Cooking recipe books

Another magazine cut. This time from the National Trust magazine. I was really excited to be making this recipe but I was a bit disappointed in the end. It tastes good and it has potential but: The mid-section, the cheesy section, is too big! The recipe called for a 23cm (9in) tin and I used a 25cm (10in) tin and it came all the way to the top. How on earth is one supposed to fit so much mixture in a 23cm tin?!? It ended up being disproportionally bigger than the bottom and top sections which, frankly, wasn't aesthetic and made it fora far too rich cheesecake. Below I halved the quantities and I think that it will be more than enough. There wasn't enough coffee! The picture in the magazine showed a lovely brown mid-section, I got a light beige. The recipe called for 25g coffee granules dissolved in 2 tbsp water or 2 espresso shots. I used the 2 espresso shots and it wasn't anywhere nearly enough. Below I doubled the quantity of coffee and I hope it does the trick. It need...

Incredibly easy to make. Very fast to cook. Pitta breads are basically flat white breads. Best to eat them with a meal as their bland flavour will take in other food's flavours. From Paul Hollywood's ' How to bake '. Serves: 8 breads. Ingredients: 250g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting 1 tsp salt 1 tsp instant yeast 160ml cool water 2 tsp olive oil, plus extra for kneading Method: Tip the flour into a bowl and add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add ¾ of the water and the olive oil, and turn the mixture round with your fingers. Continue to add the remaining water, a little at a time, until you've picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. You may not need to add all the water, or you may need to add a little more - you want dough that is soft but not soggy. Use the mixture to clean the inside of the bowl and keep going until the mixture forms a rough dough. Coat the work surface with a little olive oil, then tip t...

I had no idea what a Fattoush salad  was. According to Wikipedia, it is a ' Levantine salad made from toasted or fried pieces of flatbread combined with (...) vegetables and herbs. The vegetables are cut into relatively large pieces '. This is a version from  ' CookSmart Vegetarian ', a Octopus Publishing Group publication. It is a very good version if I may say so. The herbs and the lemon make for a very tasty salad which could also be used as a side dish. I think I'll make this salad the next time we have a BBQ! Halloumi cheese is always good with vegetables as long as it is eaten straight away to avoid a rubbery texture once cold. I decided to make pitta breads from scratch, 2 of which I used in this recipe. For how to make pita bread, see the next recipe. Serves: 5 persons. Ingredients: 2 green bell peppers (I had a yellow going off so use 1 green + 1 yellow), cubed ½ cucumber, cubed 4 tomatoes, cubed red onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 2 tbsp parsley, c...