Notes about Recipes in this book

• Cream cheese, chive and ham roulés with cucumbers

  • Ro_ on November 01, 2020

    Simple and quick to make, easy to do in advance, and these went down really really well with my family - I'll make them again. Healthy to boot!

• Pommes boulangère

  • Ro_ on September 08, 2020

    I wanted to love this but I didn't. The onions were nice, but my potatoes didn't seem fully cooked and apparently hadn't soaked up a lot of the flavour of the onions and stock. A shame.

• Flageolet bean

  • Ro_ on September 29, 2020

    Another "fine but not that exciting" recipe from this book.

• Bayonne ham omelette

  • Ro_ on September 15, 2020

    Nice enough but a touch salty

• Chicken liver salad with pear and Port dressing

  • Ro_ on October 08, 2020

    I tweaked this recipe a bit: it turns out I didn't have any walnuts, but I did have pine nuts so I used those (it would definitely have been better with walnuts). Also, I didn't like the idea of putting the port neat in the dressing, so I waited until after I had cooked the livers and removed them from the pan, then added the port to the pan and reduced it for a minute or two before adding to the dressing. Overall, this was a nice recipe but it ended up being a little too sweet for me. I did like the method of cooking the livers though, and would repeat this.

• Turkey cordon bleu

  • Ro_ on September 29, 2020

    These were lovely - definitely one of the best recipes I've tried so far from this book. You definitely wouldn't know they were a 'diet' recipe (though I must admit I didn't weigh out the cheese or breadcrumbs so may have used more than instructed). A lovely flavour and texture, and the turkey stayed beautifully moist. My partner also loved these. Will make again.

• Croque monsieur

  • Ro_ on February 22, 2020

    First time I've made croque monsieurs, and they were excellent. I followed the principles of the recipe, but after measuring the butter for the bechamel sauce I didn't then measure the flour or milk, since I already know how to make a bechamel I just went by what seemed right. I didn't measure the cheese either, and probably added more than was recommended in the recipe! But the basic ingredients, principles and timings in the oven/grill gave me perfect croque monsieurs. I'll definitely be making this recipe again.

• Rabbit and cider casserole with caramelized apples

  • Ro_ on November 24, 2019

    I had the liver of the rabbit to use up as well, so minced it finely and added it with the creme fraiche at the end to thicken. Overall I'd say this casserole recipe was pretty average, and I probably wouldn't make it again. However I really liked the caramelised apples that went with it, and this is something I'd potentially repeat.

• Leek and ham gratin

  • Ro_ on September 29, 2020

    There's no getting around the fact that this is the kind of dish that would simply be nicer with more cream, cheese and butter. I think if you were just doing it as a side dish to a richer main you could probably get away with it, but as a main course on its own with the ham, it left me wanting more from it. It also confirmed my suspicion that I really don't like white pepper.

• Pan-fried duck breast with sweet cherry compote

  • Ro_ on November 10, 2020

    Not my favourite method for cooking duck breast - it seemed a shame to take the skin off, and also it didn't end up as pink as I would have liked. I did quite like the cherry compote sauce though. Warning: when I added the red wine vinegar to the oil and fat in the pan during the sauce making, it went absolutely mental, huge bubbles of hot fat started spitting out everywhere for quite a prolonged period of time. Still not sure exactly what happened there, I've had spitting oil before but nothing like that, and it wasn't even on a high heat!

• The best roast chicken ever

  • Ro_ on November 03, 2019

    This was a little fiddly in terms of getting the mushroom mix under the skin and then well-distributed over all the flesh, but I got there eventually. I was a little sceptical that an hour at 160 would be enough cooking time, but it absolutely was. The result was a very flavourful chicken - the tarragon came through the strongest, next time I'd probably dry adding some rehydrated dried mushrooms to the stuffing mix for a more intense mushroom flavour. Overall this was nice but didn't quite live up to the claim of the title.

• Galettes Bretonnes: spinach and goat's cheese

  • Ro_ on October 01, 2020

    A very nice galette recipe. I substituted spring onion for the red onion, since it's what I had to hand. The spinach and goat cheese filling was lovely.