Every year I set myself a series of goals and/or challenges. Sometimes they happen, sometimes they don’t.
Recently I have been reading quite a few of my cookbooks (I have more than a few!), and realised that while I love to read them, there are many I haven’t yet cooked from.
So, inspired by Brigitte from My Delicious Year, I’ve set a challenge of cooking the books – cooking from as many of my cookbooks as I can during the year. And, to keep things interesting, make a recipe from each book that I haven’t previously made. I would love to make it to 300 new-to-me recipes from 300 books.
Wish me luck!
The first week started well.
I cooked:
1 January – Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals, Jamie Oliver
Chicken skewers, amazing satay sauce, fiery noodle salad, p 110
I made a few modifications as I cooked the chicken thigh fillets in large pieces on the BBQ, used mung bean noodles for the salad, needed to add extra of some ingredients to the satay sauce as it was pretty bland, and had too much lime as per the recipe.
The verdict: I love Jamie and have most of his books. This recipe was easy and enjoyed by all. Yes, I would make this one again. The leftovers for lunch the next day were also full of flavour, although the cashew nuts were soggy.
2 January – River Cottage Veg Everyday, Hugh Fearnley-Whittington
Warm salad of mushrooms and roasted squash, p 94
I’ve cooked a few recipes from this book in the year or so since I bought it and they have all been great. This, however, is the best salad I’ve eaten in ages, possibly ever. Yes, it was even better than my previous favourite haloumi salad. A big call I know. The combination of roast pumpkin and garlic, mushrooms cooked in butter, sage and blue cheese was an absolute winner. I served it with steak, as beef and blue cheese is another of my favourite flavour combinations. This salad actually didn’t need the addition of a side of meat, but I know the males in the house would have complained had it not.
4 January – Gluten Free Grain Free, Food we love, Tania Hubbard
Date squishies, p 109
I went to a workshop Tania Hubbard ran about 8-10 weeks ago and was so impressed I bought her book. I have made a couple of recipes out of it so far – her gluten free grain free bread is SO EASY – and I am eyeing off her haloumi and zucchini salad for lunch one day soon. This time I made the very simple date squishies. Not just because I love the name! I’m trying to eat less chocolate and sweet, sugary treats, and this snack is a good replacement for those. Simple to make, just blitz dates, cacao, cinnamon and ginger, roll into balls and roll in coconut. It took less than 15 minutes.
5 January – Raw Food Cleanse, Penny Shelton
Cilantro lime dressing, p 65
Mexican Food Made Simple, Thomasina Miers
Chicken adobado (marinated chicken), p 160
An unexpected phone call from friends in Sydney asking if we were free for dinner as they would be in town for the night had me reaching for a few cookbooks as I wondered what to make. As Catherine loves food as much as me, AND is a nutritionist, I knew it had to be healthy as well as tasty. I kept being drawn back to the cilantro lime dressing in Raw Food Cleanse (no idea WHAT possessed me to ever buy that book…), so knew I had to develop a meal around it.
The main course was from one of my favourite books, Mexican Food Made Simple, a book I have fed many friends from. Technically this book and recipe is not part of this challenge as I’ve made this a few times. While the recipe calls for the chicken to be cooked on the BBQ, there is so much marinade that I always bake it like a casserole. I always cook at least 1.5kg of chicken thigh fillets as it is even better 2-3 days later once the flavours of the marinade have developed (which include onion, garlic, tomato, orange, red wine vinegar, coriander, chipotle, soy sauce, oregano, Worcestershire sauce).
I served these with a simple salad and a mix of basmati and wild rice. Not a lot was leftover.
So that was week one! I’m now partway through week 2, and have spent a bit of time this morning scouring Eat Your Books to find which of my cookbooks has a great recipe that can use up the big chunk of pumpkin in my fridge.
Read next week to see what I’ve made.
Summary: 1 week, 5 books, 4 new-to-me recipes.
This is a great idea, Mel. I did a stocktake of my own cookbook collection over the Christmas break and couldn’t believe how many beautiful books I had that I had merely glanced over and put on the shelf (with every intention of coming back to them). I so need to do this!
So far I’m really enjoying it Erin – hopefully I say the same in 3 months!
What a great idea…I think I’ll join you…perhaps not 300 new recipes, but at least 2 new ones a week…
hmm. maybe I’ll do a cook-along with a new recipe challenge 🙂
I so need to do this!! Inspired! Thanks Mel 🙂 xx
thanks Sneh – one week in and I have to say so far it’s loads of fun!!
I have to do a cookbook cleanse. And cook some new things to. A bit over cooking the same things. Perhaps I could set this challenge for the adult children who live at home
Get the adult kids to nominate a few recipes – I often do that and it works well
What a great idea! All these recipes sound divine, but the Chicken Adobado had me salivating.
xx
It’s so easy and everyone always raves about it. I’ll try and remember to blog it next time I make it.
How exciting Mel! Thrilled to have played a little part in your 2014 cooking challenge.
I have two of Thomasina Miers cookbooks and I love her food! Hubby is a huge fan of Mexican food – the hotter the better!
Do you really have 300 cookbooks? Makes me wonder how many I own. Mine are in hiding until the “My Delicious Year” challenge ends at the end of January so I’ll save the counting until then!
X Brigitte
I have two of her books too and they are both fabulous. and yes, I really have about 300 books. And a large pile of mags.
A great idea, Mel, and such a lot of fun! I always intend to make more use of my extensive collection of cookbooks but in reality I tend to cook off the top of my head – no doubt inspired by what I’ve read but not slavishly following any recipe. I’m looking forward to dipping into more of my books once we are settled in our new place.
I haven’t slavishly followed any of the recipes so far, mainly because for many I’ve not had everything so have had to substitute. I was getting sick of the same 6-8 dishes always being made.
I know – so many cookbooks, so little time! I do at least 1 new dish a month with Random Recipes but could so so many more. Now that there’s a supermarket near work, I can drop in and pick up some fresh ingredients on a whim to improve the variery of our weekday meals. Keep up the good work!
thanks Fiona 🙂
Hahaha Mel. I have so many cookbooks too. When I last counted them I had over 100, but that was at least 5 years ago and I’m not game to count them now. I’ve always loved curling up on the couch and just flicking through them as a form of entertainment. I don’t actually cook that much from them though, rather I use them more like study books so that when I am cooking I can intuitively match flavour combinations from what I remember reading.
I actually don’t know how many I have, but I have a massive bookcase that is full. Not brave enough to count them all…
This is a fantastic idea Mel. I am too scared to count how many books I own also but I started menu planning many years ago as a way to use the books I do have. Each week I try and cook something new. Sometimes it works but other days I fall back on old favourites. My concern is if I keep reading these posts I will find a whole heap of new books I have to have. I am already considering the Mexican book 🙂
The Mexican book is FANTASTIC – easily one of my top 10 faves. I have her second book as well, which is also good. I suspect I’ll be using them both a bit over the next 12 months. My goal for the last two years was to make one new-to-me meal a week – didn’t always happen, but we did end up discovering some new favourites.
That is one hell of a challenge you have set yourself, Mel – best of luck with it. I am ashamed at the number of cookbooks i have that are totally underused. Some i use a lot, some i use occasionally, some have never – ever – been used. Every now and then i hone in on a book that i only use for a recipe or two – but i don’t think i’ve got the stamina to do what you have embarked on. I look forward to hearing more of your gastronomic bookcase journey.
Thanks – I have far too many books I’ve never used. Or barely even looked at. Reading through them is taking far more time than I anticipated! Oh well… 🙂
I really applaud this idea, Mel… many of us cooking enthusiasts have so many cookbooks that we hardly visit… and yet I love each one and know which of my favourite recipes or snippets is in which book. I look forward to reading your adventures… and now that I’m retired I plan to spend far more time enjoying my vast library and cooking aplenty oxox
I love this challenge, especially as I have a cupboard full of books that arent used as much as they should be. I have often challenged myself to select a book and cook with it for the week- which works but does require lots of planning- something Im not terribly good at. Your posts have inspired me to do it again and blogging about it is such a good way to document the experience and share some the recipes. Keen to see the other books and recipes you have tried xxx
Thanks Kylie! I’ve fallen behind on this challenge in recent weeks (months…) but have a post to write. I should have some time to cook over the next few weeks as I’m actually home (yay!) and intend to do some menu planning over the weekend. Stay tuned!