Zosia's Reviews
780 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title | Date | Rating | Recipe Title 
Every Grain Of Rice
By Fuchsia Dunlop
WW Norton - 2013
This is a simple and tasty zucchini stir fry. Salting the zucchini first to draw out some of the water seems to help it retain its crisp texture after cooking and seasons the vegetable nicely at the same time.
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Jewish Cooking in America: Expanded Edition (Knopf Cooks American)
By Joan Nathan
Knopf - 1998
Crispy and tender with Mediterranean flavours, this is a great version of the traditional all-potato pancake.
After squeezing the excess water out, grated zucchini and potato are mixed with parmesan cheese, onion, garlic etc. to make the batter. I made sure to use young zucchini and their sweet flavour really came through.
Delicious with a squeeze of lemon.
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Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi
By Yotam Ottolenghi, Jonathan Lovekin
Chronicle Books - 2011
I never thought I would want to make a meal of grilled zucchini until I tasted this salad. I loved the combination of hazelnuts with this vegetable, lightly dressed with balsamic vinegar.
I had some toasted hazelnuts in the freezer leftover from Christmas baking, so this salad took very little time to put together. The zucchini slices are lightly grilled, just long enough to leave grill marks and bring out their sweetness. They’re tossed with a little vinegar, and once cooled, with hazelnuts and basil leaves. I thinly sliced some of the larger leaves; next time I’ll just tear them as the thin slices wilted rather quickly. The salad is finished with parmesan cheese and a drizzle of hazelnut oil. Though the recipe calls for 4 tbsp olive oil, I only used enough – a tbsp or less – to coat the zucchini before grilling.
This serves 4 as a starter or a salad but would make a lovely, light meal for 2.
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The Very Best Of Recipes for Health: 250 Recipes and More from the Popular Feature on NYTimes.com
By Martha Rose Shulman
Rodale Books - 2010
I had all of the ingredients on hand so I made this to top some greens for a nice salad.
I served this to most of the family shortly after making and we thought it a little bland, mainly because of the zucchini. However, vegetarian daughter had it a little later, after the flavours had had a chance to meld, and loved it, so perhaps that was the best way to enjoy it.
Personally, I think tomatoes, avocado, jalapeño, coriander and lime are always a winning combination so whether you add zucchini or something else to the mix, it’s always going to taste good.
I found that this salad served only 4, not 6.
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A Taste of Canada
By Rose Murray
Whitecap Books Ltd. - 2010
Macaroni baked with chopped tomatoes, Asiago, provolone and Canadian sharp cheddar……..this version was a big but welcome departure from the usual creamy mac ‘n’ cheese.
The dish was very easy to put together as the only pre-cooked component was the pasta. It was tossed with canned chopped tomatoes, grated/cubed cheese and seasonings. I omitted the Worcestershire sauce so vegetarian daughter could eat it and increased the hot sauce.
The last step before baking is to pour a milk/egg mixture over the pasta/cheese. I had concerns that this would curdle during baking….well founded concerns as it turns out because that’s exactly what happened! Next time, instead of trying to thicken the mixture with this “custard”, I’ll use drained chopped tomatoes so the mixture is not quite as liquidy.
Apart from the little cooked egg bits – not very pretty – this dish was fantastic. It was zesty, just as the name implies, and despite all of the cheese, tasted much lighter than the creamy version. Flavour deserves 5 stars but I can’t overlook the curdled custard.
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Cake Keeper Cakes: 100 Simple Recipes for Extraordinary Bundt Cakes, Pound Cakes, Snacking Cakes and Other Good-To-The-Last-Crumb Treats
By Lauren Chattman
Taunton Press - 2009
A very fun take on a marble cake….
The effect is easy to create: thin vanilla and chocolate cake batters are alternately poured into the centre of a round cake pan. The process isn’t difficult, but takes some time as you’re using ¼ cup and 2 tbsp increments of batter respectively. You can save a little time by increasing the size of the batter increments…you’ll have fewer, but more dramatic stripes. I may do that next time.
The cake bakes up moist and, though I would have preferred a more intense chocolate flavour, the overall flavour of the cake was good.
The cake was a huge hit and is something I will definitely make again. In fact, I think this would make a wonderful birthday cake….I see 2 or even 3 layers paired with a milk chocolate ganache buttercream…….
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Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia
By Jeffrey Alford, Naomi Duguid
Random House Canada - 2000
I thought it strange that this recipe called for the bok choi to be blanched before stir frying as it’s such a quick cooking vegetable, but in the name of “recipe testing”, I followed the instructions. After draining, the vegetable was quickly stir fried with ginger and Thai chiles, then boiled briefly in stock with added cornstarch to thicken, ~2 minutes cooking time total.
The par-boiling removed all the bitterness and grassy flavour from the vegetable; it was sweet and tender- crisp with the subtle flavour of ginger and heat from the chilies, which were there for “warmth”, not be eaten. Even the carnivores enjoyed it!
Green beans and cabbage are recommended as substitutes but I can see using this method with other greens like Swiss chard, broccoli or kale.
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Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi
By Yotam Ottolenghi, Jonathan Lovekin
Chronicle Books - 2011
This is a delicious mushroom barley ragout flavoured with garlic and thyme served on a whole wheat-yogurt flatbread. Despite the hearty sounding ingredients, this dish is surprisingly light and bright tasting because of the addition of preserved lemon and lemon juice.
The barley simmers while dry mushrooms soak and fresh mushrooms are given a quick sauté. The mushrooms are combined and simmered and the dish is finished with the addition of the cooked barley and lemon ingredients. The author indicates that this can be made in advance and reheated at serving time, which I did, but be prepared to lose what little sauce there is to the barley! I don’t think it’s meant to be a saucy dish but I did add a little vegetable stock when I reheated it.
Ottolenghi describes the flatbreads as “amazing” and I concur. Crispy, chewy and tangy, I could have eaten them on their own. They don’t take much time or effort, and though they’re fried, they don’t absorb much of the fat…I used just slightly over 1 tbsp to cook all of them. There is an error in the instructions for rolling them out – I think they should be ~1/8” thick, not 1” as the recipe states.
This made a wonderful lunch for 3 but I wouldn’t hesitate to serve it as a starter at a dinner party
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The Pie and Pastry Bible
By Rose Levy Beranbaum
Scribner - 1998
This is a variation of the Basic Flaky Pie Crust, replacing all of the water and vinegar with yogurt. I used 1% fat, plain, (not Greek-style), yogurt. The dough came together as quickly and easily as the basic version.
Unlike other crust recipes that use buttermilk or sour cream, the tang of the yogurt comes through in the baked crust - something to keep in mind when choosing a filling for it. I made a double batch: half was used in the Lemon Pucker Pie, for which it was the perfect compliment, the other half has been relegated to the freezer for future use.
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A Passion for Baking: Bake to celebrate, Bake to nourish, Bake for fun
By Marcy Goldman
Oxmoor House - 2007
I love cinnamon bread and buns so when I came across this recipe, which would use up my partial can of pumpkin puree, I couldn't resist and the bread didn't disappoint.
Only bread flour is used so the crumb is slightly stretchy and chewy, but made oh-so-tender and beautifully golden by the added pumpkin. The filling is a typical cinnamon-sugar/butter mix but with the added crunch of chopped pecans.
The method is standard: mix and knead the dough, allow 1 short rise for the dough and a second one for the shaped loaves. The dough is soft but not sticky and very easy to work with: I do need to practise my loaf rolling/shaping technique to prevent the gaps where the cinnamon-sugar layers are. I guess I'll just have to keep making this bread until I get it right!
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Baking: From My Home to Yours
By Dorie Greenspan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - 2006
Best tasting chocolate cookie ever!
Many wonderful things have already been said about these cookies, all of them well deserved. I’ll just add that they are very easy to make….. just roll the dough into logs, (refrigerate), slice and bake.
I’ve always had success with the recipe using the volume measurements in the book but noticed recently that Dorie has provided ingredient weights on her website so I’ve included the link.
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Website: Epicurious
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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A Taste of Canada
By Rose Murray
Whitecap Books Ltd. - 2010
A delicious variation of a latke with the “rice” adding a chewy texture and nutty flavour to a traditional crispy potato pancake.
The pancake mix contains equal volumes of cooked wild rice and grated potato with a little egg and flour as binders. The author provides instructions and helpful tips for preparing the rice - which isn’t rice at all, but a type of grass - great to know if you’ve never worked with it.
The recipe appears in the appetizer section of the book and I have served them with the suggested sour cream and caviar at a party and they were fantastic, but they’re also wonderful as a side with a dollop of Greek yogurt.
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Delicious creamy risotto with the earthy flavours of wild mushrooms and sage, and sweet ‘n’ salty back bacon.
Only dried mushrooms are used but they have huge flavour; they’re first reconstituted in the stock that’s used to cook the rice, infusing it with their flavour, then added to the sautéed onions, garlic and julienned back bacon. A handful of green peas added at the end prevent this dish from being 50 shades of beige but don’t add much otherwise. The finishing touch is grated Asiago cheese.
Very rich and satisifying. The recipe appears in the appetizer section of the book but it served 3 as a main course.
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From a Polish Country House Kitchen: 90 Recipes for the Ultimate Comfort Food
By Anne Applebaum, Danielle Crittenden, Bogdan & Dorota Bialy
Chronicle Books - 2012
“Polish Style” means that it’s made with pork and the initial step of dredging the meat in flour is skipped. Instead, the meat is dredged in a seasoned breadcrumb-flour mixture after it’s dipped in egg.
If one has never made a Polish schnitzel before, this is a very good recipe to follow as the instructions worked and the results were tasty.
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The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
By Deb Perelman
Knopf - 2012
Very nice tender scones….not as flaky as some, but more moist than most.
I decided to make a double batch to use up most of the container of ricotta (I used low-fat) but replaced the berries with chocolate chips in 1 batch. I made the chocolate chip version first and found the dough to be a little dry so added an extra spoon of ricotta to help it hold together. I thought perhaps it was just lacking the added moisture from the fruit but I had the same issue with the raspberry batch using mostly defrosted, drained raspberries instead of fresh. I ended up using the whole 454g container of cheese.
Deb’s recipe doesn’t call for spices or additional flavourings and the raspberry version doesn’t need them but the chocolate chip version could have used a little vanilla. Definitely a recipe I’ll make again.
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The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread
By Peter Reinhart, Ron Manville
Ten Speed Press - 2001
This is fantastic bread that bears no relation to the dense, chewy, gummy whole wheat bread I’ve made in the past. The crumb is soft, light and airy with a delicious, nutty flavour.
Of course, you do have to invest a little time to achieve these results, though most is just waiting time. This is a 2-day bread that starts with a soaker of whole grain flour and water, and a poolish of whole wheat bread flour, water and yeast.
On day 2, these are combined with the remaining ingredients and kneaded. I included the optional egg and oil as I thought this bread would need all the help it could get. Next time I make it, I’ll exclude these to see what the difference is. After kneading, the dough is left to proof. I set aside lots of time (recipe says 2 hours) for this but it only took an hour. I shaped it into 10 buns as I was planning to serve them with grilled turkey burgers. The buns only took 45 minutes to rise and 22 minutes to bake.
Definitely a bread I would make on a regular basis.
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The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook: Sweetness in Seattle
By Tom Douglas
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2012
This dough comes together easily in a food processor, is very easy to work with despite being quite soft, and bakes up beautifully brown, crispy and flaky with a nutty flavour.
The proportion of fat (butter) to flour is quite low in this recipe, and liquid to flour, quite high, which probably explains why it remains soft – but not sticky – even after refrigeration.
I used a half batch for these savoury hand pies, and the rest for blackberry crostatas. It was delicious in both savoury and sweet applications but it wasn’t particularly tender so it’s ideally suited to hand pies but less appropriate for pies eaten with a fork.
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Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook
By Audrey Alsterburg, Wanda Urbanowicz
Big Ideas Publishing - 2001
Apparently these are considered the "house hotcake" of Rebar restaurant in Victoria, BC. I'm not surprised. They are light and fluffy despite the whole wheat flour and wheat germ and are tasty enough to eat without embellishments.
The recipe is a basic buttermilk pancake with part of the flour replaced with a whole grain alternative. They have very little added fat, and though either melted butter or oil can be used, I prefer to use butter to keep the pancakes tender. The batter is very thick and the hotcakes rise a lot while cooking so it's important to use only 1/4 -1/3 cup batter maximum per pancake.
The cookbook offers several ideas for "jazzing them up", all of which sound delicious, but I prefer to stick to the basic recipe and serve them with warm wild blueberry maple syrup (frozen berries simmered in maple syrup). This is a favourite weekend treat.
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The Cake Bible
By Rose Levy Beranbaum
William Morrow Cookbooks - 1988
This delicious vanilla cake has a fine, velvety soft crumb, beautiful white appearance and good vanilla flavour; it's one of my favourites.
It’s made with basic ingredients and uses Rose’s 2-step method of mixing: the dry ingredients are beaten with butter and some milk; the remaining milk and the eggs are then added in 3 batches, beating briefly after each addition. The cake uses egg whites only, hence the lovely colour, but as whipping them is not required, whites that have a little yolk in them are okay. The batter is quite thick so chopped nuts, chocolate chips etc can be added and remain suspended while the cake bakes.
I chose to make this cake for my recent wedding anniversary, pairing it with passion fruit curd filling and white chocolate mousseline buttercream. This project was somewhat of an experiment for me and represented a lot of firsts, but I knew that the cake portion would turn out well as this is an extremely reliable recipe as long as you measure ingredients carefully and follow the detailed instructions.
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Apples for Jam: A Colorful Cookbook
By Tessa Kiros
Andrews McMeel Publishing - 2007
This felt like a cheater’s sticky bun…it certainly was an easy way to make a quick treat with ingredients I had on hand.
A blend of butter, honey and pecans formed a sweet topping that was applied to a loaf of bread and baked. You do need an unsliced loaf of bread that gets sliced horizontally to start – the author suggests her white bread recipe but I had a loaf ofthis whole wheat challah in the freezer.
Warm from the oven, it did taste very much like a sticky bun though much less sweet. Once cooled, the bread base was crispy and chewy and with the sweet, nutty topping, was still very good.
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Rose's Heavenly Cakes
By Rose Levy Beranbaum
Wiley - 2009
I've wanted to make this cake since I purchased the book. Two things held me back: the inability to locate frozen passion fruit puree and the intimidation of a 5 page recipe. When I found the fruit puree at my local grocery store, (quite by accident next to the samosas!), I knew it was time to tackle the recipe. And I'm so glad I did.
This is the most delicious cake I have ever tasted: a moist vanilla sponge flavoured with passion fruit syrup, filled with sweet-tart passion fruit curd, and frosted with a delicate, white chocolate cream cheese frosting. Every bite is sheer bliss.
Each component is relatively simple to make and can be made in advance. The cake itself can be assembled ahead of time (the recipe recommends the day before serving). And those 5 pages?....the detailed information included in those pages ensures success. Be particularly mindful of ingredient temperatures where specified: eg don't overheat the white chocolate for the frosting as it's prone to break emulsion (speaks the voice of experience); make sure the eggs for the genoise are warm enough so they reach the required volume when whipped.
As with most frosted layer cakes, this one does require a little bit of planning but the experience of eating it will make it well worth your time and effort.
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The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
By Deb Perelman
Knopf - 2012
Lovely dessert, elegant in both appearance and flavour.
The delicious pudding is silky and creamy and not overly sweet and the tart berry curd is the perfect complement. It’s not nearly as rich as custards, pots de crème etc that contain cream, it’s easy to make and can be made well in advance – perfect company fare.
The instructions start a little oddly: you’re directed to combine the pudding ingredients in a heavy saucepan but then cook them over simmering water – I think "saucepan" should have been "heatproof bowl". Since I’d already put everything into a pot, I cooked the pudding over direct heat (med-low), removing it from the burner when it was time to add the white chocolate. The residual heat was enough to melt the chocolate. Though the recipe doesn’t specify, I waited until the pudding had set in the fridge and the curd had cooled to room temperature (~30min) before layering the two.
This was enjoyed by everyone, even those who don't care for white chocolate.
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Website: Canadian Living
This is a delicious almond cake with a hint of white chocolate that’s great for gift-giving as it stays moist for days and releases easily from every pan I’ve ever baked it in, including those disposable foil pans.
It’s very easy to make and though the crumb looks very dense, it’s actually quite tender as some of the flour is replaced with ground almonds. The recipe also calls for slivered almonds and almond extract, an ingredient I’m often wary of using, but not enough is used in this recipe to give that artificial flavour.
The internet recipe doesn’t mention pan size……the magazine says to use a 9 x 5” loaf pan (greased & floured) but I find that there’s too much batter for that size and use 2 – 8 ½” x 4 ½” pans instead (3/4 full; 60-70 minutes baking time). It can also be baked successfully in a bundt pan.
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Rose's Heavenly Cakes
By Rose Levy Beranbaum
Wiley - 2009
I like to have a few cakes in my repertoire that use basic ingredients, come together and bake quickly and require no special embellishments. This is one of those cakes: a moist, delicious vanilla cake with a tender crumb that’s made without butter!
The cake starts with whipping some cream. Eggs and sugar are added to this and the dry ingredients are folded in by hand. I used cake flour this time and the cake was a little more crumbly – I prefer the tighter crumb of the cake made with all purpose flour. Unlike most bundt cakes, this one bakes in only ~30 minutes, and cools quickly once removed from the pan.
A dusting of icing sugar for adornment, and the cake is ready to be served.
The recipe can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000407421
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Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi
By Yotam Ottolenghi, Jonathan Lovekin
Chronicle Books - 2011
Wonderfully refreshing salad for a hot summer’s day.
I didn’t measure the ingredients so my proportions may be off, just added the feta and basil to the watermelon pieces to taste.
Family thought it was a strange combination and initially balked at trying it but enjoyed it in the end.
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The Food Of Morocco
By Paula Wolfert
Ecco - 2011
After making couscous from this book using the Moroccan method, I thought I had found the one recipe I would never make again....until this one : ). But I had to try it once!
These are pastry leaves that are thinner than fillo, made mainly from high gluten flour (I used Robin Hood Best for Bread) and water with a little oil and cider vinegar/lemon juice included. The batter is whizzed together in the food processor and allowed to rest overnight.
The cooking method involves brushing a non-stick pan with the batter and allowing the steam from a pot of boiling water to heat the pan and cook the pastry. The pastry is then removed from the pan (it’s cooked on 1 side only), oiled and the leaves are stacked between paper towels. With the oiling, the leaf goes from slightly opaque to transparent.
I found the batter to be very glutinous and elastic and had difficulty spreading it thinly and evenly on the hot pan before it started to cook; I had more control when I worked with a slightly cooler pan off the heat. Even then, most layers weren’t perfectly even.
I found photos/instructions on Joe Pastry’s site.....he uses Paula Wolfert’s recipe and method except that he adds an extra ¼ cup water and doesn’t allow the overnight rest. His batter seems thinner, and smoother. Here’s the link: http://www.joepastry.com/2011/making-warqa-a-k-a-brik-pastry/
I made 20 leaves. I required 16 leaves to make “The Snake” (page 470) - 1 of my spares was used to patch the torn sheets : ).
This was 1 recipe where I found the author’s instructions to be very clear…..I just wish there were actual photos instead of drawings.
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Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook
By Audrey Alsterburg, Wanda Urbanowicz
Big Ideas Publishing - 2001
This salad, made of a colourful medley of vegetables served on wilted spinach, has the potential to be fantastic. Unfortunately, made as per the recipe, it didn’t quite get there: the plate was very brightly coloured but the flavour just didn’t have the zing to match.
The instructions for steaming the vegetables in stages, starting with the ones that take the longest to cook and finishing with the peppers and zucchini, worked well, resulting in tender-crisp veg.
The problem was the dressing, a vinaigrette described as east-meets-west. Sesame oil was the only ingredient that was “eastern” and I quite enjoyed it….you could taste it but it wasn’t overwhelming. The dressing, however, was too sweet, and added to a plate of vegetables that was quite sweet, that sweetness became the overwhelming flavour of the salad. I fixed it by adding more of the red wine vinegar, but less maple syrup at the start would have been better.
This recipe is definitely worth fixing and making again as you could use whatever vegetables you have on hand and it takes care of the need for a vegetable side and salad with 1 dish.
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How to Eat: Pleasures and Principles of Good Food
By Nigella Lawson
Chatto & Windus - 1998
This is more of an idea than an actual recipe but it’s a very good one…..adding a sprinkle of sumac or nutmeg (or both) to some sautéed fresh spinach gives it new life. But don't forget the salt and pepper.
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The Olive and the Caper: Adventures in Greek Cooking
By Susanna Hoffman
Workman Publishing Company - 2004
Yet another twist on a dish of cooked greens. This time olives and a squeeze of lemon juice brighten the flavour.
I used Swiss chard, adding the sliced stems to the garlic and (1 tbsp only) olive oil and cooking them for a few minutes before adding the leaves. I didn’t add extra water as the water still clinging to the washed leaves was enough. Of course, it being chard, the dish was done in just a few minutes.
Delicious!
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Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi
By Yotam Ottolenghi, Jonathan Lovekin
Chronicle Books - 2011
Or in this case, warm rice noodles and edamame. This is a very refreshing, bright-tasting noodle salad that is very satisfying despite its lightness.
The noodles are tossed with a simple dressing of lime juice and oil flavoured with fresh ginger, tamari, tamarind paste and sugar. Sauteed garlic, cooked edamame, fresh chili pepper and herbs are added to the mix and the dish is done!
This would make a wonderful, fuss-free, hot weather dish. I found it to be a welcome reprieve from all of the rich foods of the holiday season!
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Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen: Capturing the Vibrant flavors of a World-Class Cuisine
By Rick Bayless
Scribner - 1996
This has to be one of the most heavenly “bread” puddings I have ever had……airy sponge cake, soaked in a rich cajeta-flavoured custard, layered with juicy berries….
This can be as simple or as complicated to make as you like: the complicated version involves making the sponge cake and cajeta from scratch, the simple version has you using store-bought. My version was somewhere in-between. I used sponge cake leftover from this project that I had stored in the freezer but I did make a batch of this cajeta, using 25% less sugar than the recipe (much more to my liking this time).
I was a little concerned about the level of sweetness of the dessert as toasted cake is used instead of bread so I used a little less cajeta in the custard and made up the lost volume with 1% milk.
Served with a dollop of Greek yogurt and some additional berries, the dessert was a nice balance of sweet and tart and wasn’t too heavy or rich.
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Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia
By Jeffrey Alford, Naomi Duguid
Random House Canada - 2000
Maximum flavour with minimum effort, this stir fry of meat and seafood with lemongrass and garlic cooks in only moments after marinating for 30 minutes in a simple mixture of fish sauce and sugar.
I made this to serve as a filling for Vietnamese Crepes (p 280) and it worked out well as the small amount of marinade cooked off quickly when the pork and shrimp were stir-fried, thereby avoiding soggy crepes. However, this wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing if this is being served over noodles or rice…you would want to follow the authors’ recommendation to add a little water to the wok.
Delicious on its own, it was fabulous with the savoury crepes.
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Bánh Xèo attempt #2 was a complete success!
I was a little disappointed with the Vietnamese crepes I made (and reviewed) a few weeks ago from the cookbook Plenty but I loved the concept of this thin crepe bursting with herbs and fresh vegetables and drizzled with a flavourful dressing so I decided to try again using this recipe instead.
These crepes are made of pre-soaked split yellow mung beans (moong dal), coconut milk (I used reduced fat) and rice flour (I used brown). Unlike the recipe from Plenty, which didn’t include the mung beans, there is no egg in this recipe. After a minimum 30 minute rest (the batter can actually be made the day before), the crepe batter is cooked in a hot, oiled wok with a lid on so the pancake bottom becomes brown and crispy while the top steams - no flipping required! I was using my wok to prepare a shrimp and pork filling (p188), so I used a non-stick pan instead. This worked well but my crepes ended up larger, with a yield of 8 instead of 12.
These crepes have a lovely flavour, a little salty, a little sweet (I thought they were delicious on their own) and are tender but not too delicate, but they did need to be served immediately so everyone could enjoy the crispy bottoms before they softened.
I served these with the vegetarian nuoc cham (p 29), one of the recommended sauces: a simple mix of soy sauce and rice vinegar, flavoured with lemongrass, garlic, chile, sugar and cinnamon. This was delicious on the meat filling as well as the herbs and vegetables.
I borrowed some ideas for the vegetable filling from the Plenty recipe and offered a wider assortment; that, along with the meat filling, meant that even the carnivores in the family enjoyed it.
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Website: Epicurious
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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HomeBaking : The Artful Mix of Flour and Tradition Around the World
By Jeffrey Alford, Naomi Duguid
Random House of Canada, Limited - 2003
Such an unusual bread, both in ingredients and in texture. The bread is made with rice and cake flours (I used brown rice flour that gave an odd shade to my rolls) and leavened with baking powder as well as yeast! The texture is soft and not at all chewy with a crispy crust.
The ingredients are mixed and kneaded briefly as the point is not to develop the gluten much. It’s a non-elastic dough that’s soft and not sticky and very easy to work with. I followed the shaping instructions but I may have missed something as they looked more like strange croissants than baguettes in the end. No matter, they tasted great.
The recipe made 8 baguettes. I used them to make these Bánh Mi.
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Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia
By Jeffrey Alford, Naomi Duguid
Random House Canada - 2000
The authors describe these as “easy-to-eat” and I would add that they’re easy to make as well though the method and ingredients are different from what I would normally use for meat balls.
Lean pork pieces are marinated with garlic, shallots and fish sauce then processed to a paste with added Roasted Rice Powder (a condiment of toasted, ground rice, page 308). Either of these steps can be done hours in advance. The paste is shaped into small balls and grilled or broiled on skewers.
Though the meat balls are quite dense, they are moist and very flavourful on their own and even tastier served with a Vietnamese Herb and Salad Plate (an assortment of lettuce leaves, fresh herbs, sliced raw vegetables, page 68) and a hot, sour, salty, sweet dipping sauce (Vietnamese Must-Have Table Sauce, page 28).
Though often served as an appetizer, we had it with steamed brown basmati rice as our main.
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HomeBaking : The Artful Mix of Flour and Tradition Around the World
By Jeffrey Alford, Naomi Duguid
Random House of Canada, Limited - 2003
This was really delicious yeast bread made with all purpose and whole wheat flours and cooked, puréed white beans.
The method was standard – no starter or preferment required – but the dough was quite soft and wet and the rising times very long. I believe I over-proofed my loaves (my slashes didn’t fill in and there was no oven spring) though not enough for them to collapse; this may account for why the crumb was open and airy instead of “velvet-smooth and fine” as the book describes.
Regardless, the crust was crispy, the interior was moist and chewy and the flavour wonderful. Everyone thought that’s exactly how it was supposed to be..........I didn’t bother to enlighten them : )!
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Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta: 100 Quick and Easy Recipes
By Giuliano Hazan, Joseph De Leo
Stewart, Tabori & Chang - 2009
A delicious soup chock full of fresh tasting vegetables that was ready in 30 minutes.
Though it didn’t have the richness of a slowly simmered soup, the first step in the recipe, caramelizing chopped onions in butter, added huge flavour. I omitted the prosciutto from the recipe so vegetarian daughter could eat it, used canned instead of fresh tomatoes, and added a Parmesan rind for extra flavour. The pasta helped to thicken the soup and added substance as well.
Served with focaccia and a tossed salad, this made a very nice meal.
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Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook
By Audrey Alsterburg, Wanda Urbanowicz
Big Ideas Publishing - 2001
Subtly flavoured with cinnamon, nutmeg and banana, no one guessed that this dish was made with coconut and soy milks and without eggs.
Blending the ingredients took only seconds and was the easy part of the recipe. I found it very challenging to cook properly. The authors warn that the French toast may stick….they didn’t mention just how easily it burns. Initially, the batter sits on the surface of the bread but it does eventually get absorbed during cooking. By the 3rd slice – I cooked them 1 at a time until I found what worked best – I discovered THE cooking method: med-low heat, misting the griddle with oil every time the bread slice was flipped and cooking each side twice.
The result was French toast with crispy edges and a custardy centre. We had them with just a little maple syrup but the suggested cinnamon-brandy pears sounds like a fabulous accompaniment.
I had difficulty rating this recipe…..flavour was exceptional but cooking was trying and I personally didn’t like how soft the centre was. 3 stars would be my choice but the texture didn’t bother anyone else so it gets 4.
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Pure Vanilla: Irresistible Recipes and Essential Techniques
By Shauna Sever, Leigh Beisch
Quirk Books - 2012
I’ve finally jumped on the candied bacon/bacon-for-dessert bandwagon, though quite reluctantly, with this recipe.
The bacon strips – I used hickory smoked, not the applewood smoked the recipe called for – are tossed in a mixture of dark brown sugar, vanilla extract, vanilla bean seeds/caviar and black pepper before baking. Words of advice: open a window, turn on your kitchen/appliance fans and disconnect the smoke detector closest to the kitchen before you put the bacon in the oven and remove it immediately from the aluminum-lined baking sheets once it’s done or you’ll be chipping it off in pieces : )!
I have to admit it tasted quite good. The bacon was crisp with a caramelized sugar glaze but wasn’t too sweet, the vanilla was subtle but noticeable and a nice complement to the smoky bacon and the pepper saved it from being too candy-like. I think this will get made again.
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The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accessories
By David Lebovitz
Ten Speed Press,U.S. - 2007
Easy to make, eggless, vanilla bean ice cream with great flavour. I prefer to make it with part milk so that it’s not too rich.
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Pure Vanilla: Irresistible Recipes and Essential Techniques
By Shauna Sever, Leigh Beisch
Quirk Books - 2012
Smelled and tasted heavenly.
The batter came together quickly with an immersion blender and was flavoured with both vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste. It was lighter than some recipes for this type of pancake calling for low-fat milk, extra egg white and only 1 tbsp butter.
As this was my first foray into the world of cast iron cookery - I was breaking in a new pan with this recipe - and I was using a pan that was larger than required, I hovered while the pancake baked. It took 10 minutes less time and was a little oddly shaped but it did puff up and had a lovely crisp exterior and moist interior. Next time, though, I’ll scale the recipe up so there’s enough batter for a 12” pan.
I actually made this twice: the first time I used the amount of salt listed in the recipe resulting in a barely edible pancake; the second time, I used only ¼ tsp and it was perfect.
My version deserves 5 stars, the book version deserves 1. I think the salt quantity is a typo……waiting to hear publisher’s or author’s thoughts on this.
Edited to add:
The author has confirmed the erratum......it should be only 1/4 tsp salt.
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Flatbreads & Flavors
By Jeffrey Alford, Naomi Duguid
William Morrow Cookbooks - 1995
This was an easy-to-make flatbread topped with cumin and green onions.
It’s a lean dough that’s very easy to work with as long as you allow time for the dough rounds to rest to make shaping easier. Just before baking, you’re instructed to dock the dough so it remains flat during baking…I didn’t do this well enough with the first one and ended up with the largest pita I’d ever seen! For the remaining pieces, I pressed some of the air out with my fingers before docking and that seemed to work.
The recipe appears in the book Baking with Julia as Oasis Naan. I’ve included a link to the recipe.
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The Pie and Pastry Bible
By Rose Levy Beranbaum
Scribner - 1998
This recipe really allows the pure flavour of the apple to shine as the fruit is simply enhanced with sweet caramel and nestled in crisp, buttery puff pastry. It tastes like a sophisticated version of a caramel apple.
I'm not sure where Rose buys her apples, but I thought my Honey Crisp were huge and they barely weighed 20oz with peel and core intact (the recipe calls for 3 apples, weighing ~22oz). I forged ahead regardless and the apple size I had worked out well in the end.
I used the Quick Puff Pastry for this recipe. After rolling the dough, you are required to cut it into 6 squares. These are then cut into slightly smaller circles using a template. I understand that, aesthetically, the round shape may be more attractive, but, personally, I would omit this step (and the waste of delicious pastry) and use the squares as my galette bases. I omitted the optional almond crust.
I made these in advance, baked them from a frozen state (they took 12 minutes longer to bake) and served them with caramel sauce and (optional) caramel ice cream. They were fabulous!
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Pure Vanilla: Irresistible Recipes and Essential Techniques
By Shauna Sever, Leigh Beisch
Quirk Books - 2012
Fantastic cake, and though I’m not so sure about the filling, if my tasters are to be believed, the combination is better than a twinkie….having never eaten one, I can’t say.
Made with cake flour, butter and oil, and rich in eggs, the cake is lovely….sweet and moist with a velvety soft crumb and great vanilla flavour; I would be quite happy to eat it without the filling, a mix of marshmallow crème and butter. Since the recipe produces a few spare egg whites, I decided to make my own “fluff” using this recipe from the book’s author. I wasn’t aggressive enough in boring the holes in the bottom of the cake for the filling so ended up making them a little too shallow and using only ~2/3 of the filling.
This was no more taxing to make than most bundt cakes and considering the rave reviews, I suspect I’ll be making it again.
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Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich
By Alice Medrich
Artisan - 2010
I needed a crispy cinnamon cookie for a cheesecake I was making and was quite disappointed that what I was looking for - no frosting, no raisins, no trans fats - didn't exist in my grocery store.
Alice Medrich came to the rescue with this easy, versatile shortbread cookie made with melted butter that is pressed into a pan. There were nutmeg and cardamom variations listed so I thought I could adapt the recipe to my needs, adding 1tbsp of cinnamon to the basic recipe. The author explains that one key to the crisp yet tender texture is allowing the dough to rest before baking. I did this and the cookies were just that, crispy, but melt-in-your-mouth tender and delicious!
My family was quite sorry to see them chopped up and used in a cheesecake!
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The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread
By Peter Reinhart, Ron Manville
Ten Speed Press - 2001
This bread, which is intentionally made without salt, is soft, yet chewy and surprisingly sweet. But it’s clearly meant to be eaten with highly flavoured foods, or at least a sprinkle of salt.
The bread starts with a cooked flour and water paste that needs to be made at least the day before. Flour, yeast, a little olive oil and water are added to this and kneaded. I made a mistake when I added all of the water listed in the ingredients before reading to add only as much as required to reach a certain texture. I had to add more flour to compensate; quite a bit of kneading and a lot of flour later it finally looked like bread dough instead of play dough!
After the first rise the dough is shaped and left to rise again. It gets slashed and baked in a very hot oven with steam to create a crisp crust. It didn’t have much oven spring but the crumb seemed fine.
It’s not one of my favourite breads but it was quite good grilled and eaten with olive tapenade, and in a grilled cheese sandwich with basil and tomatoes.
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Website: Epicurious
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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Sara Moulton Cooks at Home
By Sara Moulton
Broadway - 2002
These were really very good, lean, yet juicy burgers.
The extra lean ground turkey is simply seasoned with a creole seasoning blend (either purchased or made from the recipe given in the book) and sautéed onion and sweet peppers. The cooked burgers are then topped with an easy tomato-corn salsa. I was concerned that the burgers wouldn’t stay together as there was no binder in the recipe…..it turns out that small amount of oil used to sauté the vegetables, and the vegetables themselves act as a binder and add moisture to the burger.
Though really flavourful and quite delicious, I found the recipe to be too salty. I used the creole seasoning recipe, p348, which includes salt but the burgers required extra which, in hindsight, I should have omitted. The salsa also called for a specific amount of salt, which I added, and again, was too much. Going forward with recipes from this book, I’ll just ignore the quantities provided and add salt to taste.
This is definitely a recipe to repeat.
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