Weekend Cooking: The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cookbook by Poppy O'Toole

Last month, the Lambs Ears Cook Book Club chose Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious One Pot Cookbook by Poppy O'Toole as it's March selection. I tried to get that one from the library but they didn't have it, so instead I borrowed Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious One Pot Cookbook instead. 

We haven't had much luck with British chef  Poppy O'Toole. I love watching her, and I like her voice and attitude. The intros to her recipes are always a lot of fun, but the two cook books I have tried from her before were interesting, but there wasn't much that I wanted to cook from them. 

Poppy is a Michelin trained chef who gained popularity on the socials during the pandemic when she started sharing all the different things you can do with a potato. It turns out that there is a lot and so the first book I looked at was her potato one, and then I borrowed her air fryer cook book because we are still looking for better ways to use the air fryer. 

If it hadn't of been for the cook book club, I wouldn't have even looked at this book, and I would have missed out, because there are quite a few things we have made from this book and they are all good. So much so, I am contemplating buying this book so we can keep cooking from it!

The book is set up in a pretty standard format with chapters covering Soups, Chicken, Beef, Lamb, Pork, Turkey, Veggies and Desserts. As you would expect from a cook whose passion is potatoes, there is a whole chapter on potatoes in this book as well. 

We have a combo slow and pressure cooker all in one, and we tend to use the pressure cooker function more than the slow cooker. With the weather becoming cooler, it was a good time to try some of these hearty slow cooked meals.

So far we have tried Beef Bourgignon, Marry Me Chicken, Chicken and Chorizo Orzo and Tomato and Paneer Curry which is the recipe I am sharing today. All of them have been good, with nice flavour which sometimes can go a bit missing when you are cooking things in the slow cooker. 

There are so many recipes that I would like to try though which is why I might need to purchase this book. Some I want to try include 

Soups: Spicy Gochujan Noodle Curry, Laksa, Ramen, French Onion Soup, Hearty Whole Chicken Soup

Chicken: Coq au Vin, Teriyaki Chicken, Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs, Fajita Chicken, Chicken Korma and more 

Beef: Beef Rendang, Stroganoff and more

Pork: Char Siu Pork, Overnight Apple and Cider Pork Bap

Veggie: Potato and Aubergine Curry, Breakfast Home Style Potatos

For the record, we also tried a recipe called Chicken and Orange Tray Bake which comes from the One Pot book and is available on her website. It was delicious too.

Today I am sharing the recipe from the Tomato and Paneer Curry which was really good. Before I went to India last month, paneer isn't something that I would normally have gravitated to. While I was there we ate quite a few curry dishes which featured paneer so now I am looking forward to experimenting with it more.

Tomato and Paneer Curry 

1 red onion, thinly sliced 
4 fat garlic cloves, grated or crushed 
2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into 2cm slices 
thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated, or peeled and julienned or finely chopped
 1–2 green chillies, thinly sliced (or 1–2 teaspoons chilli flakes) 
450g paneer, cut into 2–2.5cm dice 
25g butter, cubed 
1 x 600g jar of passata 
1 tablespoon tomato purée 
1 teaspoon caster sugar 
1 teaspoon garam masala 
1 teaspoon cumin seeds 
1 teaspoon salt, plus extra to season 
150ml single cream 
1 lime, juiced 
150–200g spinach 
small handful of coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves roughly chopped 

1. Add the onion, garlic, peppers, ginger, chillies, paneer, butter, passata, tomato purée, sugar, garam masala, cumin seeds, teaspoon of salt and lots of black pepper to the bowl of your slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours, until the veg are completely tender and the paneer is pleasantly soft, but hasn’t completely fallen apart. 

2. Stir in the cream, lime juice, spinach and coriander stalks, until the spinach has wilted. Taste to check the seasoning and adjust as needed. 

3. Divide the curry between four bowls and scatter over the coriander leaves. 

Weekly meals

Saturday - Swedish Meatballs
Sunday - Marry Me Chicken (new)
Monday - Pork chops with mash and broccoli
Tuesday - Spaghetti Bolognaise
Wednesday - Away
Thursday - Away
Friday - Away

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

Weekend Cooking: Meliz's Kitchen by Meliz Berg

I have been buying quite a few cookbooks over the last year, mainly thanks to the Jamie Oliver Cookbook Club. This is one of those books. Some of the books get used a lot, and others not so much but I still like having them all. When I first got this cookbook, I wasn't sure how much I would use it, but it has turned out quite a lot.

I have decided that I really like cookbooks that represent the people of a specific culture. In this case, the author is of Cypriot descent and so she is sharing stories of going fishing with her uncle or cooking with her aunts, of barbecuing on the mangal and more.

Now, I am pretty sure that I couldn't have named a single specifically Cypriot dish before getting this book, but it turns out that Cyprus, like so many of the islands in the Mediterranean is a bit of a crossroads for different cultures and this is well and truly represented in the food. Being in the Mediterranean we know that we can expect lots of tomatoes and seafood, but there is also reliance on herbs and spices such as cinnamon and mint which make it a bit different from other food in the region. There are also quite a few lamb dishes in the book. Unfortunately my husband doesn't love lamb so not sure we will get to make those but we'll see. 

The author also points out that whilst she learnt many of these recipes from her mother and aunts, every family will have slightly different versions of the same dishes depending on which village or family they come from. She has also adapted them to reflect our modern lifestyles.

The book is broken up into several different sections including Breakfast, Dishes & Salads to Share, Easy One-pots and Slow Cooking, Quick Cooking for Busy Weeknights, Traditional Stove-top Dishes from Meatballs to Dolma, Hearty Dishes from the Oven, Barbecue Dishes & Accompaniments, Homemade Breads, Doughs and Pastries and finally Crowd-pleasing Sweets

We have really enjoyed the recipes we have tried from the book so far, which include

Dad's Tomato and Rice Soup

One-pot Halloumi and Tomato Pasta

Chicken, Tomato &Parsley Wraps

Mum's Chocolate & Coconut Cake (pictured)

There are still quite a few recipes that I am keen to try, and these vary from being very simple to much more complicated. An example of a really simple one is a toasted cheese and halloumi sandwich. I am intrigued to see how two different types of cheese along with some cinnamon and mint can really transform a normal toasted cheese sandwich. 

At the other end of the scale, I am also really keen to try the Creamy Moussaka recipe. I love moussaka and would really love to have an amazing recipe for it! I have a Greek friend who gave me her recipe for both moussaka and pasticchio so I just need a weekend where we can have the time to make at least one of these recipes.

Other examples of recipes I am keen to try include a Cypriot-style Pasta & Chicken, Egg Halloumi and Sauteed Vegetables, Baked White Fish in Tomato Sauce, and Chicken, Potato & Tomato Roast. I am sure next time I flick through the book I will find others!

Given that the weather is cooling down here now, I thought I would share a recipe for a soup. We had this a couple of weeks ago and it was really, really good! I can see this getting made quite a few times over the coming months

Dad's Tomato & Rice Soup

BABA’S DOMATESLI PIRINÇ ÇORBASI


200 g (7 oz) short-grain white rice
6 large tomatoes
50 ml (2 fl oz) olive oil
1 large onion , finely chopped
1 vegetable stock cube
500 ml (18 fl oz) boiling water
1.5 litres (2½ pints) cold water
25 g (1 oz) fresh parsley , finely chopped
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon caster sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus extra to taste

Wash the rice in a sieve with cold water until the water runs clear. Leave to drain.

Place the tomatoes in a deep heatproof bowl. Pour over boiling water to cover and leave for a minute or two. Remove the tomatoes from the bowl, peel off the skins, discard, and then finely chop the flesh. Leave to one side.

Pour the olive oil into a large pan and place over a medium heat. Add the onion and soften for 10–12 minutes until lightly caramelised.

While the onion is cooking, dissolve the stock cube in the boiling water, then top up with the cold water.

Stir the parsley, paprika and tomatoes into the caramelised onions and let everything sizzle for a minute or two before adding the rice, giving the grains a good stir so that they get fully coated in the tomatoes and onion. Sprinkle in the sugar, then gently pour in the stock and season with the salt and pepper.

 Allow the soup to simmer over a medium heat for around 10 minutes until the rice is cooked. Add the lemon juice a couple of minutes before you remove the pan from the heat and serve with crusty bread, adding a little more lemon juice to taste.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Roast pork with leeks and mushrooms

Sunday -  Toasted ham and cheese sandwiches

Monday - Chicken Enchiladas

Tuesday - Beef and Broccoli Noodles

Wednesday - Spanish Tuna Pasta Bake

Thursday - French Onion casserole

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

Weekend Cooking: Mediterranean Vegetable Tart

A while ago now we watched British chef Tom Kerridge's series Lose Weight for Good, and I shared a recipe for "fried" chicken. This is a recipe that is definitely part of our regular meal rotation.

We also tried a couple of other things from the series, one of which is this Mediterranean Vegetable Tart. I just feels so summery to me, so it is perfect for this time of year! And the reality is that you can't go past puff pastry!

It's time for us to make it again and so today I am sharing the recipe so we can find it when we need to.

Mediterranean Vegetable Tart (Tom Kerridge)

280g/10oz ready-rolled light puff pastry
200g/7oz baby zucchini, cut into 15mm/⅝in slices
1 large red capsicum/pepper, cored, seeds removed, cut into 2cm/¾in chunks
1 large yellow capsicum/pepper, cored, seeds removed, cut into 2cm/¾in chunks
1 red onion, cut into 2cm/¾in chunks
4 garlic cloves, sliced
2 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
4 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
olive oil spray
1 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
100g/3½oz cherry tomatoes, halved
75g/2¾oz goats’ cheese, crumbled
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper




Using a sharp knife, trim the sheet of puff pastry to 25 x 28cm/10 x 11in. Place it on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and score a border 2cm/¾in in from the edge all the way round. Prick the pastry within the margin, using a fork. Leave to rest in the fridge for about an hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 240C/220C Fan/Gas 9.


Put the zuchinni, capsicum and red onion into a large bowl. Add the garlic and herbs and season generously with salt and pepper. Line a large baking tray with baking paper, lay the vegetables on it and spray 15–20 times with oil.


Brush the puff pastry all over with the milk and sprinkle with a little salt. Cook on the middle shelf of the oven, with the vegetable tray on the top shelf above, for 15 minutes, rotating both trays halfway through to ensure even colouring. Remove both trays from the oven and reduce the temperature to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3. Set the vegetables aside.


Press the inside of the pastry down and return to the oven for 25 minutes to get a super-crisp base.


Take the tart case out of the oven and increase the temperature to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Tip the roasted vegetables into the tart case, scatter over the cherry tomatoes and goats’ cheese and season with salt and pepper.


Bake for 20–25 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through and the cheese is softening and colouring at the edges. Cut the tart into quarters and serve.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Roast beef, vegies and gravy

Sunday - Roast beef, vegies and gravy 

Monday - Fried chicken, mashed potato and gravy
Tuesday - Homemade pizza
Wednesday - Zucchini and Mushroom risotto
Thursday - Pork chop, potato gratin, broccoli and cauliflower bake

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