Notes about Recipes in this book

• Imperfect pikelets

  • MollyB on January 08, 2020

    These were great! Easy and very tasty. I've had very little luck with crumpet recipes in the past; these are like mini crumpets and worked beautifully.

  • joneshayley on March 04, 2020

    These are not at all imperfect! Rather absolutely perfect! Ridiculously easy and so so tasty. I’ll never go back to shop bought! I used 2tbsp per pikelet to ensure they fit the toaster for the next day

  • Frenchfoodie on April 13, 2021

    Quick, easy and delicious. Perfect with cheddar and marmite but tasty even with just butter. A full batch perfect for two hungry adults and a 5 year old.

• Trashy ginger beer chicken

  • MollyB on January 08, 2020

    Pretty good and easy, though not something I'll go out of my way to make again. Maybe the brand of ginger beer makes a difference in the results? Using Gosling's ginger beer and less ginger than the recipe specified, I found it a bit too gingery.

  • joneshayley on July 11, 2019

    A lovely recipe for juicy and flavourful chicken. Not as “trashy” as advertised, in fact , pretty healthy and clean (well, cleaner than many other drumsticks). I’ll definitely make this again for parties and picnics

  • Barb_N on November 15, 2022

    I made this with thighs, my preferred cut. They ended up marinating for a day due to poor planning. We liked the ginger flavor a lot but I don’t know how much came from the ginger beer vs fresh. One comment, the marinade called for a tablespoon of this and that which didn’t seem to be enough volume for the chicken, so I increased proportionately.

  • Frenchfoodie on March 06, 2021

    Delicious. I rarely have ginger beer in but replacing the 4tbsp with lemonade works just as well. Baking with sweet potato wedges makes for an easy full meal that is delicious reheated too. The sauce is phenomenal.

• Midnight chicken

  • Leo on September 27, 2020

    This was definately worth doing. I made it on the spur of the moment because I had all of the ingredients and didn't fancy a traditional roast. I served it with hot oil flashed greens inspired by the Milk Street Cookbook and bread. Nothing else needed. Plenty of delicious juices.

  • danlaik on March 18, 2024

    This was SO GOOD. I just used those basic no-name red chilies they sell in the store, without the seeds. They sort of burn to a crisp in a really good way, leaving the chicken mildly spicy. Just some basic greens and bread make this a great meal.

• Perfect roast tomato & garlic soup

  • joneshayley on July 11, 2019

    Good recipe for a delicious and comforting soup. Roasting the tomatoes in a pesto oil dressing is inspired and made all the difference. I used only 500ml of water and I’d use less garlic (6 not 8 cloves) next time.

  • sarahj22 on September 12, 2020

    I had high hopes for this recipe but I found it very bland as written. I just used regular tomatoes, so maybe they weren't big enough to stand up to all the water? The pesto flavour was a bit lost too. I ended up with a delicious soup by adding more pesto plus smoked paprika, sugar and cayenne, and the roasted tomato flavour came through beautifully that way. I might make it again using larger tomatoes as I like the idea of soup recipes that don't rely on stock.

• Blackened broccoli & bittersweet almonds (on toast)

  • joneshayley on July 11, 2019

    A great lunchtime treat, green, bursting with flavour and fulfilling.

• Fat little harissa poussins

  • joneshayley on January 14, 2020

    Juicy and delicious. The marinade impregnates the little chics, making a lovely impressive meal.

• Stuck in a bookshop salmon & sticky rice

  • Barb_N on February 27, 2020

    In spite of shopping with this recipe in mind, I had to sub mirin and skip the lime juice. For the ‘forbidden’ rice, I used the proportions on the package and had to cook it for twice as long as specified. The flavors of coconut and ginger were the best part of the meal. Served with miso ginger aubergine from same cookbook.

  • sarahj22 on March 08, 2021

    Rich, comforting and fairly simple. I didn't have black rice so substituted brown, which increased the cooking time. I was a bit skeptical of using chorizo in an Asian recipe but that and the coconut milk added a lovely flavour to the rice. I served with steamed tenderstem broccoli and asparagus.

• Miso ginger aubergine

  • Barb_N on February 27, 2020

    This recipe does not have miso paste in it, in spite of the name. I added a tablespoon of white miso paste (mine has aged and looks red) and first roasted the cubed eggplant in the oven then tossed it with the sauce. A flavorful side for the salmon and sticky rice from the same cookbook.

• Marital harmony sausage pasta

  • dichohecho on October 22, 2019

    Wine can be replaced with "two splashes of vinegar and a pinch of sugar" and "cook it for less time". Source: author's Instagram story.

• Fiona's bagels

  • Boffcat on July 29, 2019

    I was pleasantly surprised by these, as I'd been preparing to be snootily disparaging ("no bicarb soda or lye in the cooking water?"), but they were gratifyingly bagel-y, with a satisfying chew. They were also a doddle to make, although I found dunking the bagels in water to be easier with a slotted spoon than with the suggested tongs.

  • CheesyKranskyLove on October 04, 2022

    I've only made one other bagel recipe before so not an expert. These came out great with a nice chewy texture but was somewhat flat.

• Wicked stepmother black bread

  • Boffcat on May 08, 2019

    This was delicious, which was just as well as it made an unexpectedly huge loaf! I made a few minor tweaks, replacing 75g of the white flour with wholemeal; using a mix of molasses and date syrup in place of the treacle; and using finely ground fresh coffee in place of the instant powder. More significantly I added salt (around a teaspoon) - I assume this had been ommited from the recipe in error. The dough proved very quickly in a warm place (with hindsight, presumably thanks to the various sugars), and once shaped probably only needed around 45 minutes to prove. I baked the loaf for a total of an hour; another 5 to 10 minutes probably wouldn't have hurt. Next time I would make two smaller loaves, as my boule ended up so large that the slices from the middle are impractically long.

  • Frenchfoodie on May 01, 2021

    Made a lovely dark, substantial yet not dense loaf with crispy exterior. I didn’t think the carrot was perceptable but my 5yo spotted it. Fine without added salt as recipe uses 50g salted butter. May slightly dial down the sugars next time.

• Five a day sweet potato hash

  • Frenchfoodie on January 27, 2021

    This looks beautiful, feels virtuous (so much veg) and tastes good though mine needed a few tweaks. The amount of chorizo is very small for the veg, I increased though would double next time. And mine didn’t have enough moisture to steam; a splash of stock was needed. I added a handful of blaack beans and an egg to have as a main.

• Carbonara, for Caroline

  • Frenchfoodie on January 29, 2021

    So, so easy, sustaining and good. Works well with lardons rather than pancetta.

  • Nkrieda78 on February 11, 2021

    I made it with bacon and doubled the recipe. Exquisite, luscious and decadent. 5/5 for me.

• Emergency risotto

  • danlaik on March 18, 2024

    I had COVID so I couldn’t really taste this lol. But the boyfriend said this was really good, so I anticipate this will go into the regular rotation.

• Would I lie to you labneh

  • snackbaby on November 25, 2023

    I have about a billion cookbooks with recipes for labneh, but what I do like about Ella Risbridger is that she is very good at convincing me to finally give this a try and then to discover that it is, indeed, not difficult!

• Saturday afternoon charred leek lasagne

  • snackbaby on November 25, 2023

    a pleasant little weekend project, the right level of fussy. risbridger is right, this is relatively light (I cut the cream from the cheese sauce though) and the kale in here is a good addition. it ends up being a liiitle on the sweet side for me. next time I might add a bit of lemon zest to the leeks to balance that out further.

• Goat's cheese puff with salsa

  • snackbaby on November 25, 2023

    this feels very 90s to me in the best way! such a cozy cute dinner