Notes about Recipes in this book

• Crushed raspberry tart

  • Astrid5555 on July 22, 2013

    Very quick and easy, great for unexpected guests. Made individual tartlets by using my biggest cookie cutter instead of one big tart. I then scored a rim around the outside of each round without cutting right through the puff pastry, pricking the inside with a fork before baking. The rim puffed up nicely leaving some space for the cream (I added vanilla powder) and the raspberries.

• Poached rhubarb

  • Astrid5555 on February 21, 2013

    Combining orange juice and rhubarb for poaching is simply delicious. Used this as a topping over quinoa and Greek yogurt for breakfast.

• Apple and date strudel

  • Astrid5555 on January 24, 2016

    This is a nice apple strudel variation including dates and ground almonds instead of raisins and breadcrumbs. However, the whole family agreed that we would go for the original again the next time.

• Basic pizza dough

  • Melanie on March 08, 2014

    This is an ok dough for thin-crust pizza and the recipe worked well however there are better recipes out there.

• Garlic pizza

  • Melanie on March 08, 2014

    This is good but you really do need a couple of cloves per pizza otherwise you won't get enough flavour. The parmesan cooks very quickly, keep an eye on it in the oven.

• Basic Margherita pizza

  • Melanie on March 08, 2014

    Yum - good simple pizza. I didn't bother to remove the excess liquid from the tomatoes.

• Roasted vegetable and beetroot salad

  • Melanie on October 16, 2011

    I used red wine vinegar instead of sherry vinegar. 1/3 orange carrots, 1/3 purple carrots, 1/3 beetroot. I didn't have turnip at hand but it would have tasted good in it! Needed much longer in the oven though.

• Bitter chocolate meringue tart

  • Melanie on March 08, 2014

    Very rich, serves approx 8 people. I had a few issues with this recipe but they are easy fixes. I needed to bake this in a larger tin and found that extra butter was required to help the base come together. Give yourself plenty of time to allow this to cool.

• Spinach and feta pies

  • Melanie on March 08, 2014

    I didn't have any mint at hand so used basil instead. Tasted great and was easy to put together.

• Garlic chicken

  • Melanie on March 08, 2014

    Add the garlic about halfway through cooking the second side of the chicken. When it's ready, turn the heat off, and add the lemon juice - the sauce will caramelise and create an amazing flavour.

  • sunlitsepia on October 15, 2013

    This recipe was tasty enough (the picture in the cookbook makes it look amazing), but I wasn't wowed by the flavor. Tasted like an everyday chicken to me.

• Raspberry ripple semifreddo

  • Melanie on March 08, 2015

    This is tasty, although somewhat disappointingly did not look like the photo of the finished product. I ended up with a mix of vanilla and pink raspberry at a close to 50/50 ratio. Next time I would set aside less vanilla to blend with the raspberry to try and create more defined and deeper coloured ripple. Bring out of freezer early enough to help defrost.

• Beef and black bean

  • meggan on September 30, 2023

    The recipe needs more oil than stated with my salted black beans to make a good marinade.

• Mushroom and ginger stir-fry

  • meggan on April 04, 2020

    Served on oat noodles. I think I didn’t add enough mushrooms.

• Tomato and basil salad with anchovy dressing

  • Hellyloves2cook on December 25, 2016

    Served this as part of a selection of salads for Xmas day 2016. Simple but great flavours. Garlicky dressing with anchovies - who can go past that?

• Garlic and mustard beef skewers

  • pennyvr on February 09, 2014

    I substituted button mushrooms for a vegetarian version.

• Chicken, haloumi and preserved lemon skewers

  • Three_Quarters on August 26, 2013

    Haloumi is a bit pricey and hard to find in the U.S. but I'm glad when I got it I tried it with this recipe. I cooked the chicken and cheese in strips in a pan because I didn't have skewers, and used some preserved meyer lemon I'd made last winter (from the Joy of Pickling.) The sweet/sour lemon was the perfect foil to the cheese's saltiness. Served it with a simple bell pepper and onion sauté.

  • sunlitsepia on October 15, 2013

    This was a fantastic recipe. We had a bit of a hard time getting the halloumi and the little chunks of preserved lemon to stay on the skewer, so we grilled it on foil. It was our favorite recipe of the summer. I too used preserved lemons - very simple to make on your own. I made a big batch in late winter for summer use.

  • Tinytoad on September 27, 2014

    Flavours are great, but I found it difficult to get the cheese and preserved lemon to stay on the skewers. I also made the mistake of using chicken thighs which were also difficult to keep on. The haloumi stuck to the pan adding to everything falling apart!

• Feta and eggplant meatballs

  • sunlitsepia on October 15, 2013

    These tasted amazing, but it was next to impossible to keep them from crumbling into a mess- to the point where I think the recipe is off in some way. Flavor was great, but I wouldn't try to make these presentable for dinner guests.

• Flat-roasted chicken with almond and mint

  • sunlitsepia on October 15, 2013

    Very tasty. Quickest and easiest roast chicken you will ever make.

• Crispy sardines with lemon and mint

  • sunlitsepia on October 15, 2013

    This recipe was delicious. The lemon and mint brighten up the fried sardines, and this dish was not too oily.

• Green olive aïoli

  • sunlitsepia on October 15, 2013

    This was so good with the shrimp and so simple. Highly recommend.

• Yoghurt and passionfruit syrup cake

  • Zosia on September 26, 2018

    Lovely, fine-crumbed vanilla pound cake with a sharp passionfruit glaze to liven it up. I replaced the self-rising flour with 260g cake&pastry flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt.

• Miso salmon with sesame salt

  • Zosia on November 20, 2013

    Delicious. The miso marinade provides great flavour and the quick cooking method ensures moist fish. With the accompanying stir fried sugar snap peas - I think any quick cooking vegetable can stand in for these - it was a quick and tasty dish.

• Couscous tabouli

  • Zosia on March 04, 2014

    Very basic recipe with bright, fresh flavours. I really liked the addition of peppery greens for extra oomph.

• Maple pear tarte tatin

  • Zosia on March 04, 2014

    I can't really judge the cooking and baking times since I quartered instead of sliced the pears, increased the size of the tart to feed 6 and used more thinly rolled puff pastry, but the flavour of this tart was fabulous due primarily to the heavenly maple caramel.

• Double hot chocolate

  • Zosia on February 11, 2014

    More like a thin ganache than a beverage, it was just too thick and rich made as per the recipe; doubling the milk made a world of difference. I used good vanilla extract instead of vanilla beans.

• Butternut pumpkin and feta loaf

  • Zosia on January 15, 2014

    Easy, no-knead bread recipe that took much less time than most, requiring only 1 proof. The onion flavour was a little overwhelming but there were enough good things about this bread - the combination of roasted squash and feta, moist crumb - to warrant making it again (without the onion).

• Crispy pancetta and chilli pasta

  • Zosia on February 11, 2014

    Enlivened with a lemon juice-olive oil dressing, this dish which was part hot, saucy pasta and part salad was a great mix of flavours and textures. I used arugula in place of the beet greens.

• Stewed apple and coconut cobbler

  • e_ballad on July 09, 2019

    Not a great cobbler recipe: the flavour & texture of the topping was completely off. Far better recipes elsewhere.

• Crunchy fennel salad

  • MarciK on May 17, 2020

    I’m don’t usually choose salads, but I made this today for a side to grilled chicken. I really enjoyed it.

• What's Gaby Cooking

  Perfection...It’s organized by season...and each recipe makes you want to dive into the page and go live on a compound with Donna Hay and be her new bff.

  Full review

• 101 Cookbooks by Aran Goyoaga

  I can sit with her books for hours admiring and studying her technique. ...arranged by season. This book is all about beautiful food photography.

  Full review