kateq's Reviews
558 recipes reviewed. Showing 501 to 550Sort by: Book Title 
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Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home Cooking Triumphs
By Julia Turshen, Gentl + Hyers, Ina Garten
Chronicle Books - 2016
These are such nice muffins. I subbed canola oil for butter and was generous with apple and raisins. Otherwise followed the recipe, and loved the results.
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This makes a delicious, rich and slightly sweet stock and a very good chicken vegetable soup. I parted company only when it came to the addition of a pound of chicken wings--she speaks admiringly of the fat that results--I'm not a fan. But I did like the idea of emphasizing the richness--so I added several cups of chicken broth in place of the wings. I also like the addition of a whole head of garlic.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
This is, without a doubt, the best ricotta I have ever made. Heck, it's the best ricotta I've ever eaten.
Granted, it's not exactly slimming--whole milk and cream (or, in my case, half and half), but it is so smooth and so creamy and the lemon and the salt amounts are just right. I made double the amount and used 6 cups of milk and 2 cups of half and half. It was easy, relatively quick and I can give no information about how long it lasts because it lasted no time at all when offered up as a spread for crostini. I have to make it again (without telling) so I can try it in a baked pasta or some sort of stuffing for something savory or sweet.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
I'm giving this a five as mine baked beautifully and resulted in a pair of pretty, mounded loaves (I doubled the recipe). I was generous with the fruit and I used half white, half brown sugar in the streusel, skipping the nuts in the topping. As usual, I lined my loaf pans with parchment instead of greasing--much simpler release and much easier clean up.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
Really good, really easy biscotti -- and not nearly as sticky or difficult a dough as I expected from Deb's intro. I baked mine in convection and found the times in the original recipe pretty accurate -- 15 minutes for the first bake. I subbed walnuts for the hazelnuts (what I had on hand) and they were delicious.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
I made this as a sheet cake, doubling the recipe twice to end up with two half-sheet sized layers. At the orderer's request, it was iced with cream cheese frosting. I beat the egg/salt/sugar mixer for perhaps a bit longer than instructed (but it was a doubled recipe) and the result was a nearly full bowl of a lovely golden meringue-ish mixture. I took a while to fold in first the chocolate and then the almond meal/buckwheat mixture. The extra time was well worth while. The resulting cake was a knock-out. Those who thought they would not care for a gluten free cake found themselves having seconds. This is really a very clever variation on the nearly flourless chocolate cake that was all the rage some years back. I think it should be the rage again...
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
Really good cookies. A lovely texture, a bit crusty on the outside and tender and chewy on the inside. I creamed the butter and peanut butter and sugars until they were a lovely fluffy mass. I skipped the milk as it seemed unnecessary and didn't miss it in the final product. I also skipped the chocolate and/or peanut butter chips. These are peanut butter cookies to make the purist happy. I love the cross-hatching and a sprinkling of sanding sugar on top. Much to be preferred to the varieties which employ shortening over butter.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
I am giving this a 4 because I found the spice amounts to be really underwhelming. I used more cinnamon and ginger and, in particular, more cloves. Because I only had light brown sugar on hand, I went with all brown sugar. I skipped the egg wash and the cinnamon sugar and the addition of nuts and/or chocolate. I had a yield of 2 dozen nice sized biscotti plus all the ends Cook's treat!). The flavor is very nice (once the spicing is intensified) and the texture is great. In the future I might add a drizzle of white chocolate--mostly for looks.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
As advertised, a very delicious meal that is somehow simultaneously comforting and guiltless. The bechamel is light, the zucchini and herbs rule and the whole thing is delightfully fresh tasting. Also as promised, it's a great repeat meal. I followed the recipe and loved it--but I think next time I might go a bit heavier on the herbs and the scallions and the pepper.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
unbelievably easy---chicken wings, water, onion, garlic, salt--just 5 ingredients in the slow cooker and Voila! Great stock.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
I liked these a lot--and not just because how this recipe streamlines the process. I do think the timing is a little off--I checked mine at the suggested time and they were too soft---a few more minutes made all the difference. I think they could use a bit oomph--more spice, more herbs--but quite good, quite easy. Btw, I had a jar of Rao's marinara and used it to very good effect. I think chilling the balls is crucial.
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Soframiz: Vibrant Middle Eastern Recipes from Sofra Bakery and Cafe
By Ana Sortun, Maura Kilpatrick
Ten Speed Press - 2016
Nice, straightforward, simple to do. The recipe yields 6 breads--I thought they were a little large; next time I think I'd make 8 or 9 breads. While it's delicious fresh and warm, I was very pleased at how good this bread is the next day, having been wrapped in foil and then warmed a bit in the oven.
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Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations
By Nancie McDermott
Chronicle Books - 2007
I found this recipe through a recommendation on Orangette and loved the cake so much I immediately ordered the book. This is a wonderful pound cake. It is moist and tender with an amazing crunchy sweet top crust. As tempting as it was to add flavoring (almond extract, lemon rind), I resisted and made the recipe exactly as written. It's so easy to make. I used my stand mixer and was careful to give adequate time to beating the butter/cream cheese and then again to the butter/cream cheese/sugar and to the added eggs. The baking time (I used a tube pan( was right on. A truly beautiful cake...
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Southern Italian Desserts: Rediscovering the Sweet Traditions of Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, and Sicily
By Rosetta Costantino, Jennie Schacht
Ten Speed Press - 2013
Who would have thought it! It really is easy (though a bit boring) to remove the almond skins. Just as the recipe says, the almonds pop right out of their skins. I needed blanched almonds for almond paste and here is a method that's a snap.
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I was very unhappy with the cost and the quality of the almond paste available for sale. Whole almonds however are available at a reasonable cost. I blanched the almonds according to the instructions in this book (excellent method) and made this almond paste. It was a little softer and moister than the tinned variety but it came together beautifully and tasted wonderful. Now I look forward to using it in lots of recipes.
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Website: Speciality Cake Creations
These are amazing! Not just as gluten free muffins, but as muffins period. I made only three slight changes: I substituted some freshly greated nutmeg for the allspice, placed 2 pecan halves on top or each muffin and sprinkled the top of each with a little turbinado sugar. The resulting muffin is tender and moist and just sweet enough. The coconut flavor is quite subtle and very pleasing. Really a terrific little recipe.
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The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food
By Lynne Rossetto Kasper
William Morrow Cookbooks - 1992
Very rich and quite delicious. Excellent with grilled fish or chicken.
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Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories
By Grace Young
Simon & Schuster - 2010
This dish is perfect. We blanched the broccoli florets briefly and then drained them in a colander as directed. We made the ginger juice and mixed it with soy in a small bowl; we sliced and smashed the ginger and had it at the ready. We followed the impeccable instructions precisely and the result was crisp-tender, perfectly seasoned, bright green broccoli florets.
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Another perfect recipe. Ms. Young's instructions are so precise and clear that it's impossible not to have a good result. In this case, we skipped the mushrooms and subbed peppers for the carrot, but followed the balance of recipe exactly. The timing is just amazing -- we were so delighted with the results. The texture of the vegetables was crisp yet tender, the seasoning just right.
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The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread: Cakes, Cookies, Bars, Pastries and More from New York City's Favorite Bakery
By Amy Scherber, Toy Kim Dupree, Aimee Herring
Wiley - 2008
This recipe is worth the price of the book. It is now my go-to banana bread. It never fails. I do add a bit more sugar and am a bit more generous with the banana puree and the berries. I have also found that the bread takes longer than the 55 to 65 minutes in the recipe (which may of course be on account of the additional fruit). I have made it on occasion without the berries and with walnuts added and sometimes with other refinements and it is always delicious.
It keeps well for a day or so and can be frozen, though I don't think it's as good once thawed. Do let it cool before slicing.
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Tartine
By Elisabeth Prueitt, Chad Robertson, Carlo Petrini, Alice Waters, Alice Waters, France Ruffenach, Alice Waters
Chronicle Books - 2006
This is so easy to put together by hand that it seems silly to use a mixer. Wet mixed in a bowl then added to dry mixed in another bowl. The marmalade/zucchini combination works beautifully. I have made it with marmalade both times. I know the recipe suggests that apricot jam would work as well, but the tangy-ness of the marmalade is an important feature of the cake. I personally prefer it without the nuts, but I am alone in that view.
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A Taste of India
By Madhur Jaffrey
MacMillan Publishing Company - 1988
Ms. Jaffrey gives two formulas for the spice mixture--I made hers and loved it. Cardamom, cumin seeds, whole cloves, peppercorns, nutmeg and cinnamon stick get ground together to make this spectacularly aromatic mixture. But it doesn't just smell good--it tastes wonderful as well. It's perfuming my home right now as a cauliflower stew cooks...
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I categorized this as a "Side" but, as noted in the intro to the recipe, it's a very good little meal in itself. I changed only one thing--I used fresh spinach and, instead of steaming it separately, chopped the raw spinach in the food processor and added it directly to the rice. The spice mixture is so satisfying--aroma, flavor, color. I found it needed more salt and benefited from the addition of fresh cilantro at service.
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A Taste of Old Cuba: More Than 150 Recipes for Delicious, Authentic, and Traditional Dishes
By Maria Josefa Lluria De O'Higgins
William Morrow Cookbooks / Harper Collins Pub. - 1994
This recipe is amazing. The fish is ready to serve in half an hour and it's totally delicious. In addition it is a most forgiving and flexible recipe. You can halve it or double it; you can use almost any white fleshed fish (and I've done it with salmon and loved it). You can vary the herbs, sub lemon for the vinegar or use other vinegars. It's just so easy. And the only clean-up is the blender, your knife and the pan (if you make it stove-top) or baking dish. It's also really pretty.
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Man these are good! And they could not be simpler--saute shrimps and garlic in hot oil for about 3 minutes; add lime juice and salt and pepper and guve it anothe minute or two. Done! I scraped the shrimps and sauce out of the saute pan and poured them over rice, sprinkled the dish with parsley--what a meal!
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Website: Tasting Table
www.tastingtable.com/index.htm
These shrimp are perfect! Just the right texture. I'll never do poached shrimp or any shrimp for salad, etc any other way.
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Website: Tasty Kitchen
Quite delicious, but a bit too sweet. Fewer figs, more olives and maybe a little heat and it would earn a five.
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Two Kitchens: Family Recipes from Sicily and Rome
By Rachel Roddy
Headline Home - 2017
A lovely cake with the added bonus of being naturally gluten free. While it takes a bit of time (mostly inactive) it is quite easy to make. I dust my buttered pan with rice flour so as to keep it gluten free.
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The Vanilla Bean Baking Book: Recipes for Irresistible Everyday Favorites and Reinvented Classics
By Sarah Kieffer
Avery - 2016
Ironically, I make these all the time, but as vanilla sugar cookies. Rather than adding 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, I up the flour amount to 2 1/4 cups. Otherwise, I follow the recipe. It results in one dozen absolutely stellar sugar cookies.
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Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate
By Patricia Wells
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2007
This is so simple and so delicious. It's becoming my current favorite dressing over salads of greens, herbs, tomatoes, hard boiled egg, avocado, chick peas---a regular summer meal that sometimes includes some shrimp or chicken. The dressing isn't oily or heavy but just gives a lovely light sheen to the salad.
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Ms. Wells suggests this as a topping for toasted tomatoes and it is very good that way. But this has many uses--drizzled over a piece of grilled fish or chicken, as a sandwich condiment, or, my favorite so far, thinned with a bit more olive oil and used as topping for focaccia.
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Simple, quick and quite good, The sauce is best if cooked down enough that it is thick enough to coat the chicken,
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Vegetables: The Most Authoritative Guide to Buying, Preparing, and Cooking with More than 300 Recipes
By James Peterson
William Morrow Cookbooks - 1998
A delicious salad--and a unique (at least in my experience) method of dressing it. I did not do the rather fussy procedure with the onion--just sliced it very thin and added it--but otherwise followed the instructions precisely. (I will try the soaking/rubbing of the onion another time when I'm less hungry.) I ground cumin and coriander seeds and heated them in the oil--the scent is lovely. The combination of the cilantro and mint makes this a truly fragrant dish and a very pretty one.
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The Very Best Of Recipes for Health: 250 Recipes and More from the Popular Feature on NYTimes.com
By Martha Rose Shulman
Rodale Books - 2010
I adapted this for the slow cooker, thus skipping adding the oil and using organic garlic powder (a product I buy at Whole Foods and LOVE). I doubled, using a full pound of lentils, and froze several portions. I was afraid this might be a bit dull, but the addition of all that cilantro is magical. It really transforms the soup into an aromatic delight. (Obviously, no cilantro was added to the frozen portions.)
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I think of this as white hummus. I add salt but otherwise follow the recipe (if you use canned beans, you may not need the salt). It's a great blank slate -- the taste changes so much from one herb to another. And cilantro, rosemary, flat leaf parsley, sage and chives all work. I love it as one component of a plate which includes olives, anchovies, chunks of feta, roasted red peppers.
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It's still just warm enough to keep some herbs going and to harvest the last of the tomatoes so this pasta is just right. I followed the recipe precisely, using feta cheese. I realize it would defeat the whole 'health' thing, but I would have liked more cheese. Other than that, this is good stuff. I think I would like it as well with lemon juice or champagne vinegar instead of the balsamic.
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Vij's: Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine
By Vikram Vij, Meeru Dhalwala
Douglas & McIntyre - 2006
Having read the prior reviews, I felt pretty sure it would be good--it was Great! I used two chicken breasts cut into quarters but left on the bone, a large can of diced tomatoes (good fresh tomatoes being unavailable now) and otherwise followed the recipe. It is an amazingly simple recipe which results in a complex and rich tasting sauce. I like that it is really quite healthy--a small bit of fat from the canola oil and the sour cream, but mostly just good non-fattening ingredients. And the fresh cilantro just makes it perfect--it adds such a lovely freshness to the flavor and it makes it quite pretty.
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Virgin Territory: Exploring the World of Olive Oil
By Nancy Harmon Jenkins
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - 2015
So delicious! I went with angel hair pasta and the anchovy option, a lovely spanish olive oil, garlic and hot red pepper flakes. While the pasta cooked, I had my saute pan going and let the anchovies melt away into the oil, then added the garlic and pepper. When the pasta was al dente, I added it along with just a little pasta water--magnifico!!
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Website: The Wall Street Journal
A shortcut, really easy ratatouille with quite good flavor which is even better the next day. One pan to clean is also a plus. Not as rich and unctuous as the real thing but if the produce is really good, an excellent quick meal.
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Website: Washington Post
I can't get over how easy this is and how good it is! I've made Ratatouille the traditntal way, one vegetable at a time, lots and lots of oil and it's delicious. But this--all the vegetables chopped and popped into the crockpot, a mere 2 tablespoons of oil mixed with some tomato paste and salt and pepper and then mixed into the vegetables along with thyme and a bay leaf--after 4-5 hours on low, it is simply delicious. Next time I might up the herbs, play with the amounts of each vegetable, but the basic concept is wonderful. My only exception--I peel the eggplant.
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Website: Washington Post
Very easy to throw together and really tasty. I used a third mini bittersweet chips and 2/3 regular semi-sweet chips. Recipe makes one nice plump loaf and one cute mini loaf.
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Website: Washington Post
So easy and quite delicious. I was careful with the Sriracha--didn't want it o be too peppery. As I was baking it in convection, I lowered the temp a bit. Result is very juicy and tender chicken.
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Website: The Wednesday Chef
www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef
It really is worth making yet another banana bread. The combination of the brown sugar and the dark chocolate ( I chopped up some pastilles of very dark 85% cacao) and banana is just wonderful. And what a pleasure to line the pan with parchment--no greasing, easy release and easy clean-up. I mixed it all in my stand mixer. It took a little longer than the suggested 50 minutes, but it's easy to tell when it's done as the top browns up nicely and the bread becomes firm. A very big hit among all tasters.
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Website: The Wednesday Chef
www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef
This is a delicious cake, rich without being heavy, moist, dense. The cranberry orange combination is a winner and the ricotta/cornmeal combination is too. Plus, I was able to make this gluten free by using masa and a little tapioca flour in place of the all purpose flour. It's a big cake and overflowed my springform pan just a bit -- one needs to wrap the bottom with foil or place a sheet pan on the rack below the cake.
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Website: The Wednesday Chef
www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef
This is a delightful soup. As recommended by Luisa, it is perfect served cold from the refrigerator. And it is so beautiful--a brilliant magenta. I made certain changes. I roasted rather than boiling the beets. I skipped the potatoes. As I had about 20 ounces of peeled, roasted beets, I went with 3 eggs and a whole bunch of scallions. I used the fine grating disc and did the beets and eggs in the food processor. I then removed the grating disc and put the metal blade in and added the scallions and yogurt in place of the sour cream. I then continued processing and gradually added the quart of buttermilk. Perhaps because I used low-fat buttermilk and no potatoes, I saw no need to add the water. Were I to want to serve this as part of a fancy dinner party, I would strain the soup. But it is delicious just as it is, cold and as vibrant tasting as it is in appearance. I left out the dill, though I think it would be quite good with it added as well.
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Website: The Wednesday Chef
www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef
I'm not normally a fan of barbecued chicken, but this isn't your normal bbq chicken. It's fast, easy, stove-top, no mess and really, really tasty. Luisa recommends it as food for her toddler but this is perfect for grown-ups as well. I served it over steamed rice with an extra splash of dark soy sauce and loved it. I did (unlike Luisa) marinate it for a good 30 minutes and then threw the whole business into a hot wok and stir-fried it. It was done so fast and it was eaten pretty fast too.
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Website: The Wednesday Chef
www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef
I never know how to rate something that with just a bit of change is fabulous. I made this exactly as written and it was good, but not great. I thought it was too thick, a little 'cake-y' and didn't have enough tomato. But it was so quick and so easy that I made it again. The second time I made it in a 10 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. I spread the dough out more (and probably worked in just a bit more flour). I then covered this bigger surface in tomato. It was perfect, and in fact, I'm making it again today. One caveat: make sure you mash your potato pretty well -- in the first version, I left a few small lumps and didn't like them in the finished product. The second time, I took a bit more care mashing and got a better result. Finally, just a note--I find a lot of focaccia to have just too much olive oil -- this one is just right.
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Website: The Wednesday Chef
www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef
An excellent supper dish. The arborio rice method is relatively new to me--and a genius method. I did not peel my eggplant and was sorry. I will definitely make this again, but peeling the eggplant. I used a particularly sharp provolone which really worked well. This reheats very well.
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Website: Whole Foods Market
www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe
This cake rates on all levels--it is delicious, it is easy, it is relatively healthy, it looks great. My only change is to spice it up a bit as we found the cake part to be a bit bland as written. I have added some ground clove and grated nutmeg and a touch of allspice. My larger cast iron skillet is only 11" so the batter filled it to the brim. I baked it on a sheetpan just in case, but it didn't drip at all. The trickiest part of this is turning the cake out. It comes out beautifully but it is very heavy so that "flip" is a little nervous-making.
Adding: I've now made it as individual upside-down baby cakes, using a Texas muffin pan. Filling the cavities is a little tricky--NOW I know how much to put in each one. But the baking time is a little shorter and they (with just a little coaxing) de-panned quite nicely. I wish I had taken a photo--they're very pretty.
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Website: Williams Sonoma Recipes
www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe
My second instant pot venture and a smashing success! I used Camellia red beans and andouille from D'Artagnan which I'm sure had a lot to do with how good this was.
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