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

The Complete Meze Table

By Rosamond Man
Ebury Press - 1986

I really like this salad. Bold flavors and a good combination of textures. Easy to make as well, but you do need to start on time to chill the salad.

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With all the herbs and spices in here, I expected more flavor. Good but not brilliant. Maybe a bit more acidity? A squeeze of lemon?

I did like the tip of first mixing the onion, herbs and spices, and then adding the meat, to mix better.

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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 all in the same place. Also, I had an issue with the amount of tomato - it was way too little to come "just about level with the meatballs" with addition of "a little more water". Next time use more tomatoes. With these tweaks, excellent.

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My husband loved this.
I thought it was a bit weird - the combination of cinnamon and lemon makes me think of apple pie, and I'm not quite sure I like that in a savory dish. Nice enough, though.

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Very easy, very tasty. I used the version with cinnamon and paprika, but I will try the differently spiced ones too.

I do not share the bookwriter's passion for very finely pounded meat - I prefer my meatballs chunky. That probably did cause them to fall apart a bit with this recipe, but nothing too dramatic.

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I thought these were a nice variation on meatballs, and a good use of leftover chicken.
I think I chopped my pistachios a bit too fine though - there was no crunch left. Next time I will chop them not so fine.

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I liked these a lot.

Mixing the spinach with the meat makes a light and juicy meatball. It did tend to fall apart a bit - maybe I should chop the spinach finer than I did.
The second time they didn't really fall apart. I made it with beef instead of lamb, no bread, and just one egg. Maybe I mixed everything more carefully.

This recipe produces a large pan full of meatballs, but as a lot of the volume is spinach, it was quite easy to finish it with three adults and two children. I did need to brown the meatballs in batches.

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A nice vegetarian dish, but I thought the chives were a bit overpowering. Next time I will try using only coriander. And, contrary to the instructions, I will increase the saffron. This amount was almost undetectable.

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A nice combination, but way too much coriander. I'll use one third next time.

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