Notes about Recipes in this book

• Nut roast baked Camembert

  • raybun on December 22, 2016

    Excellent drinks party dish. Everybody was hovering around it like moths to a flame. Served with warm crusty baguette and rosemary crackers.

• Apple and ginger wine braised red cabbage

  • raybun on December 23, 2016

    Excellent veggie side dish. I used a white cabbage as that was what I had but will try with red next time. Went very well with a baked smoked ham. I liked the ginger & apple twist.

• Jamaican ginger beer & pineapple bundt cake

  • raybun on December 14, 2016

    I made this for my birthday cake. Half an hour before my 10 guests arrived I unmolded it on a pretty cake stand and took a photo. Then I heard a squelching sound. Surprised I turned around and saw a collapsed pile of soggy rubble. I don't know where I went wrong, I followed the recipe to the letter, just replacing the tinned pineapple with fresh. It tasted fine although had the texture of a dense flan... Note to self: don't make your own birthday cake!

  • Rutabaga on December 14, 2016

    While I don't know exactly what may have happened with raybun's cake, I do know that fresh pineapple has an enzyme that will prevent gelatin from setting, whereas tinned pineapple doesn't cause this problem. My guess is the fresh pineapple caused a similar reaction in this cake recipe.

• Cranberry & orange Chelsea bun tree

  • raybun on December 23, 2016

    I halved the recipe thinking I'd have about 6, but I still managed to make 11. I used all purpose flour as I was out of bread flour. They tasted fantastic, and looked lovely on my Christmas brunch table. Loved the contrast between the tart fresh cranberries and the sweeter ingredients.

• Festive celeriac koshari

  • eeeve on November 29, 2016

    This dish tastes rather nice, but is too much of a faff to make for me to repeat again (I know the magazine stated it takes 'more effort' to make)! Basically, there are three pots on the hob and a roasting dish in the oven, plus the yoghurt sauce - not really worth the effort and washing up for me. What I will take from this recipe, though, is the method of cooking lentils and rice together with spices and dried cranberries - this tasted lovely when it was done and the addition of the other ingredients seemed to ruin that slightly (the macaroni are definitely not needed and rather inauthentic anyway).

• Apple & clementine Bircher

  • raybun on November 23, 2016

    Very good! I've had an aversion to oats since childhood due to bowls of tasteless sludge-like porridge at school. I've been looking for alternative winter breakfasts and I think I've found the solution here. All I have to do is remember to prepare it before going to bed...