Although
this is one of her older book's (2009) I couldn't resist testing out
and cooking from Rachel Allen's Home Cooking for this month's Cooking the Books. My son is now 3 years old and although a fairly good
eater, I'm always looking for ideas and reminders of family friendly
meals that we can all enjoy without a fight at the dinner table! On
top of that, my sister was coming to visit us for 2 weeks during
March and unfortunately despite being 17 weeks pregnant was still
suffering from morning sickness, so I thought she would appreciate
some good home cooking and nothing too over the top! Cue therefore
Rachel Allen's Home Cooking book which is packed full of very family
friendly meals that are guaranteed to keep even the fussiest eater in
your family happy (hopefully!). It was just coincidence that I
happened to pick a book by an Irish chef for the month of March and
the celebration of St. Paddy's Day!
The
Chapters are divided up into meals of the day including Breakfast,
Lunch, Supper and Dessert. There is also a chapter on Sunday Lunches
and since this really is a family friendly cookbook there is even a
handy chapter on Baby Purees. It is a lovely homely book with pages
printed on different pretty pastel colours and lots of photographs
throughout, showing not only the delicious looking meals but family
snaps as well, which really adds to it being a family cookbook.
As per
my standard method I bookmarked over twenty recipes which gave me
lots to choose from. In the end I tested 5 recipes although I'm
making a 6th one this weekend as a special treat and have
a 7th one on my meal plan for next week!
The
Tested Recipes:
Thai
Peanut, Vegetable & Coconut Noodles
Butternut
Squash Ravioli with Sage & Pine Nut Butter
Ham
and Cheese Macaroni
Creamy
Gratin of Butternut Squash
Chicken
and Coconut Indian Curry
I
absolutely love noodles in spicy peanut sauces so I had to try the
Thai Peanut, Vegetable & Coconut Noodles. I had recently
had something similar at a restaurant so I was keen to see if this
one was as good and it was! Easy to prepare and cook and full of all
of the flavours I was craving. The only thing I had to add was some
fresh lime as it definitely needed some citrus to cut through the
coconut peanut sauce and of course I couldn't resist some extra
chillies but other than that it was perfect. I will certainly make
this over and over again, just with a few tweaks here and there.
Next
up and Scott had been away for a week so I decided to make us a
special treat for dinner and tried the Butternut Squash Ravioli
with Sage & Pine Nut Butter. You start by cooking the squash
in a frying pan with butter and oil “until pulpy but not
brown”.......I was little distracted so mine did not follow the
instructions and was most definitely brown – not a great start! It
took longer than suggested to cook and I think in future I would
rather roast them however it tasted great and the fact that they did
brown just added a lovely caramelized flavour! The pasta recipe was
exactly how I make my own pasta so that was easy enough and it didn't
take too long to assemble although I found a lot of the pasta dough
was wasted using the method she suggested. Regardless the end result
was absolutely delicious and after a week of eating out Scott was
ecstatic and loved it! My only criticism to the dish was that it
suggests 5 pieces of ravioli per person which in my books (and
certainly my husbands!) isn't enough – especially for a main
course! Thankfully I had more and the leftovers I didn't cook were
popped into the freezer for another time. I will most definitely be
making this again – it was simple enough (as far as making your own
ravioli) and absolutely delicious!
Next
up and with the arrival of my sister I was looking for something
comforting and not too strongly flavoured so with her approval we
decided to test the Ham and Cheese Macaroni. I was treading on
dangerous ground with this one as my sister's husband makes the best
Macaroni and Cheese but I thought that meant it would really put the
recipe to the test. The recipe itself was very similar to my own
recipe so I knew there weren't going to be any surprises. It was a
typical recipe for Mac and Cheese so completely straightforward and
fairly quick to prepare. The finished dish went down well - the
addition of the ham was liked by everyone and it was nice and oozy
although I did find the cheese flavour quite mild. There was
certainly plenty to eat (recipe serves 6) so since there were only 3
½ of us eating we had lots of leftovers which no one complained
about! A lovely recipe but to be honest I would probably just stick
to my own version, maybe just adding the ham to it instead.
For
recipe number 4 we tested the Creamy Gratin of Butternut Squash
which I served alongside a Roast Beef for a family meal. It was
incredibly easy to make and was a lovely change from a potato gratin.
The taste was fantastic and the cream and gruyere cheese made it a
deliciously naughty little treat that I will definitely make over and
over again. It was a big hit for everyone.
Although
her sickness eventually stopped whilst Lauren was out visiting here,
there were still certain things that she was avoiding so I saved
making the next recipe until after she had left! Recipe number 5 was
Chicken and
Coconut Indian Curry since it seems I can never resist a curry
recipe! I'm so glad because it was perfect and a very family friendly
curry – the perfect introduction to curries for Wee One. I did miss
out the optional green chillies from the curry and instead just
sliced one up for Scott and I to sprinkle over at the end if we
wanted, but to be honest it was such a lovely mild flavourful
curry that it was nice to just enjoy it as it was. We all loved it so
it will definitely get made again and added to my curry repertoire!
One of
my favourite parts of the book is that there are several recipes for
homemade sweets/candies including Turkish Delight, Liquorice Toffee
and Butterscotch to name a few. I love the idea of trying to make my
own so the next recipe I will be trying is for the Turkish Delight
but I ran out of time before the review was to be posted so I'll let
you know how I get on with it! Having never made anything like that
before I'm really excited to give it a go and just hope I don't end
up with a giant gooey mess!!
The 5
recipes that were tested were all great dishes so I'm looking forward
to trying more and know I won't be disappointed. Here are some of the
recipes I bookmarked to try out in future.....
The
Bookmarked Recipes:
Waffles
French
Toast
Spotted
Dog
Zac's
Chicken & Sweetcorn Soup
Fragrant
Sugar Snap & Beansprout Noodle Laksa
Middle
Eastern Spiced Lamb Koftas with Dips and Spicy Pittas
Stir-fried
Noodles with Chicken Dumplings
Quick
Swiss Cheese Fondue
Fish
Pie
Family
Chicken Burgers with Roast Tomato and Lime Mayonnaise
Roast
Chicken Legs with New Potatoes and Summer Herb Dressing
Individual
Steak & Mushroom Pies
Strawberry
and White Chocolate Tiramisu
Dark
Chocolate Layered Semifredo
Millionaire's
Shortbread
Coconut
and Chocolate Flapjacks
Cherryade
Liquorice
Toffees
The ethos of this book is definitely delicious, easy home cooking to keep all of the family happy from morning til night year round. It has so many familiar, classic recipes that I grew up with and love but there are also plenty of new recipes for a new generation. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who perhaps is new to cooking for their family and are looking for straightforward recipes that don't take too long and will please everyone with delicious results. The book is filled with tips and tricks to make life easier for you as well as lots of variations on the recipes so you can change things up to suit your tastes. She also provides good explanations on dishes that you have perhaps not heard of before and advice on where to buy ingredients or what you can substitute them with. Whether you are looking for some classic quick mid-week meals, new breakfast/brunch ideas or are having friends over for dinner, you won't be stuck for ideas of what to make with this book. This is a fun, friendly book with lots of fantastic recipes that won't disappoint. Home Cooking by Rachel Allen definitely gets the Vanilla Clouds and Lemon Drops stamp of approval!
{Although
this is a slightly older book you can still purchase it from Amazon
and other online stores and it is now also available for Kindle
users.}
Enjoyed reading this review - that ravioli sounds wonderful and the list of 'must makes' have a quite a few that intrigue me too! I'm wondering if Rachel is Darina's daughter?
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan - it really is a great book! Rachel is Darina Allen's daughter-in-law :)
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