Pork Larb from Bill Granger's Everyday Asian

Now, this is not an attractive plate of food, I'll give you that. I was not overwhelmed by anticipation at eating it once I had finished cooking. I actually managed to miss off the ground toasted rice and the fresh coriander to go on top, despite having both of them right next to me.. Though it would have still been a plate of grey mince....

HOWEVER it actually tasted really good. The paste was lemongrass, garlic and red chilli and then the additional ingredients you added once you had finished cooking the paste and the mince was fish sauce, caster sugar (used brown), lime juice (used lemons), kaffir lime leaves (used none) and then a couple of other things perhaps which at this moment in time have completely slipped my mind......

VERDICT: Next time, I wouldn't eat such a big portion as was surprisingly rich. Would also add the rice and coriander!! On the whole though, pretty simple and big flavours so I'd make again

Gordon Ramsay's Smoky Pork Sliders and Barbecue Sauce - Ultimate Cookery Course

Over the last couple of days I've been having a go at listing the recipes I have cooked from various cookbooks, mainly in order to assuage my guilt that I just buy them, flick through them and never look at them again. The cookbook I appear to have made more from than I realised is Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course. I know that the book was initially published to coincide with a TV series of the same name, but I never actually watched the series, I bought it off the back of a recommendation from my aunt who I trust implicitly with all things culinary. I mainly chose to make this recipe as  it didn't require too much additional ingredient shopping, just the bacon, shallots, mince and buns, The Times have actually published the recipe here. I didn't use cheese and I used balsamic instead of cider vinegar as that is what I had in the cupboard. I don't have any Worcestershire sauce, so just left it out! I've actually made the sauce from this recipe before, but not the burgers. I'm calling them burgers rather than sliders as sliders makes me think of tiny portions and I knew I was hungry so would rather eat two burgers than six sliders mathematically speaking, it just sounds less greedy.

VERDICT:

I over-salted the burgers, which was a shame, but I still really enjoyed them and will definitely make again as they are pretty easy, just a matter of chopping, mixing and frying, nothing particularly groundbreaking though.

The sauce on the other hand, I really, really like. This is the second time I've made it and it's gorgeous.

On the whole, another recipe I've really enjoyed from this book


Huzzah! I actually took a photo of something I made.

My Cookbook Library

The first step to overcoming an addiction is to acknowledge the addiction exists.

Purely for personal reference, I'm going to list my cookbooks and then list each recipe I cook from them as I go. Perhaps a visual reminder will help me cook from them more!!!!

My addiction (in no particular order, other than the first two books which my darling Grandma gave me about 12 years ago):

How to Cook - Mary Berry

Totally Simple Food - Jill Dupleix

Eat - Nigel Slater

Leith's How To Cook
Brownies
Rhubarb and Ginger Crumble
Potato Dauphinoise

Persiana - Sabrina Ghayour
Cacik
Feta & Pistachio Dip
Batijan al Rahib
Borek

Ultimate Cookery Course - Gordon Ramsay
Pork Sliders and Barbecue Sauce
Stuffed Roast Chicken
Chicken Schwarma
Sweetcorn Fritters

Home Cooking Made Easy - Lorraine Pascale

My Kitchen - James Martin

Mexican Food Made Simple - Thomasina Miers

Complete Chinese Cooking - (Apparently no author!!)

Delia's Complete How to Cook
Coconut and Lime Chicken

A Change of Appetite - Diana Henry
Egyptian Chicken

Everyday Asian - Bill Granger
Pickled Carrots
Pork Larb

Roast Chicken & Other Stories - Simon Hopkinson

Jerusalem - Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
Turkey and Courgette Burgers
Shakshuka

One - A Cook & Her Cupboard - Florence Knight
Cannellini Beans and Watercress

Save with Jamie - Jamie Oliver
Spinach Cannelloni
Frenchie Salad

From Virgin to Veteran - Sam Stern
Pea and Chilli Soup

The Recipe Wheel - Rosie Ramsden
White Loaf

Love Your Lunchbox - James Ramsden

The Art of Eating Well - Hemsley & Hemsley

Every Grain of Rice - Fuschia Dunlop
Smacked Cucumber with Garlicky Sauce

Honey & Co - Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer

English Food - Jane Grigson

The Edible Atlas - Mina Holland

Summer Cooking  - Elizabeth David

Mediterranean Cooking - Elizabeth David

Italian Food - Elizabeth David
Melanzane Ripiene

A Girl Called Jack - Jack Monroe

30 Minute Meals - Jamie Oliver

Food 52's Genius Recipes

Pork Belly, Persiana and Nigella (with a side of nipples (no, not Nigella's))

On Saturday I managed to feed 10 members of my family and myself, without poisoning anyone; as it's been 48 hours I now feel confident enough to say this with a degree of sincerity. It was the latest in a "series" of lunches (that makes it sound wayyyyy more serious and formal than it is) that family peeps have been holding over the past 18 months. After two cousins, my mum's cousin and my Mum's turns coming and going it was basically my turn, plus having moved out again finally, I had my own kitchen.

Now, with my minimal cooking experience at cooking for any more than 2 let alone 11 people, everyone just said do a stew, do a stew, it's easy. I don't like stews. Yes, that is a sweeping and pretty incorrect statement really but they aren't my meal of choice. I then still thought that low and slow was the way to go, plus the budgetary factor playing in, and I settled on pork belly. Initially I was planning on cooking the Pork Belly, Beans and Watercress recipe from One by Florence Knight, but once I tripled the recipe and realised that I would need 2.25kg of butter I decided against, though still stuck with the beans. Ended up panicking and googling frantically on the Friday and ended up with this but ignored the onions. I went to the butcher to get the meat (£12 from Dombey's in the market which was seriously good value plus he de-boned and scored the rind for me) and didn't really think much about it until I went to get it out the fridge before putting it in the oven and realised it had nipples......... Ew.

I mean, I don't know what else I was expecting. It's the bottom of a pig. That's where nipples are. Still was completely gross and when it came to carving I made my cousin cut them off. Though we only removed two of four so two got eaten...

 I also made a couple of mezze from Sabrina Ghayour's Persiana (Cacik, Borek (actually made my Mum do these as I got stressed), Batijan al Rahib (smoked aubergine salad, got so much burnt aubergine skin everywhere trying to do this) and Feta and Pistachio dip. Meant to go and buy nice flatbreads from the market but totally didn't have time and ended up with Tesco's pitta bread which wasn't quite the authentic vibe I was going for...

Then drunkenly had to  make Nigella's Chocolate and Pear Pudding in my car-crash kitchen, using a food processor which I definitely didn't clean particularly well so had the odd bit of feta and chilli still lurking around. But it worked and I ate it and everyone else ate it so it wasn't that bad.

The night ended with a Christmas tree getting attacked by three of us in the middle of Atlantic Road, but it was dead so I don't feel too guilty.

All in all though, am pretty bloody pleased with myself for actually managing to cook it all. To some people, that wouldn't be much, but to me, it was a really big deal. And like I said at the beginning, no one died, always a bonus. 

Brixton and a new(ish) kitchen

So I finally moved out again. I now reside in (not particularly sunny and pretty chilly at the moment) Brixton in a flat which I truly love, and really never thought I would be able to afford to live in. Incidentally I can't really afford to live there but my daily budget of £12.71 which I consistently fail to adhere to gives me some kind of figure to aim at so I don't end up back in Putney where I started. It also happens to have a lovely open airy kitchen in the eaves of the flat and it's the first time in my life that I feel genuinely inspired to cook everyday. Granted, it may literally just be a case of scrambled eggs on toast but I never just think sod it, I'll get a pizza, which I used to do pretty regularly. Again, part of this is the financial aspect, but if I'm going to splash the cash, I'm gonna go to an awesome restaurant in Brixton, not eat an M and S posh ready meal. So.... here I go again!!!