There's a new Nigel in town!

As the new Kitchen Diaries has been released I am going to be concentrating on that for the next 12 months.  You can find this blog at katecooksnigel.blogspot.com

Honeycomb ice cream

It's ice cream week!  I'm a season ticket holder for Manchester City FC and take my teenage nephew.  He likes to cook but is generally uncommunicative with everyone these days so I thought I'd try and engage him pre match yesterday with a bit of ice cream making.  Honeycomb was his choice and wow what a good choice.  Really this is essentially a vanilla ice cream with a bashed up crunchie but it is fantastic.  I got the recipe from BBC Good Food off the internet.  He enjoyed making it and was a lot better company at the match as a result.

Apple ice cream

Nigella Summer again.  I've been given what feels like a shedful of apples and having made kilo upon kilo of chutney for Christmas I'm trying to think of innovative ways to use them up.  My daughter went to a food festival last weekend and came back talking about the apple ice cream with salted caramel sauce she had tried.  It sounded so good I thought I'd give it a go.  And here we are.  I think I'm yet to completely master the art of ice cream making but it's good nevertheless.  In the pics here the salted caramel is shop bought (boo) with extra salt flakes from me. 

Hot chocolate soufflé

Tonight was pudding night on the bake off so in it's honour I turned to Mary Berry's Baking Bible which I bought for my daughter (who is a promising baker/cook but way too lazy to ever make anything) last year and who has yet to use it. I added the juice of an orange to Mary's recipe, replacing the water, but the flavour didn't really come through and was more chocolatey than anything - which wasn't a bad thing in this instance. My daughter, her boyfriend and me are all underwhelmed by chocolate flavour things but all really enjoyed this and I think the reason is that it's made with real high quality chocolate rather than cocoa powder.  It tasted good. I will make these again as they'd make an excellent dinner party dessert but I think I'd add an orange liqueur instead of orange juice next time.  Watch this space as I'll update when I try this.

Cranberry and pistachio biscotti

It's Bake Off night again and they're doing biscotti, so I thought I'd give it a go.  Nigellisima again.  It was ridiculously easy, if a bit sticky to make - the GBBO bakers made it look more difficult.  I did keep an exceptionally close eye on them thoughwhich paid off as they are a perfect biscotti in crunch terms and gorgeous dipped in the accompanying port. 

Pasta with mackerel, Marsala & Pine nuts

I think I've said before that you only need to whisper the word Marsala to me and I'm there. I took the opportunity of an otherwise empty house tonight to make something only I will like and so went to Nigellisima for inspiration.  I confess I left out the dill but only because I couldn't be bothered going to the shop and I had all the other ingredients in (I felt very domestic goddessy when I realised that!).  This had such a range of flavours, sweet and sharp combining beautifully and felt quite decadent for a Wednesday night dinner. Would make again.

Madeira cake

My daughter and I have been very excited this week about the return of The Great British Bake Off.  Their first challenge was a Madeira cake and I realised that even though I've made a huge number of cakes over the years, Madeira cake has never been one of them.  We ate this still warm as we are incredibly greedy and impatient.  My other half, whose comments generally range from 'uh huh' to 'nice' said 'oh God, it's melt in the mouth'.  I can't see us having this cake sitting around for long.

Hot and sour rhubarb and crispy pork with noodles

I was in Wales yesterday at a village fair - we have friends living in said village and so have been a few times. To bulk the fair up there is a small car boot sale and I managed to feed my cook book addiction with 'Jamie At Home' for a mere 50p. I'm not a huge fan of Jamie Oliver but appear to have acquired a large number of his books at mostly bargain prices.  No 1 recent rule, however, is to cook from a new acquisition as soon as possible. With extreme good fortune I had some pork belly defrosting for this evening's dinner and no idea what to do with it.  I stumbled across this in my new book so had to go for it.  And, wow, so glad I did - this dish is packing so much flavour, the fresh herbs make it zing, the lime and coriander a marriage made in heaven and the rhubarb sauce complementing the whole affair.  I might have to revisit my other Jamie books as I suspect I've been a bit hard on him.

Cheesecake Ice Cream

The weather is picking up again so my thoughts return to Nigella Summer, which was responsible for last year's purchase of an ice cream machine.  It's scandalous that we're already in August and I've not used it this year so this was my choice.  The cheesecake has lemon juice in it making a very subtle lemon cheesecake flavour - very nice.  

Banana Bread

A sudden and unexpected over ripening of a bunch of bananas this week prompted my other half to suggest I make banana bread.  I remember a time a few summers ago when he was making huge amounts of banana bread and that I was underwhelmed by it.  It had been the first and last time I'd had it and had no intention to go there again.  Then I remembered my faith in Nigella and went to her baking bible 'How to be a domestic goddess'.  I saw the addition of rum, walnuts and sultanas and so agreed to the suggestion.  And, well all I can say is wow!  This is a light, flavoursome slice of banana based heaven.  

Chicken with spicy peanut sauce

And once again, it's Ken! I love anything that contains peanuts so this is right up my strasse.  The first few mouthfuls were amazing but I've got to say I found this a little on the salty side and would cut right down on that it I made it again.  This book has been a really good purchase for me though and I'm sure I'll be using it for years to come. 

Thai-style chicken with chillies and basil

Ken again.  I'm very much in the habit of a Friday night takeaway but tonight chose the healthier option of a Friday night fakeaway.  Oh, and how good this was!  Mine had less sauce than Ken appeared to have but it was a sticky, sweet, spicy plateful of deliciousness.  Would make again.

Green vegetable curry

Another Nigella Summer.  I think this should called Vegetable green curry so that it's clear that this is a green curry of the Thai variety rather than a curry with green vegetables.  There, I've got that off my chest.  There has been substituting going on again here as I've still been unable to get lime leaves locally, but fortunately now that I'm a Ken Hom aficionado I know that lime zest is a good  enough substitute.  I've also subbed the fish sauce for light soy sauce (another Ken tip) as my boyf is a true vegetarian (although this doesn't seem to trouble Nigella).  Again, scandalously, I've never made a Thai green curry before but I'm a definite convert.  This was so fresh tasting with subtle flavours and perfectly cooked veg.  Lovely.

Baked pasta shells stuffed with spinach and ricotta and a courgette and bean salad

Nigella Summer is beckoning once again, particularly as it's been a lovely warm day  and I'd really like to make a dent in this book by the end of summer.  Although not billed together by Nigella, this was a great combo.   I'm not a huge salad fan and so edge towards the substantial end of the salad genre (as opposed the evil lettuce end).  My only criticism of this one would be that I once again found the parsley flavour slightly overwhelming and so have made a mental note to cut right down on recommended parsley quantities in the future - thinking about it, this is a Nigella issue, not a Nigel one and I can't think of any Nigel recipe which has turmed out to have overwhelming parsley flavour, so she must really like parsley.  The original recipe is called 'double courgette and bean salad' but I couldn't find a yellow courgette to add to this and just used what I had in.  I really enjoyed making the pasta dish even though it was slightly fiddly and will definitely make this again.

Bulgar wheat salad with pink seared lamb

I saw this in Nigella Summer and was taken with it, mainly due to already having all the ingredients, lamb aside, in. My lamb wasn't pink seared - I was short on time and unable to get to the butcher so supermarket choice was all the choice I had meaning the cut was not as Nigella suggested.  But this was a nice change for dinner - very straightforward to make and tasting so fresh that the herbs sang.  

Pork steaks with Gruyere and Marsala

So, this week brought me Nigel Slater's '30 minute cook' at the bargain price of £3.50 from my local charity shop.  I seem  to remember Nigel referencing this book in his introduction to 'Eat' as not being exactly embarrassed about but times have moved on kind of thing - I snapped it up.  The fussy daughter alighted on this recipe before it caught my eye and as it so immediately appealed to us both this is my first go at the book.  It is similar to other, later Nigel recipes but has aged well nevertheless.  The flavours here are robust and as I've said many times before you can always win me over by lobbing a bit of Marsala in.  I knew I'd love it but was nervous about the fussy daughter's verdict.  I needn't have been - she loved it.  

Parpadelle with courgettes, sultanas and pine nuts

I'm just back from a week in Corfu and the temptation to just bung some feta in the oven and eat the way we have been doing must be resisted.  The hands are also still broken so it must be simple fare.  When we went away it was cold and wet but we have come home to sunshine and a giant heatwave on the horizon.  So back to Nigella Summer it is.  I really enjoyed the clean, fresh flavours in this dish and the occasional hit of sweet sultana balanced the courgettes perfectly and were a delight.  If you want a full on sauce with your pasta this is not for you but so good for me, for tonight.

Beef with oyster sauce

I can't help but think that Ken is cheating here and has simply slipped in a Chinese classic pretending it's Thai.  His explanation is that this is widely eaten in Thailand and the Thais say they taught the dish to the Chinese.  Whatever!  This classic is one of my all time favourite dishes anyway so I have made different versions of it before but this is a new recipe to me.  I used top quality steak for my meat which perhaps made a difference but I've got to say that this was perfect, the flavours beautifully balanced and complementing each other.  I'm worried that when I next make this it won't be so good and I just got lucky this time.  

Hot and Sour Prawns

So, I was knocked off my bike on Thursday morning by an incredibly gormless passenger in a car and I now have only 4 functioning fingers to work with as my left wrist has a broken bone and my little finger in my right hand is not just broken but includes a severed artery. Making cooking difficult.  Difficult but not impossible.  I trawled my new Ken Hom book and came across this one - the most difficult part of making this for me was opening the tin of coconut milk.  I made coconut rice to go with this and it was perfect.  Loving my new book!

Cauliflower Thai-style

And for the vegetarian in my life ... Not wanting to exclude him from Thai night I made this to go with the coconut rice but it didn't exactly go down a storm - he ate it, but to be fair he'd eat anything as long as it's vegetarian and said it was alright. When asked to elaborate he said it was quite mild and would be a nice complement to a spicy dish.  I doubt I'll make this again.  

Red pork curry

Today I added to my extensive cook book collection and bought 'Ken Hom cooks Thai'.  Determined to use anything new I buy (as opposed to reading it, salivating, and then return to the comforting arms of Nigel or Nigella) I got cracking straight away.  So here is this week's first new dish.  Astonishingly, I have never made a Thai curry before - I don't really know why, but there you have it.  My daughter and her friend were in for dinner tonight and both were positive and appreciative of this creation.  I have changed the ingredients slightly as Ken used baby corn to my green beans but I knew the fussy daughter wouldn't have touched baby corn.  It was really lovely and I can definitely see it becoming a regular addition to my repertoire.  I made coconut rice to go alongside this - again something I've never made before but also extremely good.  

Jammy cocunut sponge

I'm cheating a little here as I made this on Saturday, but it is new to me and so fits the criteria.  This is from Jamie's Great Britain and is lovely, light and tasty. I also felt total domestic goddessery by not only making my own jam (this is part of the recipe to be fair) but making it from blackberries that were picked by my other half about 2 years ago and which I froze at the time.

Gingery duck with red onion and orange salad

Whilst the weather is not screaming summer (yet), Nigella is.  This is from Nigella Summer which my daughter thoughtfully bought for my birthday last year.  As my birthday is late August summer was as good as gone (in fact, barring 2 glorious weeks in May I don't remember it even turning up in The People's Republic of Manchester).  So I've only just got cracking on this one - expect more from here in the next few weeks. 

Anyway, this was good and even my fussy daughter enjoyed it, which regular readers will know is not a given.  I couldn't taste the fresh ginger from the marinade in the final dish but trust Nigella enough to know that it wouldn't be right without it.  I also didn't much care for the fresh parsley which I thought overpowered it a little so would leave that out were I to make this again.

I miss blogging!

Recreating the kitchen diaries gave me a real purpose with my cooking but I've not been able to get into Eat in the same way.  I'm not giving up on Eat but I do cook from other books regularly and decided to blog my new finds as I make them.  The twice is nice in the title along with my blog Web address is referring to the minimum number of new recipes I'm going to attempt each week - that is two. Wish me luck!