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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36 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 36Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

Website: Cooking Light

www.cookinglight.com
 

I thought I had ancho powder, but didn't, so used pasilla instead.
The Pickled Pepper Relish was really good. I made it early in the day, and it sat around in the vinegar juice for quite some time. Also, the picture seems to have some red onion in the relish, so I added that. Also, based on the picture, I chopped the parsley.

The go-with Charred Snap Peas with Creamy Tarragon Dressing was so-so. We didn't thing it went with the main course at all.

There are lots of editing mistakes in this recipe/article.

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19th November 2014

Balsamic-Glazed Tuna

This is an old favorite of a recipe, from a 1999 issue of Cooking Light. Made it again tonight after finding some nice-looking tuna steaks at the shop today.

It's easy and quick to make.

For the sauce, I use only 3tsp of brown sugar, rather than 4tsp. It's a nicely balanced sauce, with no flavor over-whelming (balsamic, sugar, soy).

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13th January 2014

Broccoli Mac and Cheese

Two of us ate this as a one-dish main, but the dish is suppose to serve four, so I expect it's supposed to be a side.

- As a main, I will increase the broccoli to 3 cups next time.
- Bacon and butter and low-fat cheese. Well, no, it was bacon and regular cheese and it was fine. And think it would be find to omit the bacon to make it vegetarian.

Easy-to-make sauce, very tasty.

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A really good cabbage slaw, without mayo. Using a small quarter of a cabbage, I made about a half recipe. Two of us finished it easily, so I'd guess a full recipe wouldn't serve 10, but 4-6, unless they are really dainty portions.

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This is quite simple, but very tasty. I used lardons natures instead of pancetta. I thought some sliced mushrooms might have been a good addition; Ed thought they might be too much
Served over rice, but tagliatelle might be a better choice.

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25th October 2013 (edited: 25th October 2013)

Chicken Fried Rice

Quite a good variation on the fried rice theme. I essentially made a whole recipe with only half the meat. Can't quite think that you could serve four with this -- maybe as part of a bigger meal, but we tend to do fried rice as a one-dish meal.
- You could use tofu or add other veggies as you please.-
- I used real rice (basmati) and cooled it in the fridge before making the dish.
- I removed the chicken from the wok and cooked the eggs as a "pancake", then cut that into strips.

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The chutney is really a saver, easy and tasty.
The chicken is, well, grilled chicken, with a bit of marinade. Good, but it's the chutney that makes this special. I'm the the leftovers will go well other meats too.

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Very good pork roast. Not sure where there's so much water used. The poor thing was swimming. But the results were delicious.

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Tasty fish dish, easy to prepare. I made a half recipe with flounder. Easy and tasty.
Might use a real flavoring, rather than paprika, maybe Old Bay Blackening seasoning?

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Made a halfish version of this. Forgot to buy a blue cheese last week, so went to our small local grocery this morning to get some. They had only roquefort, which both of us find a bit strong, and a bleu de Bresse, which turned out to be seriously wimpy. The winter squash we've got growing were, I thought, supposed to have orange flesh, but they're kind of pale green, so the dish was not as colorful as it could have been. And we're out of eggs (none to be found at local grocery) so the sauce wasn't as rich as it should have been. The recipe calls for 8 oz cavatappi for four, which seems a bit light, so I used 6 oz for the two of us. Which was a bit much for the sauce. The walnuts were a good touch. Might do again with a proper cheese and a prettier squash.

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This was easy and delicious.
I made a third recipe as a side, a generous side, for the two of us.
The whole recipe calls for FOUR kalamata olives. I used four olives for our third recipe.
This would be an excellent salad for a pot luck dinner.
We also though it would be a good main dish, in the summer perhaps.

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This was surprisingly good. No romaine to be found, so I used sucrines, which look like mini-romaines. Two halves each, rather than a half romaine.
Used the grill pan from the stove. Took about twice a long to cook than asked.
Very tasty.

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15th January 2014 (edited: 3rd September 2015)

Hoisin-Glazed Salmon Burgers with Pickled Cucumber

Very much liked. I made the whole recipe for two, served without buns, we not being burger people. Ed would have liked a third patty.

I suspect you could make this with canned salmon, and not have to mince up the fresh salmon (which seems like a waste somehow).

The pickled cucumbers were liked even by Ed, who generally doesn't like this sort of thing.

Very tasty.

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3rd September 2015

Kathie's Zucchini Muffins

Easy to make and delicious.

- I used only 1/4cup of sugar (sucre de canne), rather than 1/2cup.
- I was probably a bit short on the cinnamon in the muffins, since I finished off a jar. About 3/4tsp, I think.
- I used 2% milk since that's what we keep on-hand
- I omitted the cinnamon and sugar topping.

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Quite tasty, this. Long cooking time, so definitely not a weeknight thing. I made a quarter recipe for the two of us, but I'm not sure this really serves 8; 6 is more like it.

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14th December 2012

Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi

Very good, quick (especially if your shrimp are already peeled).

I made a half recipe and used much less butter than was required, maybe 1 tablespoon in all (2tsps for the shrimp, 1tsp for the garlic). This was fine.

Think I'd add the ground pepper to the cooked orzo, along with the chopped parsley next time, since it seems to me that cooked pepper loses its oomph. We both peppered again at the table.

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19th February 2017

Lemony Chicken Saltimbocca

Really quick, and very yummy.

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Fast and really good. I made it more or less as stated, although I did chop my own onion.

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10th June 2015 (edited: 10th June 2015)

Mustard-Glazed Salmon Fillets with Roasted Cauliflower

A very nice dinner. The sauce/glaze for the fish was tasty. The roasted cauliflower went amazingly well with the salmon. The Buttery Lentils with Shallots accompaniment given as a sidebar in the article is good too.

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21st November 2011

Roasted Shrimp and Broccoli

Well, it seemed like a good idea, but lots of problems with this recipe.
- Parboiling the broc for only 1min, then shocking, is simply not enough to get cooked enough to be done in 8min in the oven. (My broc bit looked no bigger than the picture.)
- 8min in the oven is too much for the shrimp. (The recipe says 9 shrimp per serving, which was about what I had, so the size was okay.)

If I were to do this again, I'd parboil the broc much longer and do the shrimp&broc only 4-5min in the oven.

Even with this though, the flavor lacked something. Garlic would be a nice addition.

A lot of sriracha at the table helped it all.

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Actually, 5 from me and 4 from DH.

The salmon and glaze (of hoisin, lime juice, and grated garlic) are easy and terrific. Very tasty.

For the salad, I used chineeskool (Chinese? napa?) rather than bok choy, which wasn't available. I was sloppy measuring the rice vinegar. DH thought the salad was too sour. I thought it was perfect. So there you are.

Add rice and it's a quick dinner.

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A half recipe was a very nice meal. Served with some basmati rice. I broiled the salmon rather than pan-frying it. One of the reviewers suggested using cilantro rather than parsley for the cucumber salad; that would have been nice I think.

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Super way to cook carrots. Easy and largely unattended. Very tasty.

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Seemed like a strange combination, but not when you think about it. Pork, apples, cabbage, all classic go-togethers. Adding the scallops on top? Why not? They're slightly sweetish and went very well.

Made a half recipe, using chinese cabbage (napa cabbage?) since that was on hand, and lardons since they're quicker to defrost.

Very nice, easy and fast dinner.

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The pork was excellent. Neither of us cared for the sauce with the sweet potatoes. I reduced the honey to 2tbl, but we still thought it was too sweet. Too bad.

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14th November 2011 (edited: 14th November 2011)

Spanish-Style Tuna and Potato Salad

A tasty and quick one-dish meal. A bit odd that this summery salad appeared in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Cooking Light.

I made half a recipe, but used all the potatoes. Used oven-roasted tomatoes from the freezer instead of cherry tomatoes.

The recipe says it serves 5. I'd guess that 4 is more like it, especially since it's a bit skimpy on the potatoes.

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Very tasty. And easy and fast. All good things.
With half the fish, I made all the sauce, since my little can of coconut milk more or less matched the full recipe. The sauce was delicious, and good over the rice.

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13th January 2018

Spicy Thai Red Curry Beef

Very good one-dish meal, easy to assemble.
- Made a half recipe using some cooked beef, already thinly sliced, from the freezer
- Served with long-grain brown rice which we both prefer if there's time.
- Cooked the bell pepper and onion longer than asked (even in total) and added the cooked beef when they were done, just to warm it up.
Very tasty, added to our do-me-again list.

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Very nice dinner. Lacking flank steaks, I used bavettes, which are thinner, but seem to be the same sort of cut. I used my own sort of marinade for the meat, which is more or less the same, but with soy sauce (tamari) instead of salt.

The salad is really yummy (mâche is one of my favorite greens). The combination of radish, cuke, and blue cheese with a bit of strong vinaigrette is really tasty.

If you really need a carb with your meal, you might serve rice or bread, but it's not so much needed.

Yum! And fast too.

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21st April 2014 (edited: 13th January 2018)

Sticky Soy-Hoisin Chicken Thighs

Tasty and easy.
- I used five thighs with all the sauce for two of us. (There were one biggish thigh, one middling, and three small ones.) There was extra sauce, but not that much.
- The chicken is cooked for twice 15min and basted at the midpoint. The sauce contains honey, so the skin was quite black after second 15min. I think I'd do 20min and 10min next time.
Probably could be marinated as long as you want, all day or overnight even.

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A super way to cook chicken thighs. You can use the spices you prefer, but the method is a keeper.

First time, I used the spices suggested (salt, pepper, and paprika -- mine was smoked). These were simple and very good.

While I frequently flatten kip filets (skinless, boneless chicken breast halves), I've ever thought to do this with a bone-in thigh. Worked well, shortening the cooking time, maybe improving the texture a bit.

The skin, which I ordinarily don't like, was lovely crispy.

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Very tasty. I made about 2/3 recipe with 2 thighs per person. (We find the advertized 1 thigh per person to be pretty skipmpy). Measured the honey was short since we don't especially like sweet things. Thunderstorms meant I cooked this under the broiler: baste and 5 minutes on side A, baste and 5 minutes on side B, baste and 5 minutes on side A again. The meat was perfectly done, but I should have omitted the final baste, since the glaze got pretty black.

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Tastes aren't bad, although the "dash of crushed red pepper" could be more substantial. A good squirt of sriracha gave it some oomph.

I think this recipe must be from when quinoa was first becoming known/trendy. I love quinoa, but don't think it's appropriate here. Rice would have been a much better choice. Better texture contrast for the veggies and would soak up the sauce/dressing better.

The recipe says it serves 6 as a main. Those are really dainty eaters. We'll have only 3 servings for a whole recipe.

I had only 250g, slightly more than 8oz of tofu. This was a fine amount.

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29th October 2012

Tunisian Brik-Style Eggs

These were very tasty. Using up some filo, I made four packets, which should serve four people, but two of us ended up eating them all, since they were so tasty. We are a bit full, but happily so.

I used store-bought harissa rather than making it. Authentic stuff is easily available in the shops here, so there doesn't seem much point in going to the trouble.

A couple of my packets (filled with boiled potatoes that had been sautéed with turmeric and cayenne, feta, and an egg) fell apart as I folded them up, so I quickly wrapped them up in an extra sheet of filo. Luckily I had enough to take care of this. Might start with two sheets, just to be sure.

Discounting making the harissa (which could easily be done ahead, I'm sure), this didn't take all that long to make. The rest of the prep can be done while the potatoes are boiling. Then they get sautéed. Then the packets assembled and popped into the oven for 9 minutes. (And I managed to make a carrot salad that involved a bit of chopping while this was all happening.)

Altogether, a Keeper!

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Yummy and easy and fast. This kind of pasta dish, with garlicky bread crumbs and an egg (often fried) is really a sort of comfort food. I poached the eggs here, rather than soft-boiling.

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2nd September 2014 (edited: 2nd September 2014)

Zucchini, Walnut, and Feta Cakes with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce

Very good zucchini cakes, using ground quinoa and walnuts to hold together the filling.

- I made a whole recipe, which ended up 11 patties instead of the 8 advertised. Probably they were a bit on the small side. We ate 8 of them. They were good. :-)

- Mini food processor have I not. The quinoa wouldn't grind in the regular processor. Instead I did it in batches in my spice grinder, then transferred the results plus the walnuts to the food processor for the finishing grind. (Also used the food processor to grate the zucchini.)

- The Cucumber-Yogurt sauce is almost really good. Next time I'll coarsely shred the cukes instead of slicing.

Tasty patties, one of the best zucchini cakes I've made.

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