Notes about Recipes in this book

• Swiss chard and tomato linguine with balsamic-glazed chickpeas

  • louie734 on May 09, 2021

    Really liked this pasta dish. Used whole wheat pasta. Double the chard or cut back on the pasta; it needs an almost equal veggie to pasta balance. Red or white wine is fine here. Use crumbled dried oregano to garnish. I don’t miss the cheese one bit here.

• Sun-dried tomato carbonara

  • Jojobuch on August 01, 2019

    The smoky sundried tomato provided great flavor but the dish was quite dry (despite adding more of the starchy pasta water than the recipe calls for); make sure to reserve plenty of the cooking water so you can thin it out more if necessary

  • Hannaha100 on June 28, 2017

    The whole family liked this! "The holy grail" as my husband said. Can prepare toppings while pasta boils. Not brilliant nutritionally, might want to serve with salad or extra veg.

• One-pot chickpea biryani

  • shoffmann on January 15, 2020

    This took me quite a bit longer than the 35 minutes suggested by the recipe. Part of that was my fault (I subbed brown basmati for white basmati rice). However, the recipe also claimed it should only take 7 minutes to brown onions all over- which feels unrealistic to me. The end result wasn't amazing, but good enough for a weeknight meal - we would repeat.

  • Hannaha100 on July 01, 2017

    The last time I made a biryani from scratch, about 10 years ago, it was an unmitigated disaster and resulted in a pan being thrown away. This was much better! Rice only took 15 minutes. Left out nuts due to allergies. Used normal raisins. Would cut onion up smaller next time. Toddler ate it and asked for more!!!

  • SenseiHeidi on May 21, 2021

    Good flavor, easy to make. Needed a little salt. I cut the onion into 8 wedges. I felt that the cauliflower could have used more cooking time. Next time I will cut it smaller.

  • toddmain on February 24, 2018

    Be very careful not to overcook the rice and turn it into paste

• Pasta piselli

  • Hannaha100 on November 14, 2018

    This one was just a bit bland, not worth repeating except in dire straits.

• Borracho squash and bean burritos

  • Hannaha100 on June 24, 2017

    Borracho squash and bean burritos a total miss. Threw the leftovers away.

• Red curry noodles

  • Hannaha100 on June 27, 2017

    Recipe time doesn't include time to press & cook tofu or cook noodles. Make sure you read the recipe properly and put the water for the noodles on first. This recipe was just OK. As written, I felt there was too much broth (too watery) and not enough flavour (up the curry paste, add additional herbs). With the changes I'm pretty sure it would be a good fast weeknight meal.

• Polenta puttanesca

  • Hannaha100 on June 24, 2017

    Yes! Dinner on the table in minutes with quick-cook polenta. Fusspot toddler actually said "yum"! If only my husband liked polenta too...

• Brown sugar blueberry polenta scones

  • Hannaha100 on June 29, 2017

    These were easy enough to mix but the mixture was very wet and difficult to handle. Fine if you don't mind an irregular "rustic" look - I've no idea how they came out so neat in the book. Made with unsweetened soy milk rather than almond milk. A nice texture, with that little bit of grit from polenta. However, these are not as sweet as the scones I'm used to. A little underwhelming on their own but good with butter or syrup. Didn't keep well, best eaten on day.

  • earthflesh on July 02, 2024

    Seems like a group consensus is that the mixture is too wet to handle well. I'd skip most of step 4's measuring and dividing--unless you want to make an utter mess. A drop biscuit treatment is probably the way to go, given its consistency. I thought the polenta twist sounded interesting, but in the end, the scones weren't exceptional. They're light and not overly sweet. But a bit unremarkable on their own.

• Panko pasta topping

  • Hannaha100 on June 28, 2017

    A very quick and easy way to add a bit of interest to pasta without cheese. Used onion granules instead of garlic.

  • averythingcooks on March 03, 2021

    This was a great way to add toasty flavourful crunch to a bowl of pasta that is not oven baked. I will absolutely make this again!

• Tahini fudge

  • Mrlew1 on November 18, 2017

    Delicious, but I tried twice and couldn't get it to set either time...

• Quinoa taco mix

  • averythingcooks on April 03, 2024

    I made this as a grain based side dish and like that it lends itself to some improv based on kitchen contents. I added corn & left the beans whole (rather than mashed up). Along with sweet orange pepper, I picked from a variety of diced peppers in the freezer (a mix of banana, time bombs & Fresnos). Lastly I stirred in roasted jalapeno pesto for moisture & while quinoa is sometimes a tough sell to T, he certainly enjoyed this version.

  • Chefjjo on June 06, 2020

    LOVE this! Make it several times a month. To give it more punch, I use a mushroom soy sauce, but regular works too.

• White bean and cabbage soup

  • averythingcooks on March 09, 2019

    I was looking for a way to help use up a bag of coleslaw mix and this fit the bill. Full disclosure (at the risk of wrath from the thug kitchen crew!) - I did add some leek & fennel sausage meat and used a meat based broth from the freezer. The combination of my own additions with the leeks, garlic, rosemary, fire roasted tomatoes, white beans and of course cabbage was really delicious. Some diced red & yellow peppers, a fresh red chili and a Parmesan rind also went in. This will be a definite weekend repeat which can be improvised based on what is hanging around the crisper.

• Broccoli and potato soup

  • averythingcooks on April 21, 2023

    I was a little short on broccoli so I wilted in a big handful of spinach before pureeing (an idea from the Rebar cookbook). I also used grated parmesan in place of the nutritional yeast and added a little less lemon (adding it slowly to taste). This soup has good flavour and the potato provides extra body without making it too thick (as I find many broccoli soups to be). I make other broccoli soups with cheddar and/or various %'s of cream but I didn't miss them here and I would repeat this one for sure.

• Not terrible lentil soup

  • averythingcooks on May 08, 2021

    I was curious about this recipe because I make lots of "not terrible" (in fact really delicious!) lentil soups and because it includes some different spices & also quinoa with the lentils. I followed it exactly but before adding the spinach, I ran it through the blender as I like my lentil soup to be very smooth. I then wilted in a mix of spinach & Thai basil with the lemon juice. At this stage it was really good but I then finished with a can of coconut milk. This IS a good pot of soup.

• Flautas for every meal

  • averythingcooks on December 12, 2022

    This inspired a tasty (but not vegetarian) dinner. I added some garlic to the bean mash and yes...I topped up my peppers & corn filling with some cooked shredded chicken. I smeared the tortillas with a ranchero style sauce and added grated cheese. Cooked in air fryer with the ends tucked into the rolls, they came out perfectly crispy with virtually no leaks. We enjoyed these beside a simple green salad with a mix of sour cream & tomatillo salsa for dipping. I don't always stick to the Thug Kitchen plant based ideal, but I do like/use many of their ideas / flavours.

• Hatch chile salsa

  • averythingcooks on September 29, 2024

    I used roasted Anaheim chiles from the freezer + the jalapeno, onion & lime juice called for, but replaced the cilantro (soap!) with chopped green onions. My small blender needed help to get going with a 1/2 recipe, so a splash of brine from a fridge jar went in, which also added the little bit of salt I thought it needed. This smooth, vibrant salsa was delicious with our quesadillas.

• Miso cabbage slaw

  • averythingcooks on September 28, 2022

    I've made a lot of different coleslaws and T just declared this one "probably the best one we've had". And yes, I agreed with him!

• Winter veggie slaw with caramelized shallot dressing

  • averythingcooks on September 25, 2024

    This dressing is packed with assertive flavour, so much so that I added a spoonful of yoghurt to even things out a bit. Our slaw consisted of green cabbage, grated carrot + thin slices of red onion, celery & sweet red/yellow peppers and was delicious beside last night's dinner. In place of shallots, they suggest sweet onion which was perfect for me as I had the end of 1 lingering in the fridge. We really like coleslaw & this will be repeated.

• Southwestern pasta salad

  • averythingcooks on July 19, 2021

    I was intrigued by the use of corn in the pureed dressing (and then whole kernels in the actual salad) and I am not disappointed. I will admit that with no avocado in the house, I did use some mayo & homemade yogurt as the creamy thickeners for the dressing. I added some sweet red pepper & peas with all the other add-ins and we really do like this salad.

• Skillet beer chili mac

  • toddmain on February 24, 2018

    We found that the flavors just didn't go well with pasta

• Coconut-lime rice

  • ywgttw on March 16, 2019

    Absolutely LOVE this rice, I make it really often. It works beautifully with white basmati too. I often cook the white basmati version in the Instant Pot with 3 cups broth to 2 rice for 8 minutes at HP, with a few minutes natural release and then release the pressure. Lovely!