friederike's Reviews
4 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 4Sort by: Title 
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The Flavour Thesaurus
By Niki Segnit
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC - 2010
It's kind of ironic that she gushes about how well roasted butternut squash and rosemary go together, because the butternut squash in this recipe isn't roasted but cooked, and the rosemary is too weak to taste. It's really a pity. I like the idea of this dish, but I think it would work a lot better if you do actually roast the pumpkin, and use at least three twigs of rosemary, if not more, and possibly some garlic as well.
Next time I would also use fresh tomatoes (cherry tomatoes or normal ones) but not canned, as canned tomatoes usually contain flavour enhancers, and therefore turned out too strong in this dish. I can see that fresh tomatoes might not be thick enough, as bunyip mentions; perhaps that you need to fry them first to let some of the liquid evaporate.
Last, I missed more texture. We did the parmesan-bread crumb topping, but still I also need something within the stew, otherwise it's all just one big mush. Perhaps some chopped and roasted nuts, or pumpkin seeds, or bacon for the non-vegetarians.
Because we couldn't get hold on cannellini beans, we used white haricot beans. If you don't mind the work, you might also use dried beans and them cook them until they're al dente, though I have little experience with that.
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Coconut Custard : page 134
If you like your eggs poached with a hint of coconut, then this recipe is for you. Unfortunately for us, it didn't turn out as the dessert we had expected to work well with Mango Sorbet. We'll see if we can find something better for dessert for tomorrow.
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It was very delicious, but it wasn't like I remembered. For a start, the sauce was very thin, and if we had reduced it to a nicer consistency, it would have been too little. I remember this dish of being a braise, actually like a Asian version of Coq au Vin (we usually had it with chicken, which would be Adobo manok). Either way, it was nice, but I will probably still try a few other recipes before I settle.
We only marinated it this morning, fearing that it would otherwise be too strong, and used six garlic cloves (four in the marinade, another two later on) instead of the whole bulb suggested - I still need to go to work tomorrow!
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A very good salad. DH isn't usually a fan of carrot salads, as he thinks they are prone to dry out. My guess is that in contrast to other salads, it's important in this case to add the dressing right away, instead of at the very last minute. This salad, in any case, was delicious and not dry at all, and DH was impressed that everything Ms Segnit said about how the flavours would work was absolutely true.
We did modify it slightly; we added a half tsp extra red wine and an extra dash of sesame oil (or two), and we roasted the peanuts. Even though we used salted peanuts, next time I would add some extra salt to them (not the salad).
Last, this is a very nice salad, but a bit monotonous for a lunch box. Better served alongside a larger meal.
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