Cookery Calendar Challenge: June

Based on how well used the other books in the series are, I bought the latest book in the Hairy Bikers' healthy eating series as soon as I realised it had been released. The latest one is The Hairy Dieters Go Veggie and, as the title might give away, it is a vegetarian cookbook. I was excited to try this, especially as I've been gradually increasing the amount of meat-free cooking I do, but I really struggled to find two recipes I actually wanted to make.

Firstly, it is one of those irritating books where the list of ingredients include a "sub-recipe". For example, I was going to make a chestnut and mushroom pie until I realised that the already long list of ingredients included a portion of potato pastry. This is one of their healthy adaptations which involves making pastry from potatoes to reduce the calories, but it also added more steps and ingredients, as did the inclusion of mushroom stock, which was another sub-recipe listed at the back of the book. More than in other books, I also found that this one included some unusual ingredients that weren't readily available. Mushroom ketchup, for example, and Kashmiri chilli powder, both of which proved elusive when I did an online shop. 

So I wasn't particularly hopeful about the recipes I picked, as they felt like the best of a very limited bunch, and The Husband's face looked less than enthralled at the idea of a veggie tea when he got home from work. However, the Sweet Potato Saag Aloo was absolutely delicious. It even prompted The Husband to admit that he had enjoyed it more than he was expecting to, and I found it really simple to make. The sauce felt a little thin as I served it up but it was fine, and this was well-flavoured, hearty dish that we would have again.

The next dish was curried pumpkin fritters with coriander dipping sauce. I substituted the pumpkin for butternut squash, which was suggested in the recipe, and doubled up on the ingredient quantities. I expected The Husband would want something else after, but they were nice enough to be considered a meal in themselves. Again the flavours were really impressive, and the recipe was really simple and a definite success. T also enjoyed trying these, and the leftovers stored in the fridge and were handy for his meals, and my lunch over the following few days. I'm glad I doubled the quantity up, both because there was more than enough squash, and because it made a lovely meal.

So, overall, I don't know where I am at with this book. I've been really impressed by the recipes I tried but I'm still struggling to find many dishes that don't require obsscure ingredients or sneaky additional recipes, which means I don't feel particularly tempted to try many of the others. It's been a real contrast to last month's book when I couldn't stop making dishes from it, and still have some I want to try.

I'm not sure what book I shall delve in to next, but I shall definitely be joining in again next month. In the meantime, do check out the challenge on Penny's page, and see what other people have been making too.

Cookery Calendar Challenge: May

For this month's Cookery Calendar Challenge I browsed the library for a recipe book, and the prospect of the Bank Holiday Weekend ahead drew my eye to Rick Stein's Long Weekends. It wasn't until I saw it while out shopping this week that I realised it was a new release, and though I don't own any Rick Stein books, I absolutely loved this book, both in terms of style and content. I found so many delicious recipes that I extended the loan just so that I could get chance to try a few more, and I loved the fact that it was almost part travel journal, based, as it is, around different trips to Europe. There is even a section at the back recommending places to visit in different cities, and the photography is beautiful.

There were lots of pasta dishes that I wanted to try, and there were two that I still have bookmarked. I opted for Farfalle with Peas and Pancetta, as farfalle is The Husband's favourite type of pasta, and though I loved getting out the pasta machine and was reminded how simple homemade pasta is to make, I soon regretted not opting for dish with a simpler pasta shape! The bows were very fiddly to make, and I was close to giving up and just doing a few for show. Instead, The Husband made the sauce, while I carried on shaping, and T sat in his highchair watching with what I can only assume was bemusement. The final result was lovely, and I was glad to have had a go, in future though I think my home-made pasta will likely be tagliatelle!

If arancini is ever on the menu, The Husband will order it, so I had to make Arancini Salsiccia when I saw it in the book. I found myself making saffron risotto at half eight in the morning while T had his breakfast, and then the rest came together in various stages over the day. I served them with some garlic greens, and they were absolutely delicious. The sausagemeat with fennel was a beautiful flavour, and they made a brilliant, filling meal. They initially seemed quite labour intensive from reading the recipe, but each component was relatively simple and they were well worth the effort.

I also made a Kima Bougasta, described as a Crisp Pork and Beef Pie with Onions, Red Peppers and Oregano. It was pretty much that simple, and I must admit when I saw the minimal ingredients I thought it might possibly be a little bland but it was a rich, flavoursome, filo-topped pie. All of the ingredients were ones I usually have in, so this is definitely one I will be trying again. Not the most picturesque dish, admittedly, but it didn't last very long!

I branched out into a dessert this month, too, and made Filo Pastries with Vanilla Cream, almost like a baklava with a creme patissiere filling. Making the filo triangles was another labour intensive process, and although the flavours were great, I wouldn't be tempted to make these again any time soon as they took a long time. It was good to work with filo, and to see how the triangles puffed up in the oven and then expanded as they were piped with the filling, and they were a lot more successful than I expected. They also got rave reviews from my parents who received some to serve when they had friends round for dinner, so it felt like the effort was well appreciated!

I'm sure I've used some online recipes at some point this month, but I can't remember any at all after running through all of those! I was really impressed with this book, a great mixture of simple and more complex dishes, from a range of countries, and every single one of them a complete success. I have just purchased the Hairy Bikers' latest book, which is a vegetarian one, so I may well use that for next month, unless another library book catches my eye. To see what other people have been making, visit Penny's blog using the button below, where she hosts the monthly link up.

Cookery Calendar Challenge: April

I gave The Husband the choice for this month's book, and he went for the other James Martin book I have "borrowed" from my mum, My Kitchen. Although I was a little reluctant at first, having used a James Martin book for the challenge last month too, I remembered cooking some recipes from this book when I took part last year, and finding lots in there that appealed, so I let the choice stand! I like that this book is arranged seasonally, so I went with summer recipes again, and having realised, thanks to Christina, that it was perfectly acceptable to cook more than two recipes (it would never have occurred to me otherwise, being such a stickler for following rules resolutely!), I actually made three this month, as so many were tempting.

The first dish is the one I cooked most recently, and although I did make it, and did take pictures, I have alas not found a way to make koftas look in anyway photogenic or appetising on the plate, so I thought I would give you a glimpse of the book, and the much more successful photography within. These were simple to make, and were a nice alternative use for mince, that I would definitely try again. I did find this recipe a bit bland, but that may be because I used chopped fresh fennel rather than ground fennel, and some subsequent internet searching suggests that this may have resulted in a much milder flavour. I found they took a lot longer to cook through than the recipe suggested, though perhaps I made them thicker as I didn't mould them around skewers, just into small sausage shapes. I served them with pitta, homemade tzatziki, and the corn. I think the recipe is quite small in terms of portion sizes, it definitely needed the additional accompaniments to make a meal, but as one dish for a barbecue, which I guess was the intention, it would be a definite success.

The next dish was lemon and rosemary lamb with tahini aubergines, Again, I think it was designed as a barbeque dish, and so I added some garlic crushed potatoes to make it into a full meal. We don't usually eat lamb, I find it quite a fatty meat, and it can be expensive for small cuts, but I do enjoy the flavour and will often order it when eating out. The flavour of the lamb was beautiful, though again, it required longer cooking times than the book suggested, but this was likely due to our cutlets being quite thickly cut, as I bought a rack of lamb and carved them from that. The aubergines were a little overpowered by the lemon I thought, and the specially bought tahini paste got a little lost (any tahini suggestions welcome!). I will forever love this dish though, as it was the first time The Husband had tried aubergine, one of my favourite vegetables, that he has resisted up until now. T also tucked into a piece with gusto! Alas, I wouldn't say it was aubergine at its best, but I have bought another one, in the hope that an aubergine parmigiana might be an acceptable offering!

The first dish I made from the book was by far the most successful, despite inauspicious beginnings. Having bought all of the ingredients, the night when I had planned to make the tomato, basil and mozzarella pizza came round, and I was absolutely not feeling in the mood for making dough. I persisted though, and am so glad I did, it was declared an outright success by my pizza fiend of a husband, and I know for a fact we will be making this regularly. We eat pizza pretty often, it is such a quick meal, and with salad and sweet potato wedges it is a staple of our weekly meal plans, but I know shop bought pizza is not the healthiest option usually. This was so much better, and tasted so much more flavoursome, that I shall be rustling them up again very soon.

Next month, I will be using Rick Stein's Long Weekend, which I took out from the library on Friday as it sounded particularly apt as I browsed the shelves with T. I expect this might be another month where I make more than two recipes as just a quick flick through has revealed loads I want to try! I have made a few dishes from the internet this month too, and a particular success was the cauliflower pizzaiola, which used up a few ingredients that were languishing in the fridge, and provided a hearty meat free meal too.

The Cookery Calendar Challenge is the wonderful creation of Penny at The Homemade Heart, do use the button below to check out the other bloggers taking part and see what recipe books people have been dusting off this month.

Cookery Calendar Challenge: March

This month I cooked two recipes from James Martin's Masterclass, which is one of the many books I have on, ahem, extended loan from my mum! First up was polenta with wild mushrooms and parmesan. I chose this as I have been keen to try polenta, and also wanting to try and incorporate a few more meat-free dishes into our diet. Unfortunately, I overlooked the fact that I'm not a great fan of mushrooms, and so perhaps this wasn't a wise choice!

I also didn't realise that the cooling time required for the polenta was a lot longer than the cooking time for the mushrooms, as the recipe wasn't clear on how long to cool it for. Having already ended up making it on a night when I just wanted a quick dinner, because the mushrooms needed using, I'm afraid impatience got the better of me and I forged ahead with the frying of the polenta "squares" despite the fact that they were clearly collapsing as I tried to cut them. So, it was not a successful dish but more down to user error than anything wrong with the recipe! The Husband raved about it, and I must admit whilst texturally dubious, the polenta tasted delicious, although I think anything with that much butter and cheese in it would! I want to try and use the polenta again, with proper cooling time, and as there is plenty left in the bag, I may well do!

Next up was tandoori cod steaks. The fillets I got weren't as thick cut as I'd expected, I think cod loin would have been better, but this was a brilliant dish. The spice mixture was easy to make, and I had all of the various ingredients in the cupboard from previous curry recipes. After marinating the fish for a few hours, it cooked under the grill in ten minutes, and was full of flavour. I always enjoy curried fish when I choose it from a menu, and it was great to be able to recreate that style of dish at home. A great way to incorporate more fish into our diets, and a recipe I'll definitely be returning to again.

In a bid to use up some of the polenta, I tried to make these sweet potato fries from the BBC Good Food website this week. Alas, mine turned out dusty, rather than crunchy, so I continue on the hunt for a way to make my home-cooked sweet potato fries taste like the crispy coated ones I have eaten elsewhere! Any suggestions welcome!

The Cookery Calendar Challenge is the wonderful creation of Penny at The Homemade Heart, do use the button below to check out the other posts and see what recipe books people have been dusting off this month.

Cookery Calendar Challenge: February

For February, I chose to cook from The Hairy Bikers' Eat For Life, which is the second book in their Hairy Dieters range. I cooked from their third book as part of the Cookery Calendar Challenge last year with mixed results, and although I have used this book a lot before, I had a similar experience this time.

The first recipe I picked was a low-calorie chicken tikka masala. One of the things I like about this series of books is that there are lots of dishes that feel like hearty recipes or treat dishes with small changes to make them healthier. The "fake-aways" are a key feature, and it is good to feel like you can have what might otherwise be junk food without it being incredibly bad for you. This curry was simple, and didn't include too many spices, which some of the other recipes do, so I had in everything I needed. The marinade required a bit of planning ahead, and I served it with naan rather than rice, and it was a great weekend supper. I do enjoy vegetables in curries, which this didn't have, but there are other curry dishes with more of a vegetable based sauce that I will try in the future.

The second dish was sticky chicken with homemade coleslaw. I was less pleased with this one. Again, other than the white cabbage for the coleslaw, all of the ingredients were ones I had in, and I served it with wholewheat wraps and some potato wedges. The coleslaw was enjoyable, really fresh and tasted much lighter for being made with a mixture of yoghurt and mayonnaise. I preferred it to shop-bought, and would make it again, and as the rest of the cabbage is still in the fridge through lack of any other ideas, it might be making a reappearance soon! I was less of a fan of the chicken, although The Husband enjoyed it. I found it to be more of a loose sauce than a sticky glaze, and I don't enjoy chicken thighs as much as chicken breast, so I don't know that I'd be rushing to repeat it. It was a simple sauce, with a good flavour, that I might use in other dishes, but it wasn't quite the effect I was expecting from the description. I notice the blogger I have linked to above seems to have been more successful so I wonder if it might be worth a second attempt at some point.

I said last month that I would also like to include a monthly link to an online recipe, as I use them a lot, and then, typically, I didn't make a specific recipe from the internet this month, but I have used it for inspiration for a few dishes, including homemade raita and a tomato, mozzarella and basil conchiglie. I thought it was appropriate to share this one as it is also by The Hairy Bikers. I used it to make the pie filling, which I then topped with sliced potatoes rather than pastry. I haven't decided on next month's book yet, there are a few I am keen to try, and my friend bought me a tagine with a recipe book as a Christmas present so that will definitely feature in the project at some point. As always, use the link below to see what others have been cooking as part of Penny's brilliant challenge.

Cookery Calendar Challenge: January

It is great to be joining back in with Penny's Cookery Calendar Challenge this year. For January, I decided to revisit the same book I started with last time, Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook. However, this time I decided to go back to basics, and cook some dishes that I am familiar with. I thought it would be interesting to follow a recipe for dishes that I would normally cook without much thought and see if I learnt anything new. As a result, I must apologise, as none of these dishes are particularly inventive, or aesthetically pleasing, but I had fun even so!

First up was spaghetti carbonara, partly because I was already planning to make it so I thought I would lift out the recipe book. I know it is traditionally made with egg, but I usually avoid this and just do a bacon, cream and cheese sauce, because previous attempts have ended up liked scrambled egg pasta. Mary's recipe called for the traditional egg though, and it worked really well. I would not usually put parsley in either, assuming oregano would be the way to go, but it added a nice freshness that stopped it being too rich. A definite winner.

Next up, and I did warn that these dishes were lacking in attractiveness, was shepherd's pie. I would usually make cottage pie, so it was a nice change to use lamb mince, and the addition of Worcestershire sauce was a new one for me. The recipe also recommended discarding the fat once the lamb had browned, which I would not have thought to do, and really helped prevent the dish becoming too oily. This made a lovely Sunday dinner, and received plenty of compliments from Grandad and The Husband.

I actually made a third recipe from the book this month, though I have spared you the picture as I tried and failed to make lasagne look anything other than a sloppy mess. The end result was delicious, but the recipe was the source of much debate. I was surprised that it included celery, and that there were no mushrooms. I also tend to put the pasta on top of the ragu and then top with bechamel, and only put cheese on the very top, but this suggested ragu, then bechamel, then cheese, then pasta for each layer. The Husband was horrified that the top layer was ragu, bechamel and cheese, but without a final layer of pasta, as that is his favourite part. Considering the dish served eight though, I'm sure he had plenty of pasta to be going on with. I noticed that the recipe on the packet of lasagne sheets was very similar, and included celery, and layered the dish in the same way, so I considered this a lesson in the art of a traditional lasagne! The dijon mustard in the bechamel was a new one to me aswell, but it was one of my more successful attempts at white sauce (by which I mean it didn't require a sieve) so I shall again bow to Mary's superior knowledge.

Finally, I thought I might include a link each month to a recipe I have made from the bbc food website. This is always my first port of call when I'm looking for recipes, and so I thought it would be nice to include it here too (I hope Penny doesn't mind me expanding the scope slightly!). This idea has mostly arisen because today I had one of those fortuitous cooking sessions where I found a recipe that made use of all of the bits and pieces I had languishing in the bottom of the fridge. It started as a recipe for sausages and cabbage, but happily made use of the two carrots, soggy celery, leftover parsley and half peeled lemon into the bargain, aswell as the last few crusts from last week's loaf. It was an incredibly flavoursome sausage casserole, with a cabbage pesto (better than it sounds!) and breadcrumbs, and I can heartily recommend it.

Cookery Calendar Challenge: July

I'm afraid that in the great phone calamity I lost the pictures of the meals that I made for this month, and, typically, I hadn't instagrammed them or sent them to my mum! So, you shall have to believe that I did make the dishes, and accept an attempt at some artfully arranged herbs, that I still have leftover from the recipes.

Excuses out of the way, I decided to venture back to Jamie Oliver, and after my experience of the 15 minute meals, give the 30 minute meal book a try. I suspected that the recipes would take longer than 30 minutes, if the previous experience was anything to go by, and having long wanted to use this book I thought it might be realistic to do so before the baby arrives!

While both of the recipes took longer, between 45-60 minutes, I was really impressed with them both. The recipes are not without their downsides, they require lots of ingredients, and the cost mounted up. They also require more time than I would usually spend, and many more dishes and utensils, to the extent that when I was making the second recipe, The Husband came and cleared up after me as I was cooking just to try and get a head start! The book is clear at the outset about the equipment needed, and my long-neglected food processor was hoisted out, which again felt like excessive effort for saving time slicing a few vegetables instead of using a knife. 

All of this meant that I partially expected the recipes to be a let-down, I thought they would have to be really successful to feel that all of that had been worth it. I was, however, proved wrong, and was really impressed with the outcome of both. In fact, I went to the lengths of ordering some replacement parts for my food processor that have been lost at some point, which I think is clearly a sign that I was converted.

So, on to the actual recipes. The first was super-fast beef hash, with jacket potatoes, goddess salad, and butter beans and bacon. A few people have blogged the recipe previously. This was a serve it in lots of big dishes recipe, like most in the book, and it was a real success. Microwaving the baked potatoes then crisping them up on a hot baking tray in the oven worked really well, the hash was lovely (although the absence of the right attachment meant my veg were chopped much more finely - hence the new purchase for future attempts!), and The Husband has discovered a love of butter beans too, although I couldn't convince him to try the avocado dressing or salad.

The second recipe was the mustard chicken, quick dauphinoise, greens and black forest affogato. I will confess to leaving out the anchovies, and also knowing The Husband would not want cherries in the affogato, I replaced them with some frozen raspberries in mine that I already had in. This was a great dish, all of the parts were beautifully flavoured, and the dessert was simple but something a little different. 

What I really liked about both recipes was that they felt like complete meals, with plenty of vegetables, making them well balanced. I also found that there was a good amount of food, with the dishes that served four feeding us both well with more than enough for a second meal for two for the freezer. I enjoyed the salad for lunches for a few days after too. The recipes do require lots of ingredients, but the different condiments and herbs do seem to bring the flavours together well, and using the shortcuts such as the food processor and the microwave does make it possible to have dishes that would normally take a lot longer. I still don't think they are realistic for everyday cooking, or for week nights, but I do think, with time, they wouldn't be far off the 30 minute mark, and the results are well worth the effort.

It might be a little while before I get around to picking this book up again, as I guess our weekends might be somewhat different in the coming months, but I do look forward to trying some of the other recipes, and have already bookmarked a few that really appeal. I have picked a book for August, and for now am hoping to make the recipes, but watch this space! In the meantime, do follow the link below to Penny's blog and see what everyone else has been up to this month.

Cookery Calendar Challenge: June

In June, I decided to extend my cookery book collection, by opportunistically raiding my mum's selection while they were piled up during some kitchen renovations. I had flicked through a few of mine without much inspiration, many of the remaining ones seeming to be full of recipes with excessive lists of ingredients, and I think the hope of warmer weather also making me feel less inclined to spend an age on hearty recipes.

So it was that I gathered together a small pile of tempting looking books, and for this month I went with My Kitchen by James Martin. There were lots of appealing recipes, and I liked that the book was arranged seasonally, allowing me to pick from the spring and summer sections in an unfortunately unsuccessful bid to lure the warmer weather.

The first recipe was pan-fried pork fillet with smoky tomato sauce. I halved the ingredients down to just serve the two of us, and added some rice too. The tomatoes were scorched before roasting, and a lack of gas meant that I still didn't get to break open the mini blow-torch which has been in the cupboard for years. However, the grill did just as well, and you may have seen my picture recently of the result. 

There was a lot of sauce, and the flavour was lovely. I did find that there was quite a lot of meat in the recipe, you can't quite tell in the picture as most of it is covered with sauce, but the recipe called for half a pound for each person, which seemed quite a hefty portion, though The Husband was more than happy with that! I did think another portion of vegetables would have made it a little more balanced, although I'm not sure I would have had the appetite for them.

The next dish was wok-fried chicken with ginger, chilli and wild garlic. Unfortunately I couldn't find wild garlic when I did the shopping, but the recipe did suggest spinach as a substitution. This was a really quick dish, even with a step of "velveting" chicken which was a new one on me. It involved coating the chicken pieces in cornflour and blanching before transferring it to the wok. The flavours were really strong for such a quick dish, and we really enjoyed it. Again, it felt like a lot of meat, and that the dish could have taken some more vegetables, but I already have plans to make it again this week, so I will be sure to add some then!

I was very pleased with my borrowed book, and think I might keep it on an extended loan (hi Mum!). I'd definitely be tempted to try more recipes and spotted quite a few that appealed as a I flicked through it. I haven't picked July's book yet but I'm looking forward to browsing through some more of my newly acquired options. The very first book I used for this challenge was Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook and I have to mention that in the last week I have rustled up three quick bakes from it, all with great success. I adapted the victoria sponge to a lime version, made the vanilla muffins, and today whipped up a batch of chocolate cupcakes in double quick time. I do love the reliability of the baking recipes, and it is definitely becoming my default choice when I want some speedy inspiration. Hope you are enjoying the challenge if you are joining in, do visit Penny's page to find out more. 

Cookery Calendar Challenge: May

For May I picked a much neglected book from my shelf called "200 Four-Ingredient Recipes". I have no idea when I acquired this book, or where from. It seems familiar, as though it has been in the family for a while and I think I brought it with me when we moved into this house, but it is not very well-used. All of the recipes include a maximum of four ingredients, with the exception of seasoning, although some include suggestions for additions too.

I was intrigued to see, particularly after some of the complex recipes from other months, whether ones with only four ingredients could really compare. The trickiest part was finding recipes that I felt would suffice as a meal, as many were for soups, smoothies and juices. Also, many of the main courses would have needed other side dishes to go with them. I could have made a main and two side dishes and still used less ingredients than some other recipes but I was keen to see if I could make a substantial meal from one recipe.

The first recipe was fettuccine alfredo, and was simply parmesan, cream and butter over fresh pasta. Whilst it didn't win any prizes for colour, or for vegetable content, it was a really lovely dish. I think it was a definite success as the recipe for four people disappeared, with The Husband having a rather large portion of seconds. While I do think it would have benefited from a salad on the side, the simple, classic flavours worked really well.

As I have started to do with the Cookery Calendar Challenge, the second dish was The Husband's choice, and we had a broad bean and pancetta risotto. The ingredients were risotto rice, herb stock, frozen broad beans and smoked pancetta. This included a suggestion to add parmesan shavings, and as I had some leftover from the pasta dish I decided to make it a five ingredient recipe! It was the first time I have used frozen broad beans, having enjoyed cooking with the ones from our vegetable patch last year. We decided to remove the tougher outer shells after cooking them, though I'm not sure that was necessary, and this was a really nice, filling dish. The leftovers made a very hearty lunch portion too, but I was glad to have added the parmesan as I think it made it a slightly richer dish.

Overall, the four-ingredient approach was a success, and I think I may well revisit the book in the future for some simple recipes that are a bit different to what we usually make. The book for June hasn't been chosen yet, so pop back next month to see what I went for. In the meantime do visit Penny's blog (click through the link below) to see how others are getting on with the challenge, and to find out how to join in too!

Cookery Calendar Challenge: April

In April, I chose the Hairy Bikers' Good Eating book, which is the third one in their Hairy Dieters range. I bought the first book in the range after watching the associated television series, and both that and the second one quickly became regularly used. The second one improved on the first by including cooking times and a range of serving sizes, but I hadn't ever cooked anything from the third book despite having it for quite a while.

The first recipe was for creamy chicken and tarragon pots with rosemary potato wedges. It was simple to make and the flavours were beautiful. We didn't have any large ramekins so made one larger portion which we then split between us. It could probably have done with some more vegetables on the side, but I do think this is one I would make again. 

The second recipe was for a beef and coconut curry with roasted spiced cauliflower on the side. This wasn't a complete success, although The Husband said he really enjoyed it. It is a definite weekend recipe, as it involved a period of marinading, followed by a very long, slow cooking process, I don't mind that particularly, it's nice to keep popping into the kitchen and doing a little bit more, but the final result was pretty underwhelming, and I found it incredibly salty, which I think might have been as a result of the marinade. I did like the idea of a spiced cauliflower alongside the curry as an alternative to rice, and I have made it again since as a side dish. I had to buy about six new jars for my already pretty well-stocked spice rack so I will have to look for some more recipes to make good use of them all!

I was glad to finally make use of the book, and it has made me tempted to try a few more of the recipes out of it too. To see what books other people have used in April, do pop over to Penny's blog to have a look at the Cookery Calendar Challenge.

Cookery Calendar Challenge: March

It was another enjoyable month joining in with Penny and her Cookery Calendar Challenge. For this month's recipes I used the The Abel and Cole Cookbook: Easy, Seasonal, Organic. Back when I was at University my parents would occasionally send me an Abel and Cole fruit and veg box, which was always a great treat, and was a clever way of making sure I ate reasonably healthily now and then. I think the book was a free gift with one of the boxes many years ago, but other than the carrot cake recipe it has sat mostly untouched.

We did get some fruit and veg boxes for a while when The Husband and I moved in together, but in more recent years we have got out of the habit. I do occasionally get tempted to sign up again, and notice that they are doing recipe boxes now too which are a new addition.

The first recipe was "Gazza's Goulash with Rosemary Dumplings" and I have linked to another blogger who has put the recipe up online. Apologies for the picture below, but I think it is a difficult dish to make photogenic! I was surprised how little in the way of any veg there was in this, it was a very meaty stew, and had quite a kick. It was really warming, and the sour cream helped to balance it out, but as Grandad was joining us for dinner I wished I had made something else, as it was quite hot, and I also found out he isn't a huge fan of dumplings!

This is the first time I have made dumplings, and The Husband loved them. I enjoyed the rosemary flavour, though found them quite thick and stodgy, but having never had dumplings before I don't have much by way of comparison. I note the blogger who posted the recipe above also found them quite heavy, so perhaps that is how this recipe is intended to turn out. The portion size was huge, I think because the dumplings were so filling, and it made five large servings from this recipe.

The second dish from the book was a vegetarian dish of Asparagus Risotto, and I have linked to the recipe, which is listed on the Abel and Cole website. While it isn't speedy, I do enjoy making risotto, and find the gentle, constant stirring quite a relaxing process. This was a really simple dish, with only a few ingredients, and the flavours were fabulous. It felt like a real contrast with the Jamie Oliver recipes from last month in terms of complexity and I enjoyed this kind of cooking more.

Where the book more similar to Jamie Oliver, was that it took quite a relaxed approach to weights and measures. Apart from the baking recipes, the ingredients are measured in mugs for a lot of the time. I still prefer having definitive measures, but at least I felt that the approach of using mugs meant it was quite consistent. 

There was an option to add parma ham to this recipe, but we decided to keep it vegetarian, and it was a definite success. It was a lovely dish, and felt like a nice spring recipe. The book is split into seasons, I assume to encourage you to utilise ingredients that are currently in season, and so I picked these recipes from the winter and spring sections. That seemed like a simple way to structure the book, and I liked the idea of being directed towards using seasonal produce within the recipes.

I haven't selected April's book yet, and I had better hurry considering we are almost a week in already. Having perused the bookshelf, I realised that a large majority of my recipe books are focussed on baking, mainly cakes and desserts. For this challenge I wanted to stick to main meals, so I may well be forced to open up a few of the dustier, somewhat unloved. volumes in the coming months! I did, however, notice a few interesting looking books when I visited my parents' house recently, so I may alternatively borrow a few of those!

Cookery Calendar Challenge: February

For month two of Penny's Cookery Calendar Challenge I finally used a recipe book that has long been on my shelf untouched. I got Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals (and its predecessor, 30 minute meals) when they had first been released, but haven't yet cooked from either of them. I watched the linked television programme when it first came out, but also remember reading reviews at the time saying that the recipes took much longer than the title suggested, and required lots of equipment.

Joining in with the challenge gave me the push to test it out for myself, and having not left myself much time in February I picked two recipes and ordered the ingredients for both at the same time. As a result, I realised that the cost of the ingredients for the two dishes was as much as our usual weekly shop. Admittedly some of this was due to bulk buying ingredients such as chicken breasts, when only two were required, or having to buy a whole jar of a herb which I would only use a teaspoon of, but it still seemed quite expensive, particularly considering one of the dishes was a meat-free one.

Which brings me on to recipe number one, Falafel Wraps with Griddled Vegetables and Salsa. It was a brave initial choice, as I have never made falafel before, and was made even braver when The Husband declared he didn't particularly like it, and also made it apparent that the absence of meat had not been well-received! I enjoy trying vegetarian dishes, and am regularly trying to make meals that have more vegetable content than meat, so I was optimistic.

Unfortunately, this dish was no great revelation, and The Husband and I both agreed that the falafel was pretty tasteless. Before we got to that point though there was the mere matter of rustling up the dish in 15 minutes. The reviews were right, it was a complete under-estimation. I had duly lifted out my food processor, heated pans, and done all of the required preparatory work which isn't included in the 15 minutes, and it still ended up taking me half an hour. I worked at a frantic pace, and the kitchen was a scene of utter devastation when I had finished, the whole thing felt so contrary to how I normally enjoy cooking. What was more frustrating was that the recipe was clearly written by someone with a team of kitchen-hands, for example you use the food processor to make the falafel, and then a few steps later use the food processor to make the salsa. Unless you have the luxury of two food processors, or a person following you round washing up, you needed to stop everything to dismantle and wash the food processor, which probably used up 10 of the 15 minutes I had available!

The dish wasn't a complete disaster, and actually the side dishes were really flavoursome, the salsa in particular was very quick and tasted lovely. The griddled vegetables were really simple but tasty, and the cottage cheese and chilli sauce (I realise it sounds a bit dubious) worked well. However, we were really grateful for all of those flavours, because the falafel, which I hadn't managed to maintain in any kind of recognisable shape, was fairly dense and despite the mixture of spices, didn't really taste of much at all. It felt much like a stodgy filler, adding bulk but not a lot else. I took the leftovers for my lunch the next day, and again, all mixed together it was a really tasty plate of food, and I was glad to use ingredients, like harissa, that I haven't tried before.

After that, I was glad that I felt my second choice would be a guaranteed hit, having opted for Pasta Pesto with Garlic and Rosemary Chicken. The Husband adores pesto, and I was really looking forward to making my own for the first time. I also liked the idea of chopping up fresh lasagne sheets to use in the dish, and so was feeling more positive about this one.

From the start I decided not to rush madly through the recipe this time, and just work at a slightly more relaxed pace, allowing me to keep the kitchen in some semblance of order. It still took me around 30 minutes, but I enjoyed the process a lot more for not feeling like I was against the clock. The dish itself was quite nice, The Husband really enjoyed it, but I felt the lemon juice overpowered the pesto. This was partly because the recipe just said add lemon juice, and there was one lemon listed on the ingredients, so I added all of the juice, which was probably too much. This quite vague approach to the recipe was quite common, and I think the recipes are written in a similar style to the programme, and at times it is a bit of overkill. I realise it is probably intended to add a sense of pace to the recipes, making them more dynamic and less detailed, but being told to tear up peppers and squash garlic through a crusher was a bit wearing.

This dish was good, and had quite a kick from the chilli. What also surprised me was how filling it was considering there were only 2 chicken breasts. It was meant to serve four, and it easily could have. For us The Husband added more veg and lasagne sheets to the leftovers to make supper the next night, and also some lunch for me today too. What I did like was bringing a big dish or platter of food to the table. We do that fairly often, and it was nice, particularly with the falafel to put out all the components, and the side dishes, and both tuck in. It hasn't put me off using the book again, and I may well try the 30 minute meals book later in this challenge, though I shall be sure to allow an hour!

I have already chosen my book for next month, hopefully you will pop back to see how I fare. There are a few of us doing this challenge with Penny, so do check out her blog if you'd like to see what the others are doing.

Cookery Calendar Challenge: January

At the start of the year, the lovely Penny, of The Homemade Heart, announced that she would be doing a Cookery Calendar Challenge. The idea is beautifully simple, to pick a recipe book each month, and cook two new recipes from it. With kitchen shelves filled with much-loved but under-used recipe books, it sounded like a great challenge, with just the right amount of effort required. Particularly having decided this year to sign up for a weekly shopping delivery, which I order mid-week, saving us a few hours around the supermarket at the weekend (though I do miss wandering the aisles a little!), it has been really straightforward to sit with the book and add the required ingredients to the list.

So for this month I chose Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook. It has a great range of recipes, some really useful sections on basic techniques, and also introduces each chapter with an index of few of the recipes sorted by cooking time, a helpful feature I haven't seen in other books. 

I usually turn to recipe books for baking, so I thought I would use this challenge to try a few new savoury recipes. The first recipe, pork with chilli and coconut, has been quickly added to the household favourite list. It was very simple, and didn't require many ingredients, yet tasted really good, full of authentic Thai flavours. The meat does need marinating for 2 hours before cooking, so this was good to make at the weekend, and there were plenty of leftovers for a spare portion for the freezer.

I bought jasmine rice to serve with the dish, and it all worked together really well. I don't normally make dishes with these flavours, even though I love them, and it was the first time I had used creamed coconut. Luckily there were multiple sachets in the pack so I will definitely be making the recipe again! It even earned a high-five from The Husband, so the challenge got off to an auspicious start.

With an abundance of mince in the freezer, I decided to find a recipe to use some up, and opted for beef florentine. The recipe in my book is slightly different from that I have linked to, both are by Mary Berry, but the one I made included Gruyere, and didn't have mushrooms. In effect, it is minced beef in a tomato and garlic sauce, topped with a layer of cooked spinach, cheese and eggs, and then with a filo pastry lid.

I wasn't convinced all of the flavours would work together, there seemed to be a ridiculous amount of spinach, and cooking the beef in butter produced a very oily meat sauce as you can see above. However, I should have had more faith in Mary, it was really good, and I enjoyed it far more than I expected. It also proved to be really filling, serving us as dinner for two, lunch the next day, and dinner again the next night (plus a few bits of pastry off the top for Grandad when he came to visit), and I was still looking forward to it for the third meal! I did inadvertently add a big spoonful of ginger as I mistook it for the jar of garlic from the fridge, but luckily it didn't overpower it. I'd leave it out next time though! The only thing I'd change about this recipe was the fact that I tried to cook it after work, and it took a good hour and a half, which felt a bit involved for a week night.

So, the first month has been a resounding success, many thanks to Penny for such a brilliant idea for a challenge. I haven't decided for definite on next month's book, but I was very excited to get Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals and 30 minute meals years ago and haven't ever gone beyond flicking through them, so they are looking high on the list. Really looking forward to seeing what other people have done this month, do feel free to join in over on Penny's blog.