friederike's Reviews
51 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Title 
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Website: BBC Good Food
It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't particularly impressive either. And what else can you expect of pasta, a can of tomatoes and some flavouring?
I didn't dare cook the pasta in the sauce directly - I cannot see how that would work, as you'd need to add a whole litre of stock to the sauce - and then you'll end up with what, tomato soup? So I omitted the stock and cooked the pasta seperately.
Fine for a weekday dinner in a really busy week, but otherwise I wouldn't bother.
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Basically it was pretty nice - if there had not been the lemon. BF and I were sceptic from the start, not because we do not like the taste of lemons, but because the juice of a whole lemon seemed like far too much for that little bit of other ingredients. We started with the juice of only half a lemon - and oh boy, we tasted nothing but lemon in the end! Even worse: the combination of the saltiness and texture of the parmesan invoked some extremely unpleasant associations.
Nevertheless, I believe this recipe has potential and could even reach a 4 star rating - just limit the lemon juice to a few drops only, or even omit it completely. If necessary, you can replace it by oil and/or cooking water, both should be fine. Most of the lemon flavour should come from the zest, which has a stronger lemon taste anyway with the added benefit of not being sour.
Also, we used half the amount of pasta and shared the sauce between the two of us - just about enough. If you want to serve this dish to four persons, remember to double all ingredients except for the amount of pasta.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food series cookbook, 101 Healthy Eats.
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Good basic recipe.
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I made this a couple of weeks ago and never really had the time to review it properly, so my memory is a little hazy. I think I omitted the stock cube, as tomato purée and Worcestershire sauce already contains more than enough salt, and added a few more carrots and celery sticks - though next time I'd only add more carrots, not also celery sticks (other additional root vegetables might work well, though). The result was fine, although you should remember to stir it once a while to make sure everything is evenly covered.
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Just saw that I've never reviewed this recipe! Nice dish, though we've never made the celeriac mash, just the braised beef.
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Very easy, and fantastic in taste! We used spare ribs, as this was what our butcher recommended, and it was very delicious, albeit heavy in fat (obviously). I omitted the star anise and used 9 damson plums, and the dish could have used much more plums; I'm pretty sure you could also make this with prunes.
Served with rice and Sesame Pak Choi - while pak choi goed really well with the pork, the execution of that dish was awful.
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Very nice, definitely a new dish for my growing repertoire! The chicken was juicy and tender, the couscous creamy and very aromatic. We had carrots sautéed in apple butter (a variation of the Glazed Sautéed Carrots in The Cook’s Book) as a side dish, which was delicious, but any other root vegetable would have worked just as well.
Quite similar to Chicken with Saffron, Raisins and Pine Nuts, both of which appeared both online and in the BBC Good Food magazine, June 2009 edition (see below).
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food magazine, June 2009 edition.
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This dish was perfectly okay, just not very exciting. It did bother me a little that they cheated: anyone can make a one-pot pasta-dish with cooked penne (especially if you assume, like they did, that the pasta won't need reheating)!
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food series cookbook, 101 Store-cupboard Suppers.
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A lovely dish from one of my favourite regions, though I replaced the pine nuts with equally suitable almonds.
One caveat: make sure that all pieces of meat are covered with liquid while cooking, otherwise you'll end up with small bits of the meat being dry. If this hadn't happened, I might even have given a 5-star rating.
Serve with rice or couscous. You could add extra liquid to prevent the chicken from drying out, and then cook couscous in some of that liquid, just as done in Chicken and Couscous One-pot.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food magazine, June 2009 edition.
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This one was just okay. I wasn’t exactly wild about it (but then I’m not that much of a fan of fennel), and it didn’t help that the chicken ended up being a little dry.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in Olive magazine, August 2009 edition. And in the BBC Good Food magazine, July 2007 edition, apparently. Sneaky!
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WHY didn't I read the comments? The finished dish itself was good and definitely has potential, but the recipe just didn't work! The thing is - you don't add any proper liquid. None. At all. Granted, the puréed tomatoes are slightly liquid, but other than that? Not at all enough to either cook the lentils nor the broccoli. I had the recipe printed (without comments, of course) and at a certain point I started adding glugs of water. Once I read the comments, I added whole glasses of water.
If making again (and I'm planning on making this again), I will probably indeed double the spices (it tastes very spicy in the beginning, but definitely mellows down once you add the broccoli, chickpeas and spinach!), use coconut cream and a can of coconut milk (with another one as backup), and I might actually also use sweet potatoes, I like the idea. Pumpkin would probably also work. Or add both (broccoli and pumpkin)!
Edited 18 July 2017:
I've made this a few times since, and with the changes described above (excl. the sweet potato/pumpkin), it makes a decent weeknight dinner.
I used two large sweet potatoes this time, pressure-steamed and added at the very end; at the very last moment I realized that it would probably be best to use them as a substitute for the chickpeas. As usual, I forgot to add the sesame and cashew; I also forgot the spinach. DH thought something was missing, and it might well have been the cashews.
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Nice, but not particularly impressive. We substituted watercress with rocket, and added a little less avocado than required. It was interesting in that it combined all kinds of different flavours/textures, sharp and bitter and sour and creamy flavours (rocket/watercress and chicory and lime and avocado), but that also meant that you were constantly switching between these flavours, as opposed to them having melted into one another.
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Hmm. I wasn't really convinced. I'll admit I'm not a fan of chocolate fondants - I'd rather have chocolate mousse, chocolate ice cream or a brownie. But apart from that - the dessert tasted very heavy, but it wasn't very rich in flavour. Even though we had used a good quality chocolate, it tasted like pretty cheap stuff.
Additionally, we noticed too late that the recipe yields 9 fondants (why 9?) - by then, we had prepared half a recipe and filled 2 1/2 moulds with the resulting mixture. This resulted in much longer baking times (15 minutes +), which, again, is something we only figured out later. Not the best premises.
We served it with cranberry sauce, which was a good choice. Caramel sauce and sweet ice cream only would have added even more sugar.
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I was about to make the Smoked Haddock Chowder, when I realised it was an awful lot like Cullen Skink, which we had dubbed 'liquid fish pie'. So I chose to make this chowder instead. This chowder, then again, is a lot like Salmon Chowder with Whisky - I guess at some point every dish will remind you of some other dish you once had, right?
It's a very, pretty basic chowder, one you can whip up quick enough for a midweek dinner and doesn't require any excursions to the fish monger. DH actually prefers the Salmon Chowder, as he thinks that one has a little more flavour (probably the addition of the tomato), but what I enjoy about this one is the lemony flavour and the fact that it contains two kinds of fish (salmon and, in our case, pangasius), and that the fish didn't end up being dry, which it always does in the Salmon Chowder.
However, it actually took about 10-12 min until the fish was cooked instead of the 3-4 minutes mentioned in the recipe - I guess this really depends on how large your chunks of fish are. The recipe also doesn't mention what type of potato you should use - I used floury ones.
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I was worried the souffle would turn out dry, but it was really, nice, very cheesy and not dry at all.
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We only made the panna cotta (to go with this Mango Sorbet), and it was very good! Very creamy and with a distinct coconut flavour. DH thought the coconut flavour could have been a little stronger, which I don't think is really necessary. We both agreed however that it contained too much gelatine, though that isn't this recipe's fault as we followed the package instructions.
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A wonderful and sophisticated vegetarian tart, ideal for picnics and the like.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food magazine, June 2009 edition.
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Very sophisticated ten minute (ehm, okay, 15 minute) pizzas. I absolutely loved the taste, it was fresh, varied, and it definitely showed that you can combine mozzarella with more than tomato and basil.
Our naan-bread was quite soggy, though. I liked it, the same way I I like a Domino's pizza once in a while. But I can also imagine that some might prefer something more crunchy. Baked/grilled baguette might be the solution here, and also makes it possible to serve it as finger food at your next party.
Beware that the quantities of the ingredients aren't completely right – we used only one instead of two courgettes and had some courgette leftovers, while the mozzarella was just enough. So that's a four star rating instead of five...
Crosspost. The online version of the recipe as it appeared in the BBC Olive magazine (but not in the BBC Good Food magazine), August 2009 edition.
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Very delicious, though quite heavy and a slightly standard combination of ingredients. Use Homemade Pesto (online recipe also here), if possible.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food magazine, May 2009 edition.
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Nice. I would change a few things, but none of them is dramatic. I would probably add an egg (or perhaps two) to make the fish cakes stick better, and I would add more lime zest to the mayonnaise – I tried lime juice instead, but BF complained that that made the mayonnaise turn too sour (I didn’t even notice). Also, while I quite liked the dominant taste of the peas, I would probably use more fish and fewer peas to make the cakes have a stronger taste of fish.
Neither of us could be bothered with cutting chillies, although they probably would have been a good idea.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food magazine, Oct. 2009 edition.
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It's nice when done well, but it's definitely not easy (not in the meaning of 'not complex'), and it contains several mistakes.
1. Both the potatoes and the aubergines need to be fully cooked. Baking the moussaka for 10 min will only allow the cheese to melt, not cook the vegetables. Grilling the aubergines (esp. without oil on them) won't cook them; it'll only get them partially charred (a.k.a. burnt). I grilled one aubergine, and baked the second one with a little olive oil in the oven, 20 min at 175 degrees C - much better (and less work!). The potatoes need to be fully cooked and cut into thin slices (5 mm max) if you want to have any chance of having more than one layer (I used 5 large-ish potatoes and barely managed two layers in two small casseroles).
2. If you want to end with a layer of aubergine, don't specify to start with a layer of potato, then aubergine, then meat sauce.
I didn't have mixed spice, so I used 1/4 tsp cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg each, and about 1/8 tsp each of coriander, cloves and ginger (all of them ground). I forgot to add the creme fraiche, but we just added it at the table, which was nice as well. I do like that you can prepare this dish in advance and only need to pop it into the oven for 10 min (though you'll probably need more than that when taken straight from the fridge).
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It all started with a weird cultural problem. One of the ingredients are runner beans. I looked up runner beans on Wikipedia and found an entry on runner beans - brilliant! The only problem was that although it stated that this article covered the runner bean, also known as the scarlet runner bean, it said nowhere that there was also the common Green bean, known as runner bean in British English. I searched the whole city for scarlet runner beans, only to find out, once at home, that the BBC means green beans, haricots verts. Is that a problem of the BBC or of Wikipedia, or just my own? I bit of all of the above, I suppose.
So, what about the quiche, then? I must admit that I forgot to add the courgettes - blame it on the runner beans. And I was very sceptic about that bit of adding 300 ml milk (far too much!) and 25 g flour (ugh, don't want a floury tasting quiche) to the filling. But surprisingly, the filling was neither too liquid nor did it taste floury, on the contrary: it tasted surprisingly light. Do take care that you don't overcook the peas though - try adding them a few minutes later than the other veggies. And there's no need to use cherry tomatoes, normal tomatoes cut into eight pieces do just as well.
I made a Pâte Brisée, a French Shortcrust Pastry as a base, and it went together very well.
Edited 9 June 2015:
Restaurant quantities. I mean, really, 85 g each of courgette, beans and peas? Peas is easy, as are beans if you're able to buy them loose, but courgette? I therefore used a whole courgette (about 320 g), one package of green beans (200 g), two normal onions and 200 g cocktail tomatoes. To make up for that, I used 30 g flour, 350 ml milk and 3 eggs instead of 2. In other words: in terms of quantities, I didn't stick to the recipe at all.
The result did have a few flaws, which I'm afraid might be connected to what I just stated. The beans were slightly undercooked, and DH thought the eggs were still too liquid (I didn't). Because I used more vegetables than indicated, I also fried them for ten instead of five minutes, but that may not have been enough (I'll admit that they weren't soft yet at that stage, I thought that'd come while baking).
Still, I actually do enjoy this dish, and I suspect you can use it to throw in all your vegetable leftovers (broccoli would probably work really well). I also think you could probably combine it well with the Courgette, Chilli and Mint Pizzas, as you'll need less than a whole courgette for either of them, and the dishes are so different that it won't even be boring to eat courgette several days in a row.
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Ah, another variant on the 'grilled salmon steak with vegetables and potato'-theme; see my Grilled Salmon with Watercress Cream Sauce for more on that. This one was extremely delicious - the best one so far!
It did have two deficits, though - you won't need 2 courgettes for 2 people, 1 or 1 1/2 are enough, and it took us more than 3 minutes to cook the courgettes, 20 minutes or so was more realistic. That's not really a problem, though, as long as you know it. The moment you've set the potatoes to cook, begin with slicing the courgettes and start frying them immediately. Then you'll have a great dinner ready in 20-25 min total cooking time.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the Olive: 101 Quick-fix Dishes cookbook.
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Well, it's not really a recipe, is it? You stuff a ready-made pizza base in the oven, throw some ingredients on top and that's it. Nothing special about it, is there?
Unless you change it. Purposely, or by accident, as we did. We exchanged the ricotta (sold out) for cottage cheese and pizza bases (didn't know where they hid) for pita breads. Preheat the oven to 250°C, cut the pita breads into halves, scatter and spread all the ingredients on top in one go, grill for just five minutes and you're meal is done, and quite crispy and delicious, too. Great idea for parties, though in that case you should cut the each pita bread in eight pieces to get real fingerfood.
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Very nice, and quite simple! Easy enough to make it a weeknight staple, but tasty enough for guests, too! My only quibbles are that I think that 5 dried apricots is a little stingy, and that all in all, the dish itself isn't really generous either - we used 600g instead of 500g lamb and served it with Zahlouk and couscous, and it was just barely enough! Make sure you make about 1.5-2x the amount if you expect hungry eaters.
Also, I am considering trying this with beef instead of lamb - lamb is just too expensive around here. Will probably work, even though it'll need to braise a little longer.
Edited the next day:
Good god, I'm such an idiot! The recipe serves two only, so no wonder it was a little meager. The thing is - I knew, which is why I bought 600 g of lamb, as opposed to just 250 g, but apparently, I forgot that immediately again!
That said, for four servings, I'd definitely double or even double-and-a-half the amount of meat and apricots, but I'm not sure the rest of the ingredients need to be doubled - we quite liked it the way it was.
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Basically this is a variation on my usual recipe of very basic Leek Tart, except that it features soft cheese with garlic and herbs and foregoes the egg-milk-cream mix. On the one hand I like the addition, on the other this might have been the reason why the crust didn’t become crisp at all (BF suggested a rating of only 3 stars at this point) – then again, an egg-milk-cream mix contains even more liquid, so we probably just didn’t give it enough time. It wasn’t quite enough for four, though.
We made this tart with (defrosted) mussels and shrimps instead of bacon, and the combination worked well, too.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food magazine, Oct. 2009 edition.
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Quickly prepared and very delicious, but I don’t think all went entirely well with the preparation. You’re supposed to mix the cream, sugar and lemon zest until it starts to thicken, then add the lemon juice and continue whisking the mixture until it thickens further but not too much or else you won’t be able to add the whipped egg whites – only that my mixture never became thick at all. Next time I’ll try whipping the cream first until semi-stiff before adding the sugar, lemon zest and juice.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the Olive: 101 Quick-fix Dishes cookbook.
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Very nice! As with the Quince and Rosewater Jelly, I used 2:1 preserving sugar, meaning I used 1 part sugar and 2.2 parts quince pulp. I cooked it for the whole 45 min on low heat, stirring constantly, but yet it ended up being burnt at the bottom of the pan - luckily not something you notice in the membrillo (be careful not to scrape the bottom).
I thought the instructions on how long you really need to cook the membrillo (what I like to call 'the Moses test' - it even looked like a red sea!) were still relatively vague. My membrillo ended up being relatively soft, compared to that of my MIL, but apparently mine is more like the membrillo you can buy at shops (not that I would know). Also, my MIL used more sugar, which made her membrillo sweeter (obviously), but I think that also influences how hard the membrillo will get (or how long it takes to get there).
Last, be careful: hot membrillo is hostile and will hiss and spit at you, I have several blisters to attest to that.
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Very delicious, and the apricots are definitely a eye-catcher, BUT there were a few slight issues and one major fail.
As so often, the recipe calls for the juice of one lemon to be added. I added the juice of a quart lemon (approximately), and it ended up being sour. My advice would be to add no lemon at all but to wait right until the end and then taste it - and if you then think you could do with a little lemon, add some, carefully.
Other points to watch out for: the freshly grated ginger might burn, add extra oil and stir to prevent that, and the chicken is prone to become dry, as so often with similar recipes, so don't cook it longer than absolutely necessary.
But what I really didn't understand: First, you need to add ten ready-to-eat apricots. Next, you're asked to serve it with a handful of pomegranate seeds. Now in which country are apricots and pomegranates available in the same season? Really, they should have known better than this!
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We used beef mince instead of lamb (does that make it a Milkmaid's Pie?), and about 2/3 of a can of tomatoes, as I had run out of tomato concentrate. We also served it as 'Deconstructed Shepherd's Pie' tonight, as I was in a rush and didn't have the time to bake it in the oven - as all ingredients were already cooked through, why not?
The result was delicious, but a little flat - unsurprisingly, if you've read the comments below the recipe. We ate half today and will eat the other half tomorrow, properly baked as it should be, with lots of cheese added, we'll see if that makes a difference.
Edited later on:
Yes, it does.
Edited sometime in autumn 2016:
Don't make the potato purée according to that recipe - it uses way too much butter! Just make it the way you always make it.
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The good news: it's incredibly easy to prepare (just throw everything into a roasting tin and you're nearly done), it's beautiful and distinctly autumnal (it's the cover dish, for that matter), and BF and my guests last night loved it.
The bad news: I didn't. I was a bit disappointed because the flavours of the ingredients didn’t come together. What the sense of that? I thought cooking was the art of combining ingredients and creating something new. Instead, the chicken tasted like chicken (like a very tender chicken, though), the squash tasted like squash, the walnuts tasted like walnuts, and the sage, well, the sage was burnt and didn’t give off any flavour at all.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food magazine, Oct. 2009 edition.
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Similar to the (original) Cranachan we made a year and a half ago, and about just as good.
Again, you need to be really careful with the oats - I let them burn on my first attempt, but luckily it's easy to just toss them out and start again. Remembering the other recipe, I didn't use the cheap clear, runny honey we had, but our good-quality heather honey, and that really made a difference (we used a cheap whisly, however - now I'm curious how it'd taste with a, say, earthy Tallisker).
I was surprised to see that you were supposed to mix the oatmeal through the cream, as I remembered that the other recipe differed in this respect - in the end that didn't matter, both versions are nice. And I noticed that this version used a mixture of single cream and Greek yoghurt (which we substituted with Quark), not solely double cream.
We actually used 2 oranges and 2 blood oranges (would have used 4 blood oranges if we had had them). I could actually see this recipe work with quite a number of fruits. For some reason, pomegranate is the very first that comes to my mind; mango would probably work as well.
Edited 20 March 2016:
I made this again, though this time I mixed all ingredients (except for the oranges and some of the oats) a few hours in advance instead of just moments before serving - and the flavours just disappeared! I could hardly taste any whisky, nor honey nor anything else! I think they used their time to meld into one big flavour, while I prefer to taste them seperately. So whip the cream beforehand, but assemble everything a la minute.
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BF prepared it and ate it while I only managed to get hold of the leftovers the next day (and believe me, reheated pasta with a cream sauce deteriorates enormously), so I'll have rely a bit on his judgement.
He liked it a lot, but he thought that it was just a little too creamy and not really moist enough; it's probably a good idea to save some pasta water next time, just in case. He also regretted that he couldn't do anything with the prawn shell, but then again most frozen prawns come without shells anyway. It definitely wasn't enough for 4 servings, it was rather 3 very light servings, or just a main dish for 2 (either that or he must have had a huge portion yesterday...).
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food series cookbook, 101 Store-cupboard Suppers.
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Very, very nice in taste, BUT:
- we made half a recipe as a side dish for the two of us (three including baby, but normally that doesn't really matter), and it wasn't enough at all! How is a whole recipe supposed to be enough for 4 persons as a main?
- we omitted the ham, and thought the gratin (other than the cheese crust) wasn't salty enough. Next time I'd either add salt or bacon.
- I only remembered to add the cheese once I took off the aluminium foil; which was useful, in a way, as I was able to spoon the stock mixture over the potatoes one last time. Once I had added the cheese, spooning liquid over the potatoes doesn't really work as you'd destroy your cheese crust.
- the online recipe only requires a 'carton double cream', without specifying which size carton. I image-googled a carton double cream and assumed that they meant a 300 ml carton; I only now read in the comments that the original printed recipes calls for a 142/150 ml carton. I might try it with less cream next time, but there is a danger that the potatoes will then not be submerged in liquid and therefore not cook as well as they should (see point above re: spooning over liquid).
- next time I'd definitely use double the amount of leeks and garlic
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DB enjoyed this salad very much! He had a few minor points of critique, such as that the ginger wasn’t strong enough (I might not have added the whole amount because I thought it would be too much – it’s not, go for it!), and that it tasted slightly watery – try to let the veggies dry as much as possible.
We were both surprised that the combination of lentils and the other veggies worked so well with this Asian-inspired dressing of garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil, but it did, especially with the lentils and the sugar snaps. We substituted the soy beans for broad beans which worked very well.
I had my difficulties with getting the timing right for cooking the veggies – if you’re unsure about, cook them separately, much of the success of this salad will depend on whether the veggies are still crisp and al dente.
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Very nice recipe! I used 2:1 preserving sugar, meaning I used 1 part sugar and 2.2 parts quince juice; I also made one half with a little rosewater, and the other half without. I really enjoyed the addition of the rosewater, I will do that again.
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Hmm. The shortcrust pastry was very weird, very wet and sticky - no wonder, it contained not only a whole egg but also an additional egg yolk. That made it really difficult to handle, even after cooling it in the fridge for several hours. In the end, I used a trick: I often roll out pastry between two sheets of parchment paper. I did that, removed one sheet, lined the tart tin with the pastry and left the other sheet in place - after all, it had to be blind baked with parchment paper and baking beans, right?
Unfortunately, though, the pastry baked well at the edges but stayed moist in the middle; because I didn't want to end up with an undercooked pastry, I pre-baked the pastry a lot longer than instructed, and once I baked the tart with quince filling, crumble and all, I ended up with burnt edges.
Also, it didn't help that I used a different crumble. I had forgotten to buy rolled oats, and I happened to have a one third quantity of Ottolenghi's crumble (which I of course used thawed). The problem is that this crumble needs an hour to be baked; I don't know how much time the crumble from this recipe would have needed (probably less, given the short baking time in this recipe), but that in any case didn't help.
Looking back, it would have been better remove the second sheet as well, flour it again and then return it, so that the pastry would stick less and hopefully bake more evenly. Also, given that the quince filling is already cooked anyway, it's a lot easier to just fully bake the pastry, have your quince filling ready, bake the crumble on a baking tray and then just assemble while everything is hot. Yes, that might be cheating, but who cares (and who would notice)? Additionally, the crust won't get soggy either!
The flavour of the pastry, once it was baked, was really nice, so I was hopeful it would all be worth the hassle. Unfortunately, though, I didn't actually taste the pastry at all once the quince filling was added. The quince filling was very nice and is something I might consider making again. I didn't add the cornstarch, but I will probably do that next time as the filling ended up being just a tad too liquid. DH even suggested poaching the quinces like in this recipe (with or without the rose water) and using them like apples in apple pie. I think the quince does need some strong flavours, so ground nuts or wholemeal flour will be a good idea (hmm, what if you omit the eggs or at least the egg yolk, and replace the ground almonds with ground hazelnuts?).
Also, as nice as this tart was, but be warned that you will spend a long time in the kitchen.
Served for tea with Scones and Walnut Cake with Coffee Syrup - all of them very nice, but the Quince Crumble Tart actually felt more like a dessert than a tea time treat.
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Soooo delicious! In fact, this sorbet would have easily gained a 5 star rating if the consistency had been more like that of a true sorbet than that of slightly thawed snow. Still, the flavours nearly made you forget which is even more impressive as I was sceptic that cheap tinned fruit could be turned into anything delicious at all… Let me tell you, it can!
Edited to add:
We made the sorbet again, stirred it several times, and added an extra egg white - it was absolutely great! The extra egg white made the texture much finer. Definitely worth a 5-star rating!
I would recommend grating the zest as fine as you can instead of adding it in stripes - use a nutmeg grater for best results! Biting on a distinct piece of zest definitely isn't what you'd want in a sorbet.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food series cookbook, 101 Store-cupboard Suppers.
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Nice dish, works both as a vegetarian main and as a side dish.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food magazine, June 2009 edition.
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We didn't follow the recipe to the letter. We made it with the shortcrust pastry from Gary Rhodes' New Classics instead of the block puff pastry - don't. Use block puff pastry, or try a different recipe for shortcrust pastry, if you must.
Then, while I was struggling with the pastry, my dear BF began preparing the filling, and before I knew what was going on he had added his 'special touch'. He thought 2 tablespoons of mascarpone and one of mustard couldn't be enough, so he just threw in an egg, and, as we wouldn't be able to fold the parmesan into the puff pastry he just threw that into the mix as well.
The result was quite nice, but slightly tasteless (where did the garlic go?), and it was definitely not enough. Between the two of us we finished up three quart of the tart (although admittedly we were really hungry), but I just can't see this as a main dish for 6. Made with puff pastry, the best tomatoes you can get and more garlic and thyme I expect that it can become a nice appetizer, but that's still a small way to go.
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Very delicious, true comfort food! Of course, this recipe suffers from the same problems as every other lasagne recipe I’ve seen until now: not enough sauce and cheese. You can easily double the tomato sauce, and add some extra herbs eg. thyme, while you’re at it. You might want to make some extra ‘white sauce’ (why not call it Béchamel?), but it’s not really necessary, just remember to push down the lasagne sheets before adding another layer of sauce. Also, add lot’s of salt and oil to the aubergines.
Another downside is that any lasagne will take quite some time to assemble. But it's worth it, at least with this recipe. Serves 6 women, or 4 hungry men.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food magazine, May 2009 edition.
Variations? See my Salmon Lasagna, or my review of Delicious Magazine's Classic Moussaka (including online recipe).
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Basically, it is quite a nice dish and coud have received a 4 star rating, but it needed more seasoning as well as that special extra to make it a little more interesting tastewise, and some of the instructions just weren't quite right.
First of all, I've never come across a recipe for two persons that instructs you to use half an egg for one thing and half an egg for another - why just not double all the ingredients (should not be a problem technically in this case) and write the recipe for four servings?
Second, it's quite difficult to get the fish cakes right. Making four cakes from ca. 450g of mass will make you run the risk of getting too large fish cakes that are mushy on the inside and/or burnt on the outside. Make six to eight smaller, thinner cakes and you'll be fine. Also, fry them on a relatively low temperature, e.g. medium or medium-low, for at least several minutes, preferably without turning and tossing them the whole time.
Season them well, but most importantly, add something extra to the mayonnaise - a tiny bit of chilli, for example, or perhaps some coriander, to give it some extra zing. Something like the Chilli-Lime Mayo from this recipe (online version here) would work quite well.
And finally, serve it with extra vegetables, it'll be boring otherwise - good quality cherry tomatoes worked quite well for us.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the Olive: 101 Quick-fix Dishes cookbook.
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Just okay. It was quite bland, so the following day we doubled up the amount of ginger and garlic and marinated the tofu a little longer and yet it was somewhat bland. Roasting the sesames probably would have helped, too.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food series cookbook, 101 Store-cupboard Suppers.
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This was awful, oily, and using bad technique. I would have expected this to be stir-fried and steamed (because why else would you use a wok?), and 'medium heat' does not work in that context. Also, you'll add a total of 4 tbsps of oil - way too much! And last, don't heat sesame oil, and don't use 2 tbsps of it.
Served alongside Braised Pork with Plums - wonderful!
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Very nice! I've made tortilla once before, years ago, and it didn't work out that well. It was different this time, it simply worked well. I did my best, however, to slice the potatoes very thin, and I guess that covering them helps as well. We didn't serve it with the bread with tomato and garlic, as suggested (we simply made oven-roast tomatoes instead), so the tortilla itself could have used a bit more garlic - maybe not necessary if you do add the bread.
I though it was a bit on the small side for four persons as a main dish - add an extra side dish, or make a little more. I also thought that the potato-to-egg-ratio could have been a little more favourable towards the potatoes - using, say, 600g potatoes probably solves both problems in one go.
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Slight disappointment. I had expected something as good as the Vegetable Pilau I hade made a few months ago, but this dish tasted quite disbalanced. BF compared it to an orchestra that made sufficient noise (read: was tasty/aromatic enough), but that noise wasn't guided properly as to produce a nice harmonic tune.
Granted, we had to use tomato purée instead of real tomatoes because BF had secretly eaten them up (all of them!), and then (whisper) he actually used the whole double-sized tin (140g)!! Consequently, the dish tasted too much of tomato purée, a slightly sour taste, but also the taste of the curry (we used mild madras) or perhaps the tumeric was too strong. Halfway through the meal we had the idea to add some rasped coconut to balance the spices a little more, which worked a little.
Next time we´ll definitely use fresh tomatoes, even if that means going out to the store again, and cut the curry and tumeric by half, and then see how it goes. I do believe that the basic idea is very nice.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food magazine, July 2009 edition.
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The fish (we used tilapia as we couldn't get any rainbow trout) was slightly dry, and continued losing water even after we had placed it on the plate, making the rest of the food swim constantly in a layer of water. Bleh. Additionally, the fish itself tasted had hardly any taste and couldn't stand up to the very aromatic watercress sauce at all, so that was quite a mismatch.
I would suggest using a fish with a stronger proprietary taste, such as salmon (here we go again with the apparently classic combination of salmon and watercress: see also my Watercress Crème Fraîche Tart and Grilled Salmon with Watercress Cream Sauce). I would also try out adding some herbs or perhaps one or two lemon slices to the fish before steaming as described in the Trout with Ginger, Lime and Coriander or the Fish en Papillote, and open the parcels as soon as you take them out of the oven, don't allow condensate to develop.
Also, serve with a different side dish, shivers of iceberg salad without a proper salad dressing will be too bland.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the Olive: 101 Quick-fix Dishes cookbook.
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Very delicious. In fact, the combination of flavours would have been worth a 5-star-rating if there hadn’t been so many smallish things to improve.
We cooked the Thai glutinous rice according to the package instructions, not according to the recipe, and it didn’t really work as it should have; there was too little water, and when the rice was finally cooked, it was more of a porridge with too little texture. Nothing of this is related to the recipe, of course, but if you do decide to make this dessert for guests, make sure that you know how to cook the rice. I might try normal dessert rice next time.
Furthermore, the rice was a little tasteless and watery. I would suggest cooking the rice in the coconut milk, perhaps adding the golden caster sugar half-way through the cooking process to prevent the sugar from becoming too caramelised. All in all, the rice could also have been sweeter; but if you decide to go for a sweet rice, serve only small portions of rice.
The sauce, then again, could easily have been a little more sour. The orange juice is superfluous, in my opinion, as it easily superimposes the taste of the mangoes; instead, liquidise the mango and add orange juice (or mango juice!) or water only when really necessary to reach the consistency of the sauce. Also add more lime juice – I think it’s just that contrast between a sweet, sticky, heavy rice and a fruity, light, and slightly sour sauce are rather desirable.
We left out the passion fruit and mint leaves entirely, but I’m sure they form a perfect addition.
Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the BBC Good Food magazine, January 2010 edition.
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These held together well (in contrast to our last attempt at fish cakes), but the portion sizes were quite small - it looked more like a large appetizer or a small lunch than a main dish. It also could use a bit more potato - fish cakes with that much fish are of course a treat, but if that's all you serve, it's a lot of fish and little else (you could, of course, also just serve it with potatoes on the side). All in all, though, I'm beginning to think that making fish cakes is a small art in itself, and that it doesn't consist of adding I don't know how many special ingredients, but of getting the consistency right, and being able to fry without them falling apart, or getting burnt, or both.
The sauce, by the way, wasn't really necessary, and even if, a simpler sauce would have done as well.
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Nice but not particularly mind-blowing. It needs a lot more spices than specified (try using the double amount), and I felt that the sauce was too much liquid too - either cut back on the amount of liquid added, or try to make the sauce thicker one way or other.
Edited to add:
It also tastes nice cold, especially on such hot days as these. Definitely double the amount of spices and add some salt.
Edited 7 January 2015:
I made this again and used the double amount of spices - much better already, but still not particularly impressive. But even so, it is so easy to make that I guess it will end up being a standard on our weekday dinner menu. I forgot to add less liquid, but solved that by using the cooking liquid to cook the couscous, which works quite nicely.
I would also suggest changing the ratio of the vegetables - I don't think courgette/zucchini works particularly well in this dish, though I'm not quite sure substituting an aubergine for one of the courgettes would make it any better. Definitely add more raisins, perhaps one or two bell peppers, and possibly more chickpeas?
Upgraded from a 3 to a 4 star rating.
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