Cooking the books – week 3

OK so I only have one little lone cookbook to share with you for week three of cooking the books. Thanks to the big cook up I did last Sunday, I didn’t really need to cook much during the week. Plus I was out for three nights.

I chose this book, Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros, because Leah from Sharing the Food We Love told me about her monthly cooking challenge, The CookBook Guru. So many cooking challenges! I LOVE them! 

19 January – Falling Cloudberries, Tessa Kiros
Souvlaki (made with lamb), p182; Pitta bread, p183; Tzatziki, p76

I fell in love with Tessa’s book the moment I saw its beautiful cover, when I was in Sydney about 10 years ago. The only problem was that I had to fly home that day and my bag was already overflowing to the point of needing two carry-on bags. A book weighing over 1.5kg was definitely not the final impulse purchase of the day that I needed to make. But make it I did!

I’ve made very little from this book since then, but I do often just sit down and ooh and aah over the stunning photos. However my favourite part of this book is the dedication. It reads:

My mother’s name is Sirpa Tuula Kerttu Peiponen
My father’s name is George

This dish was chosen as I had some lamb rump that had been given to me by the fabulous people at MeatCart, and I wanted to cook it. I also absolutely love Greek food.

I made a couple of changes to the original recipe, subbing lamb for the called-for pork. I also used sumac rather than oregano in the marinade, as I realised a bit late that I was out of oregano. Whoops!

Summary: 3 weeks, 12 cookbooks, 12 new-to-me recipes

About MeatCart

If you are in Brisbane and looking for a home meat delivery service, then check out MeatCart. You order online and your meat is delivered within two business days. Mine was delivered, and left on our front porch as I was out, in a bright yellow soft cooler bag that was well packed with ice. It was a stinky hot day, however I suspect the ice would have taken a good 4-5 hours to melt, keeping my meat lovely and fresh. I was provided with fillet mignon – all their beef is grass fed (which my hubby declared among the best he has ever had – and it wasn’t due to my cooking as I overcooked it slightly. Sigh.), pork forequarter chops, lamb rump and some “superhero” kids sausages. All the meat was clearly labelled in thermoform vacuum packaging with the type of meat, the cut and the weight. The pork and lamb were succulent and full of flavour (but you will  have to read my cooking the books post next week to see what I cooked)

While there are many organisations that deliver veggie boxes and groceries, MeatCart is the first I have come across in Brisbane that deliver high-quality meat. If you are looking for a service like this, then check them out – you won’t regret it as the quality of the meat is excellent.

This post isn’t sponsored by MeatCart, but they did provide me with free samples of their meat. All opinions are fully my own.