Cooking the books – week 4

Week 4 saw a fair bit more cooking than week 3. Which wasn’t hard given how little I did in week 3!

20 January – Everyday by Bill Granger
Lime and chilli slaw, p26
Lime, paprika and honey glazed chicken, p73

My lovely friend Alisha (aka Naughty Naturopath Mum) came for lunch on Monday so I wanted to make something that I knew would taste great, but would also be easy to make. After all, it was a work day!

I have a few Bill Granger books, and have long been a fan. What I like most is that he is also a self taught cook, and loves to use simple, fresh ingredients, and cook them in a fairly unfussy way.

Verdict: There are a many recipes in this book that fit my requirements of easy, tasty and will be good for leftovers for lunch the next day. I mixed and matched two recipes, and will definitely make them both again. Especially the chicken. Sooooo good.

20 January – Family food & weekend feasts by Janelle Bloom
Char-grilled pork with fennel and pear salad, p42

I used the last of the meat that was kindly given to me by MeatCart for this meal (I reviewed MeatCart in my last cooking the books post), and like the lamb and beef, it was juicy and full of flavour. I love fresh fennel and am always looking for a reason to use it.

Verdict: The flavours in this dish were perfect together and I will definitely make it again, but probably with a different cut of pork – maybe a roast, or pork belly, or a different cut of chop.

21 January – Delicious Quick Smart Cook by Valli Little
Baja fish tacos, p90

I love, love, love  fish tacos, but I didn’t love these. Sigh.

It could have been due to the type of fish which was a new-to-me variety that totally fell apart when I cooked it. Although it had a beautiful flavour and texture. So probably not the fish. It could have been due to the general lack of flavour of the accompaniments.  Actually, looking back at the recipe, I see it needed more chilli. And I probably could have added a lot more coriander.

Mainly it just wasn’t as good as the first fish taco I ate in Hawaii (nothing will ever be that good!), but it also wasn’t as good as the fish taco recipe I usually use, which is off the SBS Food website. This one is an absolute winner.

Verdict: I’ll stick to the fish tacos from the SBS Food site. At least until I get back to Hawaii.

25 January – Women’s Weekly Barbecue Meals in Minutes
Citrus chicken with char-grilled orange and corn, p65

I think I’ve mentioned before that I have a gazillion Women’s Weekly cookbooks. For a few years my MIL and SIL gave me 3-4 every year for Christmas and birthday, so my collection grew pretty quickly. This was one of them.

During this challenge I’m trying to follow the recipe as per the book. Which means I really should read the instructions before I start to cook. If I had done that with this recipe, I would have read it called for the chicken to be marinated in the very citrusy marinade overnight at least. I’m glad I didn’t as I suspect it may have been inedible. I marinated it for about 2 hours and the flavour was incredibly strong and tart. Overnight would have turned my chicken into a chicken ceviche! Not what I wanted. Having said all that, the flavour was pretty good, and it was a huge hit with hubby.

Verdict: Yes, I would probably make this one again, or at least a Mel’d up version of it.

Summary – 4 weeks, 16 books, 17 new-to-me recipes

What did you cook during the weeks? Are you also cooking the books at all?