I made this years ago, and it was so good.
1 Like
The color is stunning, shown off to perfection in that bowl!!
1 Like
LEEK, SPELT AND GOAT CHEESE RISOTTO, p. 286 A Change of Appetite. This was the most disappointing pot of brown sludge I have ever made. I couldn’t find leeks, so used a few red onions. I also couldn’t
find pearled spelt, so picked up the only spelt berries the bulk store had—sprouted spelt. Big mistake. It’s been cooking for 2 hours and is still so hard. The broth, onions and garlic taste nice, but I will not be adding the goat cheese, and am instead waiting for it to cool enough to put in the city compost bin for pickup tomorrow. I probably won’t try this again, even if I get the right ingredients. Barley will be my only alternate risotto grain. Looks like toast for dinner tonight and a very light (no) lunch tomorrow. Ah well, you win some and lose some.
3 Likes
Well that’s a real bummer.
Agree with you on barley in a risotto-style prep.
A place near me used to serve a mushroom “farrotto” that was lovely too.
2 Likes
You should try it again with leek and the pearled spelt - it is really a nice combination (you can also find it from time to time on restaurant menus). Add a sautéed mushrooms to it for an additional flavor boost
I’m trying that! Thank you @Saregama for the heads up! @pavlova do you happen to know what kind of blood oranges you used, or how many?
Maybe, if I see pearled spelt. I have to say that the house still smelled absolutely delicious when I woke up this morning, so I am confident it would also taste delicious. I did see leeks at one store, but they were skinny and $1.99 each. Glad I didn’t waste that on my crunchy spelt disaster!
No, they didn’t have a sticker or variety name. I always buy the ones with the most colour on the rind because I read once that they have the darkest flesh. I have no idea if that’s true, and I haven’t bought any orange rinded ones to compare. It took 4 oranges.
I didn’t boil the juice with the other ingredients. I simmered the sugar, water, zest and cardamom, then covered it and let it cool completely to infuse before adding the juice, straining and freezing it. I wanted all the cardamom flavour I could get and it worked well.
1 Like
Thank you!
SOBA NOODLES WITH CHILE, BABY BROCCOLI, AND A FRIED EGG p. 295 A Change of Appetite
This was quick and delicious and I had all the right ingredients. It was nicely spiced from a garden Serrano and lots of ginger and garlic. Very simple and satisfying. Will make again.
10 Likes
I feel like this is an underrated book. I’ve liked pretty much everything I’ve made from it.
1 Like
I agree. I found nothing I wanted to make from Simple or the chicken book, but have a lot of bookmarks in this one.
I love Simple and my copy has gazillion post-its from things I have made. Almost all of them more than once.
I’d love your recs from Simple – I was similarly stumped as @pavlova after buying the book when it was on sale ages ago.
Absolutely! I just needed to get the book in front of me. Here you go:
Greens with chili, olive oil, eggs, feta & seeds p. 21 - I absolutely love this simple meal on toast. Lots of kebang from the feta, a bit of crunch from the seeds, and the soothingness of a fried egg on top, plus you’ve got your greens. Nothing else needed.
Goat cheese & roast grape tartine - roast grapes with olive oil and balsamic, smear toast with soft goat cheese, season with pepper, put the grapes on top and broil, scatter some walnuts and honey on top. This only flies for me solo, but it’s a really nice little meal.
Roast cauliflower with pomegranates, green olives, and chickpea puree - this is maybe a bit more work than it needs to be, but I’ve made it for myself when solo and I want something special. Roast cauliflower florets with cayenne and cumin in olive oil. Make a chickpea puree with garlic, tahini, cumin, cayenne, olive oil and lemon juice. Toss roasted cauliflower with walnuts, olives, cilantro, lemon juice, and scatter pomegranate seeds over it, with the puree on the side.
Simple Goan fish curry - nothing fancy but it tastes good
Tim’s Parmesan chicken - I don’t bother with rolling the chicken up, just put it on the baking sheet flat after doing the breadcrumbs (I use panko). This is delicious and easy. One of the meals I make sure to make when Lulu is home, usually with polenta and fennel salad.
Korean chicken, gochujang mayo, and sweet-sour cucumber - Nice little spicy chicken sandwiches. The cucumbers aren’t anything special, but nice enough on the side. We love the mayo.
Parmesan roast chicken with cauliflower and thyme - a nice homey meal, pretty much what you assume it will taste like from the name.
Burmese chicken with tart-sweet chile sauce - an easy version of the same from Burma.
Roast eggplants with tomatoes and saffron cream - what I learned from this is that you really do need to let the cream sauce sit a bit to let the flavors meld. If you do that, this is such a killer dish.
I’ve made many more things, and almost all were good, but these are my favorites.
6 Likes
I think Simple /Diana Henrywas a COTM on Chowhound, and I liked it well enough then. This is why I don’t usually get rid of cookbooks, because sometimes I look through and many things appeal, and at other times, nothing does. We’ll see how I feel next time I look.
Editing to add that I just saw LLM’s post above and I do like the chicken with gochujang mayo, and the Burmese chicken, though I usually use the recipe in Burma. Obviously I can’t make up my mind!
5 Likes
Thank you!
2 Likes
LENTIL AND ROASTED TOMATO SOUP WITH SAFFRON p. 226 A Change of Appetite
This was a really tasty soup. I roasted a bag of frozen mixed small tomatoes with the harissa and oil. It was very full of liquid, so I reduced the amount of stock. I put the tomatoes through the food mill before adding to the soup. This was really nicely spiced with cumin, coriander, turmeric ginger, green chilies and saffron. My tomatoes were very acidic, so I ended up adding about half a cup of cream at the end to mellow the soup out.
8 Likes
Could you taste the saffron? I’m always surprised when it’s included with heavier flavors.
I love fish pie.
This is a relatively straightforward fish pie other than the saffron in the mash, which I skipped. This recipe poaches the fish in fish stock and then adds cream to that stock. I don’t use a lot of cream in general, so I poached the fish in whole milk and added some dashi granules later.
I had a lot of salmon and some frozen shrimp to use up, so I saved the scallops for another day.
This is a really delicious dish. I have a few other variations of fish pie recipes from her bookmarked to try.
10 Likes
