wester's Reviews
740 recipes reviewed. Showing 51 to 100Sort by: Book Title | Date | Rating 
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Today's Kitchen Cookbook
By Stephanie Karpinske, Laurie Dolphin
Meredith Books - 2005
This is a recipe by Nigella Lawson.
The combination of flavors is brilliant and I'm going to have it again. However, next time I'm not going to bother with rolling everything up into stuffed bundles.
useful (0)
A Taste of Heaven and Earth: A Zen Approach to Cooking and Eating with 150 Satisfying Vegetarian Recipes
By Bettina Vitell
Morrow Cookbooks - 1993
Sweet/spicy vegetable stew.
Makes a good soup as well, just add a bit more water and blend.
You don't have to include both carrots and sweet potatoes, either one will do. The cayenne is not needed. You can season with a stock cube (vegetable, or chicken if it doesn't have to be vegetarian) instead of tamari.
Vegan - just vegetarian if you choose to top with sour cream or yogurt.
useful (0)
I felt this soup should really have been two soups: a summer soup with lemon and mint, and a winter soup with leeks and sage.
I have tried the summer version now (no leeks and sage, white wine instead of red, and carrots instead of parsnips) and that tastes fine. When I get to make the winter version, I will leave out mint and lemon juice, and take a bit more wine to compensate for the missing lemon.
It is quite good, not too heavy and quite aromatic. It looks colorful, too.
useful (0)
Madhur Jaffrey's Spice Kitchen: Fifty Recipes Introducing Indian Spices and Aromatic Seeds
By Madhur Jaffrey
Clarkson Potter - 1994
Colorful, aromatic, easy to make. A nice alternative to plain rice.
useful (0)
The Best of Food & Wine: Vegetables, Salads & Grains (ILLUSTRATED)
By Loretta M. Sala, Joanna Roy
American Express Publishing Corp - 1995
I usually make a heavily adapted version of this, with only fennel, lettuce and chicken stock. But the combination is brilliant, the slight bitterness of the lettuce perfectly complimenting the softness of the fennel.
useful (0)
Real Fast Food
By Nigel Slater
Penguin UK - 1993
This is one of my favourite dishes, but I hadn't realized I actually have a recipe for it! Easy, tasty, and the kids love it too.
I use 100 g of cream cheese instead of the cream, and I often use frozen spinach. Possible additions (not all at the same time please): some thyme, some garlic, some white wine or a drop of vinegar, mushrooms. I usually serve it with a simple tomato salad.
useful (0)
Real Food
By Nigel Slater
Fourth Estate Ltd - 2000
Lovely home cooking. The chicken is brown and moist, the chicory is tender and the sauce is creamy but full of flavors.
It does take some time but it's not really complicated.
Things I've changed: I put in a bit more chicory and increased the sugar proportionally. I have taken the lid off after about half an hour to brown it a bit more.
useful (0)
Real Cooking
By Nigel Slater
Penguin Books Ltd - 2006
Very aromatic, lovely texture. My husband won't have his parsnips any other way.
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Soft and soothing. Good comfort food.
useful (0)
Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book
By Jane Grigson
Penguin - 1998
A nice different way of cooking cauliflower, adding some crispness without becoming overly complicated.
useful (0)
Peasant cooking. Plain, simple, delicious. It does need two hours in the oven.
useful (0)
Great Food Without Fuss: Simple Recipes from the Best Cooks
By Frances McCullough, Barbara Witt
Henry Holt & Co - 1992
Delicious, different, and very quick.
I served it with Skillet Scallions from the same cookbook, as suggested, and plain rice.
Do make sure the salmon is at or near room temperature, otherwise it may not cook properly.
The ingredients do have to chopped very fine indeed.
I thought the shallots were a bit overpowering. Unless yours are much smaller than mine, you can halve the amount given.
On the other hand, it can use a tad more vinegar.
I slightly prefer the walnut version to the hazelnut one.
useful (2)
Classical Turkish Cooking: Traditional Turkish Food for the American Kitchen
By Ayla E. Algar
William Morrow Cookbooks - 1999
Strong flavors but well-balanced.
useful (0)
Real Cooking
By Nigel Slater
Penguin Books Ltd - 2006
Warming winter food with a nice twist - the spiced mash really adds something extra to this.
It does take a long time, over an hour. Start with the meat sauce, not the parsnips - you can do those while the meat simmers. Do peel the parsnips.
useful (1)
Real Food
By Nigel Slater
Fourth Estate Ltd - 2000
Chicken, wine, garlic and parsley. How can that go wrong? It doesn't, it's delicious.
The chicken could use a slightly longer cooking time, though.
useful (0)
Trattoria
By Patricia Wells
Kyle Cathie - 1999
More of a starter salad than a side dish salad. Strong flavors - you'll reek of garlic for a week, but it does taste good.
The fancy flower cuts are nice if you have some kind of party, but for everyday use I suppose you could just cut it in 1-inch lengths. Don't skip the iced water though, it makes it very crunchy.
useful (0)
Roast Chicken and Other Stories (Ebury Paperback Cookery)
By Simon Hopkinson, Lindsey Bareham
Ebury Press - 1999
So I had this recipe in two cookbooks already (It came from Elizabeth Davids Italian Food, but I used the recipe in this book. I don't even have Delia's version), but I had to see a photo on a food blog to actually make it (this photo: http://racheleats.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/piedmontese-peppers-again/ ). I just didn't notice it before. The ingredients are simple - peppers, tomatoes, garlic, anchovies - but the whole thing just works out fine. Don't forget some nice bread for the juices.
The main differences between the recipes are the cooking time - Simons is much longer and I prefer it that way - and when to add the anchovies - I might experiment with that.
useful (2)
Italian Food (Penguin Cookery Library)
By Elizabeth David, Renato Guttuso
Penguin Books Ltd - 1993
So I had this recipe in two cookbooks already (It came from this book, but Simon Hopkinson gives another version in Roast Chicken), but I had to see a photo on a food blog to actually make it (this photo: http://racheleats.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/piedmontese-peppers-again/ ). I just didn't notice it before. The ingredients are simple - peppers, tomatoes, garlic, anchovies - but the whole thing just works out fine. Don't forget some nice bread for the juices.
The main differences between the recipes are the cooking time - Simons is much longer and I prefer it that way - and when to add the anchovies - I might experiment with that.
useful (2)
Sophie Grigson's Sunshine Food
By Sophie Grigson
BBC Books - 2000
Very tasty, easy, cheap, vegetarian. It's one of those dishes I've got several recipes of, but this one has a nice depth of flavor as it's got a slightly longer ingredient list. Still not much work at all, still not expensive at all, so do go through the trouble of making this and see how it is a lot better than the student mishmash it could be in a more simplified version.
I used canned tomatoes. I served it with bulgur, but I suspect rice, bread, or plain or mashed potatoes would be better.
useful (0)
Tassajara Cooking : A vegetarian cooking book
By Edward Espe Brown
Shambhala - 1973
So one day you find burdock root (kliswortel, gobo) in your CSA box/panier/groentetas, or whatever you have that lets the farmer decide what vegetables you're going to have. You go through your big stack of cookbooks and find you have exactly two recipes that use it, plus the recipe sheet coming with the box. You try the recipe from the box first. You remember why you never use those recipes. You take a look at the other recipes. One requires other ingredients you don't have and is very unclear about the cooking time. That leaves you with a single recipe. This one. You cook it and it is both quite easy and surprisingly good.
The flavor is distinctly Asian, but full and rich. The burdock cooks to a meaty/mushroomy morsel which complements the carrot very well.
You only need a few sesame seeds, a table spoon at most.
The Chinese rolling cut is described on page 27. I used normal thin slices.
useful (1)
Sophie Grigson's Feasts for a Fiver
By Sophie Grigson
BBC Books - 1999
Something different for the everyday meal. Tasty and colorful. Can easily be adapted to other ingredients.
I thought the potatoes could use a bit more oven time.
I also preferred to put the yogurt on the potatoes themselves and serve the "filling" next to it.
If you want to serve a salad with this, take a peppery one - red onions and/or oranges come to mind. You don't really need a salad though.
useful (1)
More Vegetables, Please: Delicious Vegetable Side Dishes for Everyday Meals
By Janet Kessel Fletcher
Harlow & Ratner - 1992
Lovely - silky and rich. Very easy to make.
I prefer to cut them to in bite-size pieces as the outer skin hardens a bit. This is a lovely contrast with the gooey inside, but not if you have to cut up a whole leek first. It does look better if you leave them whole (or half), though.
I served this with plain rice and chicken livers with thyme. It was good. Celeriac mash and a fried egg was also a good combination.
useful (0)
Madhur Jaffrey's Spice Kitchen: Fifty Recipes Introducing Indian Spices and Aromatic Seeds
By Madhur Jaffrey
Clarkson Potter - 1994
Subtle and aromatic.
I increased the spices a bit, except for the cayenne, which I left out. I also decreased the amount of stock and cream. I used an immersion blender which works fine, although there were some small chunks of potato in the soup.
useful (0)
The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accessories
By David Lebovitz
Ten Speed Press,U.S. - 2007
This was meant as a mix-in for ice dream, but you can easily serve it with coffee or drinks. Just lovely.
It is not difficult at all, as long as you have the patience to go through all the stages described.
Do fill the pan you used with water right after making this recipe, I'm not sure it's possible to get the hard caramel off the pan otherwise.
useful (1)
Spicy and sweet, easy to make.
I will experiment a bit more with the spice mix, perhaps more black pepper and less cayenne.
useful (1)
Real Food
By Nigel Slater
Fourth Estate Ltd - 2000
This is a lovely soup with a good balance of creamy, acidic and pungent.
That is, if you make sure you don't put too much water in. Nigel strangely enough never tells you how much to put in, and if you really add all the cooking water of the cauliflower it can easily end up quite watery, which would be a shame.
useful (1)
Website: Smitten Kitchen
Lovely combination of tangy cranberries and nutty pecans. Just make this!
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
Fragrant but filling, and vegetarian too.
Now I see this recipe again it makes me feel like making it immediately.
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Website: Eat the right stuff
These flavors work very well together, and the packets are practical if you have to take your food somewhere. Good cold as well as hot.
I prefer using ready-made croissant pastry instead of normal puff pastry. The slight sweetness goes very well with the salty filling.
useful (0)
Website: Smitten Kitchen
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)
The Naked Chef
By Jamie Oliver
Kosmos-Z&K Uitgevers Utrecht - 2000
A nice and simple way to prepare bok choi and those other greens you don't really know what to do with. Nice and light, with a clear 'Chinese' flavor.
I also added some diced chicken right at the beginning to make it more substantial. This worked well.
useful (0)
Classical Turkish Cooking: Traditional Turkish Food for the American Kitchen
By Ayla E. Algar
William Morrow Cookbooks - 1999
A lovely slow-cooking winter dish. Comforting but with a mediterranean twist.
I left out the hot peppers and slightly increased the red pepper paste. The result was still spicy but not too hot.
useful (0)
Chocolate & Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen
By Clotilde Dusoulier
Broadway Books - 2007
Very basic recipe, but very nice.
I found it quite difficult to roll the dough into a round log. I preferred them as roll-out cookies, using wodka glasses to cut them out.
The amount of glaze given is much too much - I used one third and I still had some left.
useful (1)
Happy Days with the Naked Chef
By Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph - 2001
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.
useful (0)
Website: Smitten Kitchen
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)
The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
By Marion Cunningham, Jeri Laber, Fannie Merritt Farmer, James Beard
Knopf - 1979
Very nice cookies, good peanut flavor.
Mine needed a bit longer than the recipe stated. A bit more salt deepens the flavor.
useful (0)
What We Eat When We Eat Alone: Stories and 100 Recipes
By Deborah Madison, Patrick McFarlin
Gibbs Smith - 2009
Very simple, very tasty, very good.
The simple rustic taste of the most basic Italian pastas, and you still get your veggies as well.
And literally made while the pasta boils.
useful (0)
The Naked Chef
By Jamie Oliver
Kosmos-Z&K Uitgevers Utrecht - 2000
Spicy squash, basil & ricotta tortellini + crispy herbs / Tortellini van gekruide pompoen, basilicum
This is a lot of work, but worth it. Lovely combination of flavours. Vegetarian, too.
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If you've never roasted squash, this is a very good recipe to try. It's simple and it's very tasty.
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Very simple, very tasty.
I also like to put some parboiled potatoes (boiled 10-15 mins) in with this.
I thought the roasting time given was a bit short.
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Nice and different. I thought it was best cold.
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This is my favorite way of making couscous.
It tastes so much fresher than steamed couscous, and there is no danger of overcooking it. It's very versatile too, you can use so many different ingredients once you get the hang of it. I usually make it without all the vegetables, or with just one vegetable.
useful (0)
So simple and so lovely. A real store-cupboard recipe: with this recipe you can always make dessert.
I always halve the amount of crumbs given.
When making a rhubarb crumble, use a lot more sugar on the fruit itself, about 8-10 tablespoons.
useful (0)
Food & Wine Magazine's 2001 Cookbook: An Entire Year's Recipes
By Food & Wine Magazine
American Express Publishing - 2001
Very lovely, a good fennel flavor but not too overpowering. I did leave out the fennel seeds for decorating though.
It does make a LOT of cookies. Halving the recipe is difficult as you need half an egg then. I froze half of the dough.
Make sure the butter you use is really soft.
I needed to bake the cookies a bit longer, for about 40 minutes.
useful (0)
On Rice: 60 Fast and Easy Toppings That Make the Meal
By Rick Rodgers, Frankie Frankeny
Chronicle Books - 1997
Very good. No big surprises, but a good combination of sunny flavors. Easy & fast to make.
useful (0)
More Vegetables, Please: Delicious Vegetable Side Dishes for Everyday Meals
By Janet Kessel Fletcher
Harlow & Ratner - 1992
More an ingredient suggestion than a recipe, but a good combination. I added some fennel seeds, too, and I liked it.
useful (0)
Website: Smitten Kitchen
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)
Sophie Grigson's Feasts for a Fiver
By Sophie Grigson
BBC Books - 1999
A good variation on the green salad. Simple, tasty, and different from the normal geen salad / vinaigrette, but not so different it becomes difficult to combine.
useful (0)
Food & Wine Magazine's 2001 Cookbook: An Entire Year's Recipes
By Food & Wine Magazine
American Express Publishing - 2001
Nutty, crunchy, aromatic, with a hint of Indian spices, but subtle. Really lovely.
I prefer using smaller florets, as the size given in the recipe is difficult to eat. This shortens the oven time by 10-15 mins.
I also think it can use more onions, about twice as much.
useful (0)
Eat Your Greens (Network Books)
By Sophie Grigson, Jess Koppel
BBC Books - 1993
Sweet and fragrant. Very good.
I served it with stir-fried bok choy which was good in terms of contrast - you want something bitter/salty to go with this - but not brilliant in ethnicity combination. Next time I'll choose a more Indian greens dish to go with it.
useful (1)