Notes and Reviews
-
Quite good base recipe with halibut that came out incredibly moist and tender. I might add a smidge more dried oregano (or fresh oregano) and lime zest to the cooking bag next time, but I also had more fish than called for, too. The avocado crema is great and I liked the textural contrast of the crunchy tostadas (I made my own) with the soft fish and cream. Instead of drizzling extra olive oil and sprinkling salt on top, I just mixed it into the cabbage at the last minute with a bit of lime juice, too. And, instead of hot sauce, I used a tomatillo salsa I had on hand and wanted to use up. Would make again!
-
I'm in two minds about this book. As a collection of recipes, it's excellent. This is real Italian cooking. As the book itself says, some recipes are precisely described, some require expertise and use of creative faculties, some are there as "museum pieces". The recipes I tried were not too difficult, and I like the inclusion of less current ingredients like offal and horse meat. The execution, on the other hand, leaves much to be desired. Cheap paper, typos, inconsistencies (string beans in the title, mangetout in the recipe; buckwheat in the English title, corn in the Italian title and recipe). And it's almost impossible to find a recipe. The book order is the alphabetical order of the Italian titles, the index is an alphabetical list of the English titles. The "Pan-fried horse steak" is only found at the P in the index, not at the H with the other horse meat. This is especially annoying with different pasta shapes. I like this but it could easily have been much better.
-
Delicious but second the comment that said the recipe calls for too many breadcrumbs. Can easily be halved. Would also halve the couscous when making in the future.
-
Made this exactly as the recipe was written. It was the best steak I have ever prepared at home & better than many restaurants steaks I've had! The steak with just the rub was fantastic & extremely tender...but the chimichurri gave it a wonderful kick! Will definitely be making this again!
-
Perfectly simple with so much flavor! Only change I made was using Kosher salt for the salt & I easily cut the recipe in half for 2 people!
-
This was so good! Probably the best potato salad I've ever had (don't tell my mom). I couldn't find cornichons, so I just used some fancy pickles which are close enough.
-
We really loved this. I used Anthony Bourdain's potato salad recipe from Appetites and followed the directions to cut into either side of the hot dog before cooking. Everything turned out really great, especially the kraut. Awesome summer cookout meal.
-
I was worried, because I realized too late that I had the wrong kind of honey and that's the whole point of this book, to use the specific types in the specific recipes. Fear not! This worked well with basswood honey and probably any honey really. It's also easy and fast as long as you remember to marinade ahead of time. I bet it'll be great in sandwiches tomorrow, too.
-
Easy and good, flavored up with red-wine vinegar, soy sauce, grated ginger, and MSG, paired with some chopped veg (lacinato kale, in this instance).
-
I thinly sliced and broiled the eggplant rather than cube and fry it so it was a bit dry by the time the pizza was baked but with added garlic, parsley and oregano, the flavour was very good. I used the dough recipe from RLB's The Bread Bible.
-
Not overly complicated and fairly quick to put together. I added a bit of shredded carrot & red bell pepper. I had to sub parsley for the cilantro-hater in the group; but it was still very good. I think this is going in the rotation.
-
It is just like an Italian submarine, as salad. I found a mild Italian sausage & a good provolone. Otherwise, I used what I had on hand: oregano instead of thyme & shallots instead of red onion...and mild pickled banana peppers. (I added a little extra hot pepper to my portion.) I think the color of the red onion, as written, would be better. Otherwise it is fantastic. I scarfed this down. And it looks like it will keep for a couple days too.
-
This a great light tart. We made it as directed except we substituted dill for the thyme; if you like dill it is a great choice here. I think this would be hard to make without a mandolin since you need the zucchini sliced very thin and uniformly. I also think this would be fun to try rolled out as a square and cut into small squares as an hors d'oeuvre.
-
The sauce for this salmon is heavenly! I could have just eaten it by itself and called it a meal. I’m always trying to find new ways to prepare salmon since I serve it once or twice a week, and this recipe looked intriguing. Unfortunately, the pairing didn’t appeal to either my husband or me. My side dish of orzo and kalamata olives drizzled with EVOO went better with the sauce than the salmon. I’m bookmarking this recipe so I can repeat the sauce and add clams, mussels, and/or chunks of white fish and serve it over the orzo. The oil-poached salmon served atop this sauce was weird tasting to us.
-
I was so sceptical about mixing the cold beef broth into the meat mixture, but it worked well and made quite a light, un-stodgy meatball. The sauce was excellent - I am going to use that on other things.
-
I love this soup. I would make it all the time if my kids would eat tomatoes. The lime flavor is very strong, just how I like it.
-
This is my go-to pad thai recipe. As written it is extremely spicy. I make it for my family and my kids won't eat anything spicy, so I make a few modifications. I use only 1 1/2 tsp sriracha for the thai chili sauce, and I leave out the dried chilies. I just use a couple tablespoons of oil instead of a whole cup. Just spread the chicken out and let it sear for a minute in the wok before stir frying until done. I successfully double the recipe for our family of 5. It's also good using fried tofu instead of chicken.
-
I went out and let these over-prove, so they turned out a bit like mini ciabattas -- I'd have preferred them to be more roll-shaped. The second rise really only needed an hour at most. They tasted good though; I used a strongly flavoured Spanish olive oil, and duck fat instead of lard because I'm in southwest France, not Italy. Next time I wouldn't sprinkle salt on top -- it made them too salty for my taste.
-
The published recipe contains an error. Use 2 ¼ cups (269 grams) of flour. See the correction and comments on the King Arthur Flour web site.
-
This was delicious, but wholly dependent on the flavour of your black pudding. I’m not sure that the seeded mustard added greatly to the dish, so I’ll forego it in future outings.
-
I used a smoked chicken breast instead of poaching one, and skipped the glutinous rice. The dressing tasted really unbalanced to me, so I added 1tbs of nam pla which was just about perfect.
-
Made with chicken mince - could increase the cayenne next time. Squeezed the zucchini and would do so again. Served with roasted pumpkin and roasted broccoli - the sauce was outstanding with the broccoli.
-
I riffed off of this recipe using what I had: butcher-bought merguez (I live in Spain where it is readily available and delicious), pickled red onions (from this book), sriracha mayonaise (squirt of sriracha in the mayo), arugula, and goat cheese. Yum!
-
A very good quick pickle--I have continuously kept this in rotation since I bought the book: have used for a variety of reasons, but particularly delicious in shrimp tacos and merguez sausage sandwiches. I used brown sugar when I ran out of white. Still good, but I prefer white.
-
Husband said it would’ve been slightly better with more peanuts through it. Otherwise delicious and enjoyed by both of us.