wester's Reviews
31 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 31Sort by: Title 
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
This was delicious and hopelessly moreish (although, luckily, quite filling as well).
It is a bit more work than just throwing it in the pan. I needed three batches for the wilting, and I didn't even make the whole recipe. The boiling off of the liquid took longer than the recipe said, as well. Still, all quite doable, if you start early enough.
I substituted Gouda for the Swiss cheese, as I don't like Swiss cheese. I thought I was going to miss nutmeg - I always use nutmeg in my spinach - but I didn't.
useful (2)
I don't know about 'the best'. as this is the only cocoa brownie I've tried so far, but it certainly is good: moist and chocolatey. A tad too sweet, maybe, but that was easily remedied by taking less sugar (240 grams instead of 280). And it's good it can be made completely from store-cupboard ingredients - I can't be the only one who has some trouble keeping chocolate in the pantry for long.
25 minutes baking was plenty for me.
ETA: Even better with 200 g of sugar and 20 mins baking.
useful (3)
I quite liked this but it was a lot of work. I think next time I'll make my rhubarb into a normal crumble again.
Both cake batter and crumble turned out a bit to dry to handle well. I could not spread the batter well and the crumble did not form boulders. If I make this again I will add the last quarter cup of flour of both very gradually, if at all.
If you do not have paddle attachments, you might not want to use a mixer for that part of the recipe. Maybe dough hoooks would work, but I don't have those either.
useful (3)
Very simple, very tasty. Ideal if you want 'a bit more' to go with soup or salad.
useful (0)
Very lovely, very chocolatey, cookies. Quite soft in the middle. A very good recipe to let the children help with.
I mixed with two forks, and the last cup or so of flour I mixed in with my hands. It does make me wish I had a dough whisk.
It does make a lot. Next time I will halve the recipe, at the moment I've got a roll of dough in the freezer and I will see if they work as well as slice-and-bake.
I might try decorating them with walnuts next time.
useful (2)
A good salad, worth adding to your repertoire. Fragrant and sweet, with depth.
useful (1)
The flavors of this work well together, but we already knew that, thanks to cumin-seed roasted cauliflower with yogurt of a year ago. Casting it in fritter-form is a nice idea, but as they fell apart quite badly (probably due to my lack of fritter-baking skills), it didn't quite work for me. I'll stick with the cumin-seed roasted cauliflower: it's exactly as flavorful and a lot less work.
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This was very tasty, and easy as well. The children loved it.
useful (1)
Lovely combination of tangy cranberries and nutty pecans. Just make this!
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Deb does it again!
She has found an already brilliant recipe (by Melissa Clark) and added the perfect finishing touch to it. Those pomegranate seeds are exactly what this salad needed, not just visually, but also taste- and texturewise.
I had this for breakfast today, and I will serve it for dinner too. And then I will try some moderation, but I don't know if I'm going to succeed.
useful (4)
The egg salad is good, the pickled celery is great. I did not add sugar.
useful (1)
Crunchy, slightly bitter and aromatic. This definitely takes green salad a step further.
Very flexible as well. The minimum you need is both bitter greens and less bitter ones (say, lettuce and endives), or alternatively, celery. When you've got that, combine away!
useful (3)
This was really good - the simple fried rice with the crunchy garlic/ginger and the separate soy sauce and sesame oil. I happened to have some leftover mackerel as well so I had that instead of the fried egg. Lovely.
useful (1)
This was slightly disappointing. I can see these flavors could be brilliant together, but somehow it didn't work. It does still feel like it could be brilliant with small tweaks, and the quick-pickled onions are definitely worth repeating anyway.
Possibly my beans were too crunchy. I do feel that if they had been softer, the other ingredients would have showed themselves more. I used normal green beans and cooked them for 8 minutes (twice as long as Deb says to), then cooled without the ice bath, but next time I will definitely cook them even longer.
useful (0)
Excellent instructions on how to poach an egg. I poached my first egg using these instructions and it was great.
useful (2)
Easy to make, it smelled wonderful, and the children told me it tasted great too.
My cake needed almost exactly one hour baking time. The interval between the inside still being quite liquid and the cake being done was quite short, so be careful not to overbake.
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Quite simple, very good. Complex flavor, visually stunning.
I made it with blood oranges and tangerines. I think it would be even better with some grapefruit as well.
Lemon juice worked well, but I think red wine vinegar would enhance the savoriness even more. I'm not sure it really needs the mustard.
I forgot the feta, so I used black olives instead. This also works very well, both flavor-wise and visually.
useful (2)
Roasted potatoes with an aromatic crunchy crust. So easy, and so tasty. Just make it, will you?
useful (1)
An Alice Waters recipe.
This is a very unusual combination of ingredients, but it works perfectly. The cauliflower is sauteed over a high heat which makes it very crunchy and lovely.
Do make it exactly as prescribed, at least the first time, because the details really matter here.
useful (1)
Fragrant but filling, and vegetarian too.
Now I see this recipe again it makes me feel like making it immediately.
useful (0)
Really quick and really tasty. I did not bother with the cheese as I have a cheese-hater in the house, but it was lovely all the same. Make sure you make enough of this!
As I could not resist tinkering with this either, I tried it with some lemon zest, which was not really an improvement, although it was still very good. I also tried sautéing in butter instead of olive oil, and I found that different but equally good.
useful (2)
Indian chili. Good, and I will probably make it again, but not spectacular.
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I quite liked this, but I thought the asparagus flavor wasn't that distinctive. Maybe I put too much lemon in?
It didn't look as lovely as on the website either, it was quite flat. I also found it difficult to keep on slicing once the asparagus had become quite thin.
I did like the flavor combination with almonds, but I don't think this one will make me stop cooking my asparagus.
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This was really good, just not as brilliant as the website itself suggests. The sauce was surprisingly mild - maybe I should have put in even more mustard.
useful (1)
A simple salad of roasted peppers, and a few slices of mozzarella on top. A lovely summer lunch or light supper. I like it that the mozzarella is not melted here, I prefer it that way.
useful (1)
My husband first thought the potatoes looked too good to have sauce with them, then he thought the sauce looked too good not to have any of it. And he liked the taste too.
Another lovely way to serve potatoes from smitten kitchen. Only if you love garlic. Vegetarian/vegan.
Non-kitchen-machine preparation: I used a slicer/shredder for the nuts, and then mortar and pestle to grind it together with the bread and garlic. Add everything else as directed while stirring well with a wooden spoon.
And the sauce is great on toast as well.
useful (1)
Delicious, easy to make, and vegan.
useful (0)
Very simple, very good.
Serve with a simple salad (I had arugula, when they're in season it will be tomato).
I think this would be even better with a cheese with more of a "farmyard" taste.
useful (1)
Spinach and chickpeas? Doesn't sound exciting, does it? Well, it is, actually.
This is one of those dishes that is sure to become a staple. To start with, it tastes totally lovely. The slightly bitter silkenness of the spinach with the nutty firmness of the chickpeas, deepened by the richness of fried bread and the acidity of a touch of vinegar, finished with cumin and smoked paprika. Hearty, comforting, spicy, all of them. Hopelessly moreish.
It is also flexible - except for the spinach you might have all ingredients already. You can serve it as tapas, or cook some rice with it and have it for dinner. It is vegan. Oh, and have I told you yet that it tastes awesome?
Some notes on details: The fried bread should probably be either in or under this, not both. Unless you want it gluten-free, then I'm sure it will be fine without as well.
When I set out to cook this, I found I was all out of tomato sauce. I used an equivalent amount of mild Turkish red pepper paste instead. Great. Now I've tried both I can say I actually prefer to substitute the pepper paste.
It will probably work with frozen spinach as well, as long as it is whole-leaf or only roughly chopped. The feel of leaf should still be there, not the totally fine mush that cheap frozen spinach can be.
useful (3)
More a technique than a recipe, but an excellent technique. Why didn't I think of this before? Because I'm too chicken to heat an empty pan on high heat. Will (probably) become my go-to method for frying eggs.
useful (1)
Why did I wait so long to make this recipe? Over two years since I first saw it here. Maybe it looks too simple. All the raving in the blogosphere may raise the expectations a bit too high. You shouldn't expect miracles here. It is as velvety as advertised though, and the flavors are very well balanced. It is a bit plain, but that doesn't matter. I will definitely make this again, and I don't feel the need to add anything to it.
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