Cooking recipe books

Another dive into  ' Paris in a basket: markets, the food and the people ', by  Nicolle Meyer and Amanda Smith. I made it and I didn't like it. Why would anyone use chicken stock in a vegetable soup? It made it taste like ham... it was so odd!  A second attempt wield better results. This time I used vegetable stock and no ham taste to it.  The recipe is ok, but nothing I would describe as amazing. Serves: 2 persons. Ingredients: 1 avocado 1 large potato, diced (200g) 300ml vegetable stock, cold ⅛ tsp cumin salt & pepper to taste Method: Cook the potato in salty water and let it cool down. Mash the potato, avocado and cumin. Add salt & pepper to taste and  add the stock slowly until you get a creamy texture. It's not easy to make it smooth. Perhaps next time I'll blitz it as well.  Place the soup in the fridge for a few hours. Serve cold.  If wanted, serve with a few peppercorns and coriander leaves. I skipped this.

I decided to give Augusto Gemelli a second change and chose this recipe from his  The Italian cuisine of Augusto Gemelli  book. We did like this recipe albeit I did forget to add the turmeric to the pasta's cooking water. Why oh why do I not read recipes thoroughly before starting? This recipe was the first time I cleaned a monkfish. Usually I chop it in pieces, skin and bones and all, and throw it in the pan. This time I cleaned it and chopped it into small pieces. It was easier than I thought! Serves: 4 persons Ingredients: 300g linguine pinch of turmeric 700g monkfish (460g after cleaned) 400g bell peppers (mixed colours), diced 200g leek, sliced 4 garlic cloves, crushed with a knife olive oil fresh thyme to taste salt & pepper to taste Method: Clean the monkfish (remove skin and bones) and cut it into small pieces. In a frying pan, fry the leeks and peppers in olive oil. In another frying pan, fry the monkfish with the garlic and olive oil and reserve the water th...

I've wanted to do this recipe for a while. It's from Kate Whitman's The ultimate book of fish and shellfish . I love smoked salmon and this is one of those dishes that you can have in the fridge for a few days and indulge on a slice here and there or several times a day. LOL Serves: 6 persons (starter). Ingredients: 4 gelatine leaves or 12g powdered gelatine 400g smoked salmon in slices 30g cream cheese 120ml crème fraîche 30ml dill mustard 1 lime: juice lemon wedges Method: Line a 450g/1lb loaf tin with cling film. Line the tin with smoked salmon slices, laying the slices widthways across the base and up the sides and leaving enough overlap to fold over the top of the filling. Make sure there is extra in each side of the tin. Overlap 2 slices to make sure everything is covered and there is plenty of extra. I was stupid enough not to do as instructed! Set aside enough of the remaining smoked salmon to make a middle layer the length of the tin. Chop the remaining salmon fine...

The Italian cuisine of Augusto Gemelli is a cookbook that has been adorning my shelf for so long that I can no longer remember when, where and why I bought it. Neither have I cooked any of it's recipes. I love red onions but I think this recipe lacks something. Spices, some kind of spices. It is just too bland. The potato dressing was supposed to be a smoked potato dressing but since I do not have a device to smoke the dressing, I did it without. It tastes like a good potato purée. I think the recipe needs more but it isn't good enough for me to bother cooking it again. Serves: 2 persons. Ingredients: For the flan : 2 red onions, sliced (300g) 25g Parmigiano, grated 75g cottage cheese 2 eggs vegetable oil salt & pepper to taste For the potato dressing : 150g potatoes, diced 50g leeks, sliced 250ml vegetable stock salt & pepper to taste Method: Cook the flan: Sweat the onions in vegetable oil. Mix thoroughly the egg yolks with the cheese. Add the mixture to the onions,...

Wild mushrooms would be ideal for this recipe but I found a box of oyster mushrooms in the farm shop and decided that they would be perfect for this recipe. Darina Allen's recipe. It's easy to do and tasty. Frittatas never disappoint! Serves: 4 persons Ingredients: 250g mushrooms (mixture of different types), sliced 5 eggs 1 tbsp chopped parsley 2 tbs thyme leaves 1 tbsp chopped basil or marjoran (I used basil) 70g Gruyère cheese, grated 25g Pecorino, grated olive oil salt & pepper to taste Method: In a frying pan, fry the mushrooms in olive oil over a high heat until just wilted. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Whisk the eggs in a bowl and then add the herbs, cheeses and salt and pepper to taste. Add this mixture to the mushrooms in the frying pan.  Darina advises to fry in butter but I thought it would be a waste since the frying pan was already oiled... Let it cook over a low heat for 5-10 min or until the underneath is set. The top should still be slightly run...