kaye16's Reviews
20 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 20Sort by: Title 
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Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate
By Patricia Wells
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2007
Almond-Buttermilk Sorbet : page 283
Not sure why this is a sorbet, when buttermilk is the main ingredient. On the other hand, it did seem rather like a sorbet.
I used only 2/3cup (rather than 1cup) white sugar for the "broth", which was fine. No corn syrup, so I used Lyle's Golden Syrup. That seemed ok.
Ed, who doesn't much like lemony things, thought it was too lemony. I, who does like lemony things, thought so too. The lemon taste overwhelmed the subtler almond taste. I would reduce the lemon juice to 1/4cup (rather than 1/3cup) next time.
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Broccoli Puree with a HInt of Mint : page 167
This was surprisingly good, surprising because broccoli and mint is not an expected combination to me.
The recipes is supposed to serve twelve -- NOT. Four of us ate it all. You might be able to stretch it to six.
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We enjoyed this (a whole recipe) as a vegetarian main. Tarted it up at table with some ground red pepper flakes.
We thought it would be good as a side for a bbq or a pot luck meal.
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Golden Cauliflower and Rice Pilaf : page 144
Main dish at lunchtime? Maybe. Main dish for main meal? Not really. Tasty though. The curry flavor is almost missable, like most French food.
Easy to make. Tasty.
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In general, this is an excellent way to cook and serve artichokes. The whole chokes are steamed, then cut in half, dechoked, and grilled, along with lemon halves. The halves are served with Spicy Garlic Mayonnaise, aka aïoli. I didn't make this, but tarted up some store-bought mayo with piment d'Esplette, garlic, and lemon juice. One half artichoke per person, a nice serving for a starter or side dish.
Small problem: The recipe says it serves four and asks for four artichokes. These are cut in half, each half grilled and served on small salad plates. But that makes eight servings. Before I realized this, I bought two artichokes for the two of us. I'll grill the remaining halves in the next days.
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This was super yummy, and it's not yet the season for the best tomatoes. Easy to make.
Made a half recipe as a starter. (This isn't really a main-dish soup.)
I used whole asparagus spears, cut in half, rather than just the tips, since it seemed a waste otherwise.
Good for company since all can be made ahead and sit in the fridge awaiting assembly.
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Lemon-Roasted Potatoes with Bay Leaves : page 231
Excellent, although I do wonder about the serving size. Two pounds is about 900g, which Wells thinks will serve 8. Those would be very dainty servings. I usually count 400-500g to serve two, and did tonight.
I halved some tiny amandine potatoes. Forgot to crumble on the oregano at the end, which might have made them extra nice.
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Light, Flaky Whole Wheat Pastry : page 270
This does *not* make 2 rimless tarts, only a single one. Pretty good though.
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Pea and Mint Risotto : page 140
A very nice risottto. My peas didn't get done in the time Wells specifies, but an extra couple of minutes helped that.
A nice summer dinner with a salad.
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Rosemary-Apple-Cranberry Galette : page 268
This was okay, but not as nice as I'd have liked. The rosemary was an interesting touch.
It took two apples to cover the tart in two rows.
Most of the cranberries were a bit on the toasted/crunchy side after 35min. Better, I think, to sprinkle this mixture on about halfway through the cooking.
The recipe says that a 4x13" pastry will serve 12. One-inch servings are pretty skimpy, not to mention hard to cut. I think SIX servings is more like it.
I sprinkled on some rosemary flowers before serving since I found my rosemary plant unexpectedly blooming.
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Rustic Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce : page 306
A pretty good and easy (and not too messy to make) tomato sauce with a good texture. It needed a bit more salt at table, and some ground red pepper flakes were nice too.
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There was no large-leaved spinach today, so I used sorrel instead. Tried to parboil this as directed for the spinach, but it turned ugly quite quickly, so I just used the raw leaves.
The shorter steaming time, 3 minutes, was good for my thinner end of the salmon back; Ed's thicker end could have used another 30 seconds or so.
I was a bit surprised that the sauce ingredients were not blended before or after simmering. I rather liked it chunky (although I halved my olives at the table), but Ed thought it was too strong in flavor, although he liked the caper/olive combination. I think it might do to coarsely chop the olives and capers before simmering.
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Saute of Veal with Fresh Tarragon : page 132
4.5 even.
Really liked this. It takes a bit of time, largely unattended once it's going, but it's easy to make. Would be good for company since it can simmer away till you're read. DH thought there was a bit too much tarragon, but that could have been my fault.
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The rating is for the method of cooking the magrets. They turned out really good, exactly the way they should.
Didn't make the espelette pepper jelly, which might be gilding the lily.
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4.5 even.
A recipe that serves ten is not your usually thing. I've never bought smoked salmon in a pack that had more than six siices. Maybe ten is the next break?
I had four slices to serve two. It's hard to arrange two things on a plate attractively. I think it would be better to cut a bit off each to make a third pile/roll/whatever.
I made about a third of the sauce, which was fairly easy to divide. The sauce was yummy. The extra went well over steamed green beans with the main.
Definitely a keeper.
It's curious that the French name for this recipe is Saumon Fumé, Sauce Moutarde a la Menthe, but there is no mint involved. The herb is either fresh dill or wild fennel (which we used to have, but DH mowed it down. :-( ) Can't quite imagine mint. Think that should have been aneth=dill.
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Easy, fast, delicious. DH says it's a 5.
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This was easy and good.
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Tuna Strips with Espelette Pepper : page 99
Easy, fast, and excellent.
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Zesty Lemon Salt : page 310
Good stuff. Made it for the Zucchini Carpaccio, but having no trouble using it up on other things.
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This was surprisingly good. It should be a starter, I expect, but because the broiled fish was so fast, I served it as a second course. My lemon thyme was dried leaves from a plant that's given up the ghost. Wasn't crazy about the pistachio oil on its own, but the combination with lemon juice worked well. And the zucchini and avocado slices went well together. It was pretty on the table and tasted delicious.
18jul22: We had this as a starter yesterday and I had lots of extra zucchini slices. Tonight we had those plus some smoked trout (salmon would be just as good) topped with a sprig of dill as a very nice starter. Another alternative for the zucchini slices.
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