Notes about Recipes in this book

• Perfect patatas bravas

  • Foodycat on November 16, 2018

    I used bought allioli, but the method of roasting the potatoes, and the spicy tomato sauce were both really delicious.

• Perfect French onion soup

  • Foodycat on December 17, 2020

    Excellent. She says to cook the onions for over an hour and then says 90 minutes to 2 hours. Mine were done in about 75 - they could have taken a bit more without burning but I wanted to get on.

• Perfect Caesar salad

  • Foodycat on December 20, 2021

    I'm not sure about perfect but it is absolutely delicious. Also good with shredded brussels sprouts instead of lettuce.

• Perfect chicken Kiev

  • Foodycat on March 28, 2022

    Really good - although my chicken breasts were tiny and couldn't quite wrap around the butter properly. I used a couple of wild garlic leaves instead of the parsley, and baked for 30 minutes at 180C (fan) because I suspected leakage. And leak it did, but the flavour was lovely.

• Perfect chicken liver pâté

  • jrogers on May 25, 2018

    Made this for the second time as the first lot was so good I almost ate it all myself. So long since I have made chicken liver pate, I don't why. Delicious topped with a little spicy chutney on sliced, toasted baguette.

  • FJT on May 18, 2024

    Really nice chicken liver pâté recipe. I didn't have any Madeira, so subbed Pedro Ximinez and this worked well. This tasted great and was finished very quickly.

• Perfect chicken and smoked sausage gumbo

  • Foodycat on February 04, 2022

    I made it without chicken. It was good - very simple and comforting.

• Perfect spaghetti alle vongole

  • ailsa_prpgcj on March 29, 2026

    Excellent « in bianco » recipe

• Perfect carrot cake

  • Foodycat on September 23, 2022

    It's fine but it just misses the mark for me. Not carroty enough.

• Perfect lemon drizzle cake

  • Foodycat on May 21, 2020

    Fantastic flavour and texture. It was cooked through at 42 minutes though, so keep an eye on it. ETA I've also made it with Seville orange zest and juice, leaving out the almonds and just using 175g flour equally successfully.

  • Apsie on October 16, 2021

    Very easy to make this with gluten free flour, can hardly tell the difference (I'm not gluten free, but friends are)

  • Agaillard on April 24, 2022

    Super easy to make though I would not say this is the "perfect" lemon drizzle cake - I had better ones even if they were not made by me - though, it was nice, don't get me wrong! I used the electric whisk through sheer laziness (i made this quite late) and thought the batter was too airy and did not raise much, so note to try next time mixing by hand, also the cooking time/temp is slightly over what it should be for my oven (maybe test after 45 minutes at 150). It does work however. I would still add icing, but only after the unmolding and after the cake has had a chance to dry out a bit and incorporate the previous syrup. Also for lack of self-raising flour (not so common in France), I used standard 55 flour + half a "levure alsacienne" pocket. One day later brought it to election night and it was a big hit, all were really surprisingly happy and said it was moist and lemony (and asked for the recipe) - so keeps well too.

• Perfect Bakewell tart

  • Foodycat on March 29, 2019

    I used bought shortcrust pastry and pistachios instead of almonds. The not-very-sweet raspberry compote makes this so much nicer than the jam-based bakewells I have tried, and the ratio of fruit to frangipane is perfect.