friederike's Reviews
10 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 10Sort by: Title 
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Roast Figs, Sugar Snow: Food to Warm the Soul
By Diana Henry
Mitchell Beazley - 2008
While the idea as such has potential, I wouldn't recommend to make this recipe 1:1.
First of all, the crust tasted as if it wasn't completely baked; this is dubious as it was pre-baked and should have been perfectly fine. I suspect that the spinach still contained too much liquid and made a mess of the crust. Diana Henry stresses that you should squeeze out all liquid out of the spinach, and I really did, but this doesn't seem to be enough - it really makes me think that you should squeeze it between two bricks. Or use frozen spinach.
Then, there was far too much custard and gorgonzola, and I hadn't even used it all! Given that there was parmesan in the custard, it ended up being really very cheesy, too cheesy even for my taste. I would suggest using about half of the gorgonzola and three quart of the custard; alternatively, you could also use more than half of the gorgonzola but then skip or cut back the amount of parmesan in the custard.
In general, though, I liked the idea of pumpkin, spinach and gorgonzola. If there's no way to reduce the liquid, or if it becomes too dry in taste if you do, or if you just don't want to risk it, you could also just make a (really thin!) gratin without the crust.
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Québécois Mussel Chowder with Cod and Cider : page 117
A very delicious soup, and impressive-looking, too. However, I thought that it was too thin, and would recommend not only mashing some of the potatoes, but also pureeing some of the leeks before adding the mussels and cod. Also, the cod fell into bits and pieces - I would recommend to finish everything else and only add the fish at the end, even after seasoning and tasting.
DB complained that he missed a 'lack of depth' and thought that this hadn't happened if we had used white wine instead of cider - I don't know, it might be worth a try. Then again, I would have liked to have a stronger apple flavour - maybe you could also add a few chunks of apple?
This recipe is also great because you can prepare it halfway (more or less up to the point that the vegetables are nearly, but not completely, cooked) - pause, and then just pick it up where you left it.
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A very nice, refreshing winterly salad. The ingredients are well-balanced, and the salad can be served either as a side dish or a light meal.
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I didn't make the roasted fruit (although I would have, had I found any decent plums at this time of the year!), but I used the cardamom cream for the Deeply Appley Apple Crumble, and it was simple and so brilliant! I used slightly more cardamom than suggested, though, just to be sure (3 pods instead of 2, for half the amount of cream). However, don't use store-bought ground cardamom - ours wasn't even very old, and yet I had to add loads of cardamom without getting the same effect.
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I thought it was really, really nice; unfortunately, though, I was too distracted by how difficult it was to get the meat off the bird, and the heated discussion we were having at just that point to really concentrate on the food, so I didn't really notice the specific flavour of the pheasant (what a shame!) - but I did enjoy the sauce and the tart berries and quince a lot! DH thought that the pheasant tasted slightly gamey, but also slightly sweet, which is why he thought that the sauce was actually a little too sweet to go with the pheasant. If you don't mind losing the gamey flavour, perhaps making this with a (strongly salted) chicken might be a good idea? A chicken might be too bland for the sweet sauce, though, and obviously you would need to adapt the roasting time.
As with the Grand Marnier Soufflés, you will have to do quite a lot at the end, and so the pheasant isn't really the easiest dish to serve for guests, even though it's really a showpiece meal.
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A nice, simple dish, though nothing special. The dressing was slightly off - 5 tablespoons oil is just too much for 1/2 tablespoon white wine vinegar. Or actually vice versa, add more vinegar as you'll need more dressing anyway. And add more mustard as well.
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Quite nice; I especially liked the pears and the onions. The first time we made this, the cheese (we found a Gorgonzola-Mascarpone mixture at our supermarket) had been in the oven for too long, and was completely runny. We made it again and only added the cheese for a minute, which was better but perhaps a tad too short. The big problem were the pork chops - both times they ended up being dry, even though we already reduced the time in the oven for the second attempt.
All in all, it reminded me strongly of the Veal with Braised Pears, Roquefort and Sage, and to a lesser extent, Pan-fried Veal Chops with Lemon, Sage and Mascarpone from Falling Cloudberries and Pork Steaks with Lemon and Sage from Real Fast Food.
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Savoy Cabbage with Garlic and Juniper : page 64
Very nice. It was very fresh and crunchy, which wasn't quite what I had expected (but should have, if I had properly read and considered the recipe). It's a very nice way to serve savoy cabbage in a very non-cabbagey way, so that's definitely a big plus.
The flavour of the garlic and juniper was very subtle and will make it work with a variety of dishes, both typical northern European winter fare (juniper) and Mediterranean dishes (garlic). You could add a bit more of the one or other if you wish, depending on which way you'd wanted to go.
The only (very minor) issue was that the main stems of the leaves ended up being a little too crunchy, so if possible I would cut that away next time.
Because the pot was choke-full with cabbage shreds, shaking the pot didn't really do a lot in the beginning, so I was worried the bottom leaves would burn and I took off the lid several times to stir. My worries were unfounded, nothing burnt at all. Yet, I would recommend using the largest pan possible, and even to consider using two large pans.
We served this with Pork in Milk with Polenta Crust, and it worked very well.
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Smoked Haddock and Leek Risotto : page 101
Very nice. Astonishing how such a non-typical combination of Italian risotto and Northern European smoked fish can work so well.
We used a mix of smoked pangasius and smoked trout as smoked haddock wasn't available. I didn't really understand the need to poach the smoked fish, but I brought it to a simmer to warm up the fish before adding it to the risotto. Also, I don't think it was really necessary to sweat the leek for 15 minutes, it already looked fine after 5-10 minutes.
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Brilliant! The meat was so tender it just fell of the bones, and the sauce with apples/cider, rosemary and bacon (we used normal cubed bacon) was incredibly flavourful. Absolutely recommended, and a delicious autumn/winter dinner. Served with the remaining Braised Shallot (Onion) Confit), a very nice combintation.
Edited 2 August 2015:
Served with the cabbage as cooked according to this recipe twice already - savoy cabbage works really well with this dish, green/white cabbage less so.
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