Notes about Recipes in this book

• Lebanese lentil & lemon soup

  • zabeta on January 06, 2022

    I had some lemons from a neighbor, and this was a good way to use some. It's a pretty simple and basic recipe, but there's nothing wrong with that. I used kale and chard from the garden instead of spinach and homemade chicken stock from a chicken I recently cooked. I'll definitely make this again during lemon season when I need a quick, easy, and healthy dinner idea.

• Earl Grey poached pears

  • inflytur on December 30, 2020

    Excellent poached pears option if you have guests who prefer to avoid alcohol. Serving with a vanilla crème anglaise is a good match.

• Orange & rosemary polenta cake

  • zabeta on January 06, 2022

    This recipe - as seen on the cover - is pretty much why I bought the book. I made the cake with oranges straight from my tree and rosemary straight from my garden. It couldn't have been more disappointing, however. The batter and resultant cake were really dry (maybe because the flour measurements are given in cups rather than by weight?). The oranges pretty much steam in the syrup, which is yummy, but not like the apparent caramelization in the picture. I used a silicone cake pan instead of the springform one the recipe calls for, so maybe the effect would be different in the springform. However, the springform wouldn't allow for much syrup without spilling over, which is probably why there's not enough syrup in the recipe. The oranges end up retaining quite a bit of bitterness in the pith that isn't mitigated enough by the scant syrup. My 4yo son, who was incredibly excited to try the cake, gave me this devastating review: "Mommy, I love you, but I don't like the cake."

• Citrus Japanese rice

  • EmilyR on March 13, 2021

    This has a very light citrus note from the yuzu... not sure it makes a substantial difference to sushi rice.