friederike's Reviews
8 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 8Sort by: Title 
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Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes
By Tessa Kiros
Murdoch Books - 2004
Carrot Cake (with Cream Cheese Icing) : page 259
Whoooo. Incredibly moist, and still a little crunch from the crust and the walnuts. Really delicious! A few raisins or chocolate chips would also work well.
We had the cake without icing - I actually don't think it's necessary, the cake is wonderful on it's own (and seriously, for that amount of calories I'd rather have another slice of cake!). I could see serving it with a dollop of Crème Fraîche if you really want to.
Edited 20 August 2013:
We made the cake again and added a few raisins - very nice, but that added a lot of moisture so we had to bake the cake quite a while longer. Not a problem, just something you need to take into account. I'm still eager to try a version with added chocolate chips and spices (cardamom, anyone?).
useful (2)
Chicken, Coconut and Cashew Nut Curry : page 352
Very strangely flat. The house smelled of curry for at least a week, but unfortunately, we weren't able to taste that. Are our spices too old? If the flavours had been a lot stronger, it would have made a nice dish.
useful (0)
The first time I made these, the meatballs completely fell apart. I think the recipe uses too much milk (though I never let the bread soak for very long, so perhaps that might be the mistake), and the frying temperature given is definitely too high: you need to fry them on a low temperature, otherwise they’ll end up burned outside and raw inside (if they haven’t fallen apart before because you’ve been stirring too much).
Edited 14 October 2017:
We've had very good success with a trick I've learned in another recipe: allow the meatballs to chill in the fridge for 30 min or more before frying them. Unfortunately, this time our sauce became way too liquid, and we hadn't even used the whole amount of water. Cranberry sauce is a must, really enhances this dish. We served it with these roasted carrots and parsnips.
useful (0)
Lemon and Oregano Chicken : page 106
We had the idea that the recipe was slightly vague/confusing; mainly due to introduction. The chicken was nicely flavoured, but this could easily have been achieved with less steps. Because she requires you to butterfly and fry the chicken before roasting/broiling it, there's a rather large chance that some pieces will be over- and others undercooked.
Served with a Tomato Tarte Tatin - nice combination.
useful (2)
Ludi's Chicken : page 359
We couldn't really agree on an appropiate rating of this recipe. It was incredibly easy, it was great that chicken and potatoes could bake in one pan without being pre-cooked, it looked absolutely great - but the potatoes ended up being slightly undercooked, the chicken slightly overcooked (read: dry), and the marinade with mustard and the herbs had vanished without a trace.
Now I will admit that I might have added a bit too much white wine and that less liquid might evaporate in our tiny oven than might in a normal oven. We used only one lemon instead of two, and I'm glad that we did - lemon was the only thing we tasted faintly.
Still, I'm happy that I found this recipe as I think it has a lot of potential. Next time I would probably double up the mustard and the herbs, add a squashed/chopped garlic clove or two, bake the potatoes with a part of the marinade for half an hour or slightly more, and then add the chicken for another 1 hour 30 min to 1 hour 45 min.
Serve with a dolop of Dijonnaise (Dijon mustard mixed with mayonnaise) and a salad.
useful (2)
Oven-baked Fish with Tomato and Parsley : page 105
Very delicious, just the right level of aroma's that such a fish can handle, and very juicy. The only problem was that it was just not very exciting. As usual, we used less lemon but stuck to the recipe for the rest. Serving it with bread was nice, but not enough. Serve it with a side dish, possibly something slightly bitter like endive salad, or something very flashy.
useful (2)
I made this dish specifically because it seemed so similar to the Veal with Braised Pears, Roquefort and Sage I made earlier this week. To my surprise, it wasn't that similar after all.
First of all, it was a lot simpler, and a lot quicker. I enjoyed the garlic in this version, though I also enjoyed the (though slightly too strong) blue cheese in the other. Both dishes were equally delicious, though just like in all the other dishes I have prepared that contain sage, the sage is hardly noticeable. However, it is noticeable that the Veal with Braised Pears involves more effort - it just tastes more 'special' (and I probably would have said that too if I hadn't been the one to cook).
In both cases, by the way, I have used pork instead of veal as veal just isn't a regular supermarket ingredient and the butchers usually close before I manage to get there. I didn't have the idea that that was a problem, pork works beautifully with sage.
useful (1)
Nice, but not very impressive. Would have been a 3.5 if we had the chance to give half ratings. The main problem was that it tasted too much of yoghurt with a bit of cucumber and garlic, instead of a cucumber and garlic sauce based on yoghurt - the emphasis was in the wrong place.
DH, who made the tzatziki, felt that it was a bit too dry. It's ironic, as he didn't have the time to let the cucumber dry; instead, he just removed the pits as being most moist part. Instead of the usual Greek yoghurt, we used Turkish yoghurt from our local vegetable store, which seemed to be thicker, though both contain the same amount of fat, 10%. Of course these might be the reasons for the sauce being too dry, though I wouldn't expect it to make such a difference.
Served with Harissa Chicken and Sweet Potato.
useful (0)