Notes about Recipes in this book

• Chicken Kiev

  • Rutabaga on April 18, 2020

    This was quite delicious, although the chicken wasn't as tender as I would have liked. Perhaps I cooked it a few minutes too long, as I was concerned that it was thoroughly done. Also, much of the butter leaked out onto the sheet pan, but the filling was still plenty rich and buttery. I used panko for the breadcrumb coating, which worked perfectly, and all in all, it was an easy, yet reasonably fancy, main dish for our Easter dinner. I didn't make the accompanying broccoli mash, but served it with different sides.

• Shepherd's pie

  • Rutabaga on November 07, 2014

    My significant change to this recipe was to use whole roasted chicken instead of lamb shoulder. Adding the bones leftover from the roast, along with the pan drippings and water, to the veg, was a great way to make the filling really flavorful, although thoroughly picking chicken bones out of the mix once cooked is a little trickier than pulling out lamb bones. Since I forgot to add flour during this stage, I simply used the drained stock to make a separate gravy after cooking the filling. Because I did not want the chicken meat to overcook, I did not add it to the filling until after the vegetables and stock were cooked. This recipe makes double the filling needed for one pie, so put half in the freezer for later! Since it's a time consuming dish to make, this is a terrific bonus. The potato/cheese/breadcrumb topping (I used panko) is fantastic, but there sure was a lot of it. I didn't use quite all of the potato, and there was still a high ratio of potato to filling.

• Crispy kale chips

  • Rutabaga on February 01, 2015

    These are your standard kale chips, but with the addition of cider vinegar. For anyone who likes kale chips, these were tasty and crispy as expected, but I didn't really taste the vinegar in the first batch. I added about two tablespoons of vinegar to the second batch, but still found the flavor very mild, although I'm afraid that adding more vinegar could make them soggy. Perhaps my apple cider vinegar (it was Bragg's) was milder than most?

• Squash, sage & chestnut rolls

  • eeeve on November 12, 2020

    These looked great out of the oven, and they certainly look quite convincing (as if they had sausage in them)! They tasted alright when hot, but were much better cooled. The filling does taste a little bit too sweet somehow, despite lots of parmesan in there. Had also added a can of lentils to up the protein content. Not sure yet whether I'd repeat.

• Leftover squash pancakes

  • eeeve on October 09, 2019

    Loved these pancakes, especially the toddler, which is quite something! We just whizzed everything up in the blender for speed, and used a mild curry powder instead of rosemary/chilli. Can also see these work as sweet pancakes, with cinnamon and a bit of sugar perhaps.

• Blackberry fool

  • Rutabaga on August 23, 2015

    Perfect for summer blackberries, this fool is definitely a recipe worth revisiting. I added a little sugar to the whipped cream, as I was concerned it might not otherwise be sweet enough. If your berries are very sweet, you may not need to do this, but I think just a touch of sugar in the cream helps balance the dish. Folding yogurt into the whipped cream is a brilliant idea. It lends the cream some substance, and gives it a taste similar to creme fraiche.

• Spanish tortilla

  • eeeve on April 08, 2020

    This worked well for us, tasted great, simple to make. Used more than the required 300g of potatoes (which didn't seem enough). Our tortilla came out much flatter than the one in the picture.