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

Roasting-A Simple Art

By Barbara Kafka, Maria Robledo
William Morrow & Co. - 1995

Very long very slow simmering makes very flavorful stock.

If you want to simmer overnight like I did, make sure you add enough water and use a real low flame - it reduces quite a lot in a night!

I did not bother skimming the stock, and I was still very happy with the result.

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Excellent, flavorful stock. You just need the carcass of your turkey and a lot of simmering time.

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This is going to be my recipe for endives from now on (unless I want to make a salad, of course).
Soft, buttery and full of roasted flavor. I made 4 of them, which according to the recipe should feed 2 to 4 people. I ate them all by myself.
And it is so easy as well.

I used all butter instead of butter and another fat. I definitely will experiment with other fats. I added some fish stock, as I served them with fish. I'm not sure the stock is really needed, just with salt it is delicious already.
The outside is even better than the inside, so use small endives or cut them in half.

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Easy, easy, easy. Just plop a chicken and potatoes in the oven together, and everything comes out just right. Lovely chicken, wonderful potatoes.

I used a slightly smaller chicken with the timing adjustments given on page 22.

I'm not too sure the onion is needed. Next time just chicken, potatoes and some rosemary.

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Wonderful soft fennel with a brown, almost crisp, outside. Lovely.

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Very basic, but excellent: succulent meat, crispy skin.

Also works with less than the amount of chicken she uses - I only had 4 legs, less than 2 pounds altogether, and I got great results.

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Cooking from a new cookbook when you have guests is always a bit scary - but when else am I going to roast a 6-pound leg of lamb? And these high temperatures make it even scarier. However, it worked out fine. The lamb was fine and juicy with a nice crispy brown skin. It also needed very little hands-on time, a good thing when you have guests.

The hour given would have produced very rare meat. I am happy I used a meat thermometer and the chart on page 130 and left it in the oven for another 25 minutes.

useful (2)  

Fresh, summery, easy. Great when you have too many zucchini, and still worth making if you don't.

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