubbed with a dry spice blend that includes ground, toasted fennel seeds, and garlic. After marinating overnight, the meat is cooked briefly in a very hot oven to help develop a crust, then on low heat for several hours. The recipe recommends using a rimmed baking sheet but I used a roasting pan and I'm glad I did as the juices would have overflowed the sheet pan.
Once done, the meat is rested and the pan juices defatted and combined with wine and stock to form a thin but flavourful sauce.
This preparation method of marinating, then slow-roasting transforms an inexpensive cut of meat into a fabulous, company-worthy feast.
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Fantastic sandwich!
The meatballs are succulent and full of flavour, the chili mayo cool and creamy with a little bit of kick and the sweet-sour pickled carrot-radish slaw brightly flavoured. Each component is easy to make and most can be done well in advance.
I used these homemade Vietnamese Minibaguettes which added a little bit of sweetness and whose dense crumb held up well against the wet ingredients.
Fabulous combination of flavours!
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Best frozen strawberry dessert I’ve ever had. Sweet and tangy and with intense strawberry flavour. So good that the mixture barely made it into the ice cream maker because impatient family wanted to drink it as smoothies!
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This was a nicely flavoured side dish that was very quick to make.
I had 454g of spinach and thinking that this was half the recipe requirement, I halved all of the other ingredients. The result was that the spinach was not as boldly flavoured with the mustard seed and chiles as I expected (and hoped). I’ll know better for next time.
I served it with this delicious chicken dish.
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A nice, light meal in a bowl.
The recipe invites you to use whatever vegetables you have on hand, so in addition to the leeks, garlic, carrots and spinach, I added chopped onion to the vegetable sauté at the start. But the meatballs are really the star of the soup; even made with extra lean ground chicken, they were still moist and flavourful. They’d be delicious in a pasta sauce.
My family’s not always able to eat together because of different schedules, so I made the soup without spinach, and refrigerated it, making sure the spinach, parmesan garnish and extra stock (the pasta continues to absorb the liquid) was handy. The soup remained fresh tasting even upon reheating.
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This was a very nice combination of flavours; the sweetened mustard balanced nicely with the sharp cheddar and both were good with the turkey. The tomato and lettuce (I didn’t have radicchio so used arugula instead) provided freshness and a nice crunch.
I made the sandwiches with this leftover roasted turkey and homemade sweet potato buns.
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Expecting these to have that nice balance of hot-sour-salty-sweet, I was disappointed by the flavour, which was overwhelmingly sweet. Fortunately, most of the problem lay in the sauce (the reduced marinade) which we opted not to eat.
The chops themselves were tender and juicy after marinating overnight even though I used a leaner cut than what was recommended. They were a little on the sweet side, but a squeeze of lime fixed that. I grilled rather than pan fried them, which also helped to improve their flavour.
Not something I’ll make again.
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This is a delicious and easy side dish that’s quick to prepare: sautéed garlic, salty ham, red pepper flakes and lemon add lots of flavour to an otherwise bland vegetable and the quick cook method allows it to retain its colour and much of its texture.
The recipe called for quite a bit of added fat…..I decided that some of the butter (I used only1 tbsp) that’s used at the end to form a sauce with lemon juice and zest was needed for flavour so reduced (to 1 tbsp) the olive oil used to cook the garlic and the greens.
I think the flavours in this dish would go well with other leafy greens – spinach, chard, kale etc; I particularly liked the use of ham instead of bacon to provide a smoky-salty punch to the dish. Definitely something I’ll make again.
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