We were very excited this week to receive the new Recipetin Eats cookbook, Dinner. We are avidly studying it to decide what to make first, but it is a difficult decision. And we do this knowing that we haven't made everything we would love to make out of her first book. Not for lack of trying but because we have a lot of favourite recipes that we cook regularly. As soon as I have started cooking things out of it I will be back with a review.
This week though, I thought I would mention a few cookbooks that I would like to buy. In theory, there's no reason why I can't buy them, but if I did I am not sure when I would be able to cook for them, so for the time being, they are books that I will just wish I could buy. Or maybe see if I can borrow them at the library, and then decide to buy them. Each of these authors are ones that I have already bought a cookbook from and really liked them.
Emelia Jackson - Last year I had to have Emilia Jackson's first book, First, Cream the Butter and Sugar which I reviewed here. Later this month her next book, Some of My Best Friends Are Cookies, comes out. I love the purpleness of the cover! I would want it just for that reason!
Theo Randall - Last year I bought Theo Randall's cookbook The Italian Pantry which I reviewed here, and my recipe of the year last was the Meatballs recipe from this book. Theo Randall now has a new cookbook out which is called Verdura: 10 Vegetables, 100 Italian Recipes.
Meliz Berg - One of the books I cooked a bit out of last year was Meliz Berg's Meliz's Kitchen, which featured Turkish - Cypriot cooking. I reviewed that book here. Her new book is called Dinner Tonight.
Julia Busuttil Nishimura - Last year I bought her book Around the Table, which is an interesting mix of Japanese, Italian and Maltese recipes. Now, she has a new book out called Good Food Every Day.
I'm sure that if I went looking I would find more, but for now, this is enough!
Weekly meals
Saturday - Vanilla slice Sunday - Chicken Fricasee Monday - Pork chops, mash and broccolini Tuesday - chicken Stir Fry Wednesday - Smash burgers Thursday - Take away fish and chips Friday - Chicken Shwarma
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
A few weeks ago, I reviewed Meliz's Kitchen by Meliz Berg and I mentioned I really like books that talk about specific places and cultures. I love reading the introductions where they talk about going fishing with their grandfather, or cooking with their favourite auntie or whatever the story is. So today I thought I would talk a little about some of those books that I have in my cookbook collection.
Now, not all of them are written by people who come from the country or region, but the ones that aren't are written by people who have grown to love that particular culture.
The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden - I have had this book on my shelves for years, and I am not sure I have ever cooked anything from it, but I do distinctly remember looking through this and loving it! Time to take a stroll through the pages and the regions of Spain!
Norteña by Karla Zazueta - This is my latest addition, and features the cuisine of Northern Mexico. I find it interesting that this is so specifically about just the north, but I guess that Mexico is a big country with lots of different specialities across the country.
Trullo by Tim Siadatan - This is an Italian cookbook, and I must confess that I haven't spent a lot of time in the pages of this one!
Yiayia: Time Perfected Recipes from Greek Grandmothers by Anastasia Miari - So many delicious sounding dishes in this one. I was surprised though that there are not recipes for Moussaka or Pasticcio in this book! I will keep on the search for the perfect recipe.
Rice Table: Korean Recipes and Stories to Feed the Soul by Su Scott - Moving away from Europe temporarily, this is obviously Korean food. We have made a few things out of this including Kimchi fried rice, and some really delicious roasted baby potatoes. I must make them again!
The Italian Pantry by Theo Randall - This book contains one of our favourite meatball recipes. We made it again this week and it is so good.
Meliz's Kitchen by Meliz Berg - Somehow I managed to not include this book in the photo even though this is where my pondering started today. Never mind. This book is all Turkish-Cypriot recipes and we have cooked quite a few things from this book.
Do you have a favourite cookbook about other parts of the world?
Weekly meals
Saturday - Chorizo and Potato Soup Stew Sunday - Monday - Tuesday - Out for dinner Wednesday - Butter chicken Thursday - Baked Ratatouille and Beans Friday - Out for dinner
You might notice that I have a new button for Weekend Cooking. I actually have a couple of different versions which is nice! I really like them. I did however want to give Melynda from Scratch Made Food who made the button that I was using for a few years. Thanks again!
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
And so we come to the end of 2023! It's been a good cooking year in our house. We have tried lots of new recipes, made some delicious desserts, had some memorable meals and so much more!
As I mentioned last week I want to use this week's Weekend Cooking post to highlight the best cookbook for the year, and the best recipe. I am thinking that I might do this at the end of the next year and beyond. We'll see!
I do have quite a few cookbooks to choose from! Earlier this year I was determined to mainly read cookbooks from the library, but I did have a change of heart a bit later in the year because I decided that I would buy some because I love looking at them! Here are the books I bought this year.
So what makes just one of these books stand out enough to become my best of 2023. In this case, it is a book that we have cooked out of time and time and time again! You join the authors Facebook appreciation group, and I have recommended it to anyone who will listen. I know at least 5 people who have bought this book after we talked about it! So what is this book!
Drum roll please......
I think you can probably tell that I love this cookbook which I reviewed back in June. And we have enjoyed most of the recipes that we have cooked out of it. Here's just some of the recipes that we have made out of this book so far.
One-Pot Baked Greek Chicken & Lemon Rice
Beef Biryani
Chicken Shawarma (many, many times)
Butter Chicken
Asian Glazed Salmon
Teriyaki Beef Bowls
3 Minute Double Smash Burgers (several times)
Chorizo Potato Stew-Soup
Pad See Ew
Smoky Pork Chops
French Sausage & Bean Casserole (one of the few recipes we didn't like)
Baked Ratatouille with Beans
Chilli Con Carne
Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta Bake (A definite favourite)
Chicken Fricasee (this is the cover recipe)
Juiciest, Easiest Roast Chicken Ever
Forever Chocolate Cake
Perfect Vanilla Cake
Garlic Roast Potatoes
That seems like a lot of recipes to have tried but there are still so many more that we have marked to try one day!! And plenty that we will eat over and over! And this doesn't even include the recipes that we made from the website.
There are still many recipes that I have marked to try, but have not yet done so. We will though!
Now, I could quite easily have chosen a Nagi recipe for my recipe of the year. After all, several of the recipes have become part of our regular meal rotations. Instead I am going to return to one of the earliest cookbooks I bought this year, The Italian Pantry by Theo Randall which I reviewed here. We have made several recipes from this book, but the one that we came back to time and time again.I originally shared this recipe in February but I am more than happy to share it again. We tend to use baby bocconcini rather than burrata because it is easier to get at the supermarket.
Maybe the next time we make it we can remember to take a picture.
Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Burrata
For the meatballs
400g/14oz pork mince 400g/14oz beef mince 2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves 1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste with a little sea salt 3 tbsp full-fat milk 100g/3½oz dried breadcrumbs 75g/2½oz parmesan, finely grated 3 free-range eggs 1 tsp sea salt 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, for greasing, frying and drizzling
For the tomato sauce
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 garlic clove, finely sliced 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves 1 red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped 600g/1lb 5oz tomato passata sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the burrata and crostini
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling 1 ciabatta or sourdough loaf, cut into thin slices 1 garlic clove, peeled and left whole, to rub 150g/5½oz burrata
For the meatballs, put all the ingredients for the meatballs (except the oil) into a large bowl and combine to form a firm, evenly distributed mixture.
Cover your hands in olive oil, take a generous tablespoon of the mixture and roll it between your palms to form a meatball the size of a golf ball. Repeat until you have used all the mixture - you should have 16 meatballs. Place them on a tray, wash your hands and then place the tray in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes.
Place a large, non-stick, ovenproof frying pan over a high heat and add a tablespoon or so of olive oil. When the oil is hot, begin browning the meatballs (in batches if necessary), ensuring that you don't cook them completely - a little colour on the outside is perfect. Once they are all browned off, remove them from the pan and leave them to one side while you make the tomato sauce.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
To make the tomato sauce, heat the olive oil in an ovenproof pan and set it back over a medium heat. When hot, add the garlic, thyme, and chilli. Simmer for 1 minute, then add the tomato passata. Cook gently for 15 minutes, or until the volume of the sauce has reduced by half.
Season the sauce with salt and freshly ground black pepper and take the pan off the heat.
Place the meatballs in the pan on top of the sauce, evenly spaced, then transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through. Leave to one side for 5 minutes to cool slightly (leave the oven on).
For the burrata and crostini, drizzle a little oil over the ciabatta slices and sprinkle them with some sea salt. Place on a baking tray and bake in the hot oven for 4 minutes, or until crisp, then rub them all over with the garlic clove.
Meanwhile, finely chop the burrata, then use a spoon to drop dollops all over the baked meatballs.
Weekly meals
Saturday -
Sunday - Nasi Goreng
Monday - Nothing
Tuesday - Kebabs, mashed potato and broccoli
Wednesday - Mexican Chicken and Rice
Thursday - Zucchini risotto
Friday - Takeaway
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
Cheesecake is one of my favourite things to eat and I have shared lots of cheesecakes over the years, but is that going to stop me from talking about two recent cheesecakes I have made? Well, of course not.
But first lets take a look at just some of the cheesecakes I have shared on the blog over the last 14 years! Some of them are straight cheesecake, others incorporate cheesecake elements.
And now I am going to talk about two very different cheesecakes that I have made over the last month or so.
The first was an Amalfi Lemon Cheesecake from Theo Randall's magnificent cookbook, The Italian Pantry. I have previously posted about how much I enjoyed this book and we continue to enjoy cooking from it, especially the meatball recipe.
I was keen to try this cheesecake recipe as it is different from any cheesecake recipe I have ever tried before. Firstly, the base is made from cantuccini biscuits, which are a type of almond biscotti. The second thing that is different is that it uses a combination of ricotta and mascarpone instead of cream cheese. I was also not able to get Amalfi lemons, so I just used normal lemons. Having talked about the differences, I would like to stress how easy this was to make.
I took this to friends house for a very pleasant Sunday afternoon tea, and it was a hit!
Amalfi Lemon Cheesecake
200g (7oz) cantuccini biscuits 75g (2¾oz) unsalted butter 50g (2oz) light brown sugar 500g (1lb 2oz) ricotta, drained 100g (3½oz) mascarpone zest and juice of 2 Amalfi lemons, plus extra zest to serve 125g (4½oz) icing (confectioner's) sugar, sifted Method
Tip the cantuccini into a food processor and blitz them to a fine crumb. Alternatively, place them in a Ziplock bag and bash them with a rolling pin or saucepan. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a low heat, then add the blitzed cantuccini biscuits and the sugar. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute, then take the pan off the heat.
Tip the mixture into a 22cm (8½in) non-stick springform cake tin, pressing the buttery crumbled biscuits over the base to create a biscuit base. Transfer the tin to the fridge while you make the ricotta filling.
Using a hand-held electric whisk or a wooden spoon, beat together the ricotta, mascarpone, lemon zest and juice and icing (confectioner’s) sugar in a large mixing bowl for 4 minutes, until the mixture is creamy and light.
Spoon the ricotta mixture into the springform tin and spread it out into an even layer over the base.
Refrigerate to set for a minimum of 3 hours, but preferably overnight, before releasing the cheesecake from the tin. Transfer it to a serving plate and top with extra lemon zest before slicing
The second cheesecake that I tried was a Lemon Cheesecake recipe from Jamie Oliver's cookbook One. The idea of the book is that you only use one pan to cook the meal, or in this case the cheesecake.
The idea of this one is that you cook this in a frying pan, starting from the biscuit base, through to the cheesecake mixture. To be honest, I am really not sure how this saves anything because you would still be using just one cooking implement if you did in the normal cake tin that I used. You would have gotten a better base in the cake tin as well.
Another reason to not use the frying pan. It really, really hurts when you forget to use the oven mitt when you go to put the frying pan back in the fridge. Trust me on this!
One thing I did like about this recipe was the idea of using a food processor to do the biscuit base and then just doing the cream cheese part in the same food processor without worrying about washing the bowl out. Normally I would use the food processor to do the tin and then the stand mixer to do the cream cheese part. I will definitely do that in future.
The title of the recipe is a bit misleading as I do feel as though the raspberries should at least get a shout at.
Lemon Cheesecake
100 g unsalted butter 250 g Lotus Biscoff or ginger nut biscuits 4 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste 100 g icing sugar , plus extra for dusting 680 g cream cheese 1 lemon
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Melt the butter in a 28cm ovenproof frying pan over a low heat, while you blitz the biscuits until fine in a food processor. Turn the heat off, tip the biscuit crumbs into the pan and mix well, then spread and pat out in an even layer, going slightly up the sides. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove. Crack the eggs into the processor (there’s no need to clean it), with the vanilla and most of the icing sugar and blitz for 2 minutes, until pale. Blitz in the cream cheese and lemon juice, then pour evenly over the biscuit base. Mash half the raspberries and the remaining icing sugar with a fork, swirl through the top, then bake for 15 minutes.
Pull out the pan and scatter over the rest of the raspberries, dust with a little extra icing sugar, then pop back in for another 10 minutes. At this point, switch from the oven to the grill on full whack, until the top is beautifully golden and just starting to catch. Remove and leave to cool, then chill in the fridge for 2 hours before serving. The texture won’t be completely smooth but boy will it be delicious.
Weekly meals
Saturday - Chilli, rice and broccoli
Sunday - Leftover chilli
Monday - pork chops, mash and broccolie
Tuesday - steak, mushroom and broccoline
Wednesday - takeaway
Thursday - chicken katsu curry, rice, broccoli
Friday -
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
The first Saturday of the month is when I share all the things that I baked in the previous month, and this month I have actually been baking! Hooray! The last few months I have had maybe one thing to share! And I am baking something today so I will have at least one thing for next month too! I'm on a roll.
This flurry of activity is linked to getting some new cookbooks and having people to share the bakes with. What it is not linked to is the baking class that I mentioned I had signed up for last month. It is probably fortunate that there is no time limit on that class!
The first two recipes come from The Italian Pantry by Theo Randall, which I posted about last week.
Ricciarelli - in the intro to the recipe Theo Randall says "These sweet little biscuits are essentially soft pine nut and almond macaroons." What this doesn't tell you is about the hint of orange or the lovely texture, or how simple they are to make. Delicious! I took these into work and everyone liked them.
Amafi Lemon Cheesecake - There are two things that make this cheesecake unusual. Firstly, the base of the cheesecake is made from almond biscuits. And the second is that the filling is made from cottage cheese and mascarpone instead of the more normal cream cheese filling. I just used normal lemon because that is what I had. We shared this with friends for a Sunday afternoon tea, and it was another hit. I have a plan to share more about this cheesecake in the next few weeks.
Chocolate Biscuit Pudding - This is a Sri Lankan dish which comes from Hoppers by Karan Gokani. Whilst it is not an easy dish to photograph, it is very tasty to eat, which is the main thing right? This is made by layering biscuits (by which I mean cookies) with a chocolate butter cream. You can find the recipe here.
Chocolate and Pistachio Sable - I bought the cookbook I mention below and I wanted to find something to make and a morning tea at work was the perfect opportunity. I love how the bits of pistachio look almost like little jewels in the biscuits. I will make these again for sure.
The only new thing in my kitchen this month is this cookbook. I originally borrowed this book from the library. I opened up to the first recipe and knew that I would be buying this book. There are so many things I want too make from it!
I did want to mention a Netflix show that I watched this week. Last week Beth Fish Reads posted about a show called A Tale of Two Kitchens. It focuses on two restaurants, one in Mexico and the other in San Francisco and the differences and similarities between them. It is only 30 minutes long and I really liked it!
Tuesday - Pork chaps, mash potato, beans and gravy
Wednesday - Mexican chicken, rice and beans
Thursday - Takeaway
Friday - Out for dinner
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
Last week I talked about the two cookbook clubs that I am kind of participating in and all the books that I had out from the library. This week I thought I would talk about one of the two books that I bought.
The Italian Pantry by Theo Randall was the January cookbook for the Jamie Oliver Cookbook club. As we were travelling around Europe I kept on seeing all the posts in the Facebook group raving about this book but it is one that isn't available in either of my libraries, so I bit the bullet and bought it as soon as we got home. And it was worth every cent!!
Theo Randall is an British chef who has worked in a number of restaurants, most famously at The River Cafe in London where he gained a Michelin star.
The structure of this book is very interesting. Rather than be broken up into sections about starters, main course and desserts or seasons, the book is built around 10 key ingredients. They are:
Breadcrumbs
Tomatoes
Porcini Mushrooms
Parmesan
Leafy Greens
Ricotta
Polenta
Honey
Pine Nuts
Within each chapter there is a nice mix of sweet and savoury recipes. Well, there aren't sweet recipes in every chapter, but there are in most.
In the photo above, you might be able to glimpse the pieces of paper which are marking all the recipes that I want to try. There are a lot!
So far I have made 5 recipes from the book. They are Paccheri with Leeks, Parmesan and Prosciutto di Parma, Aubergine and Courgette Lasagne (both from the parmesan chapter), Richhieri (from the pine nut chapter) and Amalfi Lemon Cheesecake from the lemon chapter.
The recipes have all been easy to follow, and not particularly difficult to make. I have also had to look at different pasta shapes. For example, paccheri is a large tube pasta shape I had never even noticed on the shelves before.
Some recipes, like the Aubergine and Courgette Lasagne, take a bit of time to prepare but it was worth it. I will definitely be making that one again. In fact, the Ricchieri were a bit hit when I took them to work, and I took the cheesecake to a friend's place and they loved it, so there's every chance I will make all of them again.
Whilst there are some recipes that ask for specific ingredients, I have found that it isn't difficult to find alternatives. For example, the cheesecake says Amalfi lemon but I just used normal lemon. I suspect it might have been a bit more tart than it might have been but it was still really good! And it was made using a base of ricotta and mascarpone instead of the cream cheese I would normally use to make cheesecake. As a result it was very light.
Here's some photos of some of the things I have made:
One recipe I have already made more than once are the meatballs. Actually, I should more correctly say my husband has made them more than once. This is the recipe that everyone in the group was raving about, so it had to be the first recipe we tried. And we loved it too!
We couldn't get burrata from our local supermarket so the first time we made it we substituted baby boccincini and the second time we used chopped up mozzarella.
Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Burrata
For the meatballs
400g/14oz pork mince 400g/14oz beef mince 2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves 1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste with a little sea salt 3 tbsp full-fat milk 100g/3½oz dried breadcrumbs 75g/2½oz parmesan, finely grated 3 free-range eggs 1 tsp sea salt 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, for greasing, frying and drizzling
For the tomato sauce
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 garlic clove, finely sliced 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves 1 red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped 600g/1lb 5oz tomato passata sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the burrata and crostini
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling 1 ciabatta or sourdough loaf, cut into thin slices 1 garlic clove, peeled and left whole, to rub 150g/5½oz burrata
For the meatballs, put all the ingredients for the meatballs (except the oil) into a large bowl and combine to form a firm, evenly distributed mixture.
Cover your hands in olive oil, take a generous tablespoon of the mixture and roll it between your palms to form a meatball the size of a golf ball. Repeat until you have used all the mixture - you should have 16 meatballs. Place them on a tray, wash your hands and then place the tray in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes.
Place a large, non-stick, ovenproof frying pan over a high heat and add a tablespoon or so of olive oil. When the oil is hot, begin browning the meatballs (in batches if necessary), ensuring that you don't cook them completely - a little colour on the outside is perfect. Once they are all browned off, remove them from the pan and leave them to one side while you make the tomato sauce.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
To make the tomato sauce, heat the olive oil in an ovenproof pan and set it back over a medium heat. When hot, add the garlic, thyme, and chilli. Simmer for 1 minute, then add the tomato passata. Cook gently for 15 minutes, or until the volume of the sauce has reduced by half.
Season the sauce with salt and freshly ground black pepper and take the pan off the heat.
Place the meatballs in the pan on top of the sauce, evenly spaced, then transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through. Leave to one side for 5 minutes to cool slightly (leave the oven on).
For the burrata and crostini, drizzle a little oil over the ciabatta slices and sprinkle them with some sea salt. Place on a baking tray and bake in the hot oven for 4 minutes, or until crisp, then rub them all over with the garlic clove.
Meanwhile, finely chop the burrata, then use a spoon to drop dollops all over the baked meatballs.
The meatballs are juicy, the sauce is tasty. We are tending to put the cheese in a bit earlier so that it was a bit more melty (technical term).
If you are interested in Italian cooking, this might be a good cookbook for you!
Weekly meals
Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Enchiladas
Monday - Bacon, zuchhini mushroom pasta
Tuesday - Out for dinner
Wednesday - Mexican chicken parma
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Out for dinner
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
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