kaye16's Profile

Joined: December 21st, 2009


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October 17th, 2022

Pasta e Fagioli from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

An easy and delicious soup. I used lardons for the meat. We were thinking that chicken sausages would be good, saucisse de volaille or merguez de volaille, cut in quarters lenghtwise, then into little... read more >


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kaye16's Reviews


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12 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 12Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

Ainsley Harriott's Gourmet Express 2

By Ainsley Harriott
BBC - 2001

28th September 2021

Shredded Chicken and Lemon Grass Soup : page 30

This was surprisingly good. Authentically Asian? Maybe. Tasty? Definitely.

I made a half recipe as a main course for dinner. Might have been a bit skimpy for that.

- I used sb thighs, so no skin to remove and no bones to cook for the broth.
- I used a whole chili for the half recipe. The broth was nicely hot/spicy.

The broth is very tasty.
I thought this might be a nice starter for an Asian-ish meal.

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6th January 2020

Chickpea, Spinach and Sweet Potato Soup : page 26

This was really good, suprised me actually.
- The recipe is supposed to serve 4; two of us ate it all as dinner.
- My sweet potato was pretty wimpy, so I used so butternut squash also. No problem.
- I had only 200g of spinach. That was plenty.
- Added no honey.
- We both shook on a bit of Tabasco at table. Only made it better.

Definitely a do-me-again recipe.

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11th March 2019 (edited: 11th March 2019)

Hot Bloody Mary Soup : page 27

Yes, bloody Mary. Roasted tomatoes, vodka and all. Good stuff. I used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock. My chiles burnt in the roasting, but the tomatoes didn't seem to be done, so I added two more and there were done when the tomatoes were.

I made a whole recipe and will freeze about half, so the serving size is about right.

Little cups of this might make a nice starter or an amuse bouche.

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19th November 2018

Black and Blue Cajun Chicken Sandwich : page 12

Quick, easy, and really delicious. I wouldn't call this a snack, it's a full meal. Doesn't especially need to be served in bread; just the chicken and cheese would be fine as part of a "regular" meal.
Had to look up, and then cut back, a recipe for "ground mixed spice", which was something new to me.

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Two parts to this recipe, the meat and the onion rings.

I've never made onion rings before and was surprised how easy and how tasty they were. The rings were first soaked in milk — is this usual? — then fried. One biggish (to me) onion served the two of us. If actually servied four, you might want to double this.

For my two steaks which might have been slightly bigger than asked, I made all the topping and that was fine. Again, you might want to double this.

Altogether, good food that made a nice meal in not too much time.

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9th September 2018

Jamaican Jerk Chicken : page 74

Ainsley wins again. I made a half recipe with four thighs; should have made less. Thyme rather than marjoram. I buzzed all the marinade ingredients with the staff mixer. In one stage, rather than in parts as instructed. BBQ'd the thighs. Very more-ish.

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25th February 2018

Greek-Style Lamb Parcels en Papillote : page 93

This would have been excellent if the lamb hadn't been overcooked. I know it's hard to tell when it's all wrapped up, but I'd guess 20 minutes would have been better than 30 minutes. The flavors were delicious, though. As suggested, served with Mama's Greek Butter-Bean Salad.

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25th February 2018 (edited: 25th February 2018)

Mama's Greek Butter-Bean Salad : page 112

Loved this.
- Made a half recipe, which might have served 3 as a side; two of us couldn't finish it. Used muguets.
- This would be a great main-dish sala, or to take to some kind of event.

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21st February 2018 (edited: 25th February 2018)

Gruyère Cracker-Crusted Haddock : page 47

On first bite we both thought this was a bit bland, and we both said, Hmmm, this would be better with a squirt of lemon juice. And it was!. This needs to be incorporated either in the topping, or squeezed onto the fish, to add some zest to the flavor.

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21st February 2018

Sweet-Potato and Coriander Mash : page 116

Pretty good, and easy. Chopped cilantro is tossed into the boiling sweet potatoes 10 seconds before draining. Then all is mashed with crème fraîche.

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25th January 2018

Asian Salmon Laksa : page 28

I intended to make a half recipe of this for two, but the amount of salmon looked so little that I bought more, making more or less a whole recipe. Only used half the coconut milk and the rice noodles. Used spinach rather than bok choy. (Bok choy/pak choi in rural France isn't really a Thing.) Otherwise, more or less a whole recipe was a meal for two. It was delicious. Definitely a do-me-again.

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15th January 2018

Chilli Crab Linguine with Vodka : page 44

Easy and fast and tasty.
We have to deseed tomatoes here, so the sauce was a bit dryer that it ought to be.
Pretty good though.

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