Notes about Recipes in this book

• Portobello mushrooms with cheese & pine nuts

  • Ro_ on August 10, 2022

    I made a couple of modifications out of necessity, but I loved the finished result. For a start Portobello mushrooms are very hard to get here, so I just used the biggest chestnut mushrooms I could find. Next, I couldn't justify the price of pinenuts since they're extortionate right now, so I added some breadcrumbs and mixed seeds instead. But overall I really enjoyed these and I will make again, they'd be perfect as a prepare-ahead starter because you can do all the stuffing in advance and just bake at the last minute. I served with charcuterie to make more of a main meal.

• Bresaola rolls

  • Ro_ on June 08, 2020

    These were great: easy to assemble in advance (I skipped the artichoke), tasty and very pretty. I'd probably up the mozzarella next time.

• Corn cheese & chilli bread

  • Ro_ on November 06, 2019

    This was the first time I had made or eaten anything like this so I'm not sure how to judge the results. The main thing was that it was too salty: I'd definitely reduce the amount of salt from 2tsp to 1tsp if I made again. The corn flavour really came through what with the polenta and sweetcorn, but I didn't get much cheesiness or much chilli so I'd add more of both next time. The texture was good in so far as they held together well and were easy to cut up, cakey but firm etc but there was something a little weirdly gritty in there - I think it may have been the rice flour, since I ground my own in a grinder from uncooked rice, so probably didn't get as fine a mill as if I'd bought the stuff. Even so, the effect wasn't entirely unpleasant. All in all I'd file this recipe under "I'd like to try it again with tweaks, but in reality I'm probably never going to get around to it".

• College days homemade flatbreads

  • Ro_ on April 17, 2020

    This was one of the best flatbread recipes I've tried: they came out really puffy, light and moist. I didn't have self raising flour so used regular flour and a healthy extra heaping of baking powder. Will definitely make these again.

• Sunday hummus

  • Ro_ on March 08, 2020

    Nice, but lacking a certain creaminess even after prolonged blending and lots of oil. I still haven't found my perfect hummus recipe.

• Richard's guacamole

  • Ro_ on October 27, 2019

    A couple of unusual ingredients in this guacamole, notably sweet chilli sauce and mayonnaise! I was a little sceptical but I have to say the result was perfectly nice. I served this guacamole with tacos and it all got gobbled up in them very quickly, I wish I'd kept a little back to taste it properly on its own and decide whether I thought the mayonnaise and sweet chilli really added to the guac or not. Need to make again to decide.

• Salmon & dill fishcakes

  • Ro_ on October 12, 2019

    These were perfectly nice but not amazing. I pan fried them but a few broke up in the pan. If I made again, I'd make them an hour ahead and leave them in a warm oven as I think they'd firm up more that way and be better for finger food. Nice dipped in a cream cheese/horseradish sauce.

• Halloumi, salami & pepper stuffed chicken breasts

  • Ro_ on June 24, 2020

    I only made the chicken element of this (not the sauce or the potatoes). I couldn't get halloumi, so had to use feta. The chicken breast held together well and the stuffing was very nice, however mine were a bit dry after the full 25 minutes cooking time so I should have taken them out after 20. I think that if I'd made the sauce to go with them, that would have helped with the dryness issue too.

• Garlic, coconut & chicken korma

  • Ro_ on September 29, 2019

    I was quite apprehensive about using a whole chicken in this recipe, but I'm glad I did. Breaking it down wasn't too difficult (I froze the raw carcass to use for stock when I have time to make some) and I think cooking all the different chicken pieces on the bone in the dish added a lot of depth of flavour. At the point where you remove the chicken pieces to whizz the sauce (which gives a lovely texture) I also took the chicken pieces off the bone before adding them back in, which I think is worth doing even though not instructed, especially if you're serving to kids. Overall the flavours were delicious, I think I'd add a touch more almond, coconut and sugar next time for sweetness, and maybe try stirring in a mixture of yoghurt and cream instead of just the cream recommended.

• The boy's meatballs

  • Ro_ on December 23, 2021

    A nice meatball recipe, with some interesting additions to boost the flavour. I liked the tip of using vegetable juice for the tomato sauce.

• Pork tenderloin in pancetta

  • Ro_ on November 01, 2022

    This was nice - I enjoyed the cooking of the tenderloin, which left it slightly rosé and not at all dried out, which can be a problem with this cut. But what really made it was the sauce - very tasty. Would make again if I had a pork tenderloin to use up.

• Melanzane

  • Ro_ on October 14, 2019

    Really nice melanzane recipe. It's just about doable for a weeknight, I made it from start to finish in 1hr 15 mins, but you could speed it up further by using tinned chopped tomatoes (instead of skinning and chopping fresh ones) and using two griddle pans to do your aubergine slices. The balance of flavours was very nice overall, I'll be making this recipe again.

• Wild mushroom & pea risotto

  • Ro_ on October 30, 2020

    At the crucial moment I realised I was out of frozen peas, so had to use broad beans instead. Overall, this was a nice risotto but nothing special enough to make this become my new default risotto recipe as opposed to the one (in my head) that I usually use.

• Herby boulangère potatoes

  • Ro_ on November 08, 2021

    I didn't love this. I added salt with each layer but felt like it still needed more. Potatoes weren't really a pleasing texture.

• Three choc button brownies

  • Ro_ on November 18, 2019

    Nice enough brownie recipe: I liked the chunks of white chocolate in the mix, but overall I prefer a stronger chocolate flavour in my brownie (so probably would prefer to use all dark chocolate instead of half milk, half dark as recipe directs) and am not a fan of nutiness in brownies either so for me the ground almonds came through a bit too strongly. I think this is just my personal taste though.

• Banana bread

  • eeeve on September 17, 2019

    A very moist cake, due to the high amount (almost 50%) of fruit being used. Because it's so soft it falls apart fairly easily. It tastes nice, the level of sweetness is good, and even though not much sugar went in I might still try and reduce by 10-20% next time. Mine looks darker than the one in the picture. Didn't bother with the toffee topping.

  • Ro_ on March 08, 2020

    I had one very black banana to use up, so made a quarter quantity of this recipe and baked in a silicon cupcake mould (I got four little cakes) instead of as a loaf. I reduced cooking time by about 10 minutes. The flavours were absolutely lovely, and the level of moistness was perfect too. The toffee topping really finished them off well (I had to use a bit more water than she directed to get a liquidy texture suitable for icing).