wester's Profile

From: Soesterberg, Utr Netherlands

Joined: September 24th, 2009

About me: I love cooking, I love eating, I love discovering new recipes. I have so many cookbooks I sometimes lose track of which recipe is where - though this site helps a bit. I have gone low-carb in 2010, so that's different recipes to explore again. This also means I may not agree with my own reviews anymore if they were written in 2009 or before. ------------------ I have a lovely husband and ten-year old twins who also love eating. ----------------- You can also find me on LibraryThing, BookMooch and EatYourBooks, using the same handle.

Favorite cookbook: The Complete Meze Table by Rosamond Man

Favorite recipe: Melissa Clark's Roasted Broccoli with Shrimp

Daond Pasha (Meatballs with Pine Nuts and Tomatoes) from The Complete Meze Table

The meatballs were very tasty, but I did not really like putting all the pine nuts together - it made for fussy cooking and I think I would prefer finding a pine nut here and there instead of finding them... read more >

recipe reviews (741)
book reviews (74)
useful review votes (327)

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wester's Reviews

9 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 9Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

Happy Days with the Naked Chef

By Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph - 2001

This was pretty tasty, but I am totally stumped by the logistics.

The recipe says to slice 4 zucchini, on a mandolin if possible. Then you have to grill them, and then you have to scatter them on a large plate, making sure you don't sit them on top of each other. Do you have an idea of the area of four thinly sliced zucchini? Several square feet, that's for sure. You could put them on individual large plates, but apart from making a lot of extra washing up, it would interfere with the next step, which is to sprinkle one chili and half a clove of garlic over this field of zucchini. How are you going to distribute this with any semblance of evenness?

Taste is fine, method does not work.

useful (0)  

Festive, tasty and vegan. It looks spectacular and tastes good.

Pretty easy, except for scooping out the flesh from inside the squash. A teaspoon definitely does not work (it gave me big blisters), I will try a melon baller next time.

useful (0)  

It's a while ago I made this. I remember that while it was nice, it was hard to bake to just the right consistency.

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Very nice all-purpose curry sauce. Very spicy. You probably don't have all the spices yet - I bought fenugreek and curry leaves especially for this one. It is a base sauce, you still need to add meat or fish or something else.

I make a vegetarian version with cashew nuts as well. Very good, and a bit more filling than the mixed vegetables suggested.

useful (2)  

The pancakes were nice and fluffy, and I will probably make them again.

However, I would have liked a bit more directions baking them. It wasn't quite clear how thick they should be (I made them about 4mm). The recipe didn't tell me either that it was important the thickness should be even (this batter doesn't flow like normal pancake batter). Or that the pancakes don't get completely firm before turning them over and therefore might 'splash' a bit, more if you put them back in the pan from a greater height than strictly necessary.

And there is one more bowl to wash up than with normal pancakes.

useful (0)  

Very good everyday dish - it just works!

I think the cooking times given are a bit short, but if you just put on the water for the pasta and then do everything else, it will work out just fine.

Make sure you put enough Parmesan and enough pepper in.

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Great. Sweet, sticky, very tasty.

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Filling and spicy, with the breadcrumbs adding some extra crunch. I usually have this with penne, not spaghetti.

useful (1)  

This does make a nice thick dressing.

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