Cooking the Books

[wendy james]

This is really tasty, and obviously you can use dairy yoghurt or cream.

[Edith Bacon]

Thank you! I’ve been craving daal/dal/whatever for days too - you must be psychic

[emma_p]

I bought Dishoom a few weeks ago after cooking the house daal and ruby chicken from online recipes. It's such a nice book! :latetotheparty:

I've also been cooking a lot of Middle Eastern food recently. Mainly because I went to Green Valley recently and stocked up on their amazing sesame pittas, baklava and sweets (mainly nougats/Turkish delight). I used to make these afghan aubergines from Veggiestan: https://bangers-and-mash.com/2012/10/23 ... aubergine/ all the time but forgot about them until yesterday! We had it as part of a mezze and I also made a new to me rice and orzo side dish as when I got to the end of my cleaning and cooking marathon I realised we didn't have much rice but had loads of lockdown orzo. It's from Ottolenghi Jerusalem: http://mykentuckyhome-kim.blogspot.com/ ... -orzo.html

[wendy james]

Has anybody else got the Anna Jones ‘One: Pot, Pan, Planet’ book and has recommendations?

Nothing we’ve tried so far has gone down that well. I knew it was a vegetarian book with vegan options but it’s very heavy on the ‘replace this cheese with vegan cheese’ as the option and that generally doesn’t actually work! I think I’d already posted about blandness and Abs had said that she doubles the spices in AJ recipes.

[Ella77]

I have it but I don’t rate it compared to her other books, sorry. I cook from those all the time, but this book just pisses me off. (Will have a look though.)

[wendy james]

No that’s still helpful as I thought maybe I was missing something!

[emma_p]

I do agree that her other books are better. I really love her first two and cook from them a lot.

From One I have made and liked:

Lemon, tomato and cardamon dhal (but I do much prefer her sweet potato dhal from A Modern Way to Eat)
Pan roasted cauliflower with saffron better (but prefer her cauliflower with saffron and bay)
Mapo dofu - really good esp now I have found the right chilli bean paste (v cheap on Amazon) - it's really similar to the Fuschia Dunlop recipe though and I would pick her recipe over Anna's.
Quick chickpea braise with kale and harissa - I LOVE this! Added to regular rotation. We have those wholemeal crosta & mollica flatbreads with it and they are excellent. Just heat in a dry pan and they puff up amazingly.
Pine and Crane peanut cucumber noodles - another huge hit with the whole family (no chilli oil for Liv). We make this a lot.
Greens and caramelised tofu with XO sauce - I only made the tofu and XO sauce part - I didn't fancy cavolo nero and corn with it. I served it with rice and smacked cucumber and really enjoyed it. Very quick and easy. I just took Liv's tofu out before adding the XO sauce.
Quick squash lasagne - the first recipe S made form the book and it is good. Grating a squash is a bit like hard work but the lasagne is delicious. (I prefer her smoky mushroom and kale lasagne though )
Baked dhal with tamarind-glazed sweet potato - liked this but have only made it once. I prefer dhal with more green-ness in it - like the sweet potato dhal.

I loved the sound of her crispy tofu and broccoli pad thai but the cooking times were way off with the noodles I used. They were so overcooked. I think it could be amazing with a few tweaks though.

[wendy james]

Thanks emma! There’s definitely some there we haven’t yet tried.

[Ella77]

I swear she doesn’t test her recipes nor proofread her books. It’s that bad.

[emma_p]

She definitely tests them - I volunteered to do it for One (but didn’t get selected )

[Ella77]

I don’t believe it . I use her recipes all the time, but they are SO badly put together.

[Edith Bacon]

They should have chosen you, emma - you would have fettled them!

[emma_p]

Not a cookbook but I saw king mushrooms in M&S and remembered I’d seen Salad for President make pulled mushroom tacos with them on Instagram. So good and easy! They are my absolute new favourite taco filling. I made all her sides and they were great.

Her photo not mine!

50B85E24-9D16-4C88-AB18-36D8AB3324C9.jpeg

[emma_p]

I seem to be going through a phase of only wanting to cook new recipes :antiposhspice: and have hit on some absolute gems.

Tonight I cooked from Alison Roman Nothing Fancy - one pot chicken with dates and caramelised lemon. So good - the sauce is fantastic and everyone enjoyed it. I went with her sides suggestions of herby salad and frizzled chickpeas with onion, feta and oregano but also served it with couscous because we are a family who loves a carb.

I made Stanley Tucci's amatricana last week as a quick pasta dish for George and I (we've been watching his show on player) and it was really good too. I'd never made it before!! I had an ex boyfriend who was obsessed with it (bought sauce - he couldn't cook ) when I was vegetarian so I've had a vendetta against it for about 20 years

[emma_p]

I also just ordered the new Georgina Hayden book, Nistisima from
Waterstones for £13! I have her other two books and just love her recipes. She was brilliant on The Great Cookbook Challenge which was on Ch4 recently too. Loved that programme - I’m bored of masterchef, great British menu etc but this was brilliant.

[kiwi]

Thank you for that emma, I had a birthday Amazon voucher to use and a new bookshelf for my cookbooks that is looking a bit empty, so I now have Nistisima in my possession.

[wendy james]

I do agree that her other books are better. I really love her first two and cook from them a lot.

From One I have made and liked:

Lemon, tomato and cardamon dhal (but I do much prefer her sweet potato dhal from A Modern Way to Eat)
Quick chickpea braise with kale and harissa - I LOVE this! Added to regular rotation. We have those wholemeal crosta & mollica flatbreads with it and they are excellent. Just heat in a dry pan and they puff up amazingly.
Pine and Crane peanut cucumber noodles - another huge hit with the whole family (no chilli oil for Liv). We make this a lot.
Greens and caramelised tofu with XO sauce - I only made the tofu and XO sauce part - I didn't fancy cavolo nero and corn with it. I served it with rice and smacked cucumber and really enjoyed it. Very quick and easy. I just took Liv's tofu out before adding the XO sauce.

We tried all of these, finally!

I think the greens and caramalised tofu was the favourite, and I loved just dipping the veg in the noodles sauce.

Thank you, as I now feel the book wasn't the biggest waste of time ever.

[emma_p]

I'm glad you found something you liked!

I haven't made anything else from the book since but the cucumber noodles and chickpea braise are still favourites.

[emma_p]

It's autumn cookery book time - loads always seem to be released early Sept I have made some room on my shelves recently and ordered Moro Easy. I can't wait to flip through it.

[Ella77]

I’m going to buy Deb Perelman’s (Smitten Kitchen) new one. I just really like her.