friederike's Profile

From: Berlin,

Joined: September 25th, 2009

Website:
www.instagram.com/Path_of_Yeas


Latest review:

November 11th, 2018

Keralan Veggie Curry with Poppadoms, Rice & Minty Yoghurt from Jamie's 15-Minute Meals

The dish itself, the flavours, at least how I made it, that's a solid four star rating - it was delicious! Everything else - the time management, the style of writing, the layout, - oh, and did I mention... read more >


recipe reviews (1113)
book reviews (121)
useful review votes (554)

friederike's Reviews


Search Reviews:

1109 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title | Date | Rating | Recipe Title

BBC Good Food
(June, 2009)

 

1st October 2009 (edited: 27th April 2013)

Courgette and Goat's Cheese Tart

A wonderful and sophisticated vegetarian tart, ideal for picnics and the like.

Edited to add:
The recipe is available online here. You can also review it here.

useful (0)  


Ice Cream: The Perfect Weekend Treat

By Susanna Tee
Parragon Inc - 2004

13th October 2009 (edited: 11th August 2011)

Strawberry Ice Cream

Never in my life have I had a better ice cream. Make this ice cream if you want to teach your children the difference between natural flavours and artificial flavouring - I can't imagine they would ever prefer the latter again.
If you don't have an ice cream maker don't despair - I simply used my kitchen machine and then transferred the ice cream to a tupperware box for freezing (and back again for stirring).

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The Essential Seafood Cookbook

By Wendy Stephen
Thunder Bay Press - 2003

14th October 2009 (edited: 16th May 2015)

Paella

BF and I have made Paellas on several occasions, using two different recipes from two different books (Die echte Jeden-Tag-Küche being the other one). Now, if only I could remember which one was which. But may be that doesn't matter at all: both were excellent, and judging from the recipe the main difference is that this one contains only fish and seafood while the other one also contains poultry and no fish.

Making a Paella can be a lot of work because of the various ingredients involved; the good news, though, is that you can prepare a lot (basically, everything you need to do before adding the rice), and once your guests have arrived, you only need to warm your pan, boil the rice and add all other ingredients.

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Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cookery Techniques: With over 200 Basic Recipes from the World's Most Famous Culinary School

By Jeni Wright, Eric Treuille, Julia Alcock, David Murray
Cassell Illustrated - 2002

If you’ve never boned a quail (or any other bird, in fact), reckon with several hours of preparation for this one. Unfortunately, we didn’t, and ended up having our Christmas Dinner at midnight. What was worse was that we had screwed up these delicate birds so much that we had to stitch them up with needle and thread to keep the filling where it should be – not something described in the recipe. Luckily, it didn’t impair the taste at all – it was heavenly!

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The Essential Christmas Cookbook

By Wendy Stephen
Thunder Bay Press (CA) - 2003

20th October 2009 (edited: 5th November 2012)

Chicken Liver and Grand Marnier Pâté

Oh my, this was delicious. Of course you shouldn’t make this on the day you’re planning to serve it. And I was surprised how little chicken livers cost me.

Edited to add:
Try to use a bowl or container not higher than a 3-4 cm, otherwise you'll end up with too little surface area to spread out the oranges and jelly.

When I fried the livers they lost a lot of juices. I tried to catch the juices so that the liver would continue to fry, not cook, and kept the juices to add them later again. Don't worry that the pate could become too moist/liquid if you add all the juices, it won't - I added only half of the juices and the pate could have been slightly softer/moister.

Served on Christmas Day 2006 and Easter Sunday 2011

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The Cook's Book: Techniques and Tips from the World's Master Chefs

By Jill Norman
DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley) - 2005

25th October 2009 (edited: 26th December 2015)

Rote Grütze

Wonderful, typical fruit dessert from the north of Germany, Hamburg and surroundings. Light, healthy and yet sweet and puddinglishly. Serve hot or cold, with vanilla ice cream or Crème Anglaise (vanilla sauce), or, classically, with cream (not whipped).

Edited 26 December 2015:
We usually use less water and sugar. This last time I used a total of 215 ml water (instead of 300 ml) and 125 g sugar (instead of 150 g) - 200 ml water and maybe 110 g sugar probably would have been better, although of course that also always depends on the fruit you use. We usually use frozen berries, which is probably part of the reason we not only use less sugar but also less water.

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25th October 2009 (edited: 7th October 2012)

Cinnamon and Date Scone Bread

I made this for a brunch, but left out the dates, and it was a real hit! When I placed the bread in the oven I still had a lot of sauce left (which was supposed to be spread on the bread before forming the loaf), and yet the bread ended up being just a hint too dry. Either serve the sauce with the bread (and then possibly omit the alcohol), or try to roll out the dough even thinner than specified in the recipe, if you can. Nonetheless, this has found its way onto my list of classics.

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Die echte Jeden-Tag-Küche: Gut kochen und essen Tag für Tag

By Cornelia Schinharl
Graefe Und Unzer Verlag - 2007

2nd November 2009 (edited: 26th November 2013)

Ossobuco

Perfect dish for guests, you can put it in the oven for hours, and even when they’re late it doesn’t matter at all. Plus it’s extremely delicious.

Edited 28 October 2012:
We made this again. It was jaw-dropping. It tasted great, and the meat was so tender it literally melted into pieces. Unfortunately, it was quite expensive too, so it's something for very special occasions (and small dinners).

Served with fried chantarelles, mashed potatoes and a salad of rocket, walnuts, gorgonzola with a sweet fig vinegar dressing as side dishes.

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Culinaria Germany

By Konemann
Ullmann Publishing - 2006

2nd November 2009 (edited: 22nd February 2013)

Eel Soup / Hamburger Aalsuppe

I absolutely loved this! BF and I still talk about it after more than 2 years. Living in Hamburg at the time and standing up at 4am to go to the traditional ‘Fischmarkt’ to get the eel when it was freezing cold may have been part of the charme, though...

Amendment 6. Nov. 2009:
I’ve made this dish again, albeit with modifications: I used app. 450g smoked eel instead of 800g fresh eel, and roughly half of the amount of vegetables and other filling, omitting the asparagus and substituting it with the other vegetables. For the other ingredients (meat, broth, etc.) I used the amounts given. Enough for 3-4 persons.

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Essen & Trinken
(May, 2008)

 

25th November 2009 (edited: 18th November 2012)

Jasmine Tea Panna Cotta / Jasmintee-Panna Cotta

Very interesting variation of the usual panna cotta, and delicious as well. BF prefers the original dish, though.

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Essen & Trinken
(October, 2009)

 

25th November 2009 (edited: 27th January 2013)

Engadin Walnut Tartlets / Engadiner Walnußtörtchen

Wonderful tartlets, as if straight from the confectioner! One caveat: my first batch ended up looking pretty burned, although I later discovered that they didn't taste burned at all. For the second batch I therefore reduced the baking time by 10 minutes and slightly lowered the baking temperature. They ended up looking marvellous, but tasting as if they weren't 100% cooked – nevertheless delicious, but I did prefer the burnt looking first batch.

While they are perfect as they are, it should also be possible to make smaller circles and heap a little pile of caramelised walnuts on them, and then bake them on a tray – saves you the effort of forming the cups of dough, and makes waist-friendlier bites...

Edited 27 January 2013:
We made these as cookies this time, making 4,5 cm circles with the help of a champagne glass. As it happens, this is exactly what you need for half a walnut, or even two halves stacked on each other. They looked beautiful and definitely were a lot, let's say, consumer-friendly. The only disadvantage I saw was that the caramel escaped during baking and most of it ended up on the baking tray instead of on the cookies. Still, they were sweet enough and very popular.

Served these with Goat's Cheese Canapées with Pears, Parmesan Cookies, Marinated Feta with Olives, Mini Tiramisu and Meringue Towers with Rose Cream

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BBC Good Food
(October, 2009)

 

25th November 2009 (edited: 26th October 2013)

Fruity Lamb Tagine

Wonderful dish! Easy to prepare, visually attractive and delicious in taste; and on top of that it falls into what BF calls the 'fire and forget'-category of dishes, giving you a whole hour to prepare other dishes and clean up before your guests arrive…

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Olive: 101 Quick-fix Dishes (Olive Magazine)

By Janine Ratcliffe
BBC Books - 2007

3rd December 2009 (edited: 21st September 2011)

Mussels with Coriander Cream, Thai Style

Mussels are always delicious, and I would probably find it hard not to award a 5 star rating to any mussel-dish that keeps it simple. This one is no exception. With coconut cream, fresh coriander and a hint of green curry, it's a welcome change to our usual dish of mussels in white wine.

I was careful with the green curry paste as I didn't want the sharpness to overpower the taste of the mussels, but that wasn't the case; using one teaspoon shouldn't be any problem. Also, we used coconut cream instead of coconut milk, which was a good move, but not enough, for my taste; I would have liked to have a thick sauce not unlike garlic sauce or mayonnaise for dipping. It might be worth it to either try to make an additional sauce based on coconut cream, or to add less white wine and use coconut milk for cooking instead.

You can serve this as a main for two persons, or as an appetizer for up to six people, I guess (the book suggests it is a main dish for six, but that's humbug).

This recipe is nearly identical to the Thai-spiced Steamed Mussels in the BBC Good Food magazine, Oct. 2009 edition.

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BBC Good Food
(May, 2009)

 

8th December 2009 (edited: 16th June 2016)

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

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.

Do you want to prepare this dish? You'll find the recipe online here.
Variations? See my Salmon Lasagna, or my review of Delicious Magazine's Classic Moussaka.

Edited 2 September 2014:
Continues to be a classic. Regarding quantities, I made a tomato sauce as suggested, but using 2 cans of tomatoes, no wine, most ingredients finely chopped by hand, and no stop-over at the food processor. I made the bechamel with 50 g butter/flour and about 600-700 ml milk, and I substituted one aubergine for a courgette, as the latter happened to linger in my fridge.

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BBC Good Food
(October, 2009)

 

15th December 2009 (edited: 21st September 2011)

Thai-spiced Steamed Mussels

This recipe is nearly identical to the Mussels with Coriander Cream, Thai Style in Olive 101 Quick Fix Dishes, which is why I will cross-post my review here:

Mussels are always delicious, and I would probably find it hard not to award a 5 star rating to any mussel-dish that keeps it simple. This one is no exception. With coconut cream, fresh coriander and a hint of green curry, it's a welcome change to our usual dish of mussels in white wine.

I was careful with the green curry paste as I didn't want the sharpness to overpower the taste of the mussels, but that wasn't the case; using one teaspoon shouldn't be any problem. Also, we used coconut cream instead of coconut milk, which was a good move, but not enough, for my taste; I would have liked to have a thick sauce not unlike garlic sauce or mayonnaise for dipping. It might be worth it to either try to make an additional sauce based on coconut cream, or to add less white wine and use coconut milk for cooking instead.

You can serve this as a main for two persons, or as an appetizer for up to 6, I guess (the book suggests it is a main dish for 6, but that's humbug).

*****

Thai-spiced Steamed Mussels uses red curry paste instead of green one, chicken stock instead of white wine, and spring onions instead of a red onions (we used normal onions anyway). Additionally, it uses a red chilli, less garlic (2 instead of 4 garlic cloves) and more coconut milk (400ml instead of 142ml). I suspect that these differences won’t make any difference, except for the quantity of coconut milk, which I suspect will be far too much – we probably used no more than 300ml liquid in total for Mussels with Coriander Cream, and even that was a bit too much in my opinion. Using a total of 700ml liquid you’ll end up cooking your mussels, not steaming them. Another slight difference is that you add the garlic and spring onions at the end of the cooking process, without frying them. This is probably a question of personal preference, but I love the taste of roasted onions.

Recipe originally published in Economy Gastronomy by Allegra McEvedy & Paul Merrett. Don’t buy this book, this dish is anything but economic (app. 6 Euros per serving; serves 2, not 4, see review above).

useful (1)  


Website: Habeas Brulee

habeasbrulee.com
 

19th January 2010 (edited: 12th October 2012)

Pomegranate Ginger Saffron Braised Lamb Neck

Extremely delicious, definitively a keeper!

We had it with Escalivada, which was nice, but a more typical Middle Eastern side dish would have been a good choice as well.

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Website: Eat Like A Girl

eatlikeagirl.com
 

19th January 2010 (edited: 18th October 2012)

Slow Roast Pork Belly with Cider & Lentils

This is such a great recipe! It's very delicious, but even better, it's an impressive sight, easy to prepare and a relatively cheap cut of meat as well.

One caveat: The recipe is calculated for 2 persons. If you double or triple the amount, be sure to re-calculate the time you'll need for roasting, or ask your butcher to cut the roast into smaller pieces. Also, warm up the cider before you add it, especially if you have multiplied the ingredients, as every drop of cold cider will decrease the dishes temperature.

Also, make sure you have enough extra cider - not for cooking but for drinking of course!

I served this for my birthday last year with a variation of the Roasted Squash and Goat’s Cheese Gnocchi (without the gnocchi) as a starter, some cabbage as a side dish (not that any side dish is really necessary), and the Engadin Walnut Tartlets as a dessert.

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Website: Joy of Baking

www.joyofbaking.com
 

22nd January 2010 (edited: 11th July 2014)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

So delicious! Friends and colleagues loved me for baking (and sharing!) these, but if I remember well they don't hold well for more than a few days (they don't need to, anyway).

Edited 30 November 2012:
I was about to make the recipe from Ad Hoc At Home when I discovered that they were actually nearly identical. Keller uses dark brown sugar instead of golden, as well as a 1/4 cup extra sugar, and two kinds of chocolate instead of one, and again just a bit more chocolate than this recipe does. Yet, all in all they are surprisingly similar. And I'm still a big fan!

One remark: Unless you want plate-sized cookies, two tablespoons of dough is much too much. Even one tablespoon makes saucer-sized cookies - a teaspoon full is what you need for a 'normal'-sized cookie. I made just one sheet of cookies and froze the rest - I used ice trays to be able to freeze them in small portions so that next time I need them, I can bake them immediately. Silicone works best, if your ice tray is made from plastic you might have to carefully hold the back under hot running water.

We baked some of the frozen ones today (1 Dec, one day later). We probably got them out some 20 minutes or so before we placed them in the oven, and we baked them for 20 minutes at 160C - they ended up being very crisp, next time we'll start checking after 15 minutes. You can also bake while frozen, just adjust the baking time; also, they might turn out a tiny bit less flat (but just as delicious).

Frozen, they had the shape of heart (I used an ice cube tray similar to this one), but the cookies ended up being normal circles. Now I'm really curious to find out what would work - placing the dough in a cookie cutter maybe?

Edited 11 July 2014:
I made the cookies using orange M&M's, as a token of consolation for DH - for times like these, you'll need chocolate in some form, right? A great success with him and his colleagues.

Next time, I would not just mix in the M&M's with the dough and then spoon the dough on the baking sheet; it's actually easier if you place blobs of cookie dough on the baking sheet first and then add the M&M's afterwards. This way the M&M's will be nice and visible (see photo, I had already mixed them, then tried to scratch the dough off the surface of the M&M's).

Also, if you're using several colours, working this way means you can much easier ensure that each cookie will contain all the colours you want. I.e. if you striving for black(brown)-red-yellow, you wouldn't want to end up with red-yellow-red, would you (gasp!)? Look out for the winner's edition on Monday (hint: there's no such thing as light blue and white M&M's...).

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101 Store-cupboard Suppers ("Good Food")

By Barney Desmazery
BBC Books - 2008

6th March 2010 (edited: 10th February 2012)

Refreshing Lychee and Lime Sorbet

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. I found out that this recipe was published online. I crossposted my review here.

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Chinese Cuisine: Cantonese Style

By Wei-Chuan Publishing, Lee-Hwa Lin
Wei-Chuan Publishing - 1998

6th March 2010 (edited: 12th October 2012)

Good Luck Fish Cake (如意魚崧, rú yì yú sōng)

Really delicious! We unfortunately forgot to add the sauce to the fish-cuttlefish mixture, which made baking a ‘pancake’ somewhat more difficult, but we succeeded, and the result was perfect! As the dish is cooked rapidly, it has little time to actually get warm, so keep an eye on that and don’t prepare the fish in advance as you’ll need the heat it looses.

Don’t be mislead by the portion sizes – I believe that they take into account that several dishes would be served to a party of six. We served this dish together with Black Pepper Beef, Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce and plain rice to three, and I doubt we could have fed six with this dish alone.

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6th March 2010 (edited: 12th October 2012)

Black Pepper Beef (黑椒牛柳條, hēi jiāo niú liǔ tiáo)

Very delicious, although you should keep an eye on the chilli peppers. We added little more than a tablespoon of red chillies, and no green chillies at all, and it was hot! But still delicious.
Don’t be mislead by the portion sizes – I believe that they take into account that several dishes would be served to a party of four. We served this dish together with Good Luck Fish Cake, Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce and plain rice to three, and I doubt we could have fed four with this dish alone.

Edited 6 April 2011:
Upgraded to 5 stars - we returned to this recipe again and again because it's so good! Much depends on your stir-frying techniques - do not overcook the meat!

useful (1)  


Delicious
(March, 2010)

 

6th March 2010 (edited: 28th March 2014)

Caramelised Chicory and Onion Tarte Tatin

Very delicious! It was an unusual dish, beautifully presented and very nice in taste, although for my taste it might have been a little sweeter to counteract the chicories’ bitterness.

The only problem we had was with caramelizing the bottom (or top, depends on how you see it): You’re instructed to melt butter in an oven proof pan, sprinkle sugar into the pan in an even layer and let it melt, without stirring, on low heat; then increase heat until caramelized.
For our first try, we used our old spring form baking tin due to a lack of any other suitable pan. The sugar in the centre melted and burnt, the sugar at the edges didn’t even melt. So we decided to melt the sugar in a normal pan and then transfer it. BF insisted on cooking it on a very, very low temperature (electric level 1) – the butter coloured, but again the sugar didn’t even melt. Then it was my turn again. I used a higher temperature (level 3-4), but the caramel began to agglutinate – ah, there was some reasoning to the instructions! In the end, we poured the caramel into the dish as quickly as possible (albeit not with the expected success of spreading it) and then broke it into shivers, which worked well.

We only managed to fit three chicories in our 23cm square baking pan (no, not the spring form one) – just about enough for four not too hungry people. Add extra onions and sugar/caramel, and take care that the caramel doesn’t turn too dark to get a slightly sweeter flavour.

See also my Chicory and Goat’s Cheese Puff Pastry Pie.

PS: Want to cook this dish? Get the recipe at deliciousmagazine.co.uk and then post your review here.

Edited 27 March 2014:
I made this again today. In the meantime, I've found a pan I can use both on the stove as well as in the oven - very, very useful! I started melting the sugar with the butter on the stove, but the sugar caramelised irregularly. I decided that it would probably melt well enough while in the oven, so I just added the other ingredients and baked it, and it turned out fine! Next time I might not even bother with melting the sugar (though it's important to melt the butter first, then sprinkle the sugar).

Also, I piled up 6 squares of puff pastry to roll out, which was more than I needed. 5 or maybe even 4 should be enough. Again I found that my pan will fit 3 chicory, which makes for a very light meal for 4, but is better for 3.

useful (1)  


Simple Chinese Cooking

By Kylie Kwong
Michael Joseph Ltd - 2006

21st March 2010 (edited: 4th April 2013)

Mum's Fried Rice

Such a simple dish, and yet such delight!
It's a very straight-forward recipe, just remember to have everything prepared before you start stir-frying, and yes, that includes the rice too! Serve it with one or two extra dishes (eg. one vegetables, one meat) to a party of four. You can also opt to add extra vegetables (peas make an excellent addition, or otherwise perhaps green beans) to serve it as a main course. And substitute the bacon with salted nuts to make it vegetarian.

useful (0)  


Website: Delicious Magazine (UK)

www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk
 

15th April 2010 (edited: 20th April 2010)

Caramelised Chicory and Onion Tarte Tatin

Very delicious! It was an unusual dish, beautifully presented and very nice in taste, although for my taste it might have been a little sweeter to counteract the chicories’ bitterness.

The only problem we had was with caramelizing the bottom (or top, depends on how you see it): You’re instructed to melt butter in an oven proof pan, sprinkle sugar into the pan in an even layer and let it melt, without stirring, on low heat; then increase heat until caramelized.
For our first try, we used our old spring form baking tin due to a lack of any other suitable pan. The sugar in the centre melted and burnt, the sugar at the edges didn’t even melt. So we decided to melt the sugar in a normal pan and then transfer it. BF insisted on cooking it on a very, very low temperature (electric level 1) – the butter coloured, but again the sugar didn’t even melt. Then it was my turn again. I used a higher temperature (level 3-4), but the caramel began to agglutinate – ah, there was some reasoning to the instructions! In the end, we poured the caramel into the dish as quickly as possible (albeit not with the expected success of spreading it) and then broke it into shivers, which worked well.

We only managed to fit three chicories in our 23cm square baking pan (no, not the spring form one) – just about enough for four not too hungry people. Add extra onions and sugar/caramel, and take care that the caramel doesn’t turn too dark to get a slightly sweeter flavour.

See also my Chicory and Goat’s Cheese Puff Pastry Pie.

Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in the Delicious Magazine, March 2010 edition.

useful (0)  


Website: BBC Good Food

www.bbcgoodfood.com
 

15th April 2010 (edited: 20th April 2010)

Roasted Vegetable Lasagne

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).

useful (0)  


Website: BBC Good Food

www.bbcgoodfood.com
 

15th April 2010 (edited: 20th April 2010)

Courgette and Goat's Cheese Tart

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.

useful (0)  


Modern Moroccan

By Ghillie Bhasan
Hermes House - 2003

17th April 2010 (edited: 4th July 2011)

Harissa

Oooh, very delicious. We only used half of the amount of chillies, and yet it ended up being quite, but not too, spicy (and salty!). BF commented that it looked like "radioactive waste - and it smells like that too!", but in the end he just loved it. I considered freezing it, but as it's a oil-based paste it probably wouldn't work. Expect Moroccan cooking from us during the next few weeks.

Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in Ghillie Basan’s other Moroccan cookbook, Moroccan: A Culinary Journey of Discovery.

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Moroccan: A Culinary Journey of Discovery (Food Lovers Collection)

By Ghillie Basan
Parragon Inc - 2007

17th April 2010 (edited: 4th July 2011)

L'hrissa (Harissa)

Oooh, very delicious. We only used half of the amount of chillies, and yet it ended up being quite, but not too, spicy (and salty!). BF commented that it looked like "radioactive waste - and it smells like that too!", but in the end he just loved it. I considered freezing it, but as it's a oil-based paste it probably wouldn't work. Expect Moroccan cooking from us during the next few weeks.

Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in Ghillie Basan’s other Moroccan cookbook, Modern Moroccan.

useful (0)  


17th April 2010 (edited: 12th March 2017)

Za'louk (Aubergine and Tomato Salad)

Actually, this is more of a dip than a salad, although you can also eat it as a side dish. I hardly tasted any tomato, except for a slightly sweet taste, and just a faint hint of aubergine. The rest was spice, spice and garlic; in a way, we joked, it was like a spicy garlic mayonnaise but with much better nutritional values.

It was extremely delicious, and you can be sure we'll make this again, be it as a side dish or as a dip. We used homemade Harissa and served it with Mutton Leg Chops with Ginger and Pomegranate Salsa and buttery couscous, and it went together really well.

Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in Ghillie Basan’s other Moroccan cookbook, Modern Moroccan.

Edited 11 March 2017:
It's a good idea to steam the aubergine in batches, especially when using larger amounts than given. I also only chopped everything this time, and I think I prefer the puréed version.

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Modern Moroccan

By Ghillie Bhasan
Hermes House - 2003

17th April 2010 (edited: 21st March 2016)

Zahlouk (Aubergine and Tomato Salad)

Actually, this is more of a dip than a salad, although you can also eat it as a side dish. I hardly tasted any tomato, except for a slightly sweet taste, and just a faint hint of aubergine. The rest was spice, spice and garlic; in a way, we joked, it was like a spicy garlic mayonnaise but with much better nutritional values.

It was extremely delicious, and you can be sure we'll make this again, be it as a side dish or as a dip. We used homemade Harissa and served it with Mutton Leg Chops with Ginger and Pomegranate Salsa and buttery couscous, and it went together really well.

Crosspost. Exact the same recipe was also published in Ghillie Basan’s other Moroccan cookbook, Moroccan: A Culinary Journey of Discovery.

Edited 21 March 2016:
Served with Lamb and Apricot Stew, which worked really well!

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Website: BBC Good Food

www.bbcgoodfood.com
 

21st April 2010 (edited: 1st April 2011)

Refreshing Lychee and Lime Sorbet

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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Tender: v. 1: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch

By Nigel Slater
Fourth Estate Ltd - 2009

2nd May 2010 (edited: 7th December 2017)

Baked Vegetables with an Aubergine Sauce

Extremely tasty! Full of flavour and very delicious! I had some issues with the preparation, however.

First of all: take your time. Making the aubergine cream will take a while, and if you don't have a large oven that fit's two trays of veggies, such as me, you will have to prepare one after the other. That is not necessarily a problem; just be aware of it. You can easily prepare the aubergine cream a day in advance, then all you'll need to do is chop the veggies, throw them into a baking dish, off into the oven and you're done.

Slater didn't give an indicator how long the aubergines would need to become soft. Some of my aubergines were quite soft after 10-15 min, others weren't. I guess it helps making really deep, regular cuts and using lots of oil, at least I suspect that that was the difference between my different aubergines. All in all I think they spent at least 25-30 minutes in the oven, perhaps even longer.

Then the baking time for the other veggies: He estimates 45-60 minutes, we baked our veggies for at least 1 hr 15 min, and even then some of the courgettes weren't really soft. Some of the peppers and onions, and especially the raisins lying on top (15 min) were burnt. Possibly this was partly due to the fact that the baking dish was stuffed full with veggies - but actually I was glad that at least half of the dishes' veggies actually fit into my 23x30cm baking dish (and that didn't need to feed 4 but only 2 today). So, if you have a larger baking dish (or even two of them), go for it. You might also want to consider to chop more and bake shorter.

Because I forgot that I had only used half of the veggies I added all of the cumin, homemade harissa (from Modern Moroccan), raisins and pine kernels/almond flakes, but that was a very useful mistake as it gave some extra flavour. The courgettes actually fell away a bit, tastewise, but had a nice texture, and all in all it was great. Great mediterranean side dish, great vegetarian main dish.

Edited the next day:
Making the aubergine cream a day in advance really is a good idea. Yesterday the mint was hardly noticeable - today it made the cream taste very fresh!

Edited 30 December 2012:
Definitely try to make the aubergine cream at least a few hours in advance so that you can chill it - makes a great contrast to the hot and spicy vegetables. You might need to puree the cream.

Edited 7 December 2017:
For 5-6 pers we used 3 aubergines, 2 red and 2 green peppers, 2 onions, 2 enormous zucchinis and maybe 4 tomatoes?

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Foodie
(July, 2010)

 

12th July 2010 (edited: 23rd July 2014)

Gazpacho

Very delicious! I slightly amended the recipe, though. The recipe calls for half a stock cube to be added directly into the soup. I try to avoid stock cubes whenever I can, and this clearly was one situation where I thought it couldn't do any harm to try it out without - and it worked! I didn't add any salt or pepper either, and I enjoyed the taste of the vegetables with the edge provided by the garlic as it was. I also left out the raw onion (I don't like raw onions).

I do find it a little strange that this recipe was presented as the "foodies cooking school" with step-by-step illustrations - they didn't actually explain or show anything you couldn't expect a beginning cook to know. What is more, the gap between this recipe and the pretenses of many of the others (see e.g. the indexed Ham Mousse with Fennel Salad) are so large that you can't wonder whom they have in mind as a target group. Also, I disliked that afterwards I discovered a herb on the picture (thyme, I think) that isn't even mentioned. No big deal, but it wouldn't be a big deal to mention it either, would it?

As except for the croutons no cooking is involved (blanching tomatoes doesn't count, you can do that in a water cooker), this recipe is as good as camping-proof, and very definitely moving-and-kitchenless-proof. Well, you'll need a blender or a kitchen machine, so may be you should forget about this being camping-proof.

Amendment 13. July 2010:
This isn't enough for four servings, rather three, unless you serve it as a starter. The two of us shared whatever was left and ate it with extra croutons, half a cucumber, and two hard boiled eggs, at Elizabeth David's suggestion.

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The Cuisine of the Rose: Classic French Cooking from Burgundy and Lyonnais (Penguin Cookery Library)

By Mireille Johnston, Milton Glaser
Penguin Books Ltd - 1992

10th October 2010 (edited: 12th October 2012)

Coq au Vin Bourguignon

If you ever want to impress anyone with rich French cooking - here's your dish. It's quite an effort though, so it's not something you'd like to do as a midnight supper - but other than that, it's really really worth it - I'd give it 6 stars if I could.

It's way better than the version in The Cook's Book, though the latter is much easier, too. The version from Die echte Jeden-Tag-Küche sits somewhere in-between.

Edited 12 October 2012:
I think we've made this recipe three times in the last two years. Actually, it's not that hard. It's a lot of chopping and cleaning and frying and braising, yes, but not more than you would really expect. For just the two of us, I'll turn to this version or this one, but for guests, it's definitely Coq au Vin Bourguignon!

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Die echte Jeden-Tag-Küche: Gut kochen und essen Tag für Tag

By Cornelia Schinharl
Graefe Und Unzer Verlag - 2007

10th October 2010 (edited: 12th October 2012)

Coq au Vin

Very nice! While this recipe uses roughly the same ingredients (not checking the amounts used) as the one in The Cuisine of the Rose, it's a lot easier as you don't need to cook every ingredient individually - saves you a lot of effort! Nevertheless the dish gains a very deep level of flavour, unlike the recipe in The Cook's Book.

I strayed slightly from the instructions - I fried the chicken in batches, and little bits in the pan got burned - was it the flour or too much heat? In any case, by the time the pan had cooled down enough to be able to clean it the chicken had become cold too and I wouldn't have been able to flambé it. Instead, I added the red wine first, reheated everything again and added the flaming cognac then. I don't think this changed anything, though.

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Brigitte - Unsere besten Menüs

By Burgunde Uhlig
Mosaik - 2002

16th October 2010 (edited: 8th July 2011)

Potato Pumpkin Gratin / Kartoffel-Kürbis-Gratin

Just like the Potato-Pear-Gratin from Die Echte Jeden-Tag-Küche: Very sophisticated and just the perfect side course for any festive autumnal meal. Love it!

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Die echte Jeden-Tag-Küche: Gut kochen und essen Tag für Tag

By Cornelia Schinharl
Graefe Und Unzer Verlag - 2007

16th October 2010 (edited: 8th July 2011)

Potato Pear Gratin / Kartoffel-Birnen-Gratin

I loved this gratin. Very sophisticated and just the perfect side course for any festive autumnal meal. See also the Potato-Pumpkin-Gratin from Brigitte – Unsere Besten Menüs.

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Tender: v. 1: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch

By Nigel Slater
Fourth Estate Ltd - 2009

16th October 2010 (edited: 5th October 2014)

A Simple Stew of Onions, Beer and Beef

Quite nice. We chose this recipe as it was quick to prepare and we could let it simmer while painting our bedroom - by the time we had finished painting, it was the perfect meal you would want to eat after a day of hard work. I'm not a big fan of beer, but after hours of braising you couldn't taste any anyway.

In my opinion, though, the apple sauce was quite superfluous. It was too much - I had used only three (albeit large) apples instead of the 5-6 required, and ended up with lots of apple sauce after I had finished my meal - with a scoop of ice cream it would have made it the perfect two-in-one dish!. And to be honest, I just preferred a dollop of cranberry sauce with the stew.

As accompaniment I would suggest something crunchy, as the meat is already extremely soft. Think rosemary roasted potatoes, think a gratin (think Potato Pear Gratin, another reason to omit the apple sauce!), and perhaps a salad to go with it to add a light component too.

Edited 7 January 2014:
This has become one of our standard dishes. It's really easy to make, and very delicious! You can also adapt it easily by using other herbs (or even spices), or adding other ingredients (ie. apple slices or raisins).

We used trappist beer until now and never had any issues, but today it somehow smelled strange and tasted bitter. Either the beer changed (though highly unlikely) or it is something we just never noticed before. In any case, you can just as well use other types of beer - Guinness would be particularly suitable, as would be cider.

We made Rösti today to go with it, which was a really nice combination, the Rösti was crunchy, and just as rustic as the stew.

Edited 6 July 2014:
We made this using a Belgian brown beer (Leffe bruin), and it was very nice, and no bitter flavours at all. Very nice! Also decided to upgrade this dish from 4 to 5 stars, because we've made it so often.

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Ad Hoc at Home

By Thomas Keller
Artisan - 2009

28th October 2010 (edited: 3rd April 2013)

Marinated Feta with Olives

I absolutely agree with theprevious reviewer - there are few ingredients, so it very important that you use high quality ingredients, especially with regards to olive oil. If you do, it'll be extremely delicious.

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28th October 2010 (edited: 4th July 2011)

Sauteed Shrimp with Garlic

Excellent recipe! The only criticism I have is that there were so few of them. Be careful with the salt, though, ours were slightly salty, too.

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Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

By Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi
Ebury Press - 2010

30th October 2010 (edited: 21st November 2013)

Roast Chicken with Saffron, Hazelnuts and Honey

Brilliant! The chicken was tender and juicy (and it didn't matter at all that I left it in the oven for a little longer), the sauce was full of different flavours and textures, soft and crunchy, sweet and flowery and spicy, just brilliant.

One little point: You are first told to chop the hazelnuts roughly, then to make a paste of the nuts together with honey and rosewater - this won't work, at least not with what I call roughly chopped hazelnuts. Chop them finely, but don't grind them.

We served this with Baked Vegetables with an Aubergine Sauce and plain couscous, and it went together extremely well.

Edited 21 November 2013:
We served this dish to guests in June, and it went horribly wrong - the chicken wasn't cooked, and it took ages until it was. So gave it another try last night, and we ended up with a total roasting time of 1 hr 20 min. Just like in June, we used chicken legs. I'm not quite sure what we used the first time we made this; I suppose it might have been thighs. Will have to test that some time.

I served the chicken with a salad, and a couscous flavoured with cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, salt and raisins - basically this was a nice idea, but because the hazelnuts, honey and rosewater in the chicken, the main dish is already slightly sweet, so it's better to use something less sweet than raisins.

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5th November 2010 (edited: 4th April 2013)

Puy Lentils with Sour Cherries, Bacon and Gorgonzola

Were you surprised? I was. Actually, I was afraid we were having to order pizza tonight. We didn't; we decided to serve it next time we were having a dinner party. It looks great, it sounds daring, and it is actually quite delicious.

The basis of this salad are the lentils (this one time green lentils for us, unfortunately), and the combination of lentils, spinach, dried sour cherries (we used dried cranberries, delicious!) and red wine vinegar is marvellous! The bacon and the gorgonzola add an extra dimension, once in a while; but this is where you need to become careful, as you can better use slightly less bacon and gorgonzola as instructed. Also, check the amount of salt you add to the lentils, and tear the bacon and gorgonzola into small pieces.

Edited 2 April 2011 to add:
We have since made this salad on two different occasions, both times while having a party - people really enjoyed the salad. I have the idea that if you prepare it a couple of hours in advance and also add the spinach, the different flavours mellow down a bit - a good thing in this case :)

Edited 10 May 2011 to add:
For a vegetarian edition, substitute the bacon for salted cashew (or other) nuts. Or do what I do when there are several guests of whom at least one vegetarian: offer both seperately on small plates, right next to the salad.

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All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking

By Molly Stevens
W.W. Norton & Co. - 2004

13th November 2010 (edited: 12th October 2012)

Pork Pot Roast with Apricots, Cardamom & Ginger

5 stars, no doubt. It's a very easy dish, but produces excellent results. The meat is juicy, the flavours interesting yet balanced. The only thing I might change next time is that I might cut back the amount of orange zest a bit. A very christmassy dish, if that's your association with oranges and spices.

We served this with wild rice and grilled aubergines and courgettes with Harissa and some leftover lime yoghurt from the Cauliflower and Cumin Fritters with Lime Yoghurt - very delicious, though the Harissa just might be too strong. However, the dish didn't taste as Middle Eastern as I had expected with all the spices. Instead, I would recommend some baguette and a chicory salad to go with the dominating flavour of oranges.

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Nest Koken
(, 2009)

 

Oh, wow! Excellent pie! Very full of flavours, the best proof that vegetarian food doesn't need to be dull at all, on the contrary.

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Für Sie - Kochen und Verwöhnen
(, 2007)

 

Perfect dessert for any festive meal in December! I love the fact that it introduces typical Christmassy flavours in a different form. Additionally, it worked perfectly and was extremely delicious.

Edited 26 december 2011:
It was a bit of a mystery what kinds and what parts of the Lebkuchen you were suposed to use, but in the end I decided that any Lebkuchen without chocolate or coloured glazing, with the bottom plate removed, should be ok (colourless, soft glazing is fine). If you don't have a kitchen machine, chopping works well enough.

We didn't need any corn starch at all for the cranberry sauce as these contain enough pectine; on the contrary, I thought the sauce was still too thick but also too strong for the souffles though I certainly enjoyed their zingy flavour. You could perhaps add some raspberries to soften the flavour.

Also, you could add some cocoa to the souffles. I'm not entirely sure what I thought of the raisins; I'd might leave them out next time or replace them by dried cranberries next time.

To serve: They will come out easily though might loose some air. Arrange on a plate with some sauce, stick a sparkler into them and serve.

Served with Shallot Tarte Tatin as a starter, and Roast Loin of Pork with a Cider Sauce with potatoes, salad and Baked Apples with Prunes and Walnuts as a main.

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Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

By Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi
Ebury Press - 2010

26th December 2010 (edited: 23rd July 2014)

French Beans and Mangetout with Hazelnut and Orange

Very, very nice. I had problems tasting the beans and mangetouts, though, as the taste of the oranges, garlic, and to a lesser extent the hazelnuts was slightly dominant. The preparation is really easy, too, as there are only a few things to do and you can easily prepare everything in advance and just assemble the salad when needed.

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Simple Chinese Cooking

By Kylie Kwong
Michael Joseph Ltd - 2006

29th December 2010 (edited: 12th October 2012)

Stir-Fried Snow Peas with Garlic

A wonderful dish. The added salt and sugar emphasize the delicate flavours of the snow peas while the garlic gives it a contrasting note to run along with. It's quick, simple (no special ingredients!) and very delicious.

However, it's very delicate and needs to be served along with another just as delicate dish, such as fish. We had it along with the Stir-fried Beef with Oyster Sauce, and the latter just overpowered the flavour of the snow peas.

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22nd January 2011 (edited: 5th November 2013)

Stir-Fried Squid with Garlic and Chilli

Soo delicious, an explosion of tastes, and it looked impressive too! This is definitely on our list of 'food for guests'. We didn't serve it with lime halves as these seemed to be more for garnish anyhow. Kwong remarks that with some steamed rice this can be served as a meal for four - it won't be enough, and you'll need some veggies anyhow. Go for something that is strongly flavoured so that it can stand up to the combination of squid, garlic, ginger and chilli.

Edited 2 November 2013:
Server with Eggplant with Spicy Garlic Sauce, a very good combination!

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Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

By Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi
Ebury Press - 2010

27th January 2011 (edited: 22nd March 2012)

Chargrilled Broccoli with Chilli and Garlic

Absolutely a great dish! The broccoli was fresh, crunchy, slightly smokey, and packed with flavour. It tasted nice both hot and cold, and you can also eat it with your fingers (if you don't mind them getting a bit oily). We used one chilli only, which made it nice and spicy but not too hot.

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Roast Figs, Sugar Snow: Food to Warm the Soul

By Diana Henry
Mitchell Beazley - 2008

13th February 2011 (edited: 25th July 2012)

Roast Figs and Plums in Vodka with Cardamom Cream

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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